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Current Feed ContentHealth: A priority for the Jammeh administration
Monday, July 21, 2008 Health, like the rest of all the sectors that feature prominently in President Jammeh’s development master plan of The Gambia, has received a tremendous boost. Again, like all the other sectors, accessibility and affordability to those that matter, the Gambian people, who are always at the fore when it comes to provision of key services, have been a central concern of the Jammeh administration. The Gambia’s health care delivery system revolves around the principle of primary health care system - the provision of basic, essential and quality health care services, which are made universally accessible and affordable to every citizen. To President Jammeh and his government, cost, as an inhibiting factor, has equity implications. He sees no way that this is going to serve as an obstacle to his ambition. So, a D5 consultation fee, the lowest in the whole of Africa, is the only sum charged, and patients with chronic conditions are given medical care at gratis. And something unique to this country is that the health planning process caters for a special provision for communities to define and pursue their own priorities, in ways that are compatible to their values, all geared towards meeting local needs. This is an approach that seeks to embrace the people centred development model. As a way of boosting accessibility, in addition to the two colonial-time-built referral hospitals (RVTH and Bansang Hospital), the APRC government has built four new hospitals so far (The AFPRC General Hospital in Farafenni; Sulayman Junkung Hospital in Bwiam; the Paediatric Hospital in Kanilai; and, recently, the Serrekunda Hospital). The government also built forty (40) major health centres and five hundred (500) Village Health Posts; and, to crown it all, the School of Medicine of the University of The Gambia was established, by and large, to serve as a vehicle for the provision of home-grown doctors. Already, two batches of well-trained and disciplined graduates of that pioneering institution have been inaugurated. The justification for declaring health a topmost priority for the government of President Yahya Jammeh can be deduced from the record reductions that have been achieved in terms of both morbidity and mortality rates in the country. Infant mortality has drastically fallen by 54%, due largely to effective malaria control programs and integrated programs in childhood illnesses. The massive reduction in morbidity and mortality is obviously as a result of the massive increase in the number of medical personnel (medical doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians), coupled with a parallel increase in access, as well as an augmented level of awareness among the masses. The public health sector, which had only seven medical doctors before the advent of the 22nd July revolution, presently boasts of 300 medical doctors. This has drastically impacted on the doctor/patient ratio in the dispensation of the health delivery services, which is arguably matchless in the rest of the continent. In his steady quest to standardize the health sector, and to strengthen the curative services of the driving force behind the success story of the country’s health sector, President Jammeh has never relented in ensuring that his government lays hand on the best facilities available. For instance, the procurement of some state-of-the-art bio-medical equipment (haemodialysis machine, sigmoidoscopic and, the endoscopic machines and CT Scanners), has contributed tremendously in transforming the country’s health sector to international standards. According to medical experts, these bio-medical equipment are the latest scientific digital diagnosing machines. And according to Dr Lamin S Sima, in some countries within the sub-region, dialysis patients (those with renal or kidney problems) are obliged to pay 450 dollars, weekly, until the end of their life. "Here in The Gambia, it is free,” Dr Sima pointed out. He said that they do receive patients from abroad for the services of these machines, which, he emphasized, have helped a lot in improving the quality of the health delivery system in the country. According to the director of health services, Dr Tamsir Mbowe, who is also the director of the Presidential Treatment Program, a countless number of patients used to get referred abroad. But with the coming of these equipment, many of these patients are being treated in The Gambia now. He said that health indicators in The Gambia suggest a terrific improvement, with life expectancy increasing from 43 to 54 years. According to expert reports, The Gambia is reasonably on course to attain the health related goals of the MDGs. The World Health Organisation is on record as having certified The Gambia as having reached a polio-free status. Also, the WHO’s global alliance for the elimination of leprosy has also certified the country for having attained the elimination status for leprosy, due to the country’s low prevalence rate of one case of leprosy for 10,000 inhabitants. The breakthrough Perhaps the discovery of some invaluable medical herbs, dubbed ‘The Breakthrough’, by President Yahya Jammeh, on January 17, 2007, was the most significant discovery in a very long time. The discovery of herbs with the potency to cure HIV/AIDS, asthma, diabetes, hypertension and infertility, has further projected the positive image of The Gambia on the world map. This is the greatest achievement the health sector has ever enjoyed in the history of Gambian medicine. HIV/AIDS, which had been termed an uncurable disease, and considered by many as a death penalty, has obviously been demystified; and today many feel comfortable enough to come forward to declare their status so that they can get cured. Laboratory investigations conducted both in The Gambia and abroad have vindicated the president’s assertion that he can cure HIV/AIDS. Presently, the 5th batch of patients is receiving treatment. Thousands of patients have already benefited from the presidential treatment programs, which have undoubtedly, significantly reduced the disease burden in The Gambia; with bed occupancy in health facilities dropping and the cost of procuring drugs to manage diseases like asthma, infertility, HIV/AIDS, hypertension, diabetes