African businesses shift to cloud technology

African businesses are shifting to the cloud to organize, process, and present their data. In fact, many companies are using services like cloud-based email without noticing that they are embracing cloud technology.

The cloud enables remote working and service provision, regardless of where employees or organizations are located and since the hurdle of the distance between the customer and the company will be negated, African businesses will have access to a wider market just as workers will search for jobs beyond their national reach.

Patrick Ndegwa, the Business Sales Lead for SEACOM says organizations need to be able to adapt at the same speed as this new technology and take advantage of the opportunities it presents which will ensure business continuity and resilience in the long term.

The opportunities for Africa in cloud computing are immense including the Internet of Things which is set to become prominent as companies automate and optimize more processes as connected ‘smart’ machines are used. Interconnected systems mean that business processes and actual equipment will be linked to ensure ease of access and optimization. 

This has the power to significantly improve efficiency for businesses that can get it right, says Ndegwa. "As we progress into this digital world of work, systems will become more interlinked and intertwined, providing opportunities for companies that are ready to take advantage."

The cloud will also allow business flexibility and scalability enabling growth while reducing unnecessary costs as a result of more streamlined operating systems and access to more markets and a wider range of service providers.

Ensuring the safety and security of the business

The importance of security in this new cloud-connected world cannot be stressed enough. As more data is moved to a cloud environment, businesses that don’t take security seriously become more susceptible to data breaches.

User rights need to be properly managed and the relevant software put into place to prevent cyberattacks and data leaks. In addition to this, each individual accessing a system affects the safety of the wider network, so employee training is vital.

Accessing and managing data remotely will need to become a priority. The constant influx of data that is being collected and stored needs to be organised and used strategically. Regular backups are crucial in ensuring that information is safe and easily accessible should the original data be deemed at risk. This will ensure business continuity and reduce downtime.

Companies that stand to win will be those that partner with cloud providers that can help them put the right security measures in place.

According to research by 2025 all of the world’s data is expected to increase by five times. This data is estimated to be worth around 123.2 billion USD. In addition to this, the mobile cloud services market will be worth an estimated 95 billion USD by 2024. This trend also applies to Africa.

As Internet usage in Africa grows, so does the amount of data created - as well as the value of that data. Accessing these huge amounts of data won’t be the biggest challenge - making sense of it will be. Companies that can collect, collate, and analyze the sheer volume of data generated every day by their customers, employees, and other stakeholders stand to gain a lot. If you aren’t organizing your data and using it strategically, you will be left behind.

As we look to the future, the importance of partnering with a provider that can assist your business in meeting its operational needs to remain a top priority. A forward-thinking cloud partner can help your business plan for the future while making the most of the latest innovative technology.

By APO Group on behalf of SEACOM.

$1.5 million project to reduce aflatoxins in Uganda's staple foods launched

By Esther Nakkazi

A $1.5 million project to reduce aflatoxin contamination in staple crops to ensure safe and nutritious food that meets standards for export markets has started in Uganda. Uganda loses an estimated US$38 million annually in lost export opportunities because of aflatoxin.

Aflasafe - a safe and effective natural product for the integrated management of aflatoxin in the maize, sorghum, and groundnut value chain will be developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO). 

The four-year project is funded by aBi Development Ltd and implemented by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). 

Aflasafe (https://aflasafe.com/) is a natural product made up of strains of A. flavus that do not produce the poison and are coated on sterile sorghum grains. When applied in the field at the right time, it is able to displace toxin-producing Aspergillus strains, thereby reducing aflatoxins and making the crops safe.

"Minimizing aflatoxin contamination would have tremendous economic and health benefits to Uganda," said Dr. Godfrey Asea, Director of the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) during the launch held at NARO Uganda. 

Aflatoxin is a major challenge to the country's efforts towards food self-sufficiency. It is a top priority in Uganda and the government has flagged it in the Agriculture Sector Development Plan, says Dr. Asea. 

Studies estimate that Aflatoxin causes a loss in revenue in the markets due to contaminated products. 
Already Kenya and Tanzania use the Aflasafe product that has been registered and is commercially available. 

Aflatoxin is a highly poisonous cancer-causing chemical produced by a fungus known as Aspergillus flavus that attacks crops such as maize and groundnut while in the field and in storage when they are not dried and stored properly. Aflatoxin also lowers the body's immunity and causes permanent and irreversible stunting in children and, in cases of acute poisoning, can lead to instant death. 

A country-led Aflatoxin situation analysis report entitled strengthening aflatoxin control in Uganda: policy recommendations by Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA), estimated 3,700 liver cancer cases reported in the country annually are attributable to aflatoxin contamination which translates to between US$144.3 and 577.2 million, or 0.53–2.14% of Uganda’s total GDP.

