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ITU, GSMA and Internet Society unite in fight against Ebola
Busan, 3 November 2014 – At the ITU Plenipotentiary
Conference in Busan the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the
GSMA and the Internet Society (ISOC), announced that they are joining forces
in the fight against Ebola. The three organizations will bring together the
global telecommunications and Internet communities, leveraging their
extensive reach, capacity and respective memberships to increase the
effectiveness of information and communications technologies (ICT),
especially mobile communication and the Internet, for better preparedness,
early warning and response.
ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré convened a special session
with ITU membership during the Plenipotentiary Conference currently underway
in Busan, Republic of Korea, to identify recommendations for a more
effective use of ICTs in the fight against Ebola.
Dr Touré stated: “The ICT Sector is critical in dealing with the Ebola
threat. ICTs are already being used by ITU and its partners to support
awareness raising and emergency communications, and our immediate challenge
is to ensure regulatory barriers are removed to facilitate deployment and
use of telecommunications applications for the purpose of saving lives. We
will focus on innovative measures to increase the effective use of
communications systems and applications. Human life has to be preserved and
protected.”
Dr Touré addressed Ministers, Regulators, Ambassadors, and other
delegates and appealed to them to ensure that all measures are taken to
facilitate the effective deployment of ICTs for addressing the Ebola crisis
while balancing this with the need to protect consumer privacy.
ITU has already deployed satellite terminals to support ongoing efforts
and is currently developing new applications in close cooperation and
coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO). The apps are being
designed to improve awareness raising efforts, facilitate early warning
alerts, report new cases of infection, and support coordination of
humanitarian action at community, country and regional levels.
The GSMA has led in coordinating and standardizing the response of mobile
operators in affected countries, and has collaborated with WHO to develop
the “Ebola Mobile Response Blueprint”, which provides critical guidance for
operators and regulators on running effective and best practice public
health campaigns leveraging mobile technology. Director General of the GSMA,
Anne Bouverot said: “The response effort to address the Ebola crisis is
broad-ranging and complex, involving many different organizations globally.
The mobile industry is committed to continuing to work closely with
governments, international bodies and NGOs to utilize technology that will
help address this outbreak, as well as deliver information to individuals in
affected countries on symptoms, care and resources for this disease.”
ISOC has set up the Ebola TECH Response Group aimed at harnessing the
expertise of its extensive tech community around the world to aid the
emergency response. Kathy Brown, CEO of ISOC said: “The spread of Ebola and
the ravages that it is leaving behind in the affected countries in Africa
are imprinting their mark on all of us and have a very personal impact on
people in those communities and around the world. Like others, the ISOC
community of staff, volunteers and members want to help. We have therefore
come together to establish the Ebola TECH Response Group.”
Combining the resources of all three organizations will facilitate
knowledge sharing and the exchange of ideas, tools and increase their
accessibility to the humanitarian community, mobile operators and the
general public.
Note to Editors:
Video: ITU's Chief of Projects and Knowledge management,
Cosmas Zavazava, discusses the ongoing support and partnerships
that ITU is undertaking in response to the Ebola crisis
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For more information, please contact:
Paul Conneally
Head, ITU Corporate Communications, ITU
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Cosmas Zavazava
Chief, Projects and Initiatives Department,
ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau
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