Using COVID-19 Pandemic as an Opportunities for Technology Usage Inspiration and Innovation for African Countries
In developing nations, and on the African continent in particular, the uptake and impact of technological and other developments is often slower than in other parts of the world. While pockets of development exist on the continent as a source of work, education and access much of Africa remains trapped in a cycle of poverty.In this worldwide health crisis, the medical industry is looking for new technologies to monitor and controls the spread of COVID19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. AI is one of such technology which can easily track the spread of this virus, identifies the high-risk patients, and is useful in controlling this infection in real-time. Educators have created online classrooms in a matter of days. Information resources to educate the public and track the spread of the virus using big data sprang up seemingly overnight. Finally, those of us fortunate enough to have jobs that allow us to work from home are learning the full potential of the communication technologies that the 21stcentury has bestowed upon us. None of these tasks have been easy, but individuals and organizations have demonstrated the motivation and mind shifts needed to research, innovate, and act quickly.AI embodies the field of knowledge that seeks to create machines (computers) thatcan emulate human cognitive functions such as learning, reasoning, understanding, vision, perception, recognition, and problem solving to a reasonable level. Computers that have AI capabilities are currently being used in severalreal-worlddomains to solve problems. AI has already played a significant role in each stage of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Some areas where we saw immediate applications include the processing of large amounts of data to find patterns that could lead to the discovery of potential treatment drugs; as well astreating infected people.The novel aspect of this pandemic involves several unknowns and is likely to have a lingering impact for years to come. However, despite the current climate, I am somewhat comforted that the history of past pandemics and crises suggests an eventual recovery plan for the world. After all, necessity is the mother of all invention. New creations arise out of disruption.