Professor Hirut W/Mariam, Minister of Science and Higher Education, recently attended Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, where she visited a creative outlet to avoid gloves.
During the visit, she said that it is important to focus on innovations that solve the problems of society by turning problems into opportunities. People use plastic gloves to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. However, in countries like Ethiopia, the use of medical gloves that should be used only for medical purposes in all sectors of society is economical.
Wisihun Tefera, an inventor, is a fourth-year student of electronics engineering at the University. He came up with a new invention that minimizes the spread of COVID-19 applicable in peoples’ day to day activities. He said that without fingers in contact with the invention, it is possible to open the car and office doors, open and close water pipes, write numbers for the ATM machine, and in public places, utilities such as elevators can be accessed without the slightest touch and it is possible to pull a chair, etc.
After the visit, Professor Hirut said that the universities are serving as a place of isolation and rehabilitation for COVID-19 patients as well as suspects. Currently, they are making various efforts to control and prevent the spread of the virus.
Apart from educating the community in the areas where they are located, they serve the community by producing sanitizers and distributing them to health institutions and the local community. In line with this,
they are contributing to the production of costumes for medical practitioners, as well as by collecting information in the field of research.
“We have seen more creative work today. Many important ideas emerge. There is a need for strong institutions to recognize and support these.” She thanked the innovator and the university’s leaders for being able to transform the material from conceptual to materialistic.
Wasihun, the inventor, said that the education he learns enables him to come up with an innovation that is the solution to a country in crisis. After using the product only the place that contact with other materials should be cleaned with a sanitizer, he noted. He thanked the University for giving him the opportunity to rely on his ideas.
He said that, currently, they are producing one thousand products a day and plans to supply the product to domestic and foreign markets Dereje Engida, President of Addis Ababa Science and Technology University for his part said that there are other innovations being made by the university. Moreover, the university is producing and providing free hand sanitizer production. Also, a prototype has been developed by teachers as a respirator for corona patients. He added that it will be delivered to manufactures with the aim of mass production as quickly as needed.
Professor Hirut visited the University’s Sanitizer Manufacturing Unit and prototypes and called on universities and faculties to focus on such important innovations.
Meanwhile, the data from the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MoIT) stated that the WhatsApp chatBot application has been used to get accurate information about the COVID-19 virus from the Ethiopian government. Face book’s message is in use as a tool for the WhatsApp application to the government of Ethiopia, where citizens can ask questions and obtain information directly about the virus.
The WhatsApp messaging service under the name of the Government of Ethiopia COVID-19 is fully owned and maintained by the Ethiopian government. The system contributes to providing citizens with accurate information and prompting a national response to the spread of the virus.
In addition to
WhatsApp, the same telecommunications and Face book messaging services will
continue the information exchange in collaboration with the Ministry of
Innovation and Technology and the Ministry of Health as it was learned from
MoIT.
The Ethiopian Herald April 21/2020
BY ESSEYE MENGISTE
