Archive for category: Technology

Information and stories about technology news.

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6 Facts About Technological Improvements in Ghana

technological improvements in GhanaGhana is a nation located just west of Nigeria, with a population of 31 million people. Of those people, six million are food insecure, most living in rural areas. However, Ghana has been working harder than many of its neighbors to use technology to combat food insecurity. Over the last decade, the country has worked to improve its technologies and sustainable food sources. These are six facts about technological improvements in Ghana.

6 Facts About Technological Improvements in Ghana 

  1. Ghana has made plans to boost economic growth. Ghana aims to achieve low- to middle-income status in the upcoming decade. Agriculture is the ticket to a sustainable living environment. The issues hindering productivity in Ghana are related to inadequate infrastructure, as well as a lack of fundamental training in land management and equipment. Ghana has been investing in this future through eduction; around 6% of Ghana’s gross domestic product goes toward education, one of the highest percentages in the world.
  2. Productivity in Ghana is at a higher rate than neighboring nations. Ghana is a member of the United Nations and is a part of world trade. Gold, cocoa and oil are three of the country’s primary exports, and this keeps profits high enough to continue to educate and train younger citizens to farm and harvest. Ghana is one of the first countries in the region to achieve these milestones, with neighboring countries looking up to them. The GDP of neighbor country Togo is lower than that of Ghana. About 30% of the population in Togo live below the poverty line. In comparison, Ghana’s poverty percentage is 23.4%.
  3. Ghana must shift to incentive-driven economic policies to improve leadership. In order to do this, smaller land rural farmers must be able to identify and voice their needs, such as crop production, needing improvement on harvest and post-harvest procedures and finding the value in their commodities. When farmers feel heard, their incentive to increase productivity will grow. A non-governmental organization (NGO) project was conducted to open sustainability training centers in Ghana to expand knowledge. This project resulted in the improved health and livelihood of everyone involved.
  4. In 2017, there was a breakthrough in the development of a solar-powered vehicle for transportation. The breakthrough, called “aCar”, was developed by students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The prototype was developed to further explore the transportation-related needs of the country. This did astronomical things for the environment and farmers alike. The vehicle caters towards the farmers’ local needs. The aCar has become a convenient way to transport goods and trade with other farmers at markets in town. The car is solar powered and does not require fuel, which, in turn, saves farmers money. Furthermore, the vehicle is affordable and has the ability to use local materials to maintain the car.
  5. Accra is becoming a hub for technology advancement and the future of the nation’s development. The capital city of Ghana is the home of many tech firms and startup ideas. The city of Accra boasts companies such as mPedigree, a pharmaceutical company, and Rancard, which provides telecommunication services with other companies in the region. It has helped thousands of students growing up in Ghana find a path and way of learning.
  6. Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in Accra is providing complete IT training, funding for software startups and even mentorships for all students. Having more young people trained in IT is helpful for the growth of technology and productivity within the nation. These schools and programs give young Ghanian innovators hope and inspiration, ultimately giving hope for the future of their nation. As a result, students in cities are learning skills that they can use internationally or locally to solve environmental and technological problems. Tech companies like hubAccra, Ispace and MEST are a working to hone the skills of those who want to learn to develop their communities.

Technology improvements in Ghana continue to increase today. Ghana is shaping the future by instilling all the skills and foundations into its youngest citizens to continue growing, developing and improving. The median age for Ghana’s capital city is 21 years old. The Ghanaians are young and flourishing, constantly learning new things and adding programs to their hub for technological development.  In the next decade, Ghana hopes to be a self-sustaining, middle-class economy through advanced technological improvements.

– Kimberly Elsey

Photo: Flickr

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Biotechnology to Reduce Tuberculosis in Madagascar

Tuberculosis in Madagascar
Tuberculosis, commonly known as TB, is the most infectious fatal disease in the world. Despite the fact that it is treatable, TB kills more than 1 million people annually across the globe. The wide majority of diagnoses and deaths occur in poor, developing nations. Here is some information about tuberculosis in Madagascar.

Tuberculosis in Madagascar

Tuberculosis cases plague Madagascar, a country off the southeastern coast of Africa, especially among the citizens of low socioeconomic status. As of 2012, 70.7% of the Malagasy population lived below the poverty line. As a result, in 2017, the tuberculosis incidence rate in Madagascar was 233 cases per 100,000 people. TB is a disease that poverty perpetuates, making Madagascar a likely candidate for an outbreak.

