UNITED NATIONS MEETING IN GENEVA TO DISCUSS HOW NEW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

CAN HELP FIGHT POVERTY, DELIVER BETTER HEALTH SERVICES, 26 MAY

As Internet access grows, mobile connectivity explodes and remarkable innovations in social networking spread rapidly even in the least developed countries, the United Nations will meet with digital innovators on 26 May in Geneva to explore how developing countries can take advantage of these opportunities.

The ever-evolving information and communication technology environment offers new solutions and business models that could be developed to combat poverty and illiteracy.  The one-day meeting will also discuss how developing countries can achieve health-related Millennium Development Goals by harnessing and applying new digital platforms and innovations.

“Emerging new media and web-based communities are providing new mobilizing platforms for young people and for innovative businesses,” said Sarbuland Khan, Executive coordinator of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID).  “The creative energies of social entrepreneurs and the Internet community should be harnessed to help contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” he added.

The meeting aims to spark conversation among all stakeholders, including policymakers, international organizations, the private sectors, non-governmental organizations and academia, so as to enrich the intergovernmental discussions of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development.

New technologies can boost education through distance learning, content creation and delivery, and teacher training.  They can help create new job opportunities for people living in poverty.  These technologies can also empower women and the disadvantaged to increase their access to information and participate in the economy.

Advances in health information systems based on information and communications technology are improving patient care and health care providers’ productivity worldwide.  However, developing countries lag behind in employing information and communications technology to these ends.  While diseases in developing countries account for over 90 per cent of the global disease burden, it is estimated that only 10 per cent of the more than $100 billion spent annually on health research is allocated to health problems prevalent in those countries.  The one-day panel will discuss how this divide could be bridged, using digital approaches and opportunities.

Issues to be discussed include innovations and new technology platforms for access, knowledge and technology transfer to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.  Participants will also explore the possibility of creating incentives for innovations in the forms of prize funds, alternative funding mechanisms, global partnerships for health, and e-health, m-health and telemedicine.

The event is being held during the twelfth session of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development and is co-organized by GAID, the Commission on Science and Technology for Development Secretariat, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The Commission on Science and Technology for Development is a commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, established in 1992 to provide the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council with high-level advice on science and technology, including information and communications technology.  In 2006, the Commission was mandated by the Economic and Social Council to serve as the focal point in the system-wide follow up to the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society.  The Commission meets annually for a one week, in Geneva, Switzerland.

GAID was launched in 2006 as a multi-stakeholder platform to put in practice the spirit and vision of the World Summit on the Information Society, and promote the use of information and communications technology to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.  It provides all stakeholders a broad forum and a global platform for dialogue and partnership on cross-cutting issues.

For more information, please visit http://www.un-gaid.org, or contact Enrica Murmura, Department of Economic and Social Affairs-GAID, tel: +1 212 963 5913, e‑mail: murmura@un.org, or Charles Geiger of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), e-mail: Charles.Geiger@unctad.org.

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For information media • not an official record