[ad_1]
The Ministry of Innovation and Technology, with the support of the MasterCard Foundation, has launched a project that will help digital innovations for the COVID-19 response.
According to the Ministry, the recently launched project received a commitment of USD 887,000 from the MasterCard Foundation to execute the COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program, which will support the development of the COVID-19 response by citizens through the portal of data-driven health informatics.
The platform will serve as a single, unified portal to integrate and publish information on government interventions on COVID-19 at the national and regional level and will facilitate the flow of information to citizens on general government responses to COVID-19.
The project will also help set up a rapid response center for inquiries raised by citizens through an inbound and outbound call center with free lines integrated with the information portal. It will complement the Government’s effort to respond to the multifaceted impact of COVID-19 based on an integrated set of rapid digital solutions to critical national problems.
Ahmedin Mohammed (PhD), Minister of State for Innovation and Technology, said the project will provide citizens with access to information on government actions related to COVID-19, through an integrated web portal that will improve transparency and engagement of the citizens during the pandemic. The information to be used includes the publication of data on infection rates, recovery and mortality figures, and aid promised and received.
The government plans to improve public awareness of COVID-19 preventive measures through the implementation of the project. Citizen participation and information sharing activities through calls and SMS alerts are expected to increase in volume as traffic increases. Ultimately, those projects foster the advancement of digitization as more Ethiopians progressively adopt digital technology in their daily lives, the minister of state said.
Once configured, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology and its partners will run the Rapid Response Center and the COVID-19 Response Data-Based Health Informatics Portal, which will involve the Ministry of Health, the Ethiopian Institute of Public Health (EPHI ), Ethio-Telecom and others and non-governmental organizations.
The MasterCard Foundation has been helping the Ministry to help launch a Digital Transformation Strategy since last year.
Contributed by Mihret Moges
