Use innovation to fight poverty

“All human lives have equal value”, yet the majority of them live like creatures designed to perish by default. This You Tube video is an eye opener and a trigger for infinite thoughts about people and poverty. This video is the reason for writing this post because I believe a lot can improve through innovation at the grass root level. Though there are many aspects of poverty, in this post I have discussed some of the aspects which would directly affect survival.

Electricity: 24% of the world population have no electricity. India has more than 400 million people with no electricity. The people worst affected are in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India. It’s hard to believe that a country which is considered one of major economies in Asia and the world have so many people living in the dark. Some fresh thinkers took the initiative of lighting up the lives of these poor villagers. They have found out a way of generating electricity from rice husks for feeding power into thousands of household spread across several villages. This fast growing electricity company called Husk Power System has shown the world that we don’t need rocket science to alleviate poverty through innovation. Effective application of old ideas and great execution can do the trick.

Safe water supply: 33% of the world population have no access to safe water supply and 6000 people die from water borne diseases every day. A simple flute like instrument can bring about a lot of change. It’s called the Life Straw which completely purifies water when sucked through the straw. It is extremely portable and can be hung around the neck like a pen. Priced at around $3.50 it should be affordable for millions staying in the developing world and waiting for the boon to reach them. In another innovation in Kenya people are using specially designed chlorine dispensers to treat contaminated water after it has been collected from inappropriate sources.

Sanitation: 63% of the world population have inadequate sanitation leading to contamination of water and water borne diseases. Some great initiatives by Bill and Melinda Gates foundation paved the way for innovative sanitation solutions for people living in extremely unhealthy condition in developing countries. They are trying to make a difference to millions living in poverty by driving projects which explores innovations in toilet technology. Challenged by poor sanitation, people in rural Africa started constructing Elephant Toilets, it allows people to defecate in an enormously deep and wide pit. The top of the pit has a concrete slab with a whole. The pit is surrounded with a proper enclosure to maintain complete privacy. That’s clever thinking from poor people who hardly get proper nutrition for their body and mind.

Malnutrition and starvation: 50% of the world population suffers from malnutrition and lot of them dies of starvation. Now let us look at some food wastage statistics.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the amount of food getting lost or wasted every year is a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes which is one third of the food produced in the world. The statistics shows that developed nations waste as much food as the entire food production of Sub-Saharan Africa. To me this is a real eye opener. It shows lack of public awareness about food wastage. The same food would have saved all people dying of starvation and given a better life to people suffering with malnutrition. Awareness campaigns to control food wastage have been initiated in some countries and we can only hope it becomes successful in creating the awareness. Reducing food wastage to fight poverty is not an innovation but “simple common sense”.