Archive for category: Technology

Information and stories about technology news.

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5 Impacts of Cell Phones in the Developing World

Impacts of Cell Phones
Since its invention in 1973, the presence of the cell phone has become practically unavoidable worldwide. As of 2019, there were approximately 4.68 billion mobile phone users globally. Although many worry about the adverse effects of the overuse of the device, one cannot overstate the positive impacts of cell phones, especially in the developing world. From mobile banking to health care, the cell phone has left an incredible footprint on the world despite its relatively short existence. Here are the top five impacts of cell phones in the developing world.

Top 5 Impacts of Cell Phones in the Developing World

  1. Mobile Banking: For many people living in the remote regions of third world countries, traditional brick and mortar banks are often out of reach. Mobile banking, however, is helping initiate financial inclusion. By connecting major banks to online banking networks, individuals can now easily transfer money with even just a flip phone. For instance, M-Pesa, a Kenyan mobile phone-based financial service, operates through the usage of banking SIM cards that allow the user to transfer monetary assets via SMS. This way, a flip phone would be all one would need to start with this service. As of 2016, an average of 19 million Kenyans sent the equivalent of $15 million on a daily basis. Through such services the number of people with financial accounts in Kenya has jumped from 21 percent in 2011 to 63 percent in 2014.
  2. Education: One can increasingly find the cell phone utilized for education in the schools of many developing countries. The utilization of mobile apps has transformed teaching in such places. For example, in parts of Africa, the EDC (Education Development Center) is currently experimenting with sending podcasts of interactive instructional materials to students. Furthermore, cell phones have increased literacy rates. The landmark 2014 UNESCO study, “Reading in the mobile era,” surveyed over 4,000 individuals in regions with low literacy rates and where people are unlikely to text. The study showed that many people have resorted to reading stories and books on their mobile devices. Additionally, a third of the study participants read stories to their children via their devices.
  3. Disaster Relief: Today mobile devices are a unique communication tool for disaster relief in developing countries. For example, in August 2017, Ncell, a Nepalese-based mobile operator, was able to provide warnings to vulnerable populations prior to the deadly floods and landslides. On the other hand, after the disastrous 2017 Hurricane Maria incidence in Puerto Rico, AT&T deployed Flying COWs (Cell on Wings). These Flying COWs were cell sites connected to wings that provided cell service to disaster-stricken areas temporarily and allowed residents to gain contact with loved ones and relief organizations.
  4. Governance: In countries and regions with low population densities, it has traditionally been exceedingly difficult for governments to reach out to the individuals residing there. However, mobile technology has simplified seemingly impossible tasks such as long-distance polling and voter registration. In 2018, the local government of Quezon City, Philippines even initiated a mobile app that serves as an online database of the city’s ordinances.
  5. Health Care: The impact of cell phones in the developing world has also stretched to the area of health care. Currently, mPedigree, a Ghanian nonprofit, is using cell phones to authenticate drugs to safeguard consumers against counterfeit and substandard products. The World Health Organization estimates that over 10 percent of global medications are fake so this new technology should be able to save countless lives on a daily basis.

Mobile devices are popular in remote areas to cheaply or freely offer daily texts and voicemails about common medical conditions. For example, in Mozambique, Absolute Return for Kids, a British nonprofit, is fighting HIV/AIDS by using mobile messaging to remind enrolled patients to take their medications as well as about appointment dates.

Conclusively, the range of the various impacts of cell phones globally in developing countries has been both deep and wide. The device has proven itself to be both an efficient yet inexpensive solution to many day-to-day problems. It is not too optimistic to say that in the near future even more creative uses for cell phones will surface.

– Linda Yan
Photo: Flickr

1Doc3: Accessible Healthcare to Millions

1Doc3There are less than two doctors for every 1,000 individuals in Latin America, making access to health information and medical guidance difficult to reach. Javier Cardona and Nicolas Duran Lopez created 1Doc3 in 2013 to change this, and the healthcare platform has already been making waves.

Background

1Doc3 (pronounced “uno doc tres”) is an online health platform that allows millions of Spanish-speaking users to ask health-related questions and receive professional medical guidance in real-time using artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, it provides data to health insurers and pharmaceutical companies to let them reach customers more efficiently. Furthermore, 1Doc3 is free and allows users to remain anonymous. It receives around $2 million in funding from investors like Wayra, TheVentureCity, Mountain Partners and Mountain Nazca.

