1.76 billion tons of food is wasted globally each year. Food waste is caused by buying or preparing more food than necessary, and not cooking or eating food purchases at all.
To solve this problem and to alleviate world hunger, a group of Swedish master students created FoPo Food Powder. The product is created by turning cheap, nearly expired produce into powder form. By freeze-drying the food, pressure is lowered and water is removed, which results in longer-lasting nutrition in powder form.
Team members Kent Ngo, Gerald Marin, Vita Jarolimkova, Lizzie Cabisidan and Ada Balazy hope that their discovery can help end world hunger and minimize food waste.
The team has three objectives: reduce food waste by turning it into an innovative food product that can be used by people all over the world; extend shelf life while preserving all the nutritional properties and taste; give ugly and expiring food a chance.
“We are not into using a new product or new technology, but creating value out of the inefficiency of the food system,” Marian says.
So far, the powder comes in three flavors: banana, raspberry and mango. The powder retains 30-80% of its nutritional value and can be topped on yogurt and ice cream, baked into recipes, and blended into smoothies.
FoPo Food Powder also offers benefits for food producers and retailers. They can donate or sell their unsellable food, buy FoPo and incorporate it into their recipes, and sell FoPo for a source of good nutrition without additives.
Even further, FoPo offers hope for disaster relief, military and space needs, and providing nutrition to impoverished locations.
Since beginning their project in December 2014, the team has discovered that powdered food is becoming more accepted by consumers, and freeze-drying preserves nutritional value better than other techniques.
FoPo won the Ben & Jerry’s Join Our Core crowd-funding and placed runner-up for Thought For Food Summit, a challenge that helps students with projects to make the world a better place. Currently, FoPo is a finalist for MassChallenge, a community that helps early-stage entrepreneurs with their projects.
FoPo also receives support from both the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Philippines. They are currently launching a test run in natural disaster areas of the Philippines. Local farmers near the test sights will also be donating fruits such as pineapples and mangoes to the trial run.
The team continues to raise awareness and money about their product. With funds, they can find a manufacturer, acquire legal advice and perform further safety testing.
The team hopes to sell to grocery stores and online to big manufacturers in the near future. They also hope to create more flavors of FoPo, see more consumers interested in their product, and feed 9 billion people healthy and nutritious food produced from wasted food.
– Kelsey Parrotte
Sources: FoPo Food Powder, Mashable, Mother Jones
Photo: FoPo Food Powder
FoPo Food Powder and World Hunger
1.76 billion tons of food is wasted globally each year. Food waste is caused by buying or preparing more food than necessary, and not cooking or eating food purchases at all.
To solve this problem and to alleviate world hunger, a group of Swedish master students created FoPo Food Powder. The product is created by turning cheap, nearly expired produce into powder form. By freeze-drying the food, pressure is lowered and water is removed, which results in longer-lasting nutrition in powder form.
Team members Kent Ngo, Gerald Marin, Vita Jarolimkova, Lizzie Cabisidan and Ada Balazy hope that their discovery can help end world hunger and minimize food waste.
The team has three objectives: reduce food waste by turning it into an innovative food product that can be used by people all over the world; extend shelf life while preserving all the nutritional properties and taste; give ugly and expiring food a chance.
“We are not into using a new product or new technology, but creating value out of the inefficiency of the food system,” Marian says.
So far, the powder comes in three flavors: banana, raspberry and mango. The powder retains 30-80% of its nutritional value and can be topped on yogurt and ice cream, baked into recipes, and blended into smoothies.
FoPo Food Powder also offers benefits for food producers and retailers. They can donate or sell their unsellable food, buy FoPo and incorporate it into their recipes, and sell FoPo for a source of good nutrition without additives.
Even further, FoPo offers hope for disaster relief, military and space needs, and providing nutrition to impoverished locations.
Since beginning their project in December 2014, the team has discovered that powdered food is becoming more accepted by consumers, and freeze-drying preserves nutritional value better than other techniques.
FoPo won the Ben & Jerry’s Join Our Core crowd-funding and placed runner-up for Thought For Food Summit, a challenge that helps students with projects to make the world a better place. Currently, FoPo is a finalist for MassChallenge, a community that helps early-stage entrepreneurs with their projects.
FoPo also receives support from both the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Philippines. They are currently launching a test run in natural disaster areas of the Philippines. Local farmers near the test sights will also be donating fruits such as pineapples and mangoes to the trial run.
