Ghana to End Government Monopoly Over Phone Industry
Ghana has disclosed plans to privatize its state telecommunications company. According to a news report, this will be done by finding a strategic investor to help strengthen the company's technological base and to provide training for staff. The plans were announced in March by Edward Salia, minister for Transport and Communications.
As part of the plans, the market for cellular phones, pagers and payphones will be liberalized in an effort to attract more companies into the venture, and Ghana Telecom's monopoly will be broken by allowing another network to compete.
With the current estimated demand at 300,000 phone lines in the country, the ministry's aim is to increase the number of lines from 50,000 to 200,000. Salia ruled out international or bilateral credit which he said had resulted in high-cost procurement and higher prices in the past.
"The solution to the problem of meeting the demand within a reasonable time frame must lie with the private sector," the minister said. "That is to attract private sector finance here."
A market analyst predicts that likely investors would be US companies Southwestern Bell and AT&T, and French companies. Ghanaian citizens will be offered investment opportunities through the sale of some shares of the privatized company, and ownership will not be limited to the strategic investor.
The ministry aims to have one phone per 100 people by the end of 1996. Currently, there are three phones per 1,000 people, and only 37 out of the 110 administrative districts in the country have telephone exchanges.
Information Technology Services in Kenya
InterNet Kenya Limited has announced the availability of its Personalized Computer Information Service for computer users in Kenya. Services include an "electronic directory" of computer services and products, a "problem-solution databank" for answers to commonly asked questions, and a clipping service from major computer publications. The cost of the service is Kshs 2,400. Further information can be obtained from InterNet Kenya Ltd., P.O. Box 47883, Nairobi, Kenya.
New Satellites for Wireless Phones
Three US companies earlier this year received the "green light" from the Federal Communications Commission to launch fleets of satellites into low orbit over the next three years. The satellites will allow wireless telephone users to communicate with each other by satellite anywhere in the world.
The companies—Iridium, Globalstar, and TRW—each plan to launch up to 66 low-earth orbit satellites that are directly accessible to telephones, fax machines, and pagers. Motorola, the founder and majority stockholder in the Iridium company, first developed the system in 1991 as a system for providing truly global communications at a lower cost than is presently available.
The prices for the planned systems range from $1.8 billion to $3.3 billion, and consumers will pay about $3 per minute to use the services when they become available.
Philips Wins Major Contracts in Africa . . .
. . . Telephone Services Extended to Rural Areas of Togo
European electronics giant Philips has won a US$400,000 contract from OPTT, the telecommunications operator of Togo, to supply a 40 station IRT2000 microwave point-to-multipoint subscriber access system. The contract is part of a US$2 million order placed by OPTT in 1994 for IRT rural telecommunications systems. About 400 subscribers from the Villages in the Cacavelli region of Togo are expected to be connected to the new system, which will be installed by Philips this year. According to the Philips Telecom News, Philips will also be installing IRT networks in Kpalime, Atakpame, Kara and Dapanong.
. . . Mauritian Broadcasting Corporation to go Digital
The Mauritian Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) has signed a US$2.3 million contract with Philips to digitalize its television distribution network. Philips is supplying two types of high capacity digital microwave systems to distribute three new channels.
The first phase of the digitalization, which involves linking the main Studio Complex at Pasteur to transmitters at Jurancon, Signal Mountain, Butte Aux Papayes and Malherbes, will begin in 1995, and is expected to be carried out over a two-year period.
. . . Egyptian Fiber Network Earmarked for Further Expansion
Philips has won a US$1.6 million contract from Arento, the Egyptian national telecommunications operator to install fiber optics links in the regions of Luxor, Benisuef, Minia, Sohag and Quena. The company reports that each link of the system will consist of optical cables equipped with plesio chronous multiplexing and line systems.
. . . Telecommunications Expansion in Benin
Philips has won two more contracts with the national telecommunications operator of Benin, OPT to supply equipment and to extend the digital network in Benin. Under the terms of the first agreement, digital microwave systems with a capacity of 140 Mbits/sec will be supplied by Philips for linking the towns of Pobee, Core and Bohian. The OPT plans to install a national digital microwave network covering the whole of Benin. The national microwave chain, which was started in 1992, is expected to be completed in 1996.
