19. The global spread of the information revolution has moved slowly in Africa. For example, despite rapid progress in the last year, no more than 15 African countries have full access to the Internet, and some remain without any electronic connectivity at all. In 1994, the average "teledensity" (number of main lines per 100 inhabitants) in Africa was only 1.6 as compared with 45 in Europe (for example), and the average teledensity outside large cities in Africa only 1.2 according to the ITU's World Telecommunication Development Report. In Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, these figures are much lower, and there are more telephones in New York or Tokyo than in the whole of Africa.

 20. This is partly an indication of the general low level of socio-economic development on the continent. The recent ECA report (Serving Africa Better: Strategic Directions for the Economic Commission for Africa) describes Africa's development as "a classic glass half empty and half full". Bearing in mind the challenges which reflect ECA's new strategic directions, the following section highlights the opportunities which the global information and communication revolution offers Africa if the right policies can be promptly and properly initiated.

21. The impact from new information and communication technologies is no longer confined to the communications and information sectors. It has become a pervasive mass technology with a much wider scope of influence, affecting virtually all sectors of society. The telephone, television and computer are merging into single multipurpose devices. Computers and appliances with silicon chips as well as network connections are spreading into every business and home. By the year 2020 it has been predicted that 12 billion devices will be connected to the global information infrastructure, including such ubiquitous items as light bulbs, heart pacemakers and fridges. At the same time the low cost of communications and accessibility of the global networks means that it is as easy for an individual to reach one person as it is to reach 10 million.

22. Outlined below are some of the priority challenges which hinder African development and some of the opportunities that the information and communication revolution offer African nations in combating these problems.

A. Job Creation

 23. The main challenges are:

1. What jobs to create?
2. Where to create such jobs?
3. Who will create them?
4. How will they be created?
5. What resources will be used to attain a given level of unemployment?

 24. The opportunities include:

1. The use of new information and communication technologies which offer substantial possibilities for creating new jobs in the emerging information-based economy. These technologies also offer the possibility to manage the existing job market more efficiently.
2. Data and information can be made available on employment and unemployment by sector, gender and geographic location;
3. New job opportunities, including "teleworking' opportunities, and on-line job market/matching;
4. Decision Support Systems to help manage human resource development;
5. New types of jobs and new fields of work through access to the information economies of the world providing potential for: information services, software development, translation services, data entry, data housing, data conversion, system maintenance, training and other information technology related areas.

B. Health

 25. The main challenges are:

1. Epidemics, spread of infectious diseases, AIDS, etc.;
2. Highest levels of infant and maternal mortality rate in the world;
3. Lowest levels of life expectancy in the world;
4. Lowest world ratio of doctors per capita.

26. The opportunities include:

1. Enhancement of health administration and management through Medical Information Systems;
2. Establishment of Information "Health Profiles" and decision support systems on regional, national, rural and district levels;
3. Linking health centres, delivery services and medical transport to patients;
4. Improving access to skilled diagnosis through tele-medicine;
5. Improving distribution and reducing costs of medical supplies.

C. Education and research

 27. The main challenges are:

1. Africa has the world's highest illiteracy rate, especially among women;
2. Low numbers of teachers and large numbers of students per class;
3. Few schools and universities;
4. Few libraries and very limited access to international journals;
5. Lack of educational materials;
6. Lack of researchers and research facilities.

 28. The opportunities include:

1. Providing equitable remote access to resources in support of both distance education and the strengthening of local educational capacity;
2. Connecting schools, universities and research centres to national and international distance education facilities, national and international databases, libraries, research laboratories and computing facilities;
3. Reducing communications and administrative costs by building communications networks linking all educational establishments;
4. Promoting and supporting collaboration among teachers and researchers;
5. Extending the reach of educational facilities in informal learning, especially to community level.

D. Culture

 29. The main challenges are:

1. Deteriorating resources for preservation of cultural heritage (monuments, manuscripts, artifacts, music, etc.);
2. Lack of regional or local access to national cultural sites;
3. Lack of awareness and knowledge about different African cultures;

30. The opportunities include:

1. Making Africa's museums accessible to all parts of the region as well as to the rest of the world;
2. Electronic preservation and documentation of manuscripts and artifacts;
3. Increasing accessibility of rare manuscripts and artifacts to researchers and the general public through the development of cultural CD ROM products.

E. Trade and commerce

 31. The main challenges include:

1. Intra-African trade is less than 5% of total trade;
2. Internal and external trade is hindered by poor transport and communication systems;
3. Lack of information on procedures, import/export markets, prices.

32. The main opportunities are:

1. Linking Chambers of Commerce, trade associations and the business sector to help small and medium enterprises and increase both regional and global trade;
2. Reduced commercial transaction costs;
3. Online trade related information and import/export opportunities;
4. Development and marketing of new products through electronic networks.

F. Tourism

 33. The main challenges are:

1. Lack of information on untapped tourist resources which remain unexploited sources of wealth generation from international and national visitors;
2. Lack of information on tourism destinations, services and facilities.

34. The opportunities include:

1. Attracting more tourists and other visitors by offering high quality information and telecommunication services in tourist resorts;
2. Reducing the costs of international promotions for attracting tourists;
3. Improving the image of Africa through on-line promotional campaigns;
4. Building national and regional tourism related databases for destinations and facilities;
5. Providing a mechanism for virtual travel and information gathering utilising the Internet;
6. Provision of tourism related information and indicators that encourage and facilitate investment in tourism projects.

G. Food security

 35. The main challenges are:

1. Limited national food production to satisfy market needs because of underutilization of available resources;
2. Lack of information on importing from best markets on the best terms;
3. Lack of information on agricultural exports with the most competitive advantages;
4. Lack of guidance for planning of crop planting and knowledge of new methods and technologies;
5. Lack of access to food market information and pricing.

36. The opportunities include:

1. Establishment of information systems for monitoring market performance and measuring market failures;
2. Development of information systems to address food security issues such as agricultural production, government subsidies for food security, monitoring of water and land resources, disease problems, food transportation and storage;
3. Efficient marketing of agricultural products through information and telecommunication networks;
4. Provision of equitable access to new techniques for improving agricultural production;
5. Reduced food storage losses through more efficient distribution.

H. Gender and development

37. The main challenges are:

1. Gender equity: women constitute 50% of the population but do 60% of work, earn 1/10 of the income and own 1/100 of the assets;
2. Women generally have more limited access than men to technology in general, to information, the media and communications facilities;
3. Lack of readily available information on women in society, culture and economy.

38. The opportunities include:

1. Improve the rights of women through access to information and indicators which may be used for tracking gender issues and elimination of stereotypes;
2. Ensure the equitable access of women to information, technology and technological education.
3. Enhance the role of modern communications media to promote awareness of equality between women and men.

I. Man-made crises and natural disasters

39. The main challenges are:

1. Environmental degradation, civil strife, earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters often cause chaos in unprepared African countries, especially on the local and village levels;
2. Ineffective emergency communication systems limit the effectiveness of responses by the state and international assistance organisations.

 40. The opportunities include:

1. Implementing networks which, as far as possible, provide access to telecommunications in areas threatened by environmental degradation and natural disasters;
2. Facilitating the use of low cost terrestrial and satellite radio communication systems in emergency situations where there is no access to adequate telecommunications;
3. Establishing problem monitoring information systems using Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies, remote sensing and satellite early warning systems which provide tools to anticipate such problems in advance and enable governments and international organisations to be more proactive and to respond more effectively when the need arises.