The team continues to raise awareness and money about their product. With funds, they can find a manufacturer, acquire legal advice and perform further safety testing.
The team hopes to sell to grocery stores and online to big manufacturers in the near future. They also hope to create more flavors of FoPo, see more consumers interested in their product, and feed 9 billion people healthy and nutritious food produced from wasted food.
– Kelsey Parrotte
Sources: FoPo Food Powder, Mashable, Mother Jones
Photo: FoPo Food Powder
Aid Worker Attacks Decline After Worst Year on Record
Newly released data for 2014 shows a drop in worldwide aid worker attacks.
The report was published by Humanitarian Outcomes, a research institution that specializes in the international humanitarian system. The team collected the data through public sources and partnerships with the United Nations and major NGOs.
Humanitarian Outcomes has been tracking aid worker attacks and data since 1997. According to the group, more attacks occurred in 2013 than in any other year on record.
There were 190 major aid worker attacks in 2014, 74 less than in 2013. Still, an estimated 328 aid workers were affected last year with kidnappings, shootings and use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) – all common types of attack.
In an innovative, joint project, Humanitarian Outcomes and Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) created an interactive map that details all major aid worker attacks since 2000. The organizations state that their database is “the sole global open-source of this data.”
Some experts say that last year’s lower attack figures reflect the efforts that aid agencies have taken to improve security. Many agencies have stepped up their efforts to gain community support and use new technologies to keep workers safer.
Other experts believe that fewer aid worker attacks have occurred because international humanitarian groups are choosing to withdraw from volatile regions. As some organizations make the shift to “remote management,” which allows staff to oversee the agency from outside the conflict zone, they rely on local NGOs to deliver assistance. Analysts caution that these local groups are usually even less capable of providing security for their workers.
More than 3,000 aid workers have been attacked in the last 15 years. Of the 27 countries where these aid worker attacks took place, Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan have the highest rates of violence. Many aid agencies feel pressure to maintain a presence in areas of conflict, even as violence worsens
In early June 2015, armed gunmen stormed an Afghan compound of People in Need, a Czech NGO that has worked in Afghanistan since 2001. The attackers shot aid workers “execution-style,” killing nine. Some were shot dead as they slept.
Afghanistan is the most dangerous country in the world for aid workers; nearly a quarter of all aid worker attacks occur in the conflict-ridden country.
Aid worker attacks have also been startlingly high in many central African countries, including in the Central African Republic (CAR). The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in CAR recently denounced the country’s growing trend of violence against aid workers. The July 22, 2015 statement came just days after the driver of a U.N. food convoy was shot dead while traveling on a major supply route.
“Humanitarian access continues to be hampered by various constraints in the country, particularly violence against civilians and humanitarian workers,” stated coordinator Marc Vandenberghe.
Years of civil war and sectarian violence have displaced an estimated 450,000 people in CAR. Many internally displaced persons are in desperate need of the humanitarian assistance aid workers provide.
Vandenberghe called on all conflicting parties in the CAR to cease the attacks on aid workers: “Allow them to do their jobs and save lives safely in the whole country.”
– Caitlin Harrison
Sources: IRIN News 1, IRIN News 2, IRIN News 3, The Guardian, Humanitarian Outcomes, UN News Center, Aid Worker Security Database
Photo: Huffington Post
Protecting Displaced Mothers-to-Be
For mothers-to-be, few things are scarier than not knowing where they will have their baby. During wars and conflicts like those in Yemen, Sudan and Nigeria, people flee and become refugees. Some of those leaving are pregnant women. Despite being displaced persons, they still need the same care during their pregnancies and deliveries; however, many times refugee camps are unsanitary and have few medical staff with limited supplies. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and USAID work together to bring proper medical care to pregnant refugee women in Nigeria who have fled from Boko Haram.
The goal is to provide safe, clean, dignifying births to mothers. USAID sent UNFPA birth kits from Deluxe Childbirth Services to be handed out to mothers and potential mothers. This ensures that no matter where a woman ends up giving birth, she will have with her the items necessary for safe delivery. Included in the kit are a delivery mat, three infant diapers, antibacterial soap, methylated spirits, five pieces of gauze, cotton wool, an infant cord clamp, a scalpel and mucus extractor. USAID is also providing funding for training skilled delivery nurses in refugee camps and areas. Upon delivery, mothers receive baby packs with clothes and items that newborns need.
