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North Korean soldier defects to South Korea: Report
Authorities are questioning the man who came across the border near the northeastern coast of South Korea.
US orders inspections of Boeing 787 planes following midair plunge
Federal Aviation Administration orders inspections after mid-flight dive blamed on random movement of pilots' seats.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 907
As the war enters its 907th day, these are the main developments.
Democratic Convention protesters to Harris: Israel arms embargo or no vote
Thousands gather at the Chicago convention to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to US weapons transfers to Israel.
Israeli strikes kill 35 in one day as Gaza hospitals warn of collapse
Medical source says 'entire health sector has collapsed' as Israeli air attacks kill Palestinians across the Gaza Strip.
Nicaragua bans 1,500 NGOs in latest crackdown against civil society
The move is part of a crackdown against groups viewed as hostile to President Daniel Ortega.
Hezbollah’s tunnel video threatens enemies but leaves much unknown
Lebanese group's latest video unveils its expansive tunnel network, which it can use to its advantage against Israel.
Luxury yacht sinks off Sicilian coast
One person has died and six are still missing after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Palermo, Italy.
Why are many of the largest US companies worried about AI?
Survey finds a fivefold increase in concerns over artificial intelligence (AI) among top 500 companies.
Canada tells rail companies, unions to avoid crippling stoppage
Canada ships grain, fertilizer and commodities by rail, and stoppage could cause daily losses of CAD$1 billion.
Blinken: Netanyahu accepted ‘bridging proposal,’ Hamas must do the same
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted a ‘bridging proposal'.
What is mpox and how do you protect yourself?
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says mpox has been detected in at least 13 African countries.
India’s Modi to visit Ukraine on Friday, weeks after trip to Russia
India's government has sought to balance close ties with both Russia and Western allies.
Tech innovations offer hope for overburdened Africa health care system
Nairobi, Kenya — Overcrowding in African hospitals is blamed on the scarcity of health facilities and doctors, especially in rural areas.
According to the United Nations, there is only one doctor for every 5,000 people in Africa, a continent that bears 25% of the global disease burden. But with the number of mobile phone users on the rise, some technological innovations are helping to bridge the doctor-patient gap and expand health care coverage.
Yaw Asamoah is head of MedPharma Care in Ghana. The company has developed an app that allows patients to connect face-to-face with doctors and pharmacies online so they can get medicine in their homes.
He says the system improves patients' experiences when they seek health care services.
"That's where MedPharma care comes in to see how we can digitize the whole idea of health care bringing telemedicine — making it possible for people either [to] have e-consultation, e-prescription, get their medicine delivered to them wherever they are, either at the office or at home... do their diagnostic remotely,” Asamoah said.
The World Health Organization says 57 countries are suffering from a critical shortage of health personnel, 36 of them in Africa.
The 2001 Abuja Declaration requires that African Union countries allocate 15% of their annual budgets to health, a requirement most governments have yet to fulfill.
Funding and infrastructure issues have blocked millions of Africans' access to quality health care, but experts say digital tools could improve access to services in hard-to-reach areas that lack doctors.
Mountaga Keita is a Guinean-born businessman who invented three portable diagnostic terminals which can monitor a patient’s temperature, blood pressure, heart function and conduct ultrasounds.
"The benefit of that is the ease it brings to doctors and patients instead of clogging hospitals,” Keita said. “Now the doctors or nurses can get to the patient collected data and send the data in a very secure manner to the hospitals, and people can analyze and bring it back to the patient."
Keita has so far deployed 40 kits to different hospitals in Guinea.
According Keita, the diagnostic terminals have attracted the attention of other countries like Gabon, which has requested six machines. He is in talks with the governments of Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Senegal to supply the kits there.
Keita said his technology can help solve the doctor-to-patient ratio problem and save patients money.
"With this kind of technology, all the vital signs of a patient, forward it in a very secure manner, encrypted to a specialist who is in Tunisia, who is in Kenya, who is in Tokyo, Paris to interpret and bring the result,” he said. “Then we know if we are supposed to spend that 45,000 euros to evacuate ... or if we can locally cure the person."
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has grown expansively and gained attention in Africa.
Asamoah said telemedicine provides access to many doctors who specialize in different diseases, easing the burden on health care facilities.
"In a normal circumstance, if you went to a clinic in Ghana, you wanted to talk to a specialized consultant, you might probably not get either because they don't have, they haven't booked you, or they are not available,” he said. “But telemedicine can make it possible for you to make your appointment and talk to any doctor."
McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, analyzed the impact of digital health tools in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa and found that the tools could reduce the continent’s total health care costs by 15% by 2030.
Putin offers to mediate Azerbaijan-Armenia peace deal on trip to Baku
The Russian leader's two-day state visit marks a shift in alliances in the politically unstable Caucasus region.
Ukraine destroys bridges in Russia’s Kursk amid push for ‘buffer zone’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country wants to create a protective ‘buffer zone’ inside Russia.
The Full Report: The battle for the gateway to Myanmar
As civil war rages in Myanmar, a cancer is growing. The war-torn nation has become a hub for global cybercrime.
Ukraine orders families to leave key city of Pokrovsk amid Russian advances
Order to evacuate comes as Russia advances in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, saying it captured the town of Zalizne.
Why I am not voting for Kamala Harris
My red line is genocide, and ‘good vibes’ campaigning will not move it.
US House Republicans release impeachment report on President Joe Biden
The 291-page report accuses Biden of corruption linked to his son Hunter's foreign business affairs.