Showing posts with label Find. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Find. Show all posts

Thursday, December 3, 2009

New Study Finds 70% Reduction in Maternal Deaths and Nearly 50% Decline in Newborn Deaths Are Within Reach

3 Dec 2009 13:00 Africa/Lagos

New Study Finds 70% Reduction in Maternal Deaths and Nearly 50% Decline in Newborn Deaths Are Within Reach

Targeted Investments Can Also Radically Reduce Unintended Pregnancies and Unsafe Abortion and Lower Poverty Levels

NEW YORK, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Maternal deaths in developing countries could be slashed by 70% and newborn deaths cut nearly in half if the world doubled investment in family planning and pregnancy-related care, shows a new report by the Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Currently, more than half a million maternal deaths and 3.5 million newborn deaths, many of them easily preventable, occur each year in developing countries.


The new report, Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health, also found that investments in family planning boost the overall effectiveness of every dollar spent on the provision of pregnancy-related and newborn health care. Simultaneously investing in both family planning and maternal and newborn services can achieve the same dramatic outcomes for $1.5 billion less than investing in maternal and newborn health services alone.


"Investing in a handful of basic health services, like family planning and routine delivery care, can save millions of women and babies," says Dr. Sharon Camp, president of the Guttmacher Institute. "It's not rocket science. These are mostly simple services that can be provided inexpensively at the local level, supplemented by provision of urgent care when needed."


Adding it Up documents that the benefits of meeting the need for both family planning and maternal and newborn health services would be dramatic. Compared with the current situation:


-- the deaths of nearly 400,000 women and 1.6 million infants would be
prevented;
-- unintended pregnancies would decline by more than two-thirds;
-- unsafe abortions and resulting complications would both drop by about
75%; and
-- a host of other benefits would occur, including reduced poverty and
increased economic development in poor countries.


The new report shows that the total investment needed is $24.6 billion -- a little more than double the current spending.


"It is a win-win situation. We know what must be done, we know what it will cost, and we now know that the needed investment is modest in relation to the vast benefits that will follow," says Ms. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA.


Currently, the world spends approximately $12 billion a year on family planning and maternal health programs in developing nations, with developing countries and families providing the bulk of the total. Still, research shows that 215 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using an effective method of contraception, and only about half of the 123 million women who give birth each year receive the antenatal, delivery and newborn care they need. Millions of those with major complications get no treatment and either die or suffer from severe and debilitating conditions such as obstetric fistula.


Investing in family planning and maternal health would also have profound additional benefits the report shows: Increases in condom use for pregnancy prevention would simultaneously curb transmission of HIV and other STIs; preventing unwanted pregnancies would increase women's educational and employment opportunities, enhancing their social and economic status; and family savings and investment would rise, spurring economic growth and reducing poverty. These advances would make social and economic development goals easier to achieve.


"It is critical to the progress of the world's most disadvantaged countries and regions to address the high rates of maternal and newborn death that have long been endemic. Investing simultaneously in family planning and in maternal and newborn health is cost-effective," says Ms. Obaid.


"The report outlines how to best focus resources to achieve the greatest gains. Investing in women has enormous benefits, not just for individuals and families, but for societies as a whole. It can truly transform the future of developing nations," added Dr. Camp.


Regional fact sheets accompany the report, providing a more focused look at the benefits of investing in family planning and maternal and newborn health in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (also en espanol), Sub-Saharan Africa (also en francais) and the Arab countries (also in Arabic). In addition, the report's executive summary is available in Arabic, French and Spanish.


All Adding It Up materials are available at www.guttmacher.org and www.unfpa.org.


Source: UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund

CONTACT: Jessica Malter of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund,
+1-212-297-5190, +1-646-732-0047, malter@unfpa.org; or Rebecca Wind of
Guttmacher Institute, +1-212-248-1111, ext. 2203, rwind@guttmacher.org


Web Site: http://www.unfpa.org/
http://www.guttmacher.org/


Sunday, November 29, 2009

New Study Finds Men and Women May Respond Differently to Danger

29 Nov 2009 06:01 Africa/Lagos


New Study Finds Men and Women May Respond Differently to Danger

AT A GLANCE -- An fMRI study of men and women showed that their brains respond differently to positive and negative stimuli. -- Women associate positive images with memories. -- Men may be more likely to act when confronted with danger.