Under the second contract, Philips is supplying an IRT microwave point-to-multipoint subscriber access network to be used in the Cotonou region for linking the towns of Pahou, Torri and Ze to the national telecommunications system.
Malawi to Restructure Railway System
The World Bank recently approved $16.6 million in IDA credit to help Malawi improve its railway system. The country is landlocked and must rely on neighboring coastal countries for all its overseas imports and exports through other countries. Under this project, the existing rail routes will be restructured and eventually privatized. The government expect to formulate a competitive transport policy to be implemented under this project to help boost economic growth.
Transportation Reforms in Cameroun
The Camerounian government is embarking on reforms to improve transportation systems in the country. This sector has suffered from weak management in recent years, and several of the transportation enterprises are technically bankrupt. A $10.2 million IDA credit facility approved in April will enable Cameroon to privatize its airline, rail and shipping companies. The new financing will also support road maintenance, regulatory reforms and management training programs.
Zambia Airways Privatized
At the beginning of this year Zambian Airways was liquidated as part of the privatization scheme instituted by the Chiluba government. Originally the government had hoped to settle the corporation's huge outstanding debt, but was not willing to take money away from education and other more essential items on the budget.
Traditionally both in Africa and Europe, governments have gone out of their way to subsidize the national flag carriers, seeing them as an symbol of the national identity, no matter how economically unsuccessful they were. Apparently during Kaunda's regime, the management of the airline was answerable only to the president. In the late 1980s, several bad managerial decisions left the airline with a fleet of leased aircraft that they could not operate at a profit.
By the second week of January, a group of Zambian, Canadian and South African businessmen had approached the Zambian government for approval to start a new airline, Zambian Express Airways, which would be affiliated with South African Express Airways. The businessmen had raised half of the $7 million they needed. They are planning to operate four 50-seat aircraft to cover local routes, and one Boeing 747 on international routes. They hope to create at least 240 jobs in Zambia. The company will be 40% owned by the business men, 40% by an assortment of local investors, 10% by the government, and 10% will be offered on the Lusaka Stock Exchange.
Mauritius to Step Up Industrial Technology
Mauritius plans to introduce more sophisticated technology industries and services in order to maintain economic growth. A $16 million World Bank loan was approved in March to help this effort. Under the program, the number of graduates in engineering, science and management will increase, and the quality of higher education will be improved.
Ghana to Promote Vocational Training
Some 25,000 Ghanaian apprentices and master craftsman and women will benefit from a $9.6 million IDA credit facility approved in March. The money will be used to improve short-term vocational training and to improve the quality of output and the productivity of program beneficiaries. Forty public and private vocational training institutions will receive equipment and managerial advice as part of this package.
The MIT Appropriate Technology Center
Plans are underway to establish an Appropriate Technology Design Center in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The goals of center are:
• to develop innovative solutions to technical problems in developing countries in collaboration with a variety of development organizations
• to enhance undergraduate design education by providing relevant, rewarding projects for students
• to increase the awareness of, and exposure to, appropriate technology in the MIT community.
The Center grew out of an informal collaboration between MIT and Appropriate Technology International (ATI) in 1991 when ATI's Carl Bielenberg brought the Screenless Hammermill and the Treadle Pump projects to Professor Carl Peterson, and his Mechanical Design course at MIT. In this class, small groups of students design and build prototypes for industry-sponsored projects in order to gain experience using the mechanical elements they have learned about in the class. Both of the initial ATI projects were very popular and the projects were continued after the end of the class. The designs were refined and taken into the field for testing. The treadle pump was taken to Bolivia for field testing and the mill was tested in Senegal. The success of these projects, and the continued popularity of subsequent ATI projects, led to the plans to establish the Appropriate Technology Design Center.
Africa "Tops" List of World's Poorest
The recently published World Bank Atlas offers more dismal news on the state of Africa's economies. It compares data for all countries on GDP per capita, health, inflation, literacy, and the status of women. The report for the first time adjusts GDP figures to reflect the purchasing power of each country's currency.
