Aquaponic Farming System for Mfangano Island

Big Ideas LogoIn 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 system to be built on the remote island of Mfangano, located in Nyanza Province of western Kenya. This project is to be realized during the summer of 2011 with the help of local artisans, farmers, and builders,and a group of students from UCB and UCSF. The continued iniative of the Organic Health Response and this group of students to find alternative forms treatment to the staggering prevelence of HIV/AIDS in the region prompted the need to create reliable, sustainable, economically viable, and highly efficient food production systems to turn the tide against HIV/AIDS in this region of the world.

Teach for Health

Teach for Health

Teach for Health is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 by UCSF students of medicine, nursing, and pharmacy, and a Berkeley MPH graduate. Teach for Health’s (TFH) mission is to train communities in program planning and leadership to improve health and well-being. Currently, Teach for Health in Nicaragua has 43 health promoters in 18 communities educating residents about health-related issues and working to expand healthcare in these communities. Funding will allow Teach for Health to evaluate, improve and expand on the work it has been doing in Nicaragua. Teach for Health will develop measures to evaluate the impact that it has had on the communities in which the program is active. This will allow Teach for Health to improve its services and its approach as it continues to expand its program. Teach for Health also plans to expand on its current offerings by partnering with several local institutions to develop a disaster response plan for participating communities.