CHICAGO, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study brain activation have found that men and women respond differently to positive and negative stimuli, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).


"Men may direct more attention to sensory aspects of emotional stimuli and tend to process them in terms of implications for required action, whereas women direct more attention to the feelings engendered by emotional stimuli," said Andrzej Urbanik, M.D., Ph.D., chair of Radiology at Jagiellonian University Hospital in Krakow, Poland.


For the study, Dr. Urbanik and colleagues recruited 40 right-handed volunteers, 21 men and 19 women, between the ages of 18 and 36. The volunteers underwent fMRI while viewing pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), a widely used, standardized testing system comprised of several thousand slides of various objects and images from ordinary life designed to evoke defined emotional states. The images were displayed in two runs. For the first run, only negative pictures were shown. For the second run, only positive pictures were shown.


While viewing the negative images, women showed decidedly stronger and more extensive activation in the left thalamus, which relays sensory information to and from the cerebral cortex, including the pain and pleasure centers. Men exhibited more activation in the left insula, which gauges the physiological state of the entire body and then generates subjective feelings that can bring about actions. Information from the insula is relayed to other brain structures involved in decision making.


"The brain activation seen in the women might indicate stronger involvement of the neural circuit, which is associated with identification of emotional stimuli," Dr. Urbanik said. "The more pronounced activation of the insular cortex in the men might be related to the autonomic components, such as elevated heart rate or increased sweating, that accompany watching emotional material."


The autonomic nervous system controls involuntary functions, including respiration, heart rate and digestion, and helps to adjust certain functions in response to stress or other environmental stimuli. It is responsible for the body's "fight or flight" response to threatening situations.


"In men, the negative images on the slides were more potent in driving their autonomic system," Dr. Urbanik said. "This might signal that when confronted with dangerous situations, men are more likely than women to take action."


While viewing positive images, women showed stronger and more extensive activation in the right superior temporal gyrus, which is involved in auditory processing and memory. Men exhibited stronger activation in the bilateral occipital lobes, which are associated with visual processing.


Dr. Urbanik believes these differences indicate that women may analyze positive stimuli in a broader social context and associate the positive images with a particular memory. Viewing a picture of a smiling toddler might evoke memories of a woman's own child at this age. Conversely, male responses are more perceptual.


"Positive images are devoured by mens' visual and motivational systems," Dr. Urbanik said.


Co-authors are Lilianna Podsiadlo, Ph.D., Michal Kuniecki, Ph.D., Justyna Kozub, M.Sc., and Barbara Sobiecka, M.Sc. Eng.


Note: Copies of RSNA 2009 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press09 beginning Monday, Nov. 30.


RSNA is an association of more than 44,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists committed to excellence in patient care through education and research. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)


Editor's note: The data in these releases may differ from those in the printed abstract and those actually presented at the meeting, as researchers continue to update their data right up until the meeting. To ensure you are using the most up-to-date information, please call the RSNA Newsroom at 1-312-949-3233.


For patient-friendly information on fMRI, visit RadiologyInfo.org.


Source: Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)

CONTACT: Media, RSNA Newsroom, +1-312-949-3233; Before 11/28/09 or after
12/3/09, RSNA Media Relations, +1-630-590-7762; or Linda Brooks,
+1-630-590-7738, lbrooks@rsna.org, or Maureen Morley, +1-630-590-7754,
mmorley@rsna.org, both of Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)


Web Site: http://www.rsna.org/
http://www.radiologyinfo.org/


Thursday, November 19, 2009

Contact Centre Services to Take Off in Nigeria by 2015, Finds Frost & Sullivan

19 Nov 2009 09:00 Africa/Lagos

Contact Centre Services to Take Off in Nigeria by 2015, Finds Frost & Sullivan

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite industry challenges, the rising consumer demand from developing industry sectors will drive exponential growth in the Nigerian contact centre market. The outsourced contact centre segment, email and SMS services and the health and medical organisation (HMO) and the public sectors are expected to become key areas of market growth from 2009 to 2015.