The goal of the packs is to provide the tools for doctors and nurses to deliver a baby in resource-limited areas as well as necessary sanitation items to prevent infection. Infections and lack of proper tools are the leading cause of maternal deaths in developing countries.
It is expected that there will be 60,000 births by displaced women in Nigeria alone this year. That means already limited resources will be taxed. The birth kits are a welcomed item in refugee camps because it means more women can have a safe and healthy delivery.
– Katherine Hewitt
Sources: Premium Times, news24
Photo: Premium Times
Empowering Youth to End Poverty
We are always told that children are the future; that to have a successful future we must invest in them, giving them the opportunities and the education they need and deserve. The youth makes up 43% of the world’s population. This means there is a large potential force out there that can change the world. Of these youth, 90% live in the developing world. That means there is a huge importance to reach these youths. If given the proper tools, they could change poverty in their countries.
Ensuring that children in developing nations have access to education is crucial. By attending school, boys and girls learn skills that enable them to find professions besides agriculture and mothering, respectively. It gives them a sense of empowerment and self-esteem.
Government leaders and organizations have seen success in addressing policies and programs for the young populations of their countries. The key is to “create and support the enabling conditions under which young people can act on their own behalf, and on their own terms.”
The United Nations has implemented Youth Empowerment and Employment Programs across the developing world. The programs work to provide business development and career advice to youth. There are three goals that the programs hope to address. First, institutional and policy development to ensure that government policies passed help youth gain employment. Second, the programs empower youth by creating and working with existing youth councils and youth leadership positions. Lastly, the programs provide employment and job experience by providing internships and directing student graduates to jobs.
In Sierra Leone, the results of these programs have been positive and have expanded businesses. In one community, there have been 204 jobs created, 400 students (half being women) supported to create their own businesses, and 150 interns placed in 20 institutions. Both men and women had access to the resources and saw success as the numbers show that about half of the empowered youth were women.
In the end, giving the youth education and training provided them opportunities to flourish. They were able to use their skills and make better lives for themselves. They were able to find jobs, which means that they were not left in dire poverty. Empowering the youth not only helps them to feel successful, but it also helps the local community by growing the economy.
– Katherine Hewitt
Sources: OECD, UN, UNCSD 2012, UNDP
Photo: AANF
Arktek: Keeping Vaccines Cool
This is the challenge Bill Gates presented to Nathan Myhrvold. The result was a thermos model device that looks like a keg and can be easily transported on a motorcycle. Arktek, the Passive Vaccine Storage Device, uses regular ice water and no power, keeping vaccines at a temperature just above freezing for months.
Arktek has just one small battery for the display screen at the top, which has a built-in cell phone to send text messages to alert others if, for example, you are running low on ice. The device was tested in up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, where it can last 6 to 8 weeks. In a cooler area, it can last for months.
Well, how this is possible, you may ask?
Arktek uses super insulation, similar to what is used for cryogenic fluids, at very low temperatures and to protect spacecraft from extreme temperatures.
The device has already saved millions of lives. It was used in West Africa to transport the experimental Ebola vaccine during the recent outbreak. According to Bill Gates, the current vaccine-preventable disease to focus on is polio, which the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hopes to eradicate by 2018. Once polio is conquered, the next vaccine-preventable disease would be malaria.
The device is also practical in countries with reliable power, such as the United States, for the transportation of organs. Currently, organs are transported in hand-held coolers that do not last long very long. Myhrvold states the example that if the organs are not transported within a certain amount of time they will go bad in the current device used. That is when Arktek comes in handy, as a superior alternative method for transporting organs.
Arktek has received awards and recognition for its innovative technology. These include the 2014 Good Design Award in the Humanitarian Category from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design and the 2014 ViE Award for the best technological development.
Arktek is the result of Intellectual Ventures’ Global Good Program and Intellectual Ventures Lab. The innovative company is owned by Nathan Myhrvold, former Chief Information Officer at Microsoft. Intellectual Ventures has partnered with AUCMA, China’s largest refrigeration manufacturer, to help distribute these devices to remote areas. This is a partnership that will save millions of lives from vaccine-preventable diseases and potentially result in a healthier future for the world’s poor.
– Paula Acevedo
Sources: CNN Videos, Intellectual Ventures
Photo: Fast Company
Mind Over (or at Least on Par with) Matter for HIV Patients
HIV-positive individuals face enormous challenges, in terms of both size and quantity, and the psychosocial aspect of their plight is often underestimated.