Lack of quality living conditions, nutrition and health care all amplify the risk of tuberculosis infection in Madagascar. Proper toilets and handwashing facilities are scarce for the majority of Malagasy people. According to CIA World Factbook data, as of 2015, sanitation facility access in Madagascar remained unimproved for 88% of the total population. As for health care, not only is TB deadly in itself if it does not receive treatment, but it is the leading cause of death for people who suffer from HIV. As of 2018, there are 39,000 Malagasy people who receive a diagnosis of HIV, however, only 20,865 TB patients also had documentation of their HIV status. Without quality systems in place to document HIV and TB status, solving the epidemic in Madagascar will not succeed.

The Global Fund’s Support

The added historical stigma surrounding TB makes matters worse. While already struggling monetarily, patients are often fearful that, if their diagnosis is public, they will risk losing their jobs. However, various groups are making progress in reducing this stigma while aiding those with TB. The Global Fund, an organization that assists in funding relief for epidemics, is hiring employees to administer medication and encourage TB patients in Madagascar to stay on track with their antibiotics. These employees act as a support system as well and are working to debunk the shame that patients may feel surrounding their diagnosis.

The Global Fund is continuing to make huge strides in combating this disease. In 2018, the organization funded the cure of 33,000 patients in Madagascar. For 2020-2022, there is a projected $18,045,448 that will contribute to tuberculosis health care in Madagascar. These huge sums of money should significantly diminish the problem. As of 2017, based on the recorded percentage of new cases of TB, the treatment success rate was 84%.

Biotechnological Solutions

Although the disease is incredibly preventable and curable, there is a lack of medical tools in Madagascar necessary to diagnose and treat TB. Not only are there minimal supplies, but the head of the mycobacteria unit at the Health Institute of Madagascar, Niaina Rakotosamimanana, said that “we have a collection of [TB] strains at the Pasteur Institute… about 9,000 strains. We have been thinking about expanding and strengthening our ability to analyze those samples.”

Researchers from the Health Institute of Madagascar, Stony Brook University and Oxford University are collaborating to help grant greater access to a portable and affordable tool, the MinION. The MinION helps to diagnose and efficiently test the resistance of TB strains to antibiotics. It is a cheap, affordable option that is accessible to Malagasy people. While developed countries have the technology to create complex, expensive tools to prevent the spread of TB, low-income countries, where the disease is affecting more people, have considerably less information. Because developing nations often cannot support Western medical technology, tools like the MinION are incredibly beneficial.

Tuberculosis in Madagascar is still one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the country, but Madagascar is making significant progress towards the elimination of the disease. The efforts Madagascar is taking in tracking TB are positive steps contributing to the mitigation of the epidemic.

– Sophia McGrath
Photo: Flickr

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Satellite Technology Can Combat Poverty in Africa

Satellite Technology Can Help Combat Poverty
Over the last two decades, there has been an observed decrease in poverty levels in the eastern and southeastern regions of Asia. Unfortunately, 42% of people in sub-Saharan Africa are still living in absolute poverty conditions. To aid developmental efforts on the continent, scientists and engineers are exploring how satellite technology can combat poverty across the entire continent.

Identifying Poverty 

It is well-known in the academic community that research relating to poverty in comparatively poor regions is hard to come by. Surveys and censuses are not frequent enough to provide an accurate understanding of poverty in Africa. This lack of data makes strategizing and taking action to alleviate poverty in some areas particularly difficult. Luckily, some are conducting new research to explore the possibility of using satellite imagery to identify poverty-stricken areas. In fact, Stanford researchers Marshall Burke, David Lobell and Stefano Ermon spent the last 5 years studying the use of available images to assess poverty conditions in Africa over time.

Satellite imagery and machine learning can work together to identify poverty and development hot-spots. Images that satellites take during the night could expose the absence of lights in an area that may lack electricity. Images from the day may also show the status of general infrastructures like housing, waterways, agricultural techniques and roads. These features are components of development and identifying their status should be able to help efforts to provide communities with the resources they lack. Neural networks, which are a component of machine learning, use these satellite images to find patterns in communities. The Stanford researchers tested this technology on 20,000 different African villages and created models for the conditions they observed. While machine learning is a new tool for the fight against poverty, it is a promising source of information and understanding that can enhance our response. 

