African governments are using technological advances as an excuse to continue neglecting systemic problems in health, education, energy and other basic services, a prominent entrepreneur has claimed.
“Over the past few years we’ve been talking a lot about leapfrogging health systems using mobile phones, but I am uncomfortable with the word because it implies that we can compromise local standards,” says Alain Nteff, founder of Gifted Mom, which gives pregnant women and new mothers potentially life-saving information.
Since the information platform launched in 2012 the young entrepreneur has been heralded as a saviour of Cameroon’s mothers and children, but he is very clear that a mobile phone can never replace a midwife. Nor should governments stop investing in energy infrastructure because people are using solar lanterns, or stop supporting teachers because children are learning with ebooks.
Cameroon has one of the highest mortality rates in the world with mothers dying for reasons that are common across sub-Saharan Africa: a lack of information about when they need to seek medical help; long distances they have to travel to hospital; and delays in seeking adequate care when they arrive.