Despite many and varied efforts, literacy remains an elusive target: some 774 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 75 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.

International Literacy Day (ILD) 2008 is placing a special focus on the important relationship between literacy and health.

In our own way, as a network, Insafe strives to develop a much broader form of literacy that includes digital and media literacy as well as information handling skills. We aim to make people aware of the importance and the risks attached to new communication media use, in particular the internet and mobile phones.

Looking to the future, it is with these two aspects of ICT in mind that we find very interesting the prediction that "mobile phones in the United States will surpass the popularity of desktops for teens" (CNET). This exciting development brings with it further challenges. How will we reach users and develop strategies for this developing market?

There is an important debate here about how, whilst the internet is fighting to remain uncensored and open, mobile operators are being encouraged to restrict access. Assuming that we can find a foolproof technology that can deliver this, why do we feel justified in filtering out "undesirable" content from telephones but not from personal computers? Surely the same need for e-literacy exists. (See Bill Thompson's article for the BBC.)

Taking e-literacy as our cue, we leave you with the news that the One Laptop Per Child programme has lived up to its name in the tiny South Pacific nation of Niue, where 100% of children now have one (BBC). Let's hope the Niuean children will acquire the literacy skills to make the most of this opportunity, safely.