Minister Musenero calls for strengthening of law on data protection
Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Monica Musenero, said the way Uganda handles data is still wanting and needs to be checked. PHOTO | ROLAND NASASIRA
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- The consortium also noted that although expectant mothers and children under five years are mostly affected, 90 percent of Uganda’s population is at risk of malaria, a disease that is responsible for 11 percent inpatient deaths and 22 percent hospital admissions.
The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation in the Office of the President, Dr Monica Musenero, has urged the government to strengthen the existing laws on data protection.
This, Musenero said, will go a long way not only in making money but also addressing various health challenges Uganda faces.
The way Uganda handles data, the minister noted, has not been right, with the one available being shabby with a lot of gaps, where Africa still looks at donors for help with data collection.
“We are losing money. People are using our data to make money and new technology. We are not using it because we don’t have it and don’t have control of most of it. We need laws that protect data but we also need systems for us to domestically store our data so that people who want to use it get it from us,” Musenero advised.
“Data is a raw material and natural resource that a country must have. Many countries globally have a bigger chunk of their economies built on data than anything else. If we had data, I could sit on the database and find out which people certain diseases attack. If I want to have a biological weapon, I mimic the disease and it will take long to realise that there’s something new. Unfortunately, it is a security issue for somebody to have all your data about your people and it is one of the dangers of having data controlled by someone not in your country,” the minister added.
Dr Musenero made these remarks at Admas Grand Hotel in Entebbe last Friday while giving her keynote address to lawmakers on the Parliamentary Forum on Malaria on emerging technologies and the potential for addressing health challenges in Africa.
Musenero’s pleas come at a time when Target Malaria Uganda, a research consortium that aims to develop and share new technologies for malaria control, discovered that there were over 11 million malaria cases and over 13,000 deaths in Uganda in 2019 alone.
The consortium also noted that although expectant mothers and children under five years are mostly affected, 90 percent of Uganda’s population is at risk of malaria, a disease that is responsible for 11 percent inpatient deaths and 22 percent hospital admissions.
Mr Timothy Batuwa, the Member of Parliament for Jinja West Constituency and chairperson of the Parliamentary Forum on Malaria, called for the need to harness innovations to mitigate many disease challenges affecting Uganda.
“We are seeing the influence of genetic technology in addressing a number of diseases. We have seen gene editing being an approach used to address sickle cell disease and gene drive technology being researched as a solution to malaria where it is integrated with other interventions so that we eliminate malaria. It is necessary to have discussions to have a law that regulates genetic research,” Batuwa said.
Mr Regan Wamajji, the Associate Director at Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) said the objectives of the two-day workshop is to identify policy and regulatory reforms needed to guide and govern the development and deployment of emerging health technologies.
“The workshop will highlight examples of global emerging health tools to change the health trajectory in Uganda, ongoing research in Sub-Saharan Africa and creating awareness as well as increasing legislators’ understanding on emerging health technologies with ongoing efforts in Africa,” Mr Wamajji said.
