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Mahama urges international media to tell Africa's positive stories

By Myjoyonline.com
General News Mahama urges international media to tell Africa's positive stories
MAY 22, 2015 LISTEN

President John Mahama has asked the international media to tell the positive stories of Africa as the continent begins a sharp rise from the shackles of poverty.

Delivering the honorary keynote address at the Oxford Africa Conference 2015 at the Oxford University Friday morning, the President said the numerous positive stories from the continent should be enough to change the world’s perception about Africa.

The President said the story about Africa should not only be about “malaria, Ebola and high infant mortality” but about the new innovations being made across the continent.

He cited the free mobile phone app MedAfrica that provides basic information about health and medicine, WinSenga, a low cost mobile app that monitors the heart rate of an unborn child and provides diagnosis that is sent to the mother via text message along with suggestions of possible actions that can be taken and M-Pesa, micro finance and money transfer service that relies on mobile networks.

While admitting that some unpleasant things might have occurred on the continent in the past the President advocated for the amazing things that are happening currently to be highlighted above those that happened in the past.

“There is a tug of war between the decades during which Africa was supposedly lost and the ones in which we are supposedly rising. It is always one or the other.

But “rarely is the spectacular multiplicity of our continent acknowledged let alone promulgated”, he added.

Read President Mahama's full speech here.

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