The platform, which can be downloaded on computers and mobile devices, keeps a database of over 400 licensed doctors who are recruited, trained and monitored, ensuring that patients receive answers from the most qualified professionals. These doctors build their reputation online by providing personalized answers to users for free. This type of access is convenient, free and anonymous and allows users to make more informed choices regarding their health and wellbeing.

Helping Its Users

1Doc3 has served over 490 million Spanish-speaking users in 120 countries, 53 percent of whom are below 34 years old. Over 60 percent of the questions asked by these younger users are related to sex. While these types of questions may normally be too embarrassing to ask in person, the anonymity of 1Doc3 allows young patients to receive the right medical guidance and even provides coupons for products like condoms.

The platform uses AI to help these users navigate towards relevant information. For example, if a user were to ask a question related to their back pain, AI would ask where the pain is “above or below,” and if it is a “stabbing pain.” The personalized and innovative service is highly sought after and has even earned itself a partnership with Internet.org, a system that brings connectivity to users in places where internet access is spotty at best.

Helping Insurance Companies and Pharmacies

There is also a commercial aspect to 1Doc3. The platform’s AI serves as a data collecting module. Over 70 million questions are asked each year and this makes the database extremely informative. With this information, health insurers can provide cheaper treatment to patients by eliminating the necessity to physically go to a physician’s office – in fact, users save an average of 11 percent on treatment when they use 1Doc3.

The platform also helps medical insurance and pharmaceutical companies identify patients for rare diseases. For example, 1Doc3 helped a client pharmaceutical company find patients who were suffering from ankylosing spondylitis, which is a relatively rare and difficult to diagnose. 1Doc3 identified back-pain along with the presence of three or four other symptoms to seek out those suffering from ankylosing spondylitis and provide resources for treatment. In this case, it connected patients to pharmaceutical companies who could provide the right medication and professional care.

The Future of the Health Industry

1Doc3 is described by Javier Cardona as a pocket-size doctor who is available to users at any time and provides integrated solutions to health issues. Although the bulk of its users are in Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and Peru, the administrative team is planning to expand globally and provide these capabilities to users all over the world.

While other healthcare platforms may also provide medical information to users, it is not always personalized. 1Doc3 is a revolutionary free service that changes the face of healthcare by connecting patients to doctors in a timely manner and pointing users in the right direction. It removes barriers like time, cost and inaccessibility and puts the health back in the hands of the user.

– Julian Mok
Photo: Flickr

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4 Ways to Use Artificial Intelligence for Global Development

artificial intelligence for global developmentThe human brain is limited when it comes to computing power and pattern recognition. Luckily, using recent technology, we are able to use machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for global development purposes, can gain insight on a variety of problems and attempt to make predictions about the future. Computers can analyze massive datasets and learn from them more efficiently than humans can. Around the world, people are taking advantage of AI to do valuable work and improve people’s standard of living. Here are four examples of how people and organizations are using artificial intelligence for global development.

4 Ways to Use Artificial Intelligence for Global Development

  1. Based on patterns of past events, AI can make predictions about the occurrences and effects of disasters. In these situations, knowledge is everything; when people are informed, they can make plans to evacuate or reinforce infrastructure as needed. Google is using AI to predict flood locations during storms in India, and is then able to alert residents. Similarly, IBM is using AI to predict the location and intensity of volcanic eruptions based on past data. Another program by the World Bank is using AI to predict famines, and is arranging for funds to be provided to people in areas affected by famine.
  2. Machine learning and artificial intelligence can be used to advise people on best practices for farming efficiency. Microsoft has worked with farmers in India to help them monitor crop health, identify diseased plants and recommend certain crops based on weather patterns, soil conditions and economic patterns. In another case, Trinchero Family Estates in California partnered with Ceres Imaging, using AI to analyze their watering patterns. This technology, which uses drone images to optimize crop watering, could be useful for water conservation in areas where water is scarce.
  3. AI can help monitor human rights violations. Microsoft has partnered with the Clooney Foundation for Justice to create the TrialWatch app. The project, which is part of Microsoft’s AI for Humanitarian Action program, aims to monitor potentially unjust trials. The app uses AI to record, transcribe and translate courtroom audio, which can be used to determine whether a defendant has a fair trial. It will also form a database so that trial practices from various nations can be observed and compared.
  4. AI helps make analyzing medical data easier. Making decisions about medical diagnoses is often complicated and not entirely clear-cut. AI can analyze patient information and alert doctors to certain issues, often identifying problems more accurately than human medical professionals. A 2017 project from Andre Esteva at Stanford University used AI to classify skin cancer images, and the AI system performed on par with dermatologists. In addition, Professor Rima Arnaut of UC San Francisco has developed a system that uses AI to analyze an echocardiogram, a heart test. So far, the technology has not been used to make judgements about the content of the images, but in early tests in which the system was asked to detect the “type of view” of various echocardiograms, the AI system outperformed trained cardiologists in the task. Certainly many aspects of medical analysis require human analysis, but these programs can accelerate analyses and assist medical professionals in providing the best possible care for their patients.