Famine and Natural Disasters

In its response to conditions in Africa, USAID has long known that satellite technology can help combat poverty. In 1986, NASA began working with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to detect and prevent famine through the famine early warning system (FEWS). Using remote sensing and existing satellite data that NASA collected, USAID has been able to predict famine conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. 

In 2000, NASA and USGS also collaborated to establish more effective response-planning mechanisms through an updated FEWS Network. They have used this network to predict floods, landslides, fires and other natural threats to development. In 2017, the network was able to make a credible appeal for food aid in a war-torn Somalia, which reduced deaths from starvation. Researchers have also concluded that the early warning system lowered mortality rates in Kenya, where the number of “severely hungry” Kenyans was 1.75 million in 2017, versus 2.8 million in 2011. Good disaster response can better inform developmental projects in poorer countries, which makes the network a crucial component of a greater effort to alleviate poverty. 

The Long-term

Many are now looking at how satellite technology can combat poverty. The technology can no doubt open more doors to understanding economic development. Experts suggest that satellite intel on land usage could aid non-governmental organizations in crafting policies for better resource allocation in the region and the possibilities do not stop there. Although there is still work to do to alleviate poverty in Africa, viewing this advancing technology as an enabler for further research and action is incredibly exciting.

– Arshita Sandhiparthi
Photo: Flickr

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3 Innovative Technologies Stopping Malaria

innovative technologies stopping malariaMalaria has plummeted by 40% fifteen years after 2000. A report that NCBI published attributed this to mosquito preventative measures like bed netting and insecticides. These interventions and practices, like wearing light color clothing, help at-risk populations fight malaria. However, mosquitos are learning to fight back. Resistance to insecticides is evolving in mosquitos and malaria continues to afflict millions. In 2018, there were still 228 million cases of malaria and 405,000 deaths. Over 90% of these cases and deaths occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa, but there are many interventions that have the potential to stop malaria. Here are three innovative technologies stopping malaria.

3 Innovative Technologies Stopping Malaria

  1.  The SolarMal Project: The SolarMal project is part of a new arsenal of defenses against mosquitos and their diseases beyond the typical netting and spray. SolarMal is a solar-powered mosquito trapper. The solar panel mainly serves to power a vent in the SolarMal, but it also has been able to store and serve as an electricity provider for the houses it protects. The solar panel sits on the roof of a house and connects to a trapping device on the ground. Inside the trapper is an odorous chemical that mosquitos prefer to people. A ventilation unit then sucks the hungry mosquitos inside where they cannot escape. On the Island of Rusinga, the SolarMal project has decreased the mosquito population by 70% and malaria incidence by 30%. This technology works and is applicable to other mosquito-borne illnesses like the Zika virus and dengue fever.
  2. DJI Phantom: There are two places experts try to stop mosquitos: in their breeding grounds and in their feeding grounds. Netting, insecticides and the SolarMal project work to prevent malaria in mosquito feeding grounds in the towns and residences where people live. DJI Phantom is the name of a low-cost drone that can survey wilderness and find mosquito breeding grounds. Of these three innovative technologies stopping malaria, the Phantom is the most indirect but also one of the most essential. There are many ways to limit mosquito breeding once people have found their habitats but discovering them has now become much more efficient. High-resolution satellites can also be helpful in finding mosquito breeding grounds. However, these methods are very expensive and require perfect weather conditions. This is difficult as most mosquitos breed in wet areas that typically have cloud coverage. Drones offer a cheaper and more consistent method to discover mosquito habitats. In 30 minutes of fly time, this drone can capture 30 hectares to analyze for still bodies of water. Field surveys of breeding grounds could only spot half the water bodies the drone was able to discover. Once people have located the mosquito breeding grounds, they may disperse chemicals or oils to disrupt mosquito larvae.
  3.  Gene-Drive: The nonprofit Target Malaria develops mosquito solutions using CRISPR gene-editing technology. There are three phases of genetic modification that Target Malaria conducts. For the first phase, scientists are developing sterile male mosquitos to release into the wild. Male mosquitos do not bite people and when the sterile males mate with female mosquitos, they do not produce offspring. This method can decrease their population but only for one reproduction cycle. Phase two looks to decrease the population over a longer period of time. This stage is the self-limiting stage and it aims to make a reproduction bias towards male mosquitos. Phase two genetic modifications will undergo natural selection after some time. In the following stage three, Target Malaria will look to make these genetic changes permanent. Creating a male bias mutation that successfully survives between generations, the number of female mosquitos will decrease 10-fold and severely limit the population. Target Malaria is still in the initial phases, but it must take great care as there could be many unknown side effects on an ecosystem.