Unlike the UN's Human Development Report (see Tech Notes on Page 12), the World Bank figures do not attempt to quantify the quality of life in each country, and do not take into account disparities in standards of living within a country.
World Development Report Looks at Workers
Policy makers around the world are being reassured that the pursuit of economic growth will lead to higher employment and happier workers, according to the newly published World Development Report for 1995. The annual volume on the world's economies published by the World Bank focuses on a particular aspect of development each year.
This year's report, entitled "Workers in an Integrating World," comes at a time when many developing countries are feeling the full impact of economic reforms advocated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. African countries in particular have been hard hit with high unemployment, fallen or stagnant real wages, and reduced purchasing power as a result of structural adjustment programs. The report points out that among developing countries, Africa's industrial wages have remained at 1970 levels, compared to those in east Asia and the Pacific which have risen by over 250%.
All workers are not equal. Even after accounting for differences in purchasing power of currencies, the study reveals wide differences between workers doing similar work in industrialized and developing countries. The report explains that this is due to differences in "the quantity and value of workers' contribution to output."
One of the main findings of the report is that there is a strong correlation between per capita GDP growth and growth of real wages in low- and middle-income economies. It encourages governments to pursue market-based growth to spur demand for labor, open up trade, and pursue fair labor policies. Finally, countries transitioning to market-based development are advised to "try to design the transition to make it as rapid as possible without excessive or permanent costs to labor."
By any World Bank measure, Africa has a long way to go before its workers will enjoy the benefits of their labor. The report acknowledges that Africa's workers are likely to fall further behind relative to their counterparts in other developing countries, and "inter-generational cycles of neglect" could result in countries that experience growth without educating and investing in their workers.
Earliest Tools in Africa are Older than Expected
Recent archaeological finds in Zaïre indicate that humans in Africa developed and used sophisticated tools some 75,000 years before their counterparts in Europe. A study published in the journal Science reports that Africans began to use these tools about 90,000 years ago.
The tools were found in the Semliki river valley between Zaïre and Uganda after several years of excavation by scientists from the George Washington University and the US National Science Foundation. Among the tools were double- and single-pointed barbs that could have been mounted on spear shafts. They were apparently carved from the ribs of large mammals that lived in the vicinity.
The findings are contrary to the belief of many experts who have maintained that although humans originated in Africa, the technology to make tools did not advance until they migrated to Europe. So striking were the findings that researchers subjected the specimens to four different dating techniques to verify that they were indeed between 89,000 and 173,000 years old. Stone tools found in Europe are estimated to be about 40,000 years old.
Chad to Implement New Population Policy
Chad is to receive $20.4 million in credit from the IDA to help the country implement a national population policy and to control the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Chad's population is now 6.8 million, and is increasing by 2.5% each year. Over 100,000 people are estimated to be infected with the AIDS virus in Chad.
New Hope for Elephantiasis Victims
What is the best treatment for elephantiasis? Soap and water, according to recent findings by Brazilian researchers who have shown dramatic improvement within two weeks in patients suffering from the disease for 20 years. Elephantiasis is a disfiguring disease which affects about 80 million people, mostly in Africa and India. It is caused by infections of slender filarial worms in the body's lymphatic system, resulting in enormous enlargement of the scrotum, breasts, or limbs.
The researchers from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Recife, Brazil, found that regular treatment with soap and water on the affected areas not only reduced the infection but also reversed the swelling in the limbs. Over 10,000 patients have already been treated at the center. Researchers found that the drastic swelling created breaks in the skin and allowed infection by other microorganisms. The key is to keep breaks in the skin clean after initial treatment with antibiotics, and rest the affected limbs to reduce swelling.
The parasitic worms (wuchereria bancrofti) are usually introduced into the body by mosquitoes. These findings challenge the accepted notion that elephantiasis is caused by the worms obstructing lymph channels. Instead, researchers say, the worms damage the lymph system and make the body vulnerable to infections by bacteria and fungi which were found to block lymph vessels and cause swelling. Regular cleaning prevents these secondary organisms from breeding. This also explains why patients still have swollen organs even though the worms may no longer be present. The treatment is being studied by the World Health Organizations and will be applied in other countries soon.