(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO)


New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.contactcenter.frost.com/), Nigerian Contact Centre Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $8.29 million in 2008 and estimates this to grow more than tenfold by 2015 to reach $114.45 million. The application segments covered in this analysis are vendors and system integrators.


If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides a brief synopsis of the research and a table of contents, then send an e-mail to Patrick Cairns, Corporate Communications, at patrick.cairns@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country. Upon receipt of the above information, a brochure will be sent to you by e-mail.


"Nigeria is an emerging economy and the most populous country in Africa," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Jiaqi Sun. "The booming telecommunications and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sectors are driving the demand for contact centre services, while competitive labour cost structures are attracting offshore operations."


Frost & Sullivan anticipates that the government will introduce incentives and regulatory frameworks by 2013. This will also coincide with improvements in infrastructure that will boost the market.


The main challenges faced by market participants include a poor telecommunications infrastructure and limited commercial power supply. Moreover, there is no specific industry association to regulate the market.


"The limited availability of commercial power supply increases operational costs," explains Sun. "Insufficient bandwidth also inhibits the growth of contact centre services. The key factors to succeed in this market include enhancing the quality of customer services, seeking alternative means of power supply, and initiating employee training programmes."


Nigerian Contact Centre Market is part of the Contact Centres Growth Partnership Services programme, which also includes research in the following markets: South African Contact Centre Technology Market, South African Broadband Market Update, Angolan Broadband Market, and Nigerian IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Market. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.


Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 35 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com/.


Nigerian Contact Centre Market
M475


Contact:
Patrick Cairns
Corporate Communications - Africa
P: +27 18 464 2402
E: patrick.cairns@frost.com

http://www.frost.com/


Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Frost & Sullivan

CONTACT: Patrick Cairns, Corporate Communications - Africa of Frost &
Sullivan, +27 18 464 2402, patrick.cairns@frost.com


Web Site: http://www.frost.com/

Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
19 Nov 2009
15:54
Fort Carson Set To Receive 20 Additional GreenTargets(R) For Live-Fire Training
13:32
US Department of State / Opening Remarks for Hearing on Counterterrorism in Africa (Sahel Region)
09:00
Contact Centre Services to Take Off in Nigeria by 2015, Finds Frost & Sullivan
18 Nov 2009
15:15
Un nuevo informe descubre cuatro fuerzas que modelarán el futuro de la banca móvil
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UN Carbon Markets Powering Green Energy Growth in Africa But Continent Still Lagging Far Behind Asia and Latin America / Green Electricity Conference to be Held in Nairobi, 23-24 November


Wednesday, November 18, 2009

New Report Finds Four Forces Will Shape the Future of Mobile Banking

18 Nov 2009 08:00 Africa/Lagos

New Report Finds Four Forces Will Shape the Future of Mobile Banking

Governments, industry can make choices to increase financial inclusion in the next decade

LONDON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The growing use of branchless banking, including mobile phone banking, is inevitable in most countries. But it's far less certain whether large numbers of the unbanked poor will use these alternative channels for financial services beyond payments, such as savings and credit. So says "Scenarios for Branchless Banking in 2020," a new report from CGAP, a microfinance group based at the World Bank, and the U.K.'s Department for International Development (DFID).


UK Minister for Trade and Development Gareth Thomas today said:


"The fact that many of the 2.7 billion people who currently don't use a bank will have access to branchless banking methods such as mobile phones and the internet by 2020 is a huge step towards financial inclusion for people in developing countries.


"The poor are kept in poverty when they are financially excluded. This means they lack safe places to save money, the opportunity to invest in their future and cannot reduce the risk of their savings being lost in natural disasters.


"As this report shows, governments and the private sector both have a huge role to play in ensuring investment is made to deliver technology-based financial services to billions of poor people."


The report sets out four scenarios on the future of branchless banking. In all four scenarios, the adoption and use of branchless banking services is forecast to be higher in 2020 than it is today. But in two of the scenarios, bursts of rapid acceleration are followed by periods of falloff or flatter growth.