and a lot more, equally reducing. Health continues to occupy a prominent place in the priority list of President Jammeh’s government. Author: DO Web Accessibility a Universal Goal! Friday, February 29, 2008 Introduction: Over the last decay, an increase number of research were conducted to determine ways Information Technology can assist in meeting special needs to ensure universal accessibility. Findings to date suggest that by being more knowledgeable about accessibility issues, Web designers and developers are able to accommodate end users with special needs. As we enter the knowledge age, it is no longer acceptable that people with limited or no vision are on their own when it comes to accessing the web, nor those with mobility problems are on their own when it comes to use a hardware. To ignore website accessibility raises moral, business, and legal issues. It is morally wrong to discriminate against disabled people on the web simply through lack of thought, consideration, or awareness. Many business web sites designed without considering accessibility issues result in loss of revenue. Some countries, such as the US, UK, and Australia has introduced legislation that requires organizations to adhere to accessibility issues. In June 1999, the Disability Discrimination Act (1999) has been used to fight for access rights in Australia. The 2000 Olympic Site Games, jointly developed by Sydney Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (SOCOG) and IBM was found inaccessible to the blind users, and SOCOG was fined A$ 20,000 [1]. The purpose of this paper is raising awareness among web designers and developers, to achieve universal web accessibility goal. The paper looks at the disability issues and the existing assistive technologies or methods used by disabled users to assist them in accessing the web. Afterwards, the paper reviews guidelines for good web site design, and provides analysis for designing an accessible website. Furthermore, the paper highlights on the challenges and gaps in the web accessibility area. Literature Review: Two years ago, a Conference was held in ‘London’ and attended by representatives of commerce, industry, government, and the IT Sector aiming to raise awareness of the potential benefits of assistive technology to disabled users. The outstanding number of speakers highlighted through number of cases how technology can transfer lives. ‘Sue Bassoon’ a Business Development Manager at IBM said: “IBM’s goal is to have a speech recognition system as good as the human ear by 2010” [2]. The objectives of this literature is two folds: (1) explain how a particular disability (e.g. visual impairment, mobility restriction, hearing impairment) can impede the use of the web, and what can be done to accommodate special needs; and (2) show how web designers and developers can construct accessible web sites to end users with disabilities, such as visual or hearing impairment. (1) Disability Issues The section begins with a descriptive part concerning disabled user functional limitation and dependence on assistive technologies. A- Vision Issues: A web user who has no sight (totally blind) is likely to use the screen reader technology to reads a load the content of the web page. Other web users, with partial or poor sight need to be able to enlarge the text on web page using a screen magnifier. B- Mobility Issues: A web user may have mobility problems as a result of an accident or disease such as:(loss of limb, Injury, or aging process). The technologies used by users with mobility problems are: - Sticky Keys: For users with one finger typing. - Filter Keys: Ignores repeated strokes for people with hand tremors. - Mouse Keys: Permits moving pointer with numeric keypad. - Serial Key: Permits access to alternatives for mouse and keyboard functions such as Foot Mouse. - Eye gaze: A video camera that racks eye movement as the user look at an on screen keyboard. It is customizable as how long a key must be looked at to be recorded. When system has identified the key looked at the symbol appears and the user look at next key. C- Hearing Issues: A web user may be deaf or experiencing problems with hearing due to the natural aging process. To assist those users the audio or video need to be translated to the ASL (American Sign Language) language of the deaf, in which certain signs represent words. (2) Design for Accessibility In the above section, the paper provided readers with a general knowledge about disability issues, disabled users, and the existing assistive technologies. This section is intended for web designers and developers, because it provides them with tips and guidelines on ways to design a good and accessible website. There are two main aspects to take into account: I- Look and Feel Web designers need to present a user friendly interface that addresses specific ability needs. The designer should be able to describe ways disabled users interact with a website, and how they move through the pages and how they achieve their goals. Below, are helpful tips that designers need to consider when designing an accessible website. - Web Designers & Developers; should follow the four principles of visual organization in the process of designing a website which are: Proximity, Alignment, Consistency, and Contrast. - Web Designers & Developers; must avoid using HTML tables to control the layout, instead use style sheets. - Web Designers & Developers; should use legible fonts, and font size to allow disabled users to easily change them from the browser interface. - Avoid poor color contrast in your design, and do not use color for meaningful description. - Avoid the use of animation, and flash which may affect users with photosensitive epilepsy. - Avoid using Frames because it can pose problems for technology used by some disabled users. - Try not to use graphics for menu and button forms. - Avoid hiding menu items (using DHTML or applets) II- Content Web designers should organize content in a way that can provide ease of use and simplicity. Below, are helpful tips that designers need to consider when designing an accessible website: - Use a clear language, and write short sentences. For example, a web page should provide blind users with a short summary of what they can find. A Search Functionality is important because a blind person can’t