Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Sifelani Tsiko
7 May 2007
(Page 2 of 2)
'Nairobi to host second Africa's e-learning conference'
The second e-learning Africa Conference will take place in Nairobi, Kenya from May 28 -- 30. Discussion will centre on building partnerships for education in Africa that will address the somewhat controversial topic of multi-stakeholder partnerships for education s).
Panellists from Cisco, Microsoft, Intel and Nokia will take part in the discussion for successful partnerships.
Other topics will include highlighting examples of how to enhance learning with the support of technology, China's experience in the use of e-learning for development in both the formal education sector, highlighting how African universities are adopting ICT and successful strategies for implementing ICT in Schools.
Creative and successful learner-oriented design strategies, highly innovative ICT initiatives in African schools, approaches to quality assurance in e-learning programmes, debate about the challenges and alternatives of building ICT infrastructures to provide access and connectivity in Africa will be discussed at the conference. -- e-learning-africa.com
'Nanotechnology and fight against TB'
Nanotechnology has been harnessed to fight tuberculosis in the developing world by boosting drug delivery, says a South African-led research consortium.
Led by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, researchers from the consortium hope to combat the spread of drug-resistant TB strains. They announced their results at the World Nano Economic Congress 2007 in Pretoria recently.
Tuberculosis is currently treated via a slow release of drugs over an extended period of time. The new technique can reduce the number of times drugs have to be administered and thereby help patients meet their treatment needs.
TB sufferers currently take a daily dose of up to four drugs. In developing countries such as South Africa, they can find it difficult to stick to the six-month-long treatment regime, which requires them to travel long distances to reach the nearest health clinics. Many fail to comply with treatment regimes as a result.
Over the long term, such non-compliance has resulted in the emergence of multi-drug resistant and extra-drug resistant TB.
Using nanotechnology, researchers have devised new drug delivery methods that may solve this problem.
Lead researcher Hulda Swai, from CSIR's Centre for Polymer Technology is aiming for a shorter treatment regimen and a single dose drug application that will last for several days or weeks.
Professor Ben Marais of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University said, "There is a desperate need for research into TB drug therapy. We would welcome any new technology which improved compliance and reduced the risk of resistance."
Swai said the research is important because existing drugs can be re-packaged in a way that will improve delivery and patient compliance to treatment.
"We aim, by using TB as a model disease, to set up a platform in South Africa where we will encapsulate both current and novel therapeutic drugs for malaria, Aids and cancer, as well as for other neglected diseases that affect not only South Africa, but Africa as a whole,' she said. -- Sci-Dev
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