Category: Health

Fight for your Right to Eat

Fighting hunger is an ongoing challenge in many parts of the world, so it is good to hear that the Right to Food Campaign is on the road to success in India. India is by no means a shining example of ending hunger, but with the work of organizations like the Right to Food Campaign circumstances in India can change.

“The Right to Food Campaign has succeeded in placing hunger at the centre of development discourse in India. The campaign hopes that this long-running case will culminate in the right to food becoming a fundamental right that can be made justiciable in any court of law in the country. The case and the accompanying campaign have established the importance of the law as facilitator, but the right to food also requires political means and people’s participation.”

Lifestraw a Life Saver

he looks highGlobally, about 6,000 people a day die from water-borne disease. These are preventable deaths but, in many places it is too expensive to provide clean water for everyone and as a result people contract water-borne diseases. A fancy new drinking straw can stop 99.99% of parasites and bacteria from drinking water.

It’s called the Lifestraw and is currently being tested in the field. It is not as small as your average straw, but it’s small enough to wear around your neck. The manufacturing costs are low too – only $3 per unit. 70,000 units were handed out to earthquake victims in Kashmir last year. More testing is needed, but this is off to a very promising start!

Thanks, Kathryn!

Gas: A Real Knockout

Some researchers have found that stinky sewer gas can really knock you out. They found that they could put mice into a state of near suspended-animation by exposing them to the smell.

“Hydrogen sulphide, a toxic gas that smells of rotten eggs, occurs naturally in swamps, springs and volcanoes.

But in mice, it was found to slow down heart rate and breathing and decrease body temperature, while keeping a normal blood pressure.”

Red Alert!

Red: the colour of love, anger … and now a symbol for an exciting product line, aiming to help people in Africa with AIDS.  (Product) Red contains items from various companies, including Gap Inc., Apple Computer Inc., and Emporio Armani.  Some of the eye-catching products include: a red MotoRazr from Motorola, vibrant red shirts from Gap, and a cute red iPod nano. A portion of profits will go to Global Fund, an organization that fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. 

Doug Piwinski, a spokesman for (Product) Red, says the initiative has raised more than $12 million for African AIDS programs, since starting last spring in Britain.

The (Product) Red website also features a gift registry.  What a great way to let people know what you want for Christmas, and give to charity at the same time!

Dial-a-Meal

Over at OneWorld South Asia they are running this neat story about a dial-a-meal program:

“Hunger Helpline allows hungry in Gujarat to dial-a-meal. Poor and hungry and living in Gujarat? A meal is just a phone call away, if the state’s food and civil supplies department, which is launching a Hunger Helpline, is to be believed

A novel Hunger Helpline in Gujarat, initiated by the state government in collaboration with civil society organisations (CSOs), aims to connect poor people in need of a meal with food donors through the telephone.

The brainchild of the state’s food and civil supplies department, this first-of-its-kind service aims to ensure than no person in the state goes hungry, either during a natural calamity or even on an ordinary day.”