PowerTower is an all-in-one compact energy harvesting unit that will provide communities around the world with pasteurized water, electricity for small devices, and instant flowing hot water. Much of the third world is currently living without many of the necessities taken for granted such as running hot water, electricity, or safe water. PowerTower will allow people living in rural communities to do things as crucial as charge cell phones and have clean water. The technology will be delivered through a cross subsidization model based on a domestically profitable product using the same technology called the PowerShower. This technology is inexpensive, not susceptible to weather conditions, and makes use of an energy source already widely utilized in the third world.
In developing countries, maternal mortality rates are shockingly high in comparison to the rates in developed countries. The most common cause of maternal mortality is postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). This devastating condition is easily treated in the developed world, where mortality rates due to PPH are close to nil. In the developing world, however, these treatments may take too much time and/or money to obtain or may require skilled workers to perform. Thus, women with PPH are instead treated with an anti-shock garment. This garment applies pressure to the suffering women in order to combat the effects of PPH, yet it has no pressure detecting or reporting capabilities. The project aims to reduce the overwhelming rates of maternal mortality associated with PPH in developing countries by creating a pressure detecting and reporting device, specific to the anti-shock garment.
The eradication of malaria is hampered by the ability of current diagnostic tools to detect very low-density infections in asymptomatic patients. In response to this, the aim is to employ loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), an innovative and novel technique to test for asymptomatic malaria. This low-cost technique is faster and more accurate compared to currently employed diagnostic tests. In Kenya, the aim is to (1) conduct a hotspot identification campaign using LAMP techniques to detect the malaria parasite, and (2) build capacity to ensure sustainability and local participation in the hotspot identification campaign. Results of this hotspot identification campaign will become an essential tool in future anti-malaria interventions.
Anti-malarial pills are among the most highly counterfeited drugs in Africa. Malaria kills between 1 and 3 million people every year, with 90% of those deaths in Africa. This reduces productivity in Africa by $12 billion and devastates local economies. The project aims to identify counterfeit anti-malarial drugs by developing a new technique to detect the concentration of artemisinin (the active ingredient) in these pills. Due to the prevalence of counterfeit drugs that have minimal amounts of this active ingredient, identifying its concentration in a pill has become important. The innovative aspect of this technique Spot-It!, is that it achieves the challenging task of measuring the concentration of active ingredient by combining two elementary methods, Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and a simple chemical reaction.
The causes of child stunting, a nutritional status indicator defined as poor height for weight, include inadequate caloric intake, low protein consumption (particularly of animal source protein), frequent diarrheal illness, and poor nutrient absorption in the gut due to chronic latent infection. Probiotic supplements, paired with an adequate diet, are a promising strategy for addressing child stunting. This project aims to promote the feeding of safely prepared yogurt to children between 6 months and 5 years of age in households throughout Bajura. Local women’s expertise in dahi production and child feeding will determine the best methods of efficiently and safely producing high quality yogurt, and prepare it with locally available fruits so that children enjoy the taste. These “best practices” will then be disseminated throughout the district at the monthly mother’s group meetings.
4.6 billion people across the developing world lack adequate treatment of their feces and urine. ElectroSan will apply electrochemical cells that recover nitrogen from human urine. This product will be used to disinfect human feces and produce income as a fertilizer, making sanitation affordable in low-income communities like Mukuru, an urban Nairobi slum. This intervention can catalytically improve public health and environmental quality by treating and creating value-added products from waste.
The increasing ubiquity of mobiles in Uganda presents both opportunities and challenges, especially for critical sectors such as agriculture. In their various designs and capabilities, mobile phones can be found in the pockets of the wealthy and poor alike. Even in rural areas of Uganda, mobiles are growing in number and sophistication. The increase in mobile phone use should make developing a market for agricultural products easier, but in many districts farmers lack access to potential customers. AgroMarketDay, a mobile application, will share farmers’ information with potential customers so that they are be able to check out market days in the different districts and which products will be sold in the different markets.
100 Strong is an innovative non-profit that will give at-risk teenage girls in San Francisco the skills they need to take leadership roles in bettering their communities. First, one hundred teenage girls will be invited to participate in the program. The girls will be paired with a UC Berkeley undergraduate and, together, the pair will select a service-based project they want to develop during the program. Then the one hundred girls will attend a two week leadership workshop, the 100 Strong Summer Workshop, that focuses on developing their leadership potential by planning out their project and learning how to lead a non-profit project. Through the course of the two-week program, the participants in 100 Strong will observe non-profits in action in San Francisco, learn from guest speakers, and participate in leadership building exercises. 100 Strong will give at-risk teenage girls the skills they need to create change within their own communities, developing these girls’ leadership potential by equipping them with the training and skills they need to be change makers within their own communities. The goal is to pilot a new leadership program that will not only empower girls to better their own lives, but will also empower girls to better the lives of others.
Vision from the Bottom aims to bypass the costs of customized eyeglasses and vision screening by implementing a social business model and supply chain network to deliver easy, inexpensive and effective vision correction to people in Cambodia. Using recent innovations in self-refraction technology for vision screening and standardized eyeglass products for vision correction, Vision from the Bottom will provide job training for vision vendors—a door-to-door community-based sales force for self-adjustable glasses. Vision vendors will also provide a basic eye-disease detection test and can consult and coordinate visits to eye clinics or hospitals for patients who need further care. Vision from the Bottom will apply an incentive-based, scale-up supply chain so vision vendors who achieve higher sales are provided with more discounts when acquiring these self-adjustable glasses for the purposes of selling them to customers, and they will also be promoted to a higher position.