As well a 2014 study revealed high levels of exposure of Ugandans to aflatoxin. All adults (100%) who participated in the study had aflatoxin (average of 11.5 pg/mg) in their blood, while for children, 95.8% had detectable aflatoxin with an average level of 9.7 pg/mg.

"This project will support field trials on the efficacy of the selected strains in reducing aflatoxin contamination and identify the most effective combinations to form Aflasafe that will be officially released in the country. We will also conduct communication and awareness activities for the population, which is also key to an aflatoxin-free Uganda," said George Mahuku, the project manager at IITA.

Efforts to develop the Uganda-specific Aflasafe started in 2013 under the Aflatoxin Policy and Program for East Africa (APPEAR) project that was funded by USAID. It led to the identification of effective strains of A. flavus to be used to develop the biocontrol product. 

The APPEAR project also provided information on the major maize, groundnut, and sorghum regions that would help to implement the aBi-funded project.

Other project partners include the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives (MTIC), Ministry of Health (MoH), East Africa Grain Council (EAGC), Grain Council of Uganda (TGCU), Makerere University, and from the development sector, AGRA and aBi.
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Higher dose of Hydroxyurea benefits Sickle Cell Anemia more, says study

By Esther Nakkazi

A study in Uganda that could revolutionalize the treatment delivery of sickle cell anemia in sub-Saharan Africa has shown that a higher dose of hydroxyurea is more effective for children.

Hydroxyurea, approved for sickle cell treatment in 1998 by FDA and was originally and it still is a cancer drug is the standard treatment for sickle cell disease in the U.S. and Europe but in much of sub-Saharan Africa, which has a high disease burden, it is not standard treatment. Sickle cell disease has been declared a major public health problem for sub-Saharan Africa by the World Health Organization.

The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 25th June 2020 shows that among children with sickle cell anemia in sub-Saharan Africa, hydroxyurea with dose escalation had superior clinical efficacy to that of fixed-dose hydroxyurea, with equivalent safety.

Researchers believe the study findings in Uganda will have a worldwide impact since an escalated dose is not currently the standard in some European countries and other regions.

In the randomized, double-blind trial, seeking to uncover the best treatment for sickle cell disease in sub-Saharan Africa, 200 children were divided into two groups with one group given a fixed dose of hydroxyurea, (approximately 20 mg per kilogram of body weight per day) and the other arm an escalating dose of (approximately 30 mg per kilogram per day).

The arm with the higher dose showed more benefit for the patients prompting the data and safety monitoring board to halt the trial early.

It was done by Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) in partnership with Robert Opoka, MMed, at Makerere University and Mulago Hospital in Uganda and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation.

“We hope this will change practice for the overwhelming majority of kids with sickle cell,” says Dr. Chandy John, a physician-scientist at IUSM’s Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health and the study’s lead co-investigator.

“You increase the dose and make sure it’s safe at the higher dose because hydroxyurea has some side effects. But people didn’t want to do that in Africa, because it’s more complicated to do.”

The researchers also found that the escalating dose showed similar side effects as the fixed-dose and the financial cost of making the escalated dose standard in sub-Saharan Africa is not significant.

“To see this so unequivocally—to the point that the study’s [monitoring] board stopped the study early because they said the difference was so huge, it was not ethical to continue having two groups. None of us, including our sickle cell experts, expected the differences would be so huge. We were really shocked,” says Dr. Chandy John.

Researchers observed that the higher dose isn’t much more expensive, drug companies are subsidizing the medication, and the Ministry of Health of Uganda could classify it as an essential drug, meaning it would be provided for free.

However, the logistics of moving children in sub-Saharan Africa to the higher dose present challenges as it requires specialized providers - or pediatric hematologists.

“In rural areas, you can’t have a bunch of pediatric hematologists all over the country—that’s not practical, so training is needed for frontline healthcare workers in the basics of what to do with sickle cell,” says Dr. Chandy John.

The researchers' next set of studies is looking at very practical things about implementation where most of the affected children live. The study in Uganda was conducted at Mulago, a national referral hospital in the capital city, Kampala, but most kids with sickle cell are in rural areas with fewer resources.

“One study we’re proposing is…how do we practically implement this in lower-resource settings?,” says Dr. Chandy John. Sickle cell is a genetic disease that is not curable but preventable. In most communities in sub-Saharan Africa, there is a lot of ignorance about sickle cell disease with lots of myths and misconceptions about the disease.

At least 15,000 to 20,000 babies are born with sickle cell disease every year in Uganda, and 80 percent of them die before their 5th birthday. As a single disease, it could be killing more under-fives than any other although the statistics are scanty.

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