KIGALI - A two-day regional workshop aimed at discussing intellectual property issues related to software in various areas of e-Government, particularly in e-Health systems, kicked off today in Kigali.

The meeting that is organized by the Ministry in Charge of ICT in the Office of the President, in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), aims at updating African countries on recent developments regarding Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) issues.

According to a statement from the organisers, the forum will also examine key IPRs in relation to e-Health as well as analyze how such software can become powerful tools for economic and healthcare development in African countries.

The forum also aims at raising awareness of major issues in relation to the protection of public health information systems through appropriate software licensing mechanisms while observing IPRs.

Participants are also expected to chart the way forward for the development of accessible, cost effective and reliable public e-health information systems.

The workshop brings together participants from Burundi, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and other seven international speakers.

The initiative to host the workshop in Rwanda came from discussions held between senior officials of International Bureau of WIPO and the Government of Rwanda during a recent high level meeting.

In that meeting, the Rwandan delegation expressed interest to host the workshop, with an aim of raising awareness and addressing challenges in e-health systems.

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