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According to the latest report of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), presented to the
Congress of World Telecom 2009 in Geneva, mobile phones
are the means of communication that has grown most in
the world, with 4.6 billion connections.
Mobile phones have become an effective and economical
tool for disseminating information and expanding access
to health services related to HIV / AIDS, especially in
less developed countries, according to the Joint UN
Program against the disease (UNAIDS).
Cell phones are currently used to perform HIV tests,
collect data, record the progress of the epidemic, train
health workers and support treatment of HIV positive
people, the program explains.
Very useful in Africa
Among the countries that make use of this tool are
Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda, India and Zambia. All of
these have carried out information campaigns.
According to formal studies and anecdotal evidence
gathered from a report by the UN Foundation, in addition
to audio, text messages (SMS) have proven to have a
greater impact on the behaviour of people living in
remote areas than radio and television campaigns.
According to the ITU, 64% of the global market - live in
developing countries, and by 2012 half the inhabitants
of remote areas of the world will have mobile phones.
New Mobile Generation
On the other hand the Congress of TELECOM 09 tackles its
subject matter with the launch of the next generation
mobile network project, which employs the world's
leading mobile operators.
The ITU’s launch promises to deliver a radical change in
the user experience and the networks performance.
One of the issues to be resolved by the system are the
limitations of data capacity in existing networks,
revenue opportunities with next generation services, and
the possibility of reducing the total cost per bit of
traffic.
Disaster Prevention
For more general communications, the ITU is developing a
strategy for disaster prevention that impairs the
economy of countries, which severely weaken the poor and
vulnerable, considered to be one of the greatest
obstacles to sustainable development in poor countries.
The priority for the ITU is to facilitate access to the
basic infrastructure of information and communication
which is essential in conveying warnings of vital
importance to the inhabitants of remote and isolated
areas where no mobile telephones or Internet services
exist.
Swisslatin / adapted by Stephen Hinch
(07.10.2009) |
