LOS FORMADORES ANTE LA SOCIEDAD DE LA INFORMACIÓN (TIC´S)

The RAFT (Réseau en Afrique Francophone pour la Télémédecine) network has its origin in Africa, by a group of medical students from the Bamako University Medical School in Mali (Geissbuhle et al, 2007). The Bamako University is the only health care training facility in Mali,

while this country is not the least in Africa, its current population according to (Index mundi, 2012) is 14.5 million which is twice the size of France. The grand idea was to make us of the Internet for the students to stay connected to each other, their lecturers and other knowledgeable specialists regardless of where they go to practice. The project was then initiated and initially named “Keneya Blown” (Geissbuhle et al, 2007). RAFT as it is currently known broadcasts medical education courses webcasts on weekly basis and these are followed by hundreds of health care professionals across French speaking Africans.

Since its offset, RAFT is reported to have grown to such an extent that it runs now across the continent, cultural and geographical boundaries with collaborations between Réseau informatique malien d’information et de communication médicale (Mali), Ministère de la Santé du Mali, Hôpital Universitaire du Point G (Mali), Geneva University Hospital (Switzerland), Geneva University UNESCO chair of telemedicine (Switzerland), Health-ontheNet Foundation (Switzerland and Mali), OESO Foundation (Switzerland), Ministère dela Santé de Mauritanie, Secrétariat d’Etat aux Technologies Nouvelles (Mauritania), Hôpital European Georges Pompidou (France), Réseau HOPES et Université Numérique Francophone Mondiale (France), Université de Marrakech (Morocco), Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (Senegal), Hôpital Universitaire Le Dantec (Senegal), Hôpitaux Universitaires de Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Association AMMIE de Ouahigouya (Burkina Faso), Institut National d’Orthopédie (Tunisie), Hôpital Central de Yaoundé (Cameroon), Centre Suisse de Recherché Scientifique d’Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Université d’Antananarivo (Madagascar), Ministère de la Santé de Madagascar, Ministère de la Santé du Niger (Geissbuhle et al, 2007).

In 0rder to reach as far as possible using the already available communication infrastructure, RAFT focused on low bandwidth with the assumption that growth in these two aspects would eventually simultaneously while they tackle the bigger challenge for better understanding the challenges faces by the organisation and moral needs. RAFT network offers the following activities (Geissbuhle et al, 2007):

 The e-course, which is an e-learning system offering health professionals courses and consultation services with other health professionals and information bases so as to solve difficult cases, regardless of the distance barrier. Their system was originally

developed at Geneva University, specifically designed to use minimal bandwidth and still provide high quality sound and presentation of its material. This system allows student to post feedback to the teachers via instant messaging, giving them allowance to adjust quality of video of the “talking head” during vide consultation, which of course saves resources. A bandwidth of 28 kbps is sufficient for the communication, enabling participants from remote areas to make use of widely available tools, for example, a cybercafé connected to the Internet via an analogue telephone line.

 The iPath tele-consultation platform, which was developed by the Basel University Hospital, is an open source instrument providing a controlled environment for virtual communities of already identified health care professionals to present clinical cases for assistance from their associates. These cases are illustrated by use of images with email notifications used to facilitate rapid response mimicking the actual patient care.

 IP based visioconferencing is used to mostly point-to-point remote consultations during patient’s remote clinical examination when necessary. These processes are only limited to cases where bandwidth of more than 100 kbps is available.

 WLAN connections linking the hospitals together have been installed in few locations: Bamako (Mali), in Nouakchott (Mauritania) and in Yaoundé (Cameroon). These WLANs enable high bandwidth alliances between the health care professionals.

 Two satellite stations have been installed, one in Dimmbal in Mali another in Maata Moulaana in Mauritania (figure 7), both situated in rural areas. These satellites provide connectivity in rural areas where necessary infrastructure is inadequate, to pilot the project in delocalised primary care situations. The mini-VSAT technology was chosen due to the fact that it is largely available in Africa, its advantageous capability of resisting frequent climatological conditions, including heavy rains and winds and most importantly its affordable than VSAT technology.

3 CHAPTER 3: THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the overall methodology used to conduct the research is discussed and further explained. This chapter provides further details on each method used during each step of the research, as the research comprises of different methods in separate sections all used to carry out research objectives. However the research mainly mimics and motivates the use of the living lab methodology as its overall method. This is mainly motivated by the fact that the research itself is conducted within the Siyakhula Living Lab, which then adopts, along with its day-to-day processes, the living lab methodology.

Although the living lab method is applied throughout the research, also the research comprises of sections elaborated upon in the various chapters of this dissertation where each section may comprise of more than one method applied. These methods mentioned above are referred to as sub methods, which are applied so as to carry out each section’s objective (sub objective). These sub-methods are then put under the big umbrella of the living lab methodology, governing the overall processes within SLL including this research.

This research is qualitative in nature; therefore qualitative methods are used to carry out the specific sub-objectives. In elaborating these qualitative methods we commence by discussing and reviewing the overall methodology: Living Lab Methodology and then later discussing each method used in each chapter. The first sub-method applied in this research is found in chapter 2, where literature is reviewed and discussed to understand more the ICT4D concept adopted in this research, its background and furthermore understand the relevance of this research in day-to-day lives within society. A second sub-method used is: a combination of Observation and Review of literature, applied in this chapter (chapter 3), which will be later practiced in identification of metrics as well as the identification and discussion of rurality characters. In the fourth chapter, a literature review method is applied to collect information and hence profiling of wireless broadband technologies. A combination of two methods again is applied and elaborated in chapter 5, where implementation is carried out in two steps; first analysis through comparison of literature to determine suitable technologies and deployment of a selected technology. The next and last section (chapter 6); recommendations from the author are elaborated and research is concluded.