Author: Fono

Buy Things, Fight AIDS

- Fono

A new organization called RED created a bit of a buzz this World AIDS Day. Along with the backing of the usual Irish rock singers and African soccer players, they’ve partnered with a number of major corporations to raise both awareness and funds. Apple, Nike, Starbucks and Facebook are some of the names involved. This means you can buy an iPod, and some of the cash you spend will go to The Global Fund. Just in time for the holidays!

(RED)â„¢ is a simple idea that transforms our collective power as shoppers into a financial force that helps those affected by HIV in Africa. To date, $140 million has been generated and 4 million people have been helped through Global Fund programs that (RED) supports. When you choose to buy products from (RED) partner companies up to 50% of the profit goes towards eliminating AIDS in Africa.

Read more at the RED blog

Gross National Happiness Redux

- Fono

We’ve written about Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness before, but now that the new policy has been in place in a while, it’s a good time to revisit the topic.

First, Bhutan has very nicely posted all their research online.

Second, the good news is that Bhutan’s research is being applied elsewhere, within the rubric of the burgeoning happiness studies.

Studies of life satisfaction around the world are now enhanced by regular polling in many countries using a broad range of questions, and have led to consistent findings in recent years that the highest levels of satisfaction are found in such northern European countries as Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden—countries with a strong sense of social solidarity and attention to work-life balance, small income gaps, and—contrary to the thinking of American conservatives—high taxation rates.

These studies find that many relatively income-poor nations, such as Costa Rica and Colombia, also have high rates of life satisfaction, leading one group of British researchers to establish a “Happy Planet Index,” dividing life satisfaction scores by ecological footprints. They find that many so-called developing countries actually rank at the top of their index.

Read more at Worldchanging

A Cure for Multiple Sclerosis – Maybe/Probably

- Fono 1 Comment

That’s right, you heard me. Though experts are warning people not to get their hopes too high just yet, the initial results are pretty impressive.

The initial studies done in Italy were small but the outcomes were dramatic. In a group of 65 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (the most common form) who underwent surgery, the number of active lesions in the brain fell sharply, to 12 per cent from 50 per cent; in the two years after surgery, 73 per cent of patients had no symptoms.

Read more at the Globe & Mail

“Robin Hood Banker” Does What You’d Expect

- Fono

When people on the subway can’t even be bothered to tell someone about the dead body they’re riding with (true story, happened to a friend), it’s always heartening to run into someone with a conscience. Like this banker in Germany:

The woman knew most of the clients of her small rural branch and had access to their accounts, German TV station WDR reported. That’s how she discovered that some of her richest customers – some with six-figure balances – had not touched their accounts in years. Meanwhile, others were drowning in debt. “Customers asked me if I could help them. They couldn’t get credit in a conventional way,” the woman told the court, adding that she found her actions unbelievable now. “I can’t understand it any more. I must have had helper syndrome.”

Read more at The Guardian

DIY Glasses for the Poor

- Fono

Something like 6 percent of the North American population wears glasses. If you’re amongst these four-eyes, you probably appreciate your local optometrist, who makes your vision possible. Unfortunately, people in developing countries don’t get to have a local optometrist — and that means no glasses. Happily, an inventor has just created glasses that people can adjust themselves, obviating the need for prescriptions and experts. And he’s getting them out to the people who need them.

The implications of bringing glasses within the reach of poor communities are enormous, says the scientist. Literacy rates improve hugely, fishermen are able to mend their nets, women to weave clothing. During an early field trial, funded by the British government, in Ghana, Silver met a man called Henry Adjei-Mensah, whose sight had deteriorated with age, as all human sight does, and who had been forced to retire as a tailor because he could no longer see to thread the needle of his sewing machine. “So he retires. He was about 35. He could have worked for at least another 20 years. We put these specs on him, and he smiled, and threaded his needle, and sped up with this sewing machine. He can work now. He can see.”

Read more at The Guardian

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