ICT4D News Roundup – May 5, 2017
Welcome to our weekly #ICT4D News Roundup! We are passionate about the intersection of technology and social good. Each week we look for the best articles that focus on the ICT4D industry, the issues that impact the sectors we work across, and interesting content for social enterprises.
Highlighted articles this week:
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- What does a cricket-raising farm, flour made from coffee pulp, and mold-killing technology have in common? – USAID
- Tim Evans, Senior Director of Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank Group, discusses the future of global health financing. – Devex
- What if a machine could smell when you are sick? Researchers are currently developing chemical sensors that can use odor samples from patients to detect illnesses – The New York Times
- There are potentially millions of “unregistered” children around the world. How can we provide them with care if we don’t know where or who they are? – The Guardian
- In case you missed it: check out our April CommCare update for new feature releases. – Dimagi
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3 FOOD INNOVATIONS CHANGING HOW THE WORLD EATS
The USAID LAUNCH Food Challenge brought together 280 of the top agricultural innovators from 74 countries to showcase how their projects are making food production more sustainable. This article highlights three of these innovations: cricket-raising farms, coffee flour, and a new mold-killing technology, all of which could revolutionize what the world eats.
One example is a product called Coffee Flour, which is transforming coffee-growing communities. It is made from the discarded pulp and skin of the coffee cherry, the byproducts of coffee milling. That pulp is dried, alongside coffee beans, and then milled into a nutritionally dense flour that is incorporated into a wide range of foods and beverages.”
Read the full article on medium.com
Are you interested in sustainable coffee production practices? Read how the Rainforest Alliance uses CommCare to connect coffee farmers to the supply chain in Guatemala.
3 INSIGHTS FROM WORLD BANK’S TIM EVANS ON GLOBAL HEALTH
What does the future of global health aid financing look like? On April 20th, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies held an event to discuss the future of global health financing. Tim Evans, Senior Director of Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank Group, offered his take on the topic. He suggested three ways to navigate the new climate: (1) Catalyze domestic resource mobilization, (2) Build a demand for health, and (3) Break out of a “public sector-only mindset.”
The U.S. was the biggest single source of development aid finance for health at $12.8 billion — 34 percent of the global total — its future position is less clear.”
ONE DAY, A MACHINE WILL SMELL WHETHER YOU’RE SICK
Owlstone, a company in Cambridge, England, is currently in the clinical trial stages of creating a chemical sensor that uses odor samples to detect illnesses. The idea behind this technology comes from Ancient Greek and Chinese medical practitioners who used scent to diagnose patients. This practice is still around today, but not super reliable, e.g. a dog trained to detect cancer might get distracted. The promise of building a precision tool to diagnose illness by smell has researchers on both the commercial and academic side of research, working on similar sensors in Israel, the United States, Austria, Switzerland and Japan. Hopefully, the competition means more potential for this life-saving technology to succeed.
Mr. Haick and his colleagues published a paper in ACS Nano last December showing that his artificially intelligent nanoarray could distinguish among 17 different diseases with up to 86 percent accuracy.”
HOW CAN YOU LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND WHEN MILLIONS OF CHILDREN ARE UNCOUNTED?
In 2015 all UN countries signed the sustainable development goals (SDGs), a series of 17 goals and 169 targets that aim to end poverty and “leave no one behind.” But many argue that because these goals will be measured using a series of home surveys, the SDG’s will miss millions of the most at-risk people: those who are homeless. Specifically, children living without families or in unregulated orphanages will not be counted. How can technology help to recover these “invisible” children?
Technology could help locate unregulated, privately-run orphanages through satellite mapping and could help local communities conduct more accurate, citizen-led surveys. It could help social workers collect and share information about vulnerable children, and improve the efficiency of data collection surveys.”
COMMCARE APRIL PRODUCT UPDATE
Need to test how your app works in multiple languages? We just made it possible to use the app preview feature in multiple languages. To access this feature, navigate to the “Settings” icon on the live preview pop-out, and select the language you want to preview your application in.”
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