Solution of the Month
January 2007
Two new on-line databases:
- The Health Communication Materials Database
is an international resource for all those with an
interest in health communication materials:
pamphlets, posters, audiotapes, videos, training
materials, job aids, electronic media and other
media/materials designed to promote public health.
- The
International Network for the Availability of Scientific
Publications (INASP) is a
directory of organizations and activities working to
improve production, access and dissemination of reliable
information in and between developing and transitional
countries. It
contains links to engineering, appropriate technology,
health, and many other topics available as on-line
resources.
February 2007
What do you do if
you are left without electricity for long stretches
of time? You make your own electricity. Simple.
Niruttam Kumar Singh and Harvansh Yadav, a
student-teacher duo from Gangagarh village in
Bulandshaher, Uttar Pradesh, have made a cow dung
battery that lights up electric bulbs, charges
mobile phones and brings alive radios!
Read more...
March 2007
(Video
Clip)
The
Elephant Pump by
Pump Aid: Rope
pumps have been around for centuries, emerging first
in China 2000 years ago. A loop of rope, if driven
at sufficient speed, can pull water up from a well
more efficiently than standard pump designs. The
rope can be made from any material, and the volume
brought up by the rope's motion can be increased
with pistons spaced along the cable. Check the Pump
Aid
video library for more information on this
technology (audio and video).
April 2007
(Video
Clip)
The PlayPumpTM water
system by PlayPump
International provides easy access to clean drinking
water, bring joy to children, and lead to improvements
in health, education, gender equality, and economic
development. Installed near schools, the PlayPump system
doubles as a water pump and a merry-go-round for
children. It also provides one of the only ways to
reach rural and peri-urban communities with potentially
life saving public health messages.
May 2007
(Video
Clip)
FogQuest
is an innovative, international, non-governmental,
non-profit organization, which implements and promotes
the environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and
economically viable use of fog, rain and dew as
sustainable water resources for people in arid regions
of developing countries.
June 2007
Water-Health
International brings to life the potential to
provide access to affordable, clean water to everyone,
regardless of economic status. The
UV Waterworks™ system was invented to address the
needs of underserved communities around the world.
Through a multi-stage filtration process coupled with an
ultraviolet disinfection technology, contaminated water
is converted into clean, potable water that exceeds the
World Health Organization's standards for potable
water. See
case studies in India, Philippines and Ghana.
July 2007
(Video Clips
1 and
2)
Thousands
of residents of rural villages in India are
receiving quality eye care thanks to a collaborative
effort between an Indian hospital network and the
researchers at the University of California,
Berkeley, and at Intel Corporation who have
developed a new technology for low-cost rural
connectivity.
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/06/06_telemedicine.shtml
and
http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu/docs/wireless/large_wild.pdf
August 2007
Check the
Design Squad program designed to connect
children to engineering through hands-on projects.
Want to learn how
water (and even urine) can be recycled on NASA space
missions, check a
Video Clip, featuring Evan Thomas, researcher at
NASA Houston and EWB-USA Rwanda project leader.
What about developing small scale reliable systems
with good distribution for communities on spaceship
Earth?
September
2007
(Video
Clip)
The
BoGo Light is a scientific, eco-friendly
breakthrough that is making an impact worldwide.
From Cairo to Cape Town, from the Caribbean to the
Amazon, it is improving the lives of individuals,
families, and entire villages by replacing costly
kerosene, candles, and disposable battery
flashlights with an
affordable, long lasting, solar flashlight.
October
2007
IDrate is a new
interactive website developed by
EAWAG to
promote safe drinking water. A water bubble
periodically appears and reminds you that you should
be drinking more water. The users double-click on
the bubble and create a virtual glass of water.
These glasses can then be "purchased" by private
sector stakeholders to fund water and sanitation
projects in the developing world.
November
2007
Design Notes for Low-Cost Products Using Sands
from a series of design notes for low cost products
for low-income people. Available through TG Ideas,
LLC.
December
2007 (Video
Clip)
Read
You Can Hear Me Now about the GrameenPhone
in Bangladesh - a partnership between Norway’s
Telenor and Grameen Bank, —defines a new approach to
building business opportunities in the developing
world.
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