The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has been asked by Egypt to lead a project to link African and Arab national telemedicine projects into the Afro-Arab Telemedicine Network (ArtNet), following a workshop jointly organized in Cairo by ITU, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), confirmed a press release.
The new network would enable the sharing of resources and knowledge for the prevention and treatment of common diseases in the sub-region, thus extending medical services to a greater number of citizens. Initially, the network would support remote consultations in radiology and pathology as well as distance training and education. The network would later expand in capacity as well as the nature of consultations.
Depending on the state of infrastructure in each country, the facilities would include leased line connections for high-speed transmission and on-line consultations, distance learning, on-the-job training and education, ISDN circuits - analogue lines of 28, 34 and 56 Kbits/s for file transfer - internet connections for file transfer and off-line data acquisition and satellite connections for remote areas with no access to any basic phone services. Egypt's national satellite system, Nile-Sat 1 and 2 are also expected to play a major role in facilitating connectivity to remote areas.
Egypt has itself established a national telemedicine network with seven locations connected to a diagnostic node at the Nasser Bone Marrow Institute in Cairo. Besides Egypt, the countries in the first phase of the ArtNet telemedicine network are expected to include Ethiopia, Jordan, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Uganda. The first phase is also expected to link to at least two medical centers in Europe and the US.
The funding of ArtNet is proposed to be implemented on a cost-sharing basis, with in-kind or cash contributions from every participating country. It is also expected to obtain partnership funding from the private sector, regional banks and international organizations such as WHO, the European Commission (EC), UNIDO and ITU itself.
ITU is a world-wide organization which brings governments and industry together to coordinate the establishment and operation of global telecommunication networks and services; it is responsible for standardization, coordination and development of international telecommunications including radio communications, as well as the harmonization of national policies. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
