A recent online article suggests that broadband will come sooner than later to East Africa. http://allafrica.com/stories/200905290066.html
This is huge as one of the major challenges in connecting East Africa to other parts of the continent, let alone world is the limited or rather, s…l…o…w access that current exists. This limits the more remote parts of the countries to access care from the cities, it limits major centers ability to share resources and it limits all access to assistance and resources from overseas.
This breakthrough in infrastructure could be a sringboard for telemedicine – enabling better use of teleradiology, telepathology, teleconsulting etc…
From past personal experience I know Africa doesn’t always work on-time (routine 6 hour delays on KQ flights are the norm)…but I hope there aren’t any major delays in getting this technology off the ground…there will be great potential for better health outcomes when we can reach remote Africans effeciently and provide better resources for better health.
Seacom is now live! (http://seacom.mu/) As someone who has visited East Africa and tried to work with their existing internet connections, I am really excited for them. This will have an enormous impact on the continent's ability to engage the online community.
Leveraging of global connectivity will become increasingly important for all parts of the world. At our Institute, we’ve been experimenting with it for rounds and also for public education. Projects such as Seacom will help bring different parts of the world faster than we might imagine.
AW – Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta
http://www.LibinInstitute.org/
(if you’re interested in pre-recorded on-line rounds, go to ‘Educational Events’ under the ‘Education’ tab)