Past Winners

Vuwa Enterprise: Shower Water Drip Irrigation System

Vuwa seeks to combat poor farming yields, low income and the declining living standards due to the high cost of water in Kenya. The Vuwa Enterprise has designed a scalable shower water drip irrigation system capable of irrigating cash crops for farmers in Kenya and other developing countries. The product sells at an affordable 1483 … Continue reading “Vuwa Enterprise: Shower Water Drip Irrigation System”

Aquaponic Farming System for Mfangano Island

In collaboration with a U.S. based, Kenyan registered, 501c3 non-profit, called the Organic Health Response, a team of interdisciplinary UCSF, UCB, and University of Minnesota undergraduate and graduate students coming from a range of different departments including, but not limited to: medicine, environmental science, architecture, and anthropology have created a hyper efficient bio-dynamic aquaponic farming … Continue reading “Aquaponic Farming System for Mfangano Island”

The State of Ear Health and Rise of Tympanocentesis

Otitis Media (OM), more commonly known as a severe ear infection, is a medical condition that is caused by a variety of pathogens and affects 70% of all children under the age of three. Currently, most ear infections are treated with multiple rounds of antibiotics. With the onset of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, this type of treatment … Continue reading “The State of Ear Health and Rise of Tympanocentesis”

Vietnam Tooth Project

Despite decades of child nutrition initiatives, the rates of malnutrition throughout the developing world have remained high, and there is a need to explore new strategies to address this problem. Among the strategies to reduce malnutrition, there has been little exploration of the role of severe tooth decay—which is an infectious disease and the most … Continue reading “Vietnam Tooth Project”

A Healthy Smile

The Suitcase Clinic is a student-run organization that operates three drop-in centers for the homeless and low income community of the East Bay and Alameda County. This project will expand the Clinic’s services to include dental care. By addressing the dental care needs of underserved communities, A Healthy Smile will instill newfound confidence in clients. … Continue reading “A Healthy Smile”

Nuestra Agua Safe Water Social Franchise

Diarrheal disease from drinking unsafe water is one of the leading causes of death in Mexico. Today, millions of Mexicans in low-income communities are still at high risk of waterborne diseases because of inadequate water infrastructure and insufficient water quality control. In particular, safe water remains unavailable to those who cannot afford commercially sold bottled … Continue reading “Nuestra Agua Safe Water Social Franchise”

NextDrop

Water unavailability is a problem that families face in almost all of the cities in South Asia and in at least a third of the rest of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Millions of households have a piped water supply. However, water is only available through these pipes for a few hours at a time. … Continue reading “NextDrop”

Mobilizing Health

Mobilizing Health is committed to increasing access to emergency and preventative healthcare for rural populations in developing countries through the use of mobile technology for medical advice and treatment. This is accomplished by using a text message-based platform to connect villagers to licensed medical practitioners in nearby towns and cities. Their goal is to help … Continue reading “Mobilizing Health”

MobileWorks

MobileWorks provides a platform that gives underemployed and impoverished individuals in the developing world the ability to earn supplemental income by doing work through their mobile phones. The organization accepts data entry and transcription contracts from a variety of sources-government programs in India, Western crowd sourcing companies, and traditional outsourcing companies–and sends this work to … Continue reading “MobileWorks”