These impressive uses of AI will save lives and will assist citizens of many countries in achieving a better standard of living. As experts continue to work on machine learning and artificial intelligence, and as computers become smarter and more capable, the use of artificial intelligence for global development will likely continue to improve conditions for people around the globe.

– Meredith Charney
Photo: Flickr

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Personal Technology and Poverty

Personal Technology and Poverty in IndiaTechnology is often associated with poverty in regard to agricultural or water-retention devices. This is because poverty precludes many people from securing access to fresh food and clean water. While these types of technologies successfully increase crop yield and food access for land-scarce countries, they don’t necessarily provide people with opportunities to actually lift themselves out of poverty. One of the most pervasive forms of technology in society today is the cellular phone, especially smartphones. Cellular networks cover nearly three-quarters of the globe now. However, cost and other access barriers leave much more of the population without adequate technological access. Personal technology and poverty are becoming increasingly related as more and more features on smartphones enable people to become more connected with other people. This also includes banks and lending institutions.

According to the Pathways for Prosperity Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development, only one in four people in developing countries utilize smartphone technologies for digital financial services. Digital financial services can allow small businesses to grow through online lending, thus resulting in sustainable economic development.

Digital Financial Services

Encouraging the usage of digital financial services is one way that personal technology and poverty must be addressed . In order for this to occur, there needs to be more widespread access to smartphones and cell phones in developing countries. Melinda Gates, co-chair on the Pathways for Prosperity Commission, cited that a phone costs at least two month’s salary for someone living below the poverty line in Tanzania. If businesses and governments prioritize expanding access of smartphones to developing countries, then costs may be lowered. As a result, citizens wouldn’t need to fall deeper into poverty in order to harness the power of personal technology.

Invest in Tech

Founded in 2010, Go-Jek is a transportation network company located in Jakarta, Indonesia. Go-Jek was able to change the market of ride-sharing in Indonesia. They accomplished this by utilizing technology to expand where ride-sharing services were available. Additionally, they facilitated communication between drivers and riders. CNN reports that Go-Jek has helped drivers see a 44 percent increase in income.

Offering incentives to businesses and governments to subsidize personal technology in developing countries is one-way access can be expanded. Policymakers must also address the inequitable technological access between men and women based on social inequality. Many developing countries do not grant women the same social and political rights as men. This means fewer women would likely gain access to personal technology than men. The Pathways for Prosperity Commission stated that in many developing countries, women are 40 percent less likely to have used the internet than men. While tech companies work to expand access to personal devices, there is still more that can be done. It is imperative that governments are working simultaneously to grant women equal political and social rights. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Digital Global Access Policy Act of 2019, which seeks to increase investments in expanding internet access across the world.

Beyond the iPhone

Phones are one way for people in developing countries to utilize personal technology to lift themselves out of poverty. Still, there are other “low-tech” opportunities for sustainable growth and development. Susan Davis, in the Harvard Business Review, points out that small, localized tech solutions often prove to be more beneficial than large-scale, generic tech investments. Implementing technological solutions requires more than businesses giving personal tech devices to those in need. With regard to personal technology and poverty, proper training, policy implementation and assurance that barriers to access are broken down are ways that personal technology can be an effective solution to help end poverty.

-Erin Grant
Photo: Flickr

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Tech Giants are Using AI to Meet the SDGs

AI to Meet the Sustainable Development Goals
Tech giants are using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to create innovative strategies to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and eradicate global poverty by 2030. A central barrier to development in third-world nations is in-access to high-quality, timely and accessible data.

Big data platforms like AI expand capabilities to acquire accurate, real-time, micro-level information, while ML allows pattern recognition at a macro-level. Combined, these data advances can make data more accessible, applicable and finely scalable while accelerating the speed and scale for private and public development actors to implement change. Companies are partnering across public, private and nonprofit sectors to broaden the collective impact.

Take a look at the innovative approaches tech giants are taking to help global poor communities with data and what the incorporation of AI technologies means for the future of global poverty initiatives. These approaches aim to employ AI to meet the SDGs within its allotted time frame.

Education and Digital Training

On June 19, 2019, the day preceding World Refugee Day, Microsoft announced the inception of two projects partnering with Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP) and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). These projects supplement its AI for Humanitarian Action group to help incorporate AI to meet the SDGs.

