UN invites civil societies for special dialogue on sustainable development

NaijaAgroNet:

The President of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly, His Excellency Sam Kahamba Kutesa has invited civil society representatives to a special interactive dialogue on strengthening Sustainable Development reports NaijaAgroNet.

The event scheduled at United Nations Headquarters in New York, NaijaAgroNet gathered would could at the Trusteeship Council Chamber on 16 January 2015 between 1:15pm and 2:45pm.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that this interactive dialogue will take place in advance of the five high-level thematic debates and events that the General Assembly President will host in 2015 as a contribution to delivering on and implementing a transformative post-2015 development agenda.

The five high-level thematic NaijaAgroNet reports include debates on “Means of Implementation for a Transformative Post-2015 development agenda (9-10 February 2015)” while on March 6, 2015, the second high-level thematic debate on Advancing Gender equality and empowerment of Women would hold.

Further, NaijaAgroNet reports that a high-level thematic debate on Promoting Tolerance and Reconciliation would hold on 6 April, 2015 just as another session on Strengthening Cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organizations has been slated for 15 May 2015.

NaijaAgroNet equally reports that the last in the first six months of the year 2015 has been been slated for June 29, on Climate Change.

The primary objective of the briefing as gathered by NaijaAgroNet will be to inform and encourage the contributions of civil society and other relevant stakeholders in the events.

The sessions, NaijaAgroNet gathered, will include a general briefing on the five events, followed by an open and interactive question and answer with representatives of civil society organizations, major groups and other relevant stakeholders who will have the opportunity to focus their interventions on key issues that they would like to see reflected in the framework of the President of the General Assembly’s events.

The interventions have the potential to contribute to the substantive background papers that will be prepared for the five events.

+Remmy Nweke +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN +United Nations +Naija AgroNet 
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Investment in ICT to boost healthcare markets in MEA

NaijaAgroNet:

Investments in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector are anticipated to boost the four core healthcare markets of Middle East and Africa over five years, reports NaijaAgroNet. 

Latest study made available to NaijaAgroNet by International Data Corporation (IDC), spending on Information Technology (IT) services and products among healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirate (UAE) will grow by 70 per cent over the next five years, expanding at 11.2 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the five-year period from 2013 to 2018.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that spending priorities based on the study by IDC will be strongly driven by healthcare policy mandates and efficiency improvement needs. 

In the context of a pronounced shortage of IT expertise among healthcare organizations, NaijaAgroNet reports that IDC Health Insights expects the demand for IT services to continue to rise in all four markets. In fact, IT services will be the fastest growing segment of the healthcare providers' market, with particularly intense growth projected in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Additional highlights from the data showed that spending on mobile devices and networking equipment will contribute significantly to overall hardware spending growth in all four markets.

In the software segment, NaijaAgroNet reports that system infrastructure software still accounts for the largest share of total external IT spending. 

While clinical information systems, NaijaAgroNet gathered, makes up the smallest share but will post the fastest growth at 13.5 per cent annually.

Nino Giguashvili, senior research analyst for IDC Health Insights, confided in NaijaAgroNet that all the four markets are set to grow at an impressive rate, stressing "While these markets present exceptional opportunities to healthcare IT suppliers across the whole ecosystem, it is the right time to focus on mobile solutions to healthcare providers' organizational needs, and MEA's healthcare challenges overall."

The study further gathered by NaijaAgroNet indicates IDC's Middle East and Africa Healthcare Provider 2013 IT spending and 2014–2018 Forecast provides IT spending data and forecasts for 15 technologies and five countries (Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates).

Anulekha Shetty of the Public Relations told NaijaAgroNet that the study has been designed to help IT suppliers identify short and long-term opportunities and for health providers to assess the state of the market.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Nigeria targets 1,200 agro-equipment hiring centres - Jonathan

NaijaAgroNet:

The Federal Government of Nigeria is targeting 1,200 Agricultural Equipment Hiring Centres (AEHCs) by end of 2016, says President Goodluck Jonathan, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking to NaijaAgroNet recently in Abuja, the nation’s capital, at the launch of Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), President Jonathan also disclosed that before December 31, 2014 some 80 Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises (AEHEs) will spring up.

