Bill Gates aids health projects

Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, has struck a deal with the charity organisation Dubai Cares to co-fund projects intended to improve the health and education of children in the developing world, states The National.

This long-term partnership aims to improve primary schools and the health of children who attend them in poor parts of Africa and Asia. Both charities have also pledged their commitment to projects that improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene.

The Gates Foundation, which has given more than $28 billion to alleviate poverty since its inception in 2000, donates about $800 million a year to global health programmes.

Hewlett Packard (HP) has introduced a series of servers to the African market at a time when technology giants IBM, Dell and Sun Microsystems are trying to get control of the emerging market pie, worth $53.3 billion, says Business Daily.

The need to capture the East Africa market is driven by the anticipated undersea fibre optic cables and the shrinking American, European and Asian markets, according to HP. The company says the cables will drive more IT and Internet use in the region and create a need for the vendors' equipment.

East Africa is the only part of the world that has no undersea fibre connectivity but expects at least four cables by 2010 with two of them, Teams and Seacom, scheduled to land by the end of June.

Research firm IDC reports that Middle East and Africa (EMEA) PC shipments have fallen to negative trends in the first quarter of 2009, following a slowdown in the PC market which started in the final quarter of 2008, states Hartware.net.

The PC market in EMEA displayed its first yearly decline since the 2001 recession, with sales recording a 10% year-on-year growth in the first quarter.

Karine Paoli, associate vice-president, IDC EMEA systems infrastructure solutions, says: “This quarter delivered an expected deceleration of the EMEA PC market as the financial crisis unfolded across the region, but while emerging markets are hit the hardest, mature economies held well considering the global environment”.