Stopping malaria is a focus for many African communities and there are many organizations looking into possible solutions to stop the spread and hopefully eradicate this disease. Estimates determine that eradicating malaria by 2040 would save 11 million lives and surge $2 trillion of economic growth. Advancements like these three innovative technologies stopping malaria are making this future vision possible.

– Brett Muni
Photo: Flickr

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6 Ways Technology is Helping Reduce the Burden of COVID-19

Burden of COVIDThe most recent pandemic has wreaked havoc on countries all over the world and has stagnated, or even reversed progress in many developing communities. While officials have been trying to reduce the number of cases worldwide, there have also been many tech developments that help alleviate the burden of COVID-19. Various apps and websites allow us to spread information, contact-trace and even enforce quarantine.

6 Ways Technology Helps Alleviate the Burden of COVID-19

  1. Afghanistan- Without proper guidance, misinformation can spread like wildfire and can be deadly. For this reason, the Ministry of Public Health joined forces with the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology to create software that provides health information to Afghani citizens. Corona.asan.gov.af translates virus updates and information into three different languages, making it easily accessible for all people.
  2. Bulgaria- Local IT developers created a free app that connects citizens to health authorities to help ease the burden of COVID-19. Users verify their identity and can input various symptoms they are experiencing. A doctor will then review their symptoms and decide whether or not to send the patient to the closest medical facility for treatment. In addition to this, the app also can predict the future growth and spread of the virus. The developers are also willing to sell the software to other countries for a symbolic one euro.
  3. Germany- A Berlin-based tech startup created an initiative that would work on Android devices in developing countries throughout South America and North Africa. The project, called #AppsFightCovid would display health information on popup ads that already exist on different apps. The ads take info from the WHO website and advocate for frequent hand washing and wearing a mask in public. Because of these efforts, underdeveloped communities now have access to important COVID-19 information.
  4. Mexico- The Mexico City government created a screening service that determines how likely a user is to contract the coronavirus. The website also features a map that displays the closest hospitals and how much space is available in each of them. People can also filter the map based on whether they need a general care bed or a ventilator bed. In addition, users can input their symptoms and determine whether or not they require hospitalization. This helps alleviate the burden of COVID by reducing the number of unnecessary hospital patients during a global pandemic.
  5. United Nations- It is extremely difficult to get access to personal protective equipment and accurate information, especially for developing countries. Because of this, the U.N. partnered with the WHO and launched the Tech Access Partnership or TAP. This initiative helps reduce the burden of COVID by connecting expert manufacturers with developing manufacturers in poorer countries all over the world to share resources, knowledge and technical expertise. TAP will also aid countries in creating affordable and safe technology.
  6. Argentina- In hopes of reducing the number of coronavirus cases, a company is looking into enforcing quarantining and social distancing through a tracking app, though it is not yet operational. This would be a way to prevent the spread of COVID since the app would send an alert each time a person leaves their home. In addition, the Argentinian Ministry of Health created an application that allows people to evaluate their symptoms and see whether or not they require hospitalization.

 

Though the novel coronavirus has thrown us all for a whirlwind, many countries are doing their part to alleviate the burden of COVID by using technology. Whether it is through self-assessing symptoms, tracking hospitals or enforcing quarantine, government officials everywhere are trying to flatten the curve through the use of technology.

– Karin Filipova
Photo: Unsplash

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Why Facebook Added Reliance as a Friend

It is easy for many to take the internet for granted. Roaming around the city, chatting with friends and staying connected with family using mobile applications is possible only because of internet connectivity. One might argue that the internet comes as a luxury element post healthcare, energy, food, shelter and education. The Internet can help people with communication and decision making. For example, farmers can charge their yields at a reasonable price post referring to market prices on the internet. They can even predict weather and harvest accordingly. Money transfers from people across the city can occur instantaneously. This list never ends. Now the internet giant Facebook is teaming up with a company to provide free internet. Here is why Facebook added Reliance as a friend.

