CUT-price computers supplied by a Manchester firm are being used as a frontline weapon in the battle being waged against one of Africa's biggest killers.

Computer refurbisher Tier One Asset Management is supplying more than 500 machines and accessories a month to Kenya.

The computers are being used in education and to help spearhead the country's Aids awareness campaigns.

Tier One, which employs 50 people, is paid by blue-chip companies to take their unwanted computers which it reconditions and then sells.

At the moment, shipments to East Africa constitute five per cent of Tier One's £7.5m turnover.