The AI for Humanitarian Action group is a $40 million, five-year program part of Microsoft’s larger AI for Good suite (a $115 million, five-year project). The projects will provide AI tools to help staff track court dates, prioritize emergency cases and translate for families with AI speech-to-text. Microsoft also has continuing partnerships to incorporate AI/ML into educational services for refugees with the following groups:

  1. International Rescue Committee (IRC): This committee works to provide humanitarian aid through the creation of sustainable programming for refugees, displaced populations and crisis-affected communities. This includes career development programming and digital skills training to empower refugees and make them relevant for the job markets in each affected country. Microsoft and IRC’s Technology for Livelihoods in Crisis project in Jordan is an example of this.
  2. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): Together with the University of Cambridge, the UNICEF is developing The Learning Passport. The digital platform will ensure better access to education and facilitate learning opportunities for youth displaced by conflict and natural disasters. It creates scalable learning solutions tailored to each child. Crises have affected the quality of education for 75 million youth.
  3. Norwegian Refugee Council: This council is providing an AI chatbot service that uses language understanding, machine translation and language recognition to deliver high-quality education and digital skills training to refugees. This helps to close the education gap for the millions of youth affected by conflict. It will also help humanitarian workers communicate with migrants who speak other languages, which will help them best provide the best service.
  4. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): UNHCR plans to provide 25,000 refugees in Kakuma with access to high-quality, accredited, context-appropriate digital learning and training by 2020 for development in Kakuma markets. UNHCR intends this project to expand across multiple countries.

Food Security and Agricultural Development

The fact that farms do not always have power or internet security limits technological developments that address food security and agricultural development. Here are some efforts that consider the capabilities of farmers and the respective developing regions:

  1. Microsoft FarmBeats: It aims to enable data-driven farming compatible with both the capabilities of the farmer and the region. FarmBeats is employing AI and IoT (Information of Things) solutions using low-cost sensors, drones and vision and ML algorithms. This combined AI and IoT approach enables data-driven improvements in agriculture yield, lowered costs and reduced environmental impacts of agricultural production, and is a significant contribution to help AI to meet the SDGs.
  2. Apollo: Apollo uses agronomic machine learning, remote sensing and mobile phones to help farmers maximize profits in developing markets. Apollo delivers scalable financing, farm products and customized advice to farmers while assessing the farmers’ credit risk. Apollo customizes each product in order to double farm yields and improve credit. The beta project is starting in Kenya.
  3. The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)/CGIAR research group: It aims to implement preemptive solutions rather than reactive solutions to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030. CIAT has developed a Nutrition Early Warning System (NEWS), which uses machine learning to make predictions on malnutrition patterns based on current and future estimates of crop failures, droughts and rising food prices. This approach is able to detect an impending nutrition crisis and take action instead of responding after the crisis has taken hold.

Socioeconomic Data Collection

According to a report by The Brookings Institute as a part of its “A Blueprint for the Future of AI series,” data providing national averages “conceal more than they reveal” and inaccurately estimate and map patterns of poverty. Survey data is often entirely unavailable or otherwise low in quality in many of the poorest countries where development needs are greatest. 39 of the 59 countries in Africa conducted less than two surveys between 2000 and 2010.

Even in large countries with sophisticated statistical systems, such as India, survey results remain inaccurate, with the gap between personal reporting and national accounts amounting to as much as a 60 percent difference in some countries. Companies are addressing this by utilizing big data from remote sensing satellites.

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is using Earth Observations (EO) to provide finely-tuned and near-real-time data on economic activity and population distribution by measuring nighttime luminosity. Researchers have noted a correlation between luminosity and GDP as well as subnational economic output. Collecting socioeconomic data in this way can ensure higher quality data important to policy implementation and direction to countries with the greatest development needs.

Timothy Burke and Stan Larimer launched Sovereign Sky in 2018, putting satellite data into action. Sovereign Sky is the world’s first space-based blockchain which provides secure private internet networks and powers a new Free World Currency to redistribute the world’s wealth with a goal of eradicating poverty by 2032.

The eight current satellites cover Africa and India and the organization will send boxes of StealthCrypto phones, digital wallets, smart cards and modems to people in need. Sovereign Sky will deploy 36 satellites within three to 10 years to cover the entire world in a secure blockchain internet connection, closing the gap on technological interactions between all nations and including the world’s remotest and poorest areas in internet connectivity.

