From corn starch pressed into pills masquerading as anti-malarials, to teething syrups with an extra helping of chemicals found in anti-freeze, counterfeit products put patients at risk of harmful health outcomes.
A few high-profile American executives shared their perspectives on sustainable business. They offered a first-hand view of government shortcomings, the powers and limitations of private sector action, and the role US citizens have played in stymieing the global climate talks.
Innovation is the word of the year in international relief and development. Here are four recent innovations we've seen in disaster response--and their potential downsides.
1. Plumpy’nut
Mariko Hall of the World Food Program reports on the ICT aspect of the humanitarian response to massive flooding in northwest Pakistan:
The IT Emergency Preparedness and Response team of WFP is deploying an emergency mission to support the team of five national ICT staff in Islamabad currently managing the operation.
By Wayan Vota
While everyone is amazed at the quick proliferation of mobile phones in the developing world, here's a startling statistic from the Technology Salon which should check our unbridled enthusiasm for m-everything: 73% of women in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia do not have a mobile phone.
An estimated 342,000 to 550,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth each year and 3.7 million children die in infancy. Many of these deaths are entirely preventable and today, international health and technology groups announced a wide ranging collaboration to harness the power of information and communications technologies to fight this terrible scourge.
Walking through the halls of the imposing Walter E. Washington Convention Center in D.C., you can feel that the Women Deliver conference is the largest gathering on women’s issues in more than a decade. There is a palpable excitement and enthusiasm among the thousands of attendees milling around between sessions, connecting and sharing experiences, which is only matched by the intense engagement and intellectual energy felt during the panels, plenaries and discussions.
Special to Dispatch from Hima Batavia
The developers of an open source tool that enables remote health workers to send text and images via mobile phone for rapid diagnosis and treatment recommendations has won the first mHealth Alliance Award. Sana, previously called MocaMobile, was selected for both the mHealth Alliance Award and the Vodafone Americas Foundation’s 3rd place prize for its Wireless Innovation Project, to be awarded during a gala dinner this evening at the Global Philanthropy Forum in Redwood City, California.