Why Facebook Wants to Provide Free Internet

Back in 2015, Facebook experimented with Free Basics for providing basic internet services to the rural population of the world. However, things did not go according to Facebook’s plan because of the regulatory conditions across telecom sectors in different parts of the world. It violated net neutrality laws. After public consultation, the Indian telecom regulator banned Free Basics. Since then Facebook has been eagerly waiting to do something about it.

There are more than 400 million WhatsApp users in India. Added to this fact, Facebook’s core platform has more Indian users than any other country. However, half of the Indian population is still offline. Facebook wants to target that new user-base.

Reliance’s Jio Initiative

Reliance’s Jio initiative succeeded in doing what Facebook was not able to do. It succeeded in providing mobile phones and the internet at a very low cost. It was able to do so because of the revenue generated from other divisions of the organization and the exorbitant loan that Reliance opted for. This move wiped out the telecom sector foundation in India. Competitors such as Vodafone Idea and Airtel lost millions of customers to the new Jio network.

Internet services and call services were provided by Reliance Jio at free of cost in 2016. This move forced competitors to charge less, which in turn, resulted in the internet revolution. Most of the poor population across India started using mobile phones and the internet. As of December 2019, more than 370 million people across India had subscribed to the Reliance network

How Facebook Added Reliance as a Friend

Facebook’s failure in the past to enter Indian markets with the Free Basics concept taught the company an important lesson. Starting from scratch will not work all the time. Acquiring an existing player was an easy choice at this point. Mark Zuckerberg was intelligent enough to detect Jio’s achievements. Added to this fact, the market capitalization of Reliance was down because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Indian National Rupee was at all-time low-value trading around 76 INR for 1 USD. After recognizing these facts, Facebook acquired 10% of the stake in Reliance India Limited at $5.7 billion. Facebook can leverage Reliance’s data for targeted advertisements. It will realize a significant jump in advertisement revenues from the Indian region.

Benefits of Increased Internet Access

Education is not available to everyone. Fortunately, people from poor backgrounds can get access to quality education through the internet. Poor people can access online education sites like Unacademy, Coursera and edX at free of cost. Added to this fact, people search and apply for jobs mostly through the internet. All jobs are highly interconnected these days. Thus, the internet would certainly provide intangible benefits to the rural population.

Millions of people could come out of poverty because of free internet access. Economic growth, employment and productivity of a country will improve significantly because of the internet access provision. In fact, Internet connectivity can generate $6.7 trillion of the global economy and create new jobs. India is the second-largest market for internet connectivity ranked only below China. It has around 600 million internet users.

Moving Forward

Around 30 million local stores in India were not online yet. Reliance’s latest experiment JioMart is working towards enabling this dream. Local Kirana stores can connect to the entire Indian population through the internet. If WhatsApp pay is leveraged on this occasion, possibilities will become endless. Owing to all these facts, accepting Reliance’s friend request was a strategic move towards achieving Facebook’s dreams.

– NarasingaMoorthy V 

Photo: Flickr

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Smartphone Apps Improving Agriculture in Africa

Apps Improving Agriculture in Africa
As Africa moves towards a knowledge-based economy, the development of new smartphone apps is paving the way for agricultural improvements. Apps have the potential to create lower prices for consumers. They also help farmers utilize production to maximize the amount they produce. Conventional models often lead farmers down the wrong path due to false information. As a result, fake and unrecommended seeds increase in growth. Luckily, there are several smartphone apps improving agriculture in Africa.

Benefits of Apps over Conventional Models

Apps have the ability to improve data and provide feedback from each harvest. This data improves democratization and informs policies to improve the livelihood of small farmers. Mobile apps also have the ability to allow children of farmers to take over the business from elderly parents. An emerging trend shows young people beginning to view agriculture as uninteresting and inefficient. They often also hold the view that a career in agriculture has no chance of upward social mobility. As a result, the average age of African farmers is 60. In contrast, the median age on the continent is 19. The digitization of agriculture is securing the future of Africa as a whole, making sure that the growing young population is not only willing to take over the business, but also has security in doing so. Apps also help improve the value chain. Farmers often have no connection to buyers. Furthermore, they are frequently unaware of pricing and conditions that exist on the market outside their own crop. This results in price insufficiency and insecurity. Utilizing apps geared towards improving agriculture, however, creates a more organized and interconnected value chain. This, in turn, moves Africa away from a fragmented supply and demand system.