Pitfalls of AI-Driven Global Development Initiatives, and Moving Forward

AI and ML have crucial capabilities in reshaping education, agriculture and data collection in the developing world. However, these technologies have a history of producing unethical racial profiling, surveillance and perpetuating stereotypes, especially in areas with a history of ethnic conflict or inequality. AI and ML applications have to adapt in ways to ensure effective, inclusive and fair distribution of big data resources in the developing world. Development experts need to be in close collaboration with technologists to prevent unethical allocations.

This diversification is why it is important that tech giants like Microsoft, and projects like those by the ICAT/CGIAR, are created in collaboration with various nonprofit, public and private sector groups to ensure interdisciplinary ethical liability for big data applications in sustainable development contexts. Ensuring the use of AI technologies is context-specific to the affected regions and populations will help prevent misappropriation of the technology and increase quality and effectiveness.

Working with local companies and sectors can create long-lasting engagement and grow permanent technology sectors in the developing areas thus contributing to the local economy. These strategies can put forth effective, ethical and productive applications of AI to meet the SDGs.

– Julia Kemner
Photo: Flickr

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Top 5 Benefits of the Internet in Developing Countries

Top 5 Benefits of the Internet in Developing Countries
As of 2019, 56.1 percent of the global population, or about 2.3 billion people, has access to the internet. In recent years the fastest growing market segment has been developing countries, and with the expansion of its popularity, overwhelmingly positive changes have occurred. These top five benefits of the internet in developing countries show how internet access makes a huge dent in global poverty.

Top 5 Benefits of the Internet in Developing Countries

  1. Lifting Individuals out of Poverty: Through internet access, individuals in developing countries are able to gain access to more of the modern economy. With internet connectivity, those living in remote areas can now easily take out microloans, participate in e-banking and more. Today, there are more than 3,098 microfinance organizations that have reached out to more than 211 million clients in developing countries globally. Via such economic tools, those living in extreme poverty are able to improve the quality of their lives. For example, in a case study in India, businesses that received microloans were twice as profitable as those that didn’t. This is because with credit, those without a lot of initial capital now have a discretionary income and no longer have to choose between investing in a business or buying everyday necessities such as medications.
  2. Growing Access to Education: With internet connectivity and new technologies, third-world countries become more able to bridge the education gap between urban and rural populations. In sparsely populated areas, mobile electronic devices such as tablets are being utilized to deliver invaluable classroom instruction to children that otherwise wouldn’t likely receive it. For example, a giant literacy campaign with a budget of $173.5 million is currently being initiated by the Kenyan education ministry. The project utilizes BRCKs: durable, personalized tablets that contain educational content aiming to deliver learning opportunities to those living in even the most remote locations.
  3. Increasing the Ease of Communication: The internet is arguably the most inexpensive and effective connectivity tool. By accessing it, individuals in developing countries can participate in e-conversations through applications such as WhatsApp and WeChat. In a survey conducted in 2017, it was found that about 85 percent of internet users in sub-Saharan Africa used it to stay in touch with family and friends, and around 60 percent utilized it to access social media sites.
  4. Improving Crop Efficiency: Through IoT (internet of things) systems, farmers in developing countries can easily access information about important variables such as humidity, temperature and terrain topography through a variety of sensors. Precision agriculture in third-world countries has also led to the development of unique insurance systems. For example, with Kilimo Salama, farmers in Eastern Africa can now purchase insurance that automatically makes mobile payments to them if their local weather stations record extreme weather occurrences such as drought or flooding. Today, over 150,000 farmers are enrolled in this program.
  5. Greater Global Participation: As of 2017, 53 percent of adult internet users used the internet to stay informed on the news. Because many developing countries also harbor internal conflicts, being up to date on the status quo of things becomes especially crucial for their citizens. In addition, individuals in developing countries can become a part of global conversations via online communication platforms. Social media campaigns have proven themselves to be especially effective at raising awareness for many issues and increasing participation in protests. For instance, many Iranians used Twitter to protest the injustice of the disputed Iranian election of 2009. Through this social media app, the movement was able to go viral with tags such as #IranElection.

Through the increased availability of internet access and clever innovations in third-world countries, the lives of many people have been greatly impacted in overwhelmingly positive ways. With the rise of the popularity of internet kiosks and cafes in rural areas, the hope of universal internet access is no longer far-fetched, and one can only imagine the total impact that internet in developing countries will have on alleviating global poverty.