"Mobile banking pioneers give us hope that millions of poor people, especially those living in rural areas, finally might be served by the banking system. That said, new business models and partnerships that provide the right incentives to banks and banking agents are vital if we are to move beyond simple payments and transfers to being able to offer other basic banking services, especially savings, that poor people need and want," said Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of CGAP.


The report is the product of a six month scenario-building project that engaged nearly 200 leaders from the fields of technology and finance from more than 30 countries.


Snapshot of Branchless Banking Today
-- Financial inclusion is growing in most countries. This is often as a
result of the expansion of conventional banking channels, such as
branches and automated teller machines (ATMs);
-- Bricks-and-mortar growth is inherently limited by its cost. Branchless
banking presents a cheaper option but has only modest reach to date in
most countries;
-- Where branchless banking is occurring, several of the following
factors are usually at work: (i) industry belief in future
profitability; (ii) enabling regulatory change; (iii) a dramatic fall
in connectivity costs; (iv) the creation of cash-handling agents using
existing networks; and,

-- Current hype about the potential of branchless banking is running
ahead of reality. Massive sustained success in reaching the poor
requires more accurate insights on poor people's financial needs and
adoption behaviour. This is only now starting to become available.

Four Forces Shaping Branchless Banking for 2020
-- Demographic changes -- including a greater number of younger consumers
coming into the market and greater mobility at least within countries
-- will be favourable for the adoption of branchless banking;
-- Activist governments will play a greater role as regulators of the
financial sector, providers of social safety nets, and providers or
encouragers of the rollout of low-cost bank accounts and financial
infrastructure. This expanded role may be helpful for financial
inclusion;
-- While security concerns about cash crime will continue to drive the
adoption of electronic transaction channels, the rise of electronic
crime will affect consumer confidence and test the risk management of
financial providers; and,

-- Internet browsing via mobile phones will reduce costs of financial
transactions and enable new players to offer financial services.


CGAP and GSMA researchers have found that across Africa, Latin America and Asia, the number of people who do not have a bank account but do have a mobile phone is set to grow from 1 billion today to 1.7 billion by 2012. These "unbanked mobiled" individuals represent a compelling market opportunity for service providers.


Notes to Editors


The report will be released today at DFID in London. There will a live webcast on the CGAP Technology Blog from Washington D.C. on Dec. 1. Learn more at http://technology.cgap.org/.


The CGAP Technology Program is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


CGAP is an independent policy and research centre dedicated to advancing financial access for the world's poor. It is supported by over 30 development agencies and private foundations who share a common mission to alleviate poverty. Housed at the World Bank, CGAP provides market intelligence, promotes standards, develops innovative solutions and offers advisory services to governments, microfinance providers, donors, and investors. More at http://www.cgap.org/.


The Department for International Development is the UK Government's department that manages Britain's aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty. You can find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/.


DFID recently launched a Facilitating Access to Financial Services through Technology (FAST) project to support the introduction of "branchless banking" to mass-markets in developing countries, such as Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh and Ghana. Pilot projects will be evaluated by teams of finance and technology experts and where appropriate help and promote increases in scale or spread to different countries.


Source: CGAP

CONTACT: Jim Rosenberg, +1-202-473-1084, jrosenberg@worldbank.org, for
CGAP; or DFID Press Office, +44 (0) 207 023 0600


Web Site: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/

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18 Nov 2009
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Acision soutient l'activité de messagerie professionnelle de MTN Nigeria avec une solution de messagerie de nouvelle génération
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Un nouveau rapport indique que quatre forces détermineront l'avenir des services bancaires mobiles
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Nuovo studio individua le forze che plasmeranno il futuro dei servizi bancari mobili
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Nieuw rapport constateert dat vier krachten de toekomst van mobiel banken zullen vormen
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Vier Faktoren laut neuem Bericht entscheidend für die Zukunft des Mobile Banking
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New Report Finds Four Forces Will Shape the Future of Mobile Banking
17 Nov 2009
20:22
The Committee of Ten African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change Meet in Addis Ababa