scan the page, and will generally trust first result he/she receives. - Add Accessible tags and attributes by using rich set of tags to enhance accessibility. For instance, an ALT tag is used to provide a text equivalent for images within a website. The ALT text description is what the screen reader or talking browser will read to the blind users . - Use clear link descriptions, and include links that a user can click to skip repetitive regions of the page. - Ensure the pages are usable when scripts, applets, or style sheets are turned off or not supported. - All audio and video content should contain captions, transcription, and descriptive information. Analysis: It is estimated that 20% of the population has some kind of disability. The internet opens a new window of opportunity and independence to disabled users from reading news to banking to conducting business. For example, by using the screen reader technology a blind user can listen to the latest newspaper published electronically. Similarly, a user with mobility problem who can not go out shopping to buy a newspaper, nor use a keyboard or mouse independently, can rather use the eye tracking software that allow people to use a computer with nothing more than eye movement. Nowadays, organizations are asking designers to make their web sites accessible and for good reasons. First of all, the more people who can use a site, the more potential it can generate. Online stores, in particular have a great deal to gain, since many people with functional limitation problems, find it much easier to shop online. Most Web designers are not personally opposed to the concept of making web sites accessible to people with disabilities. In fact most accessibility errors on web sites are the result of ignorance. A large proportion of web designers and developers have simply never thought about accessibility issues. A small proportion of web designers (4%) do not understand the needs of users with disabilities; another (46%) understand some of the needs of users with disabilities. While only (26%) of designers understand most of the needs of users with disabilities and can accommodate them [3]. The Challenges and Gaps of Web Accessibility: In this section, we highlight the challenges and the requirements posed by user needs, to access the web. We argue the need for a new approach to address accessibility issues, and include it in each and every web project life cycle.We recognize that the vast majority of disabled users face challenges when accessing the web. Why is this? Is it the lack of technical solutions to meet their needs – absolutely not! You will hear today that there are new technological solutions to address even most extreme form of disability. Is it cost? Again it is not! Some technical solutions, cost nothing at all, and already exist in software. So, What then? Is it that web applications are being developed that present challenges to accessible design? Is it lack of knowledge and skills to meet their needs? There does seem a general lack of awareness of web accessibility issues. Web Designers and Developers, need to have a better approach to tackle the problem in each phase of the web development process. For example, during the requirement analysis phase a web developer must define the target audience of the site, and should take into account people with a combination of disabilities. In addition to this, during prototyping phase a web designer must have the knowledge to accommodate end users with special needs, and also the skills to meet their expectations. Moreover, testing the web site using different technologies is critical for a successful web site, to ensure it meets the accessibility standards and user requirements [4]. Therefore, in each phase of the web development process, accessibility plays an important role. Accessibility and Usability should be completely embedded in web design and development cycles from beginning to end. The future looks bright for web accessibility. It promises to educate web designers and developers about accessibility issues, through training courses offered at universities. Conclusion: The Internet offers independence and freedom. But, this independence and freedom is limited to certain users. Many websites are not created with accessibility issues in mind. Whether it is the Web Designer lack of knowledge or ignorance, they exclude a segment of users that in many ways benefit from the internet [5]. In short, designing accessible websites does not require an enormous effort or time. It simply, requires commitment, and accountability, to achieve a universal goal. Reference: [1] Duckworth D. (2003).Web Accessibility in Australia. Retrieved June 18, 2005, from http://www.tonneten.net/mt/blog/archieves/000024.htm [2] Conference (2003). IT – The Universal Enabler, London. Retrieved May 28, 2005 [3]Web Accessibility Survey (2003). Retrieved June 24, 2005 from http://cita.rehab.uiuc.eduu/survey/2002-2003-web-practices.html [4] Volpon A. (2002). The Life cycle ofWeb Accessibility. Retrieved June 24, 2005 from http://www.evolt.org/article/The_Lifecycle_of_Web_Accessibility/20/50376/ [5] Bohman P. (2003). Introduction to Web Accessibility. Retrieved June 24, 2005 from [6]Mertz D. (2000). Tips: Design for accessible Web sites. Retrieved June 22, 2005 from http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/w-mertz.htm About The Author Author: by: Mr. Nidal A. Bousaleh Source: Articlecity.com Reckless driving and public safetyWednesday, November 07, 2007 A good road network is essential in the developmental quest of any nation. Good roads facilitate easy communication, the flow and transfer of people, goods and services from one part of the country to the other.
They boost productivity and hence the economy through increased accessibility.
However, many responsible and law abiding people in the country are beginning to view this achievement with mixed feelings due to the recklessness of some unsavoury individuals. Many lives have been lost and are lost daily due to reckless driving on our roads.
Most of the accidents on our roads are caused by commercial vehicles, whose drivers are in a perpetual state of rush, arising from the need to raise the required amount of money to hand over to their bosses. This has to stop.
Author: by-DO |
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