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ICT (information and communications technology - or technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them

ability to create greater access to information and communication in underserved populations.

a means of bridging the digital divide.

With sustained growth blessing the region, Latin America found itself with an expansive business sector and a demanding public sector, all looking to technology for answers to big social issue

Most Latin American nations could be described as straddling the gap of the digital divide in a sustained balancing act.

“digital divide” has become shorthand for any gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas with regards to both their opportunities and access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs

While ICTs are an essential component in ensuring information flows during a disaster, it is often the case that ICTs are not considered by countries and organizations to be a ‘critical infrastructure’ in the context of international disaster preparedness plans and frameworks. Because of this, adequate priority is not often given by countries to the development and pre-planning of ICT resources in advance of a disaster, nor the restoration of ICT systems and networks following a disaster.

agencies responsible for international disaster and humanitarian response should formally recognize telecommunications / ICTs as a critical infrastructure for international disaster preparedness, response and recovery planning, and should encourage such recognition by other governments, NGOs and international organizations involved in disaster relief and recovery.

Nearly all recent major global disasters have shown the importance of first responders being able to communicate among each other and provide information to affected populations. Moreover, communications systems enable citizens to search for and confirm the status of their loved ones, and to offer up both resources and information about survivors and damage using channels such as SMS and social media, and broadcast technology.

PDCS follows 3,800 children aged two to twelve with the aim of characterizing the natural history of dengue transmission, obtaining biological samples for vaccine safety research, and establishing appropriate infrastructure for future dengue vaccine trials.

PDCS operations are based in a Health Center where cohort children receive all primary care and are screened for dengue.

frequent interruptions in electrical, phone, and Internet service, high temperatures and humidity, and the absence of street names and house addresses were obvious obstacles to be overcome.

Natural disasters are becoming more frequent, growing more severe and affecting more people than ever before. The reasons vary but include climate change, population growth and shifting habitation patterns.

Another challenge to the effectiveness of disaster management and recovery is sharing information across organizations hampered by a lack of interoperability.

Another fundamental challenge is the need to automate manual records for disaster response and humanitarian assistance organizations, which is just as important as, if somewhat less glamorous than, other critical issues affecting their readiness.

Since 1980, the economic costs of disasters in developing countries amounted to $1.2 trillion, equivalent to about a third of all official development aid.

Over that same period, low-income countries accounted for only 9 percent of the total number of disasters, but 48 percent of the fatalities.

As we look to the future, population growth, economic development, and technological change are likely to increase the demand for natural resources, while environmental degradation and previous exploitation of these resources will decrease the supply. Furthermore, climate change will act as a threat multiplier, exacerbating current vulnerabilities and adding to levels of uncertainty. These trends enhance the potential for natural resources to contribute to conflict in the future and highlight the growing importance of environmental diplomacy as an integrated part of conflict prevention, mediation and peacebuilding.

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) identifies several key parties that play major roles in the disaster management process, especially in disaster warning (UN/ISDR, 2006).

Communities, particularly those most vulnerable, are vital to people-centred early warning systems. Their input into system design and their ability to respond ultimately determine the extent of risk associated with natural hazards. Communities should be aware of hazards and potential negative impacts to which they are exposed and be able to take specific actions to minimize the threat of loss or damage.

Local governments should have considerable knowledge of the hazards to which their communities are exposed.

Despite the country’s gaping digital divide, the number of Facebook users in Nicaragua last year jumped from 150,000 to 700,000

Widespread accessibility to 3G cell phone technology makes it difficult to know just how many Nicaraguans are connecting to the Internet from hand-held devices, but estimates are that 10-30% of the Nicaragua’s 5.7 million people are now online.

The CINCO study estimates that Nicaragua has 579,000 Internet users with home connections, and another 250,000 who logon from Internet cafes, which are now found even the most remote corners of the country.

The changes to the agreement with the rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, were announced in Havana and addressed a range of topics — such as where rebels would be confined after disarming and how courts might address drug trafficking offenses — that negotiators said had troubled voters.

The agreement also appeared to withdraw a promise of guaranteed seats for rebels in Congress — one key demand of those who said the rebels would be unfairly rewarded with political positions.

90% percent of the region is covered by mobile broadband

only about 50% of those people are “connected” and online

three primary barriers to internet use: a lack of locally-relevant content, a lack of digital skills and limited affordability among segments of the population.

No country in Africa, if not the world, has so thoroughly turned itself around in so short a time, and Kagame has shrewdly directed the transformation.

Kagame has made indisputable progress fighting the single greatest ill in Africa: poverty. Rwanda is still very poor — the average Rwandan lives on less than $1.50 a day — but it is a lot less poor than it used to be. Kagame’s government has reduced child mortality by 70 percent; expanded the economy by an average of 8 percent annually over the past five years; and set up a national health-insurance program — which Western experts had said was impossible in a destitute African country.

Progressive in many ways, Kagame has pushed for more women in political office, and today Rwanda has a higher percentage of them in Parliament than any other country. His countless devotees, at home and abroad, say he has also delicately re-engineered Rwandan society to defuse ethnic rivalry, the issue that exploded there in 1994 and that stalks so many African countries, often dragging them into civil war.

“We must recognize that security means more than defense,” they write. After ending the 20th century as the world’s most powerful country, “we failed to recognize that dominance, like fossil fuel, is not a sustainable form of energy.”

In their paper, the officers argue that the United States has to move from “containment” — the foreign policy established after World War II to limit the expansion and influence of the Soviet Union — to what they call “sustainment” or sustainability.

The first priority, they write, should be “intellectual capital and a sustainable infrastructure of education, health and social services to provide for the continuing development and growth of America’s youth.”

Between the 16th and 20th centuries, various European nations set out to conquer the world and take all of its wealth.

Rather than being colonized, Japan became an imperial power in its own right.

uncomfortable position between the French imperial possessions of French Indochina (now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) to the east, and British Burma (now Myanmar) to the west