Collaborative technology is supporting a $30m healthcare project in Africa that hopes to help treat the problems of Aids.

The Academic Alliance for Aids Care and Prevention in Africa (AAACP) is using software from Documentum to support the construction of the HIV/Aids Infectious Diseases Institute at Uganda's Makerere University. It will be the first state-of-the-art clinic, laboratory and medical training centre in East Africa.

AAACP executive director Naoko Fujii says the project would be almost impossible to do without the technology, and adds that the internet and email has become vital for non-profit work.

'You could not do a non-profit project like this, with international funding and communications with experts around the world, without technology like this, because the time and the costs of communication would be too high,' she said.

All content, including proposals, architectural drawings, engineering specifications, discussion threads, meeting minutes, photographs and schedules, are stored in the application, where they can be used by AAACP experts around the world.

'It has been a lifesaver, the technology organises the entire project. We have eight experts globally, in Europe, in North America, in Canada, and also the leading people in Uganda, who all communicate through this,' said Fujii.

The new centre will be dedicated to treating patients, training physicians from all over Africa and conducting ongoing research in the care and prevention of HIV/Aids.

The AAACP has five-year funding from a range of corporate sponsors including Pfizer, Microsoft and SAS, and it hopes that its work will continue indefinitely.

'It's just a programme for Uganda right now, but we're trying to set up a policy model for what needs to be done to fight Aids in Africa,' said Fujii.

'We're using private sector money to do what needs to be done for humanity. Some are already starting to copy our model and we hope that more will continue to do so,' she said.

Construction of the clinic is due to be completed next March.