Living with the stigma of being someone who is “infected” can interfere with opportunities, relationships and one’s overall position in society. Many individuals living with the diagnosis face issues ranging from anxiety to suicidal thoughts, from personality disorders to substance abuse.
Feeling the reality of mortality, along with the sudden ostracism from the community that a person once belonged to due to the stigmatized nature of HIV, is enough to bring up these issues for anyone.
While the war against the physical symptoms and spread of the diseases is in full force, the psychological issues faced by sufferers are just as important to address.
While these “side effects” are not always taken into consideration as a priority, the World Health Organization itself “recommends that attention to the psychosocial needs of people with AIDS should be an integral part of HIV care,” according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study. Globally, there are many cases where it is being done with great effectiveness.
Microcredit programs provide small loans to people who, due to their life-threatening diseases and discrimination (despite legislation seeking to prevent it), are hard-pressed to receive them from other places. In the case of the Positive Partnership Program in Thailand, loans are provided for partnerships between one HIV-positive and one HIV-negative person.
Infected individuals who received loans through this program reported feeling a greater sense of self-efficacy, increased acceptance in the community and an overall improved outlook on life. HIV-negative individuals who participated in the program reported an increased understanding of HIV and decreased levels of anxiety, fear and discomfort toward HIV-positive individuals.
Programs like this one are exemplary in the move toward integrating HIV-positive individuals into the rest of society. This is on top of the opportunity they offer them to reach and prove their full mental and economic potential, as, in the study’s period of 2004-2006, 91% of the loans given were repaid on time.
Projects similar to this one include a study of a cognitive-behavioral-group program for HIV-positive men in Hong Kong, and another done in rural Uganda using interpersonal psychotherapy. Both of these studies showed that psychosocially-based programs were effective in reducing symptoms of depression and increasing overall mental health.
In truth, the efforts of groups that work to reduce stigma and increase quality of life are incalculably important. As lecturer in ethics and HIV prevention Bridget Haire says, “showing the nation how people living with HIV are a vibrant, vital and productive part of our community cannot be overestimated.”
Perhaps even more poignant are the words spoken by one of the participants in the Thai Positive Partnership Program: “Life is much improved. My social life is back. I may have HIV, but I am still a human being. I have my self-esteem, and my honor.”
– Em Dieckman
Sources: UNAIDS, NCBI, The Conversation
Photo: Flickr
Roughly One-Third of Californian Residents Live in Poverty
An article published by the Sacramento Bee reported that about one-third of all Californian residents live at or below the U.S. poverty line. An immediate answer to this staggering statistic is the high cost of living one experiences as a Californian resident. A study by the United Ways of California “identified housing costs as the major factor in poverty, with struggling families spending over half of their incomes for shelter, with rents of two-bedroom housing units ranging from $584 a month in Modoc County to $1,905 in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.” In the simplest of terms, California isn’t cheap.
The percentage of Californians in poverty is composed of various demographics. For example, a little over 50% of all Latino families and 40% of African-American families reside under the poverty line, compared to 20% of all white families. Poverty levels spike within urban areas, with inner-city Los Angeles accounting for an astonishing 80% of all Californian residents in poverty.
At times, Californians are crippled with unrealistic housing costs. An article by AlJazeera America explored the alarming costs of owning property in California. An excerpt from the article reads, “In some California counties, the ‘real cost of living’ can exceed the federal poverty level by 300 percent. In San Diego County, for example, the household budget for two adults with one infant and one school-age child is $57,759 or 248 percent above the federal poverty line.” People in California spend more than half of their income just trying to pay their rent.
Times are vastly different in California now than they ever have been. Gone is the image of the original “Golden State.” The West Coast now offers a cruel glimpse into global poverty right here in our United States.
– Diego Catala
Sources: Sacbee, Al Jazeera
Photo: The Huffington Post
Peru Kidnap Rescue Mission: 30 Years in the Making
Despite the state’s success in decapitating a major terrorist organization in Peru 30 years ago, many victims are still being rescued from captivity today. This includes a kidnap rescue mission by the Peruvian army, which took place just this past July.
The army of the Peruvian state rescued 39 people from a farm where some of them have been held there for 30 years after being kidnapped. Others, children now, were born within the confines of their captivity. These individuals were all victims of the terror that reigned over Peru from the Shining Path, or as it is called in Peru, Sendera Luminoso.
