Uganda has been time and again producing great minds that have come up with amazing innovations to help curb day to day challenges.
This has been recognized as two Ugandans are set to win the prestigious Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, the Daily Monitor reports.
Ms Hindu Nabulumba, the innovator of Yaaka Network and Mr Brian Turyabagye, the creator of Mama-Ope which diagnoses pneumonia in children are among 16 Africans who have been shortlisted for the top award.
The Africa Prize, which is now in its third year, is organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering and aims to recognise, reward innovative African engineers, and also raise the profile of engineering in Africa. It equips talented engineers with tools and expert advice to develop their innovations into a business.
In a statement posted on the Royal Academy of Engineering’s website, the shortlisted innovators will undergo an intensive six months of training and mentorship in business and entrepreneurial skills before a winner is announced to receive the first prize of £25,000 (UShs112million).
Ms Nabulumba designed The Yaaka Digital Learning Network, an online platform which allows students and teachers to share academic materials and knowledge through a tablet. The innovation helps people who are eager to learn but can’t physically go to learning institutions.
Mr Turyabagye‘s biomedical smart jacket helps doctors to identify pneumonia faster and more accurately. Fitted to the patient, the device measures temperature and breathing rates and listens to the sound of the patient’s lungs, and then compares its results to a database of parameters. The jacket, currently a prototype, can diagnose pneumonia three times faster than a doctor and reduce human error.
The smart jacket, currently in a prototype stage, will help to tame a deadly disease which kills about 27,000 Ugandan children under the age of five every year. Most of these cases are due to pneumonia being misdiagnosed as malaria.
The shortlisted 16 entrepreneurs hail from Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda.
PICS COURTESY: DAILY MONITOR
