Technology for Rural Poor, Over-treating Malaria in Africa
This fruit dryer built by SELCO Labs is helping extend the shelf life of fruits like bananas.
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This week: An engineering lab in a remote corner of Southern India is trying to develop technologies for the rural poor. Many African countries are over-treating people for malaria. Also, an international project that uses hidden cameras to capture candid shots of wildlife.
SELCO Labs Develop Technology for the Rural Poor: Thanks to modern technologies, the lives of the urban affluent in India have improved in recent years. But, the rural poor in the country feel left behind, and neglected by the government and private enterprise. Engineers Harish Hande and Anand Narayan wanted to change that. So they’ve launched SELCO Labs, a technology lab in a remote corner of the southern Indian state of Karnatka. I visited the lab and brought back this profile.
Read the story here.
Meet M.N. Bhat, a retired school teacher, and farmer in Ujire, India. He grows coconut, cashew and arecanut. Bhat approached SELCO Labs for help with wild monkeys who invade his farm and destroy his crops.
Over-treating Malaria in Africa: In Africa, health workers often assume that anyone with a fever has malaria. Even when tests show that a patient does not have malaria, clinicians often prescribe malaria treatment. Jill Braden Balderas explores why in this report from Uganda.
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Hidden Cameras to Capture Candid Wildlife The environmental organization, Conservation International has an international project called The Secret life of Mammmals. It uses hidden cameras in forests in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia to take candid photos of mammals. Now the organization has organized 52,000 images from the project into a new study. The World’s Lisa Mullins spoke with Conservation International’s Jorge Ahumada.
Great story. I actually visited Selco labs alongside a team of 15 USA graduate students studying nanotechnology. We went to Selco to see how technology was used in rural communities.
Keep up the great work
Thomas