He explained that AEHEs launch by his leadership is motivated to pave the way for the future agriculture programme pleasant to the youth generation who will see agriculture as business and devoid of undue hardwork will adequate fruit for their labour and as part of effort by Federal Government to mechanize agriculture.

Jonathan also explained that AEHEs is a private sector driven programme that will provide mechanized services for farmers across the country. 

“While over the next two years, a total of 1,200 of the Agricultural Equipment Hiring Centers would be established across the nation,” he said. 

To achieve the drive to encourage young commercial farmers, Jonathan told NaijaAgroNet, concerted effort must be made to take the hoes and cutlasses away from the farms and replace them with tractors and mechanized equipment. 

“The Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), which I am flagging off today, will further change the face of Nigeria’s agriculture. YEAP has been designed to create a new generation of 750,000 young commercial farmers and agribusiness leaders (Nagropreneurs) that will make Nigeria’s agriculture more efficient, profitable and competitive. They will become the CEOs of their own farms and agribusinesses, create jobs in the rural areas and reverse the trend of high rural to urban migration. They will help to change the mindset of the younger generation on agriculture,” he declared.

These Nagropreneurs, President Jonathan said, will become models and champions for our newly launched National Agriculture Schools Initiative, as they project to younger school children, the image of agriculture as an attractive and wealth creating sector. 

 
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Merck supports WHO to fight parasitic worm disease schistosomiasis in Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

 … Ethiopia to receive 13m Praziqantel tables in 2015

 

Arising from the first meeting of the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance which took place at the United Nations (UN) Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, the Merck Group endorsing the World Health Organization (WHO) fight against the parasitic worm disease schistosomiasis on the continent of Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as NaijaAgroNet reports that Ethiopia is expected to receive 13 Million Praziquantel Tablets in 2015 to cater for patients suffering from schistosomiasis as Praziquantel has proved to be the most effective treatment for schistosomiasis.

WHO revealed to NaijaAgroNet that Ethiopia is one of the most endemic countries for schistosomiasis in the world, with an estimated 22 million people, which is over 20 per cent of the global population in need of treatment.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that since the start of the programme about 1.4 million patients, primarily children, have been treated.

Head, Public Affairs at Merck and responsible for the Merck Praziquantel Donation Programme, Frank Gotthardt, reiterated to NaijaAgroNet that they are committed to continuing the efforts in Africa, in cooperation with WHO, until schistosomiasis is eliminated.

“In order to fulfill this commitment, we will donate 100 million praziquantel tablets to African countries in 2015. Ethiopia will be one of the main beneficiaries of this donation," Gotthardt said in a press statement endorsed by the African Press Organization (APO).

This alliance, he said, will allow the different constituencies to engage in a coordinated approach to better address the challenges of meeting the elimination target. Just as the round table discussions and first global schistosomiasis meeting took place during the neglected tropical diseases week being hosted by the Ethiopian government from December 8 to 12.

NaijaAgroNet  recalls that the Merck Praziquantel Donation Programme was launched in 2007 with over 200 million tablets supplied since then and over 54 million children benefiting from the treated. Between 2011 and 2014, Merck’s annual donation, NaijaAgroNet  gathered, has grown from 25 to about 75 million tablets.

At the beginning of 2012, Merck announced that it will fight schistosomiasis until the disease has been eliminated in Africa. To reach this goal, the company will increase the annual donation of tablets up to 250 million in the medium term.

The further scale-up of the programme saw the offer allowing the treatment of about 100 million children a year. The expanded Merck Praziquantel Donation Programme will result in a financial commitment totaling around USD 23 million a year.

In addition, Merck is also supporting awareness initiatives at African schools to explain the causes of schistosomiasis to children and teach them how to prevent the disease.

 
Further, NaijaAgroNet reports that Merck is conducting research on a pediatric formulation of praziquantel for preschool children within the scope of a public-private partnership. So far, praziquantel tablets can only be administered to children over the age of six.   

By Isaac Oyimah/GEE
 +Remmy Nweke @Merck +World Health Organization

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