– Linda Yan
Photo: Flickr

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Four Technological Innovations to Reduce Poverty

technological InnovationsTechnology has the ability to change the way the world works and assist people currently living in poverty. Developing countries are often plagued by issues in sanitation as well as energy and medicine shortages that can hinder their economic security. Listed below are 4 new technological innovations that have the potential to reduce the effects of these issues and reduce poverty.

4 Technological Innovations That Can Reduce Poverty

  1. Sewage-free sanitation systems: There are roughly 2.6 billion people in the world without access to proper sanitation infrastructure. Some of the countries most affected by poverty, including India, Kenya and Pakistan, have millions of people living without proper sanitation systems. Without these systems, human waste is improperly disposed of into lakes and rivers, which can lead to health problems in the local population. Issues resulting from improper sanitation kill an estimated 1.4 million children each year. Researchers at Duke University, the University of Florida and Biomass Controls have been developing an energy efficient toilet that does not require a sewer system to operate. These toilets look like ordinary toilets. As of now, several different prototypes have been developed. One prototype, developed at the University of Florida, is able to filter out pollutants. Another prototype, developed by Biomass Controls, is able to heat waste and transform it into a carbon-rich material that can be used as fertilizer.
  2. Advanced fusion and fission reactors: New forms of nuclear power are expected to become available in the coming decades that will be both safer and cheaper than current nuclear power sources. Approximately 1.3 billion people live without access to energy. Energy poverty is unique because it is both a cause and a consequence of economic poverty. New nuclear designs that could help alleviate the issue of energy poverty include generation IV nuclear fission reactors, small modular reactors and fission reactors. Two companies, Terrestrial Energy and Terraworks, are hoping to use generation IV fission designs for grid supply in the 2020s. Small modular reactors are cost effective and reduce safety and environmental risks. While fission reactors seem to be a long way off, there has been some progress and they will be less controversial for public use since they create less long term waste and are safer than current nuclear sources.
  3. Blood testing for premature birth: Premature birth is a healthcare problem that disproportionately affects the developing world, particularly countries in Asia and Africa. Premature birth is linked to numerous health problems in newborns including increased risk of cerebral palsy, learning disabilities and respiratory illnesses. Recent blood tests are now analyzing RNA instead of DNA, and scientists have identified seven genes linked to premature birth. This discovery of the genes related to premature birth could lead to future treatments for the problem.
  4. New desalination tech: Water scarcity is a huge problem that is linked to poverty. It is estimated that one in nine people (844 million) lack proper access to safe, clean water. Over the past few decades, scientists have developed a new method called desalination to turn saltwater into consumable fresh water. This process, however, is very expensive and requires a high amount of energy. New technology uses reverse osmosis for desalination. This process is not new, but instead of being powered by a battery, the new technology can be powered by solar energy, which is significantly more cost-efficient.

New technology has the potential to address many of the issues relating to poverty. Issues including energy, health and sanitation have long afflicted those in poverty and have hindered efforts to alleviate economic impoverishment. New technological innovations that are being developed today have the potential to be vital tools for reducing economic poverty in the future.

-Randall Costa

Photo: Flickr

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Technological Innovations Improve Healthcare in Africa

 

Healthcare in AfricaMany think that underdeveloped countries in Africa will forever be stuck with poor healthcare. Yet, few media outlets show the innovative approaches African countries are taking to address this issue. In reality, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa are turning to the tech world to build better healthcare in Africa.

Mobile Technology Maps Medicinal Needs

The inefficient infrastructure in Africa puts people’s health at risk. Health clinics, which take some people hours to reach, are not always stocked with the medicine being requested by patients. For this reason, Uganda is utilizing mTRAC to construct a proper supply cycle.

On a weekly basis, healthcare workers report diseases, malaria cases and stock quantities of medicine via SMS. Then volunteer health workers in the Villiage Health Teams (VHTs) monitor the weekly count of malaria cases, severe malnutrition, ACT and amoxicillin stock.

The communities themselves provide the most impressive source of data. The people getting these services have the opportunity to provide feedback on healthcare issues such as the absence of health workers and out-of-stock medication. The data is processed onto a dashboard for the District Health Teams. The information is then filtered to the Ministry of Health in Kampala. Reporting their specific district and health facilities helps biostatisticians identify alerts and make informed decisions on drug redistribution and disease response initiatives.

There is a similar mobile pilot known as mHealth in Kenya. Novartis created mHealth to study medicine supplies for a more efficient distribution system. Pharmacists in Nairobi and Mombasa register patients in an SMS survey. The input creates a map of locations where medicine is needed. These digital technologies go a long way in delivering better healthcare in Africa.

