Egypt's Women Mobile Health Unit Project has won the Technology in Government in Africa Award (TIGA) 2009 Category 2: Improved Health Services through the use of ICTs.
 
The awards ceremony was held on the 30th of April in the Ethiopian capital Addis Abba. The award is sponsored by Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Canada Fund for Africa.
 
The TIGA Award Category 2 recognizes outstanding achievements in developing and carrying out innovative projects to improve online as well as Government e- Services using other forms of health service delivery.

In October 2007, Egypt’s First Lady Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak inaugurated the project, which came as part of the National Campaign for the Early Detection of Breast Cancer.
 
The project is based on a cooperation protocol signed in 2004 between Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and Ministry of Health and Population on developing health-care services via the use of ICT.
 
The project offers Egyptian women aged over 45 years mammography scans for the early discovery of breast cancer besides conducting complementary blood pressure and blood sugar measurements.

The Women Mobile Health Unit Project offers a set of telemedicine functionalities across Egypt through mobile units connected via satellites to central health-care units. It encompasses a hi-tech communications network, mobile units equipped with advanced medical equipment, fixed units and a main center in Kasr Al-Aini hospital.
 
The mobile unit brought an added value to the National Campaign for Early Detection of Breast Cancer. The project is also a “text book” example, indicating how ICT can surpass distance and bridge the service gaps between urban and rural populations.
 
Accordingly, the project saves the time, cost and effort of moving the patients to specialized medical centers for examination or follow-up.
 
Launched in 2007, TIGA Awards aim to recognize the work of African governments in the effective use of ICTs for public services delivery as part of ECA's African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and Canada's ICTs for development program.