GeoFarmer

One such app revolutionizing farming is GeoFarmer. Using internet communication technology (ICT), farmers can manage their farm and crop by communicating their overall experiences with other farmers and experts. This free-flowing communication allows farmers to learn from the positive and negative experiences of others, better improve their yield and reduce risk. Many ICT programs are still out of reach to a large portion of farmers due to usability issues and cost. GeoFarmer, however, is a cost-effective alternative to this. Farmers can use the app offline or in rural areas with poor service. By using near real-time, two-way data services, farmers are able to co-innovate and improve their performance.

Pix Fruit

Pix Fruit is an app that CIRAD and the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research developed jointly. The app cuts down the length of the supply chain, resulting in the ability to lower the cost for consumers. When farming fruit such as mangoes, farmers estimate their crop by guessing the amount of fruit on a plantation by counting a single tree and applying it to the entire farm. Pix Fruit’s research team noted that the margin for error for this method could be as much as a factor of 10. This means that farmers lose out on a large portion of their profit by not having an efficient counting method. Pix Fruit’s solution is simple. Farmers first take a photo of the fruit on a selection of trees using their smartphone. The app then uses fruit-recognition technology–in collaboration with data from drones that have information on climate, sale constraints and soil–to calculate the probable overall harvest. This technology helps farmers know the true value of their crop. This results in an increase in farmers’ ability to bargain for a fair price.

TruTrade

TruTrade is another of the apps improving agriculture in Africa. This app seeks to help provide fair prices to farmers. With focuses on Uganda and Kenya, TruTrade is a resource for farmers to learn about the true value of their crops and market pricing points. The app also provides information on new consumer markets. Furthermore, it works as a payment transaction system. Because of the mobile payment system, women have said that the app helps them feel more empowered because they are no longer afraid of someone robbing them while carrying cash to the market. TruTrade’s mission is to create viable village agent sourcing networks that can broker deals on behalf of small-scale farmers. Farmers bring their crop to a collection point, where someone weighs the crop and checks it for quality. TruTrade then pays the farmer directly to their mobile device. After the farmer receives payment, TruTrade delivers the final product to the buyer.

The Road Ahead

GeoFarmer, Pix Fruit and TruTrade are just a few of the many apps improving agriculture in Africa. While developers are still figuring out ways to make ICT products available to all farmers across Africa, many have taken great strides to create a more interconnected system, which in the end benefits both the buyer and the seller.

– Laurel Sonneby
Photo: Flickr

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3 Tech Companies Fighting for Women’s Rights

Companies Fighting for Women's Rights
Women around the globe are still fighting for a world in which they can receive equal treatment. In many developing countries, women are more vulnerable to human rights abuses and others often deny them opportunities to reach their full potential. Here are three technology companies fighting for women’s rights.