The Shining Path was an infamous and extremely destructive terrorist and politically radical group, responsible for the death of thousands of Peruvians over the years, as well as the disappearance of many innocent people. Despite the state’s ability to end the group’s terror in 1992, when the leader Abimael Guzman was taken down, these victims were not released until over 20 years after the dismantlement of the organization.
The victims found within the walls of these particular farms, which are labeled “production camps”, were primarily children. Many were kidnapped from rural areas and forced to work in these camps. They were to do agricultural work in the fields, as well as procreate with other captives.
Unfortunately, there are many cases in which the Shining Path still leaves its mark and affects those still living in Peru today. The government of the country is making an effort to permanently wipe out any impact the terrorist group continues to make, starting with these camps that are still in existence, hidden throughout the jungles and rural areas of the country.
– Alexandrea Jacinto
Sources: Inside the World, BBC
Photo: The Independent
HIV Prevention Through Childhood Education
Oftentimes, medical interventions in the developing world consist of sending and administering medical supplies, personnel and medical training. However, when it comes to HIV prevention, secondary school education might be a “two birds, one stone” scenario, cost-effectively cutting down the rate of new infections in the first place rather than focusing on expensive treatment.
Traditional HIV/AIDS reduction programs such as the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have focused on primary school education and generally expanding access to information regarding HIV/AIDS as a prevention strategy. However, programs like PEPFAR generally don’t go so far as to include secondary school education as a strategy, which can be a rather ambitious objective.
A recent study published by The Lancet suggests that secondary school education ought to be the main feature of programs such as PEPFAR.
The study correlates a drop in new cases of AIDS with extra schooling in Botswana. Jacob Bor of Boston University School of Public Health, one of the co-authors of the study, made this point succinctly saying, “investments in secondary schooling are a slam dunk and should go alongside biomedical interventions in any effective HIV prevention strategy.”
According to the study, young people who attended an extra year of secondary school were 8.1% less likely to contract HIV. Girls, in particular, were 11.6% less likely if they attended at least two years of secondary school. The study found that there was no such correlation with primary school attendance. Apparently, the greater impact on preventing new cases of HIV in girls might be due to the fact that there are simply more women with the virus to begin with; in 2013, almost 80% of new adolescent infections in Sub-Saharan Africa occurred among girls.
Because AIDS has a disproportionate impact on women, secondary school education might even represent a grand slam of development objectives, improving health, education and gender equality; expanding opportunities for women and girls is widely regarded as one of the most effective poverty-reduction strategies.
The Millennium Development Goals included the objective of achieving a universal primary education for all children, which even now is a lofty goal. However, to realize a substantial improvement in AIDS reduction as well as other related goals, universal secondary school education might need to be included in the next set of global development objectives.
– Derek Marion
Sources: SciDevNet, The Lancet, PEPFAR
Photo: Flickr
The MDGs Are the “Most Successful Anti-Poverty Movement in History”
The MDGs proved the power behind global action. This reassured the United Nations that this methodology demonstrates success and shows encouraging results. The United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations monitored more than 28 countries during the fifteen years to determine the results of eight MDGs, the first of which was a reduction in global poverty.
The results were highly satisfying. The United Nations noted that the MDGs showed shortcomings in its inability to reach the most vulnerable and did little to improve the conditions of the “ultra-poor,” but the U.N. Secretary-General firmly stated that these “successes should be celebrated [by] our global community,” while staying “keenly aware of where we have come short.”
The success of these developing countries was a direct consequence of “targeted interventions, sound strategies, adequate resources, and political will.” While the U.N. Secretary General’s special adviser, Jeffery Sachs, states that the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposal will be “the greatest, most complicated challenge humanity has ever faced” due to a “juggernaut of a world economy is pressing against the finite limits of the planet,” the MDGs are a shining beacon of hopeful resolve.
The global problems of the world are a global and generational responsibility that Sachs believes “requires the best intellects around the world to help solve [these] problems and design new, more sustainable systems.” Innovation is key. Sachs states that the world needs to reimagine its vision for the future in order to make the improvements envisioned in the SDGs to be proposed in September.
Millennium to Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations clearly visualizes a future that, as Ban states, “strives to reflect these lessons [learned from the MDGs], build on the successes and put all countries together, firmly, on track towards a more prosperous, sustainable, and equitable world.” The SDGs aim to take a working methodology, global action and universal cooperation to see extreme poverty eliminated by 2030.
– Felicia L. Warren
Sources: UN 1, UN 2, UN 3, The Guardian
Photo: The Guardian