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Vodafone Ghana Executive Director Ms Patricia Obo-Nai says that leveraging digital technology is a way out to accelerate the achievement of the 169 targets of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He said that although the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak presented multi-dimensional challenges for Africa in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), leveraging digital technology could help achieve them.
He commented while he was a panelist at the United Nations General Assembly, held on the theme: “The role of technology to achieve gender equality; Connecting Women to Maternal Health and Girls to Education ‘, 24 September 2020.
This was contained in a statement from Vodafone Ghana to the Ghana News Agency.
Ms Obo-Nai said that Africa was currently the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world and Vodafone was committed to creating a ‘digital society’ of connected people, communities and things.
“We are digitally empowering millions of people across the continent. Our pioneering interventions have seen some incredible success stories, where the capabilities of mobile phones are now being used to transform healthcare delivery, improve access to educational resources, and bring digital financial inclusion to the unbanked, ”he said. .
She said there was a gender gap in mobile phone ownership and a GSMA report showed that women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa were still 13% less likely to own a phone and 37% less likely to use phones. mobile data that could help them live healthier lives and access better medical care during their pregnancies.
The CEO explained that this was the reason the telecommunications company pledged to add 20 million women living in Africa and Turkey to the Internet by 2025.
“We have made progress toward our goal and have an estimated 46.2 million active clients in these regions, 9.3 million more since our original goal was set in 2016,” he added.
Vodafone, he said, was thanks to the power of mobile technology to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Africa, reducing infant mortality by one percent to increase GDP by up to five percent in African countries.
Speaking about some of the interventions implemented by Vodafone to help groups in need, Madam Obo-Nai said: “An expectant mother in sub-Saharan Africa is 50 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related problems than a woman in Europe, Vodafone is taking steps to address this maternal health issue with three transformational initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa involving.
“They include the education and empowerment of adolescent girls to make well-informed decisions about their health; giving emergency support to pregnant women and supporting new mothers. “
Concerned about maternal health, she said that the Vodafone Foundation has made more than $ 24 million (€ 20.3 million) of philanthropic investment to support maternal health over the last decade, allowing one million women, girls and babies to receive treatment. , transportation, medical care and health education.
The Foundation had introduced the M-Mama program to use mobile technology to provide free emergency transportation for pregnant rural women in obstetric crisis, delivering life-saving interventions in partnership with governments.
Ms Obo-Nai also said that in the Tanzanian regions where Vodafone had operated to date, M-Mama has been shown to reduce maternal mortality by 27 percent and is sustainable within local health budgets.
“Earlier this month, the Foundation announced the expansion of M-Mama to Lesotho and other sub-Saharan markets by 2025. In Ghana, Vodafone is working in partnership with the government and relevant stakeholders to implement this initiative in April 2021.
“The Office of the President and the Ghana Health Service have shown great commitment in playing their role in helping the country address the issue of ‘accessibility’ with M-Mama, which is projected to save some 400 lives each year.” , He said. .
Despite all the positive interventions, Ms Obo-Nai said that Vodafone across the continent was dependent on the availability of spectrum.
He called on governments to continue to invest in mobile communications infrastructure and introduce policies and regulations that allow the telecommunications industry to prosper and ultimately drive broad-based digitization around the world.