3 Tech Companies Fighting for Women’s Rights

  1. IBM: The multi-national technology company has celebrated the success of women throughout its history. IBM has had a female CEO since 2012 and has been strategic in empowering women throughout the company and around the globe. For International Women’s Day, IBM Systems Lab Services created a #BalanceforBetter campaign. The campaign engages employees around the world to advocate for women’s rights. IBM employees held up signs challenging stereotypes and biases, celebrating IBM women and supporting gender equality. IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC) gives women and girls across the globe the opportunity to thrive. Additionally, the organization supports organizations that serve women in 40 countries. These organizations support economic growth, health care and violence prevention among others. In Ghana, an IBM team paved the way for educating girls in rural communities. In Kenya, India and Mexico, IBM has supported organizations preventing violence against women. Additionally, in Peru, IBM supports initiatives increasing cervical cancer screenings. Through these efforts, IBM hopes to empower and protect women, while continuing to bridge the gap between women and STEM.
  2. Microsoft: For years, Microsoft has used its research technology for good to protect vulnerable populations. For example, the organization has partnered with WorldPop to count every person on Earth. By using Microsoft Azure, organizations can track the location and distribution of vulnerable populations. Microsoft hopes to aid in the creation of programs and policy changes that protect vulnerable populations and empower women. Microsoft researchers recognize that women are more vulnerable to poverty. However, they also recognize that pulling them out of poverty has exponential effects on their families and communities. In January 2020, Microsoft partnered with Care Egypt Foundation (CEF) and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to launch a women empowerment campaign. Through this initiative, all organizations hope to empower women through the development of practical skills necessary for the workforce. Since 2014, Microsoft has also had an ongoing partnership with the Central Department for Community Development, aiming to tackle unemployment and economic issues through the empowerment of women in Egypt.
  3. Google: Another prominent tech titan among companies fighting for women’s rights is Google. The company equips young women with skills they need to thrive in the tech world and advocates for gender equality around the world. For example, Google’s partnership with Technovation Girls empowers young women around the globe to learn and develop technology that will impact their community. Technovation is a tech education nonprofit that empowers individuals to problem-solve, create and lead. Each year through its Technovation Girls program, the organization invites young women from all over the world and equips them to solve real-world problems through technology. Google is a platinum sponsor and has hosted these young innovators to pitch their apps at the company’s main campus in California for the chance to win scholarships. Additionally, in Google’s Arts and Culture section, the company has created a “Women in Culture” page, celebrating women in a variety of different fields. The page highlights women like Dolores Huerta, creator of the United Farm Workers, who advocated for the rights of impoverished farmers in Central America. It also features the unheard stories of women in India who have impacted Indian culture. Above all, the page champions women’s equality around the world, highlighting many unsung female heroes who have fought against injustice.

Why It Matters

An increase in women’s rights around the globe can have drastic effects on the global economy. According to U.N. Women, there is a very strong connection between empowered women and thriving economies. Providing women with job opportunities increases productivity and growth within economies. Supporting women through health care and education can also protect them from potential violence and discrimination. Large companies fighting for women’s rights have the potential to use their prominent platforms to advocate for women and to reflect these values within their own companies.

– Megan McKeough
Photo: Wikipedia Commons

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Top 4 Technologies to Alleviate Poverty in Nepal

Poverty in Nepal
Nepal is a beautiful country and mountains make up most of its terrain. Though the topography of the country adds to its magnificence as it sits atop the Himalayas, it also complicates travel, communication and distribution of resources. Nepal is mostly rural, as more than 85% of the population depends on agriculture for survival. Social evils like caste discrimination, youth delinquencies, socially excluded indigenous people and sex and human trafficking also plague the country. Consequently, measures to alleviate poverty in Nepal are increasingly challenging to implement. One heartening fact is that technology is slowly creeping into this vastly rural country and gradually aiding the mitigation of poverty in Nepal. Here are the top four technological developments to alleviate poverty in Nepal.

The Top 4 Technological Developments to Alleviate Poverty in Nepal

  1. Medical Cargo Drones: Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death due to infectious diseases in Nepal, and it affects 70% of the country’s population. Most of the health care facilities are remote and inaccessible by road, and the testing labs are only in the major cities. Hence WeRobotics teamed up with Nepal Flying Labs and various other funding organizations to develop medical cargo drones. These cargo drones collect sputum samples from the affected people in remote areas and send them to distant health care facilities for rapid testing. These drones delivered the samples in 25 minutes, whereas it took two to three days before. By October 9, 2019, 150 drones had carried more than 1,000 samples from health posts in remote villages to two central health care facilities. These drones have helped diagnose and treat the disease quickly. The government is seeking to develop this technology to control TB in other remote areas of the country soon.
  2. Baby Warmers: In the initial days after birth, babies need to keep warm to avoid contracting pneumonia or hypothermia. Between 63% and 85% of newborn deaths are due to hypothermia. Hence a group of biomedical engineers has put together a baby warmer using a ceramic heater connected to a parabolic reflector to reflect the heat towards the bassinet. The assembly parts and the developers are local to the region, and hence these baby warmers are affordable and easy to manufacture to maintain the neonatal health of newborn babies even in rural areas of the country. The Kirtipur hospital in Kathmandu has implemented this technology since January 4, 2020. The National Innovation Center of Nepal is working with the government on manufacturing and distributing more baby warmers soon.
  3. Krishi Gyan Kendra: Krishi Gyan Kendra is a research center located in the Agricultural Development Offices of various districts to connect the researchers with the local farmers. It follows the Krishi Vigyan Kendra of India as a model. Teams of researchers do onsite research on locally cultivated crops and soil to find new ways to improve cropping, processing and marketing practices. These centers act as knowledge resource bases for the local farmers so they can learn how to use modern technology. These also serve as open laboratories for the farmers themselves. Additionally, they also act as information centers providing pieces of information such as what crop might offer a better yield at a particular season and location and what the amount of rainfall will be at different times. This has helped the farmers make informed decisions and adopt better farming practices and pieces of equipment. This idea is still in the starting stages in Nepal, but many expect that it will be as successful as it was in India.
  4. Interactive Digital Soil Maps: Initiatives in Nepal have collected extensive data regarding the soil nature of the country and digitized it into interactive maps using satellite imagery. Certain types of soil are more suited for certain kinds of crops, and the land usage pattern and groundwater table levels can also determine the fertility of a region. Using these digital maps, a person standing in any area within the data range can instantly know about the soil properties of the soil he is standing on, such as its nature, its fertility and the ideal crops that might give the maximum yield in that soil and the soil management techniques ideal for that soil. Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, along with the National Agricultural Research Council (NARC), developed this mobile-friendly technology. They are actively gathering soil data for more regions of the country in order to update it.