A.I. Diagnostics Save Children

Mobile Apps also improve diagnostic procedures. Birth asphyxia is one of the world’s three leading causes of infant mortality. Annually, around 1.2 million infants die or suffer from disabilities such as cerebral palsy, deafness and paralysis due to perinatal asphyxia.

Ubenwa is a Nigerian A.I. that is programmed to detect asphyxia by analyzing the amplitude and frequency of an infant’s cry. The algorithm has been made available to smartphone users for an instant diagnosis. The availability of this app empowers Nigerian communities that do not have access to or cannot afford clinical alternatives.

Ugandan children between infancy and five years of age can receive an early diagnosis of pneumonia with a biomedical smart vest called Mama-Ope. Because of the similar symptoms of diseases like malaria, asthma or tuberculosis, it is not uncommon for pneumonia to be misdiagnosed. Mama-Ope is designed to avoid such inconsistencies in these diagnostics.

Patients with pneumonia die when the severity of the disease is not recognized. It is vital that viral and bacterial pneumonia are differentiated during diagnosis. Otherwise, the result is an improper, life-threatening prescription of drugs. The smart vest measures all vital signs simultaneously, which reduces diagnostic time. Health workers are also able to use the telemedicine device for tracking and monitoring their patients’ records. With the capability of cloud storage, Mama-Ope can change healthcare in Africa.

3-D Printer Transforms E-waste Into Prosthetic Limbs

In the small country of Togo, wedged between Ghana and Benin, lies the tech hub WoeLabs, famous for using toxic e-waste to create the first 3-D printer in Africa. Electronic waste shipped from Western countries has polluted Africa with digital dumps. The material is burned, leaving behind hazardous gases.

Togo’s neighboring country Ghana holds the largest scrapyard to cushion the globe’s annual 42 megatons of e-waste. WoeLabs in Togo’s capital, Lomé, made a 3-D Printer with Ghana’s digital scrap in one year. To date, WoeLabs has produced 20 printers. This work inspired other labs to change healthcare in Africa. Sudan is now using 3-D printing to make prosthetic limbs, and Not Impossible Labs is also helping amputees through this innovative and unconventional use of technology.

Through mobile systems such as mTRAC in Uganda and mHealth in Kenya, healthcare systems are better able to improve drug redistribution in health centers in need of medical supplies. The smart vest Mama-Ope contributes to healthcare reform by not only by diagnosing patients but also by storing records in the virtual cloud. Finally, the 3-D printers built in Togo ultimately exemplify how these communities of underresourced people can transform a hazardous situation into an opportunity to improve healthcare in Africa.

– Crystal Tabares
Photo: Flickr

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Microlife CRADLE VSA Saves Mothers

Microlife CRADLE VSA Saves MothersRoughly 800 women die every day as a result of obstetric hemorrhaging, sepsis and pregnancy-related hypertension. The majority of these deaths occur in low-income areas that do not have the necessary tools to check a mother’s blood pressure and heart rate during or after childbirth.

In response, Professor Andrew Shennan and the CRADLE research team at King’s College London developed the CRADLE Microlife Vital Signs Alert (CRADLE VSA). The device features a “traffic light” early warning system that uses the traditional red, yellow and green colored lights. The user-friendly system indicates when a patient has pre-eclampsia or sepsis, even if the user has not undergone formal training.

CRADLE VSA relies on Shock Index, “the most reliable predictor of serious maternal adverse outcome. Appropriate thresholds for shock index were therefore incorporated into the traffic light algorithm, together with universally understood hypertensive thresholds, to trigger the coloured lights.” Several research studies have investigated the benefits of CRADLE VSA devices.

2013

A CRADLE research team found that over 90 percent of health clinics in a rural district of Tanzania lacked blood pressure devices. Often, the ones they did have were broken. The team provided 19 CRADLE VSA devices, containing tally counters to monitor use, to these clinics.

The CRADLE researchers conducted preintervention and postintervention studies over 12 months in three rural hospitals in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia. During the three-month preintervention phase, pregnant women who went to the hospital at twenty weeks gestation or more had their blood pressure measured twice with the validated CRADLE prototype device. The three-month intervention phase resulted in twenty rural and semirural peripheral antenatal clinics receiving one to two CRADLE prototype devices. They also received training sessions, instructions and a guide to referring based on blood pressure readings.

The researchers analyzed readings from 1,241 women (694 from the preintervention phase and 547 from postintervention). They discovered a link between the use of the device in these rural clinics and improved antenatal surveillance of blood pressure. They found a decrease in the proportion of women who never had their blood pressure measured in pregnancy from 25.1 percent to 16.9 percent.

