Abstract

This paper looks at the changes that are occurring in Uganda’s population as the country continues to increase usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The Ugandan study is built on our previous works exploring shifts in socio-economic and cultural practices brought about by ICTs, compiled in Electronic Communication in Developing Countries (Eigenmann 2014). Much of Uganda’s push toward connectedness is a result of the Uganda Communications Act of 1997, drafted not long before the Ebola virus spread through the country causing the largest Ebola outbreak in history until recently. Early findings presented in this study indicate that mobile phone and internet access in Uganda are not only instrumental in minimizing the death toll of the recent Ebola outbreak, ICTs are also tools for educating Ugandans about other health-related practices and quality-of-life issues. Easy, simple, culturally-relevant messages about HIV prevention, hypertension medication, and cholesterol lowering are delivered to large audiences, and public fear about epidemics are also addressed and alleviated. Working with African students from Berea College in Kentucky and the Kuchanga Foundation of Minnesota, this study continues in the direction of our previous works on South Africa and South Sudan by employing both quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry to determine how ICT development is influencing other aspects of African life such as agriculture, economic development, and education, in addition to health care.