Looking Ahead

These four technological developments to alleviate poverty in Nepal show incredible promise for the country. Irrespective of the drawbacks that might hold Nepal back, its people’s untamed spirits are always on the path to catch up with the scientific and technological innovations and developments of the modern world to better their country and themselves.

– Nirkkuna Nagaraj
Photo: Unsplash

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Top 8 Accomplishments Made By Thorn

10 Accomplishments Made By ThornIn 2012, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore founded Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children. Thorn is an organization that works globally to fight sex trafficking and the exploitation of children. A documentary on the sex slavery of children in Cambodia inspired Moore to create the organization. Thorn created technology to help identify victims of sexual abuse and protect children from online sexual abuse material. Since its foundation, Thorn has made a large impact in eliminating one of the most common and overlooked crimes in the world. Additionally, Thorn gained traction as a very well-known and respected organization. Below are eight accomplishments made by Thorn.

Top 8 Accomplishments Made by Thorn

  1. In 2017, Thorn created Spotlight. Spotlight is software that helps law enforcement save time by identifying predators and victims quicker. In addition, more than 1,200 law enforcement agencies across the United States and Canada use Spotlight. Spotlight has helped reduce critical search time for victims by 60 percent. To date, it has identified a total of 16,927 traffickers and 14,874 children.
  2. In February 2017, Ashton Kutcher gave a 15-minute testimony in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the importance of ending modern-day slavery around the globe. He told a story about when the Department of Homeland Security reached out to his team at Thorn. The Department of Homeland Security needed help to identify the perpetrator of a 7-year-old-girl being abused and watched on the dark web for three years.
  3. In addition to Spotlight, Thorn creates a Technology Task Force. This made up of more than 25 technology companies. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and so forth work together to create even more software to prevent the sexual exploitation of children. Thorn has partnered with a variety of organizations, ranging from government to non-profits. Some other notable partners include Amazon, Twitter, Flickr and Verizon.
  4. In 2018, Thorn surveyed 260 sex trafficking survivors in order to understand the needs of survivors. This survey was able to give insight on average ages of victims, how victims know their traffickers and advertising.
  5. In the 2018 Thorn impact report, it reported that Thorn assisted law enforcement in identifying more than 10,000 victims of child sex trafficking in 38 countries around the world.
  6. In 2018, Thorn educated more than 2,000 teens on Sextortion. Sextortion is a form of blackmail that uses sexual content. Since creating its Stop Sextortion campaign, Thorn has educated more than 3.5 million teens about online sexual extortion.
  7. In 2019, The Audacious Project by TED gave a $280 million grant to eight recipients, Thorn was one of them. Thorn is using grant to launch new software called Safer. Safer helps companies, especially image-hosting websites, identify and eliminate sexual abuse content on their platforms.
  8. With a combination of the software that Thorn has created, the organization is currently able to identify an average of 10 kids per day.

Being less than 10 years old, Thorn has accomplished many things is a short period of time. Though the organization has fewer than 40 employees, Thorn is still able to continuously create and evolve its technology. Thorn already benefits thousands of children worldwide. It will continue to fight child sexual exploitation and trafficking for years to come.

– Alyson Kaufman
Photo: Flickr