Makerere wins international technology award

Makerere University in Uganda has beaten stiff competition from six international universities to emerge the winner of last year’s higher education solutions network contest, writes John Agaba for New Vision.

The international technology innovations contest, launched in 2012 and supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), saw a group of young university innovators from seven universities worldwide lock horns for the award. There was the University of California, Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, William and Mary College’s AidData Centre for Development Policy, Texas A&M University and Michigan State University.

Makerere was the only African University selected to participate in the innovation contest.
It won after showcasing a malaria testing kit, named Matibabu, which digitally diagnoses malaria without having to prick the patient to take their blood sample. This was during the TechCon conference at the end of last year in Williamsburg, Virginia, US.
Full report on the New Vision site