Six years ago, as a junior at UC San Diego, Michael Bakal received a student grant to coordinate a health fair in the indigenous community of Rabinal, Guatemala. Since then, Michael has returned to Rabinal 10 times and formed a non-profit organization. Named Voces y Manos, his nonprofit originally sought to improve health through direct provision of medical care. However, feedback from the community enlightened him to the reality that this was just a band-aid solution to a much deeper problem: the community’s lack of control over its own health. This project seeks to address this issue by empowering a group of indigenous teenagers to form their own Youth Leadership Association to design and implement innovative solutions to the community’s most pressing health problems. After receiving extensive training, the Youth Leadership Association will be given total control over a $4,000 budget, which they will have one year to allocate toward developing innovative solutions to the community’s most critical challenges. This will not only incubate sustainable solutions to local health challenges, it will also prepare the next generation of indigenous youth to assume leadership in addressing the most pressing challenges facing their communities.
Though smoking is a prevalent issue among the homeless population, it is rarely addressed. Many factors predispose homeless individuals to nicotine addiction, and the underserved often do not have sufficient medical care or the strong support base that is critical to kicking the habit. The Suitcase Clinic, a student-run volunteer organization serving the homeless in the East Bay, aims to launch a project called Lungs for Life. They intend to treat the health related issues associated with smoking and create a social network to empower clients to successfully quit. The project has three main components: asthma/COPD screenings; treatment through prescription inhalers; and weekly, student-run support groups supplemented with nicotine replacement. Lungs for Life will establish monthly screenings for respiratory issues and secure more funding for inhalers and diagnostic tools, creating tailored client plans for asthma control. Lungs for Life will institute student-run support groups to not only provide important health information, but also offer an open space for clients to express their hardships and reach out to one another. The enactment of a smoking cessation program will mark Suitcase Clinic’s pioneer effort to expand services beyond acute treatment and into long-lasting care.
Flowbit will build a low-cost, flexible system that is capable of providing the following services to developing world projects: remote monitoring, remote control, and accessible data storage. Flowbit will improve the scalability of existing developing world projects while improving transparency and service to the people who depend on them.
Haath Mein Sehat (HMS) seeks to address the need for health interventions that concern a broad range of health issues. In order to meet this need, HMS proposes to pilot a Community Health Worker (CHW) program in Hubli, India during the summer of 2012. CHWs will provide front-line medical advice and care that is not easily accessible to slum community residents and will involve the community in order to create an effective and sustainable program.
Jacaranda Health works to address safe motherhood in the underserved peri-urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya through a model that combines mobile health vans with high-quality local clinics. Jacaranda has launched their mobile health van system which provides antenatal and postnatal care and is looking forward to opening their first standing clinic in January 2012 which will provide labor and delivery care allowing for the much-needed continuity of care in these underserved areas. Jacaranda’s non-profit healthcare uses evidence-based standards of medicine, quality improvement methodology and is driven by feedback from clients.
Earth energy is a technology that produces electrical energy from the change in the rate of chemical reactions produced by microorganisms that can be found in soil, mud, and decomposed organic material. Light from Below takes this existing technology to the undeveloped areas in Panama in order to create Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) Lamps. The goal is to prepare a design that will facilitate the low-cost manufacture and cheap maintenance of MFC lamps in the community. The project will generate electricity for the community for about one year at an estimated initial cost of $10.00 per lamp and will have a positive impact on tourism, safety in the community and the environment.
