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 prevalent chronic disease worldwide, currently affecting 50-95% of young children in developing countries. Over the past 2 decades, with rapid modernization and increased marketing and consumption of non-nutritious processed foods such as candy and soda, Vietnam and other developing countries face serious emerging risks to children’s oral health and nutrition. This Big Ideas project aims to solve two global health epidemics—severe early childhood tooth decay and malnutrition—using simple, low-cost interventions: fluoride dental varnish, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and oral health/nutrition education to improve the health and well-being of children in areas that currently lack access to these resources.
University: UC Berkeley
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. Dental Services to be provided include comprehensive and preventative care, cleanings and surgical extractions, dental x-rays, root platings, fillings, oral hygiene instruction and supplies, and 5 anterior root canals. The Dental Service is driven to provide more comprehensive services through the belief that adequate dental care is a right of all persons, regardless of their ability to pay.
(Note: This project originally won in the Big Ideas “Social Justice & Community Engagement” category.)
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 water. Water technology like the UV Tube, developed through collaboration between UC Berkeley and Fundacion Cantaro Azul, is an effective means to secure water quality at home. Nuestra Agua, a new social franchise designed by UC Berkeley students, will expand on the UV Tube project and offer a local, affordable, and reliable option for people who need to purchase safe water as well as an economic opportunity for local entrepreneurs.
(Note: This project originally won in the Big Ideas “Social Entrepreneurship” category.)
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. Households faced with irregular water supply may lose hours each day waiting for water. They become stressed and regularly use unsafe sources of water instead. Part of the problem is water utilities being unable to reliably track and verify the delivery of water. NextDrop is a program that addresses this problem. As it scales up, NextDrop will use the provided information by consumers to assist water utility engineers in tracking and correcting problems of water delivery to consumers.
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 thousands of villagers by building a network of site directors who are managed by a full-time incountry Manager and two Regional Site Directors. During the summer of 2010, they have already implemented the program in 50 villages in India, and hope to expand the program to more areas in the upcoming years. Mobilizing Health tackles the issue of overcrowded facilities by giving people knowledge of how to treat the problem at their location if possible, thereby minimizing the need to travel to the hospitals and increasing equitable access to healthcare.
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 workers’ phones over a locally-accessible interface, handling payment to workers and guaranteeing quality to companies. Over time, MobileWorks users have the opportunity to earn data entry certifications and lift themselves out of poverty.
MicroFluidic Biomolecular Amplification Reader for Infectious Disease Agents in South Africa
The Microfluidic Biomolecular team is developing an integrated microfluidic system for simple and robust biomolecular amplification with an inexpensive reader to conduct a rapid and complicated analysis of a range of samples encountered in the field. They are targeting this microfluidic biomolecular amplification reader (MicroBAR) at global health diagnostics, with a specific focus on tuberculosis detection and classification based on drug resistant genotype. Funds will be used to return to South Africa to scale up their project for field deployment.
Fruitful Minds
Fruitful Minds is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that aims to educate fourth through eighth graders in at-risk communities in making healthy decisions regarding diet and lifestyle. This is accomplished through nutrition education programs and activities that cater to the specific needs of each community. Fruitful Minds collaborates with local elementary and middle schools in Alameda County, in order to design a curriculum that complements existing programs. UC Berkeley students will work as Ambassadors to deliver the nutrition education program, which includes six one-hour lessons over the course of six weeks. The organization is run by UC Berkeley students and alums, who develop the website, write grants, develop marketing materials, conduct training programs, and review legal matters. (Note: This project originally won in the Big Ideas “Social Justice & Community Engagement” category.)
Campus Biodiesel Project
The main objective of this project is to develop an optimal way to improve energy efficiency on the UC Berkeley campus by converting waste cooking oil to biodiesel and then using this biodiesel to power various campus operations. Biodiesel, a type of diesel that comes from biological sources, is biodegradable, non-toxic and produces 60% less carbon dioxide emissions than petroleum-based diesel. Biodiesel can be produced from waste cooking oil. This project advocates for the productive use of the 5,500 gallons of cooking oil waste on the UC Berkeley campus every year. If UC Berkeley’s dining halls each saved the waste oil that they produce into a drum or a large oil container, the oil could then be used to create biodiesel, which can then be used for sustainable campus operations.