April 2016

Researchers held a 20-month trial to determine the device’s efficiency. Over this time, new healthcare sites received the CRADLE VSA device every two months until 10 sites had the device. The goal of the trial was to determine the device’s ability to detect obstetric hemorrhaging, sepsis and hypertension and help providers reduce the number of deaths occurring during childbirth. In June 2016, researchers implemented the device in 10 low-income countries including Uganda, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Haiti.

June 2018

Studies showed that clinics in twelve countries across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean were using over 6,700 CRADLE VSA devices. A cluster randomized controlled trial in Mozambique, India and Pakistan used a prototype of the device in the intervention phase of pre-eclampsia. The trial enrolled a total of 75,532 pregnant women.

The CRADLE VSA saves lives by foreseeing the early diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. For many women, these health risks may have otherwise gone unnoticed. This innovation is contributing to the prevention of maternal deaths. This could help the world meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3, “to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70,000 per 100,000 live births by 2030.”

– Sareen Mekhitarian
Photo: Upsplash

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Telemedicine in Rwanda: The Future of Health

Telemedicine in Rwanda

With a startling low physician density of 0.064 for every 1,000 people, Rwandans seeking care were used to waiting in long lines or traveling long distances for medical attention. However, thanks to near-universal broadband access, now Rwandans need only reach for their phones — such is the status of telemedicine in Rwanda.

In partnership with London based telehealth startup Babylon and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rwandan Ministry of Health launched an app called Babyl Rwanda, which connects users with an artificial intelligence chatbot to triage medical complaints, make recommendations and schedule remote physician appointments. The app is programmed with several languages including Kinyarwanda, English and French. Those without phones need only visit a Babyl Booth to access the necessary technology.

The Bigger Context

Since the devastating genocide in the 1900s, the Rwandan government dramatically increased its investment in healthcare from 4 percent in 2000 to its peak in 2007 at 9.6 percent. As of 2016, government spending on health care in Rwanda was around 7 percent; despite the increases in spending, the physician density remains very low at 0.064. Large changes, such as the implementation of a mandatory health insurance scheme in 2008, accompanied these government investments, and they have led to a 90-percent insured rate among its citizens. The national health insurance scheme and increased government spending on healthcare have both paved the way for the development of sophisticated telemedicine in Rwanda.

Rwanda’s choice to amplify its current physician base through the Babyl Rwanda app has made great strides in overcoming its problems with physician density. A team of 25 physicians staffs the phone/video-based remote consultations through Babyl. Each consultation typically costs the patient 65 cents. Since its inception in 2016, the app has been downloaded two million times and purports to have facilitated over 500,000 remote consultations.

Babyl Rwanda and Telemedicine

Here’s how Babyl Rwanda works: The phone user dials #811 and registers using their National ID number, which is linked to the SIM card in their phone. After the National ID is verified and payment via mobile money has been received, an SMS confirms when a nurse will call. The triage nurse schedules the next steps in treatment— laboratory, specialist visits, or simply a visit with a GP. Babyl seeks “to put an accessible and affordable health care service in the hands of every person on earth.”

Such telemedicine success depends upon broadband connectivity and a public IP address that will allow users to connect with people in other countries. Rwanda has heavily invested in its information and communications technology infrastructure. According to the Rwandan Development Board, the country has a “National Backbone”: an IP/MPLS network with 10 Gbps capacity for each district. A 2,500 km fiber optic network connects all 30 districts and each of the nine major border points. The capital Kigali also boasts its own network, the Kigali Metropolitan Network. As of 2018, 3G signal blanketed 90 percent of the Rwandan population, compared to 75 percent of Senegal in the same year.

Equipping Physicians

As Rwanda looks to improve its physician density, it must increase its production and retention of physicians. The university system is underprepared for this burden, and doctors working within the government system are poorly compensated; as such, many leave the profession for more financially sustainable pursuits, such as working for health NGOs.

At the Military Hospital in Kigali, telemedicine in Rwanda facilitates remote instruction for medical students, connecting them to leading health professionals around the world. In this context, telemedicine’s goal is “to improve student training and consequently medical service delivery through regular consultation of experts on advanced medical cases.” The idea is that with access to both quality instruction and leaders in the field, physician retention will improve.

Telemedicine in Rwanda seeks to revolutionize both the care of patients now and the training of physicians for the future. Kirsten Meisinger M.D., medical staff president at Cambridge Health Alliance, argues, “Rwanda shows us a perfect example of how to make crisis an opportunity by investing in a technology solution.”

– Sarah Boyer
Photo: Flickr