Over 100 health and information technology professionals and policy makers including representatives from Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Zambia and the United States, attended the conference.

The conference explored the benefits, challenges, and opportunities that handheld technology presents for the health sector in low resource environments and featured plenary addresses, panel and group discussions, and presentations on the Uganda Health Information Network and other projects in the region involving handheld computers.

The burden of disease in Uganda is one of the highest in the world, and the health problem is considered to be one of the main development challenges of the country. The existing poor health condition in the country is the result of various social, economic, environmental and infrastructural factors.