Computer Aid International is a UK registered charity based in North London which refurbishes unwanted IT equipment in the UK and delivers it for reuse in schools, hospitals and charities in developing countries where people are too poor to access IT resources. They have provided over 220,000 PCs and technology based solutions, which have helped millions of people access the tools they need to define their own futures, and helped people to reduce poverty and improve life chances through practical ICT solutions.
By working with local partners they are able to provide Information Technology to impact a full spectrum of development activities including education, health, agriculture and environment.
Computer Aid partner with AMREF who work across Africa to provide medical assistance, guidance and support to local hospitals and community health workers in large scale rural programmes. In 2012 they managed to provide AMREF with a ZubaBox in Kakuma Kenya to service the population in the world’s third largest refugee camp, home to over 100,000 displaced people (mostly children) from countries including Somalia and Sudan.
The ZubaBox has since helped to deliver a telemedicine project which provides doctors with access to specialists anywhere in the world through ICT. The ZubaBox in this instance has allowed medical staff within the camp to email medical notes and digital photographs of critically ill patients for expert clinical diagnostic support from experienced professional clinicians hundreds of miles away.
Computer Aid’s goal in 2014 is to provide three of the world’s largest refugee camps with Zubaboxes for local use. Unlike the AMREF ZubaBox, the ZubaBox application in each camp will differ according to the most pressing need as identified by the local governing NGO and population.