German Firms Blamed for Selling Inferior Drugs
A recently published report in Germany has revealed damaging evidence that German pharmaceutical companies are exporting ineffective, inferior drugs to developing countries. The report, published by the German non-governmental organization BUKO Pharma-Kampagne, found that over half the drugs exported by German companies are of low quality and may pose serious health risks.
Many developing countries rely exclusively on imported drugs because they have no domestic manufacturing capacity. In addition, many countries do not impose proper standards on the sale of pharmaceuticals and many prescription drugs can be easily obtained on the open market. German pharmaceutical manufacturers such as Hoechst, BASF, and Merck, are among the largest in the world and account for a large proportion of drugs imported into Africa.
The study measured the effectiveness of the drugs against standards established by the World Health Organization and determined that only 16% of them would be classified as "Indispensable," which means they can be used to treat 95% of illnesses. The study categorized 53% of the drugs produced as "irrational," meaning that they were ineffective and probably dangerous. Nearly two-thirds of these drugs could be found only in developing countries and not on German store shelves.
Compared to a similar study released in 1992, many of the German drug firms have improved on their previous record, partly as a result of the negative publicity they received. The BUKO study reports that 362 new products have been introduced and 261 others are no longer produced. Most of the new drugs are considered useful.
US Health Reports Available On-Line
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has announced the availability of major health reports on a new computerized service. Anyone with access to Internet, the global information network, can get the latest editions of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a newsletter tracking cases of major diseases such as the flu, cancer, AIDS, and asthma. The CDC has also made available the Annual Summary of Notifiable Diseases and the CDC Surveillance Summaries.
Internet users with access to the World Wide Web can reach the new service at either of the following addresses:
http:/www.cdc.gov/
http:www.crawford.com/cdc/mmwr/mmwr.html
Users can also send regular electronic mail to:
lists@list.cdc.gov
New Micronutrient Lab Opens in Ghana
The University of Ghana commissioned a new Micronutrient Research Laboratory last May. The facility will provide analysis of iodine, serum, vitamin A, and other substances for researchers and micronutrient programs in West Africa. In particular, it is expected to benefit the salt iodization program currently underway in the country. Funding for the lab was provided by the International Development Research Center of Canada.
Zimbabwe Health Programs Suffer Under SAP
One of Africa's leading countries in terms of health indicators may be losing its premier status as a result of budget cutbacks in the health sector. Many of Zimbabwe's 10 million people are receiving poorer care than they did only five years ago, according to a report recently published by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The structural adjustment program introduced by the Zimbabwe government in 1991 as a condition to IMF assistance is viewed by the report as the main contributor to the decline in health service quality. As a result of the economic program the budget of the Ministry of Health has fallen by 34% in real terms. Fees, which were introduced under the program, are believed to be deterring many poor people from seeking treatment when they need it.
The report says that outpatient attendance among children under five has fallen, reflecting the higher burden on parents who now have to pay for services once provided free of charge. Health care professionals are also reported to be leaving the country because of poor working conditions and salary freezes.
Shortly after independence, the nation embarked on an ambitious health program to raise the level of health care for its black citizens closer to that enjoyed by the white community. Hundreds of rural health care centers were built to serve the 75% of the population who live in rural areas. Many of these centers may close, and visits by health care workers, whose numbers have been cut from 7,000 to 5,000, have fallen dramatically.
Electricity and Water Shortage in Sudan
Sudan's main hydroelectric power station at Roseires is operating at less than one quarter of its full capacity. This is because the water level of the Blue Nile, on which the dam is located, is very low. This has resulted in acute water and electricity shortages in Khartoum.
Last April, demonstrators in Omdurman took to the streets and burned tires to protest the hardships brought about by the shortages. Some parts of the City get a six hour rationing of electricity each day while some people have to rise at 2 a.m. to fill containers with water.
An official at Roseires Dam told Sudan's official news agency SUNA that the flow at al-Duem station on the Ethiopian border has increased to 24 million cubic meters required for optimal power generation.
The Khartoum government has plans to expand the Roseires dam to increase its water storage capacity at a cost of $320 million.