The below cartoon is brilliant (h/t boingboing), click to read the whole cartoon, worth it. For detailed writing on how mainstream media gets it wrong with respect to health check out a great blog called – Junk Food Science. This also reminded me of the comic from PhD Comics on the Science News Cycle (below).

Since we started blogging almost three years ago the breadth of global health blog posts has increased dramatically (most of that has come over the past 12 months). This is a great development, but we can do much more.  Here is a quote and a few links I enjoyed:

“People want to build something that feeds their soul,” says Matt Flannery, who founded microlending site, Kiva.org earlier in the decade as a Stanford student. “That trend is at a fever pitch.”

The “lazy Southerner” stereotype has global health roots

Vote for the best design to improve life

World Health Organization: a primer

The World Bank: Inventor of Last Resort?

Microfinancing works in Africa; it will work here

New film – We could see the end of seafood in 30 years, potential solutions

Candy bar social venture for promoting peace in the Middle East, Social Entrpreneurship at Change.org

CHF International Receives $1 Million to Empower Slum Dwellers via Mobile Technology

Talking Micro Pharmacies in China

The NTDs: Ubiquitous scourges of Africa

World Oil Prices and Child Health

An unexpected blackout is only part of a very full day in the OR

Forum One’s Datamasher Project

“The SXSW Interactive Festival (Mar 12-16, 2010 in Austin, Texas) is a mega huge social media industry event.” (Beth Kanter) It looks like anyone can submit a panel and then sessions are determined by community voting until September 4th. I saw this idea of selecting topic specific panels from SocialEdge and decided to do it for global and public health. There are slim pickings for global health as a sole topic, however, there are many that are related and have panels with direct relevance now or issues that will have to be dealt with in the future. If you have others to add to the list please let us know. Also check out the Social Edge on social entrepreneurship, Beth Kanter’s eclectic list (definitely check this one out, lots of good choices) and a  list from FI Space. Vote now for your favorites:

“SXSW Interactive features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders and an unbeatable line up of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games and startup ideas the community has to offer.”

1. Social Media for Global Health: Catalyst or Hype? Eric Becker, New Media Strategist
This discussion will cover how social media has been both successful and totally worthless in bringing about improvements in population health worldwide. We’ll discuss stellar examples, epic fails, and
generate some buzzword-laden “best practices” anyone can use when thinking about using social media to advance a global health cause.

2. Fedex And Coca-Cola: What Can International Aid Learn? Sean Blaschke, UNICEF
Real time data is fundamentally changing the way international aid is being designed and administered. Innovative new platforms leveraging SMS text messaging are transforming basic mobile phones into dynamic devices for key areas including education, health care services and supply chain tracking.

3. Innovation: How The Web Helps Africa Solve Its Problems, Eve Dmochowska, IdeaBank
Africa’s problems are unique and severe. Good Healthcare, education, democracy, entrepreneurship, community, nutrition and communication are either non-existent or under threat in many regions. Yet the web offers hope like no other medium before it. Find out how Africa is solving its own problems through smart, innovative and daring use of technology.

4. Yes, We Can – But How ? Technology for Social Good, Zaheda Bhorat, Google Inc.
Isn’t all open source software for social good anyway ? We will describe innovative concepts using “open” projects impacting key issues such as Climate Change, Poverty and Healthcare. Our ideas will enable you to impact change around the world and also closer to home whatever your passions. Learn, be inspired and take action!

5. Question Box – What the World Wants to Know, Rose Shuman, Open Mind – Question Box
Over 4 billion people aren’t on the Internet. Question Box brings information to people that way they want it, when they want it. We setup hotlines and SMS services in local languages, so a rural villager can call or text a question about anything they want. Users ask about everything from agriculture tips, to health questions, to the names of the President of every country imaginable. Want a look inside the minds of the other 4 billion? Come to the Question Box presentation and find out what they are thinking!

6. When Swine Flew: Embracing Innovation in H1N1 Response , Andrew Wilson, US Dept of Health & Human Services
With social media and emerging technology, public health agencies can utilize more tools than ever in a public health emergency. In this panel, social media strategists and researchers, working in the frontlines of the pandemic H1N1 response, will discuss strategy, innovations and the changing relationship between citizens and government.

7. Gaming and Social Media for Health, Kristi Miller Durazo, American Heart Association
Gaming is increasingly merging with health and fitness as a way to engage larger audiences and change social norms and attitudes about being active. The role of social media to augment these experiences is increasing. The panel will explore how gaming, social media and health intersect to carve out new opportunities. Games run across a broad spectrum from fully on-line to on-line/off-line and even fully off-line experiences.
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As promised earlier, here is a brief account about the design+water workshop I conducted in Mexico in June.

Two months ago, I was in La Paz, Mexico at NGO Fundación Cántaro Azul, helping them build organizational capacity in human-centered design (HCD).  Cántaro Azul works to improve access to safe water and sanitation for disadvantaged communities, not only in Baja California Sur, but in other parts of Mexico, and abroad. Their interest in HCD is two-fold: to improve existing initiatives and to innovate new approaches.

I recently completed the workshop final report for the organization. In the hopes that the work may be helpful to others, I’m posting the synopsis of the report here, along with some workshop photos. If you’re interested in accessing the report, please contact me directly.

Design thinking workshop final report: Safe water options with rural community stores in BCS 

Fundación Cántaro Azul • La Paz, Baja California Sur, México 

Jaspal S. Sandhu, Ph.D. • July 2009 

This document describes the outcomes of a week-long design thinking workshop held at Fundación Cántaro Azul (FCA) in La Paz in June 2009. The workshop aimed to build design thinking capacity at the organization while working on a problem of actual importance to FCA. The most important practical outcomes of this workshop were two complementary models for providing a clean, affordable drinking water choice for rural people in Baja California Sur via community stores. The primary audience for this document is FCA. It is intended to help them with ongoing activities focused on the community store model and in incorporating this approach in their various activities. The workshop was designed and facilitated by Jaspal Sandhu, the report author. Workshop funding was provided by the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Shown below: Field research during Day 2 and Day 3 of the workshop. (1) Using an auto-servicio system in La Paz (top left); (2) interviewing a user at a rural, government-run purificadora in San Antonio (top right); (3) debriefing after the San Antonio research (bottom left); (4) and obtaining water samples to test from a home in Rosario (bottom right).

Big congratulations to our friend José Gómez-Márquez (who blogs at Little Devices that Could) for a well deserved award – MIT Tech Review’s Humanitarian of the Year, part of 2009 Young Innovators under 35. Go right now and read the full article (1st para excerpt below):

“José Gómez-Márquez’s lab at MIT seems to be part toy store, part machine shop, and part medical cente­r. Plastic toys are scattered across the bench tops, along with a disassembled drugstore pregnancy test, all manner of syringes, and a slew of fake body parts. Coffee filters have been transformed into paper-based diagnostics; a dime-store helicopter provides the design for a new asthma inhaler; even a toilet plunger has been put to use, rigged with tubes and glue to form a makeshift centrifuge.”

Related post: 7 Steps for Building Low Cost Technologies for Global Health

I just discovered this good one stop shop (Global Education Project)  for quick facts and figures in a variety of areas (see below). While there is some data like this for global health, it would be nice to have a more comprehensive and aggregated data website. Speaking of that, aggregation for global health should be a priority across domains and in terms of data. There is so much that could be done that does not seem to be happening except in a few recent pockets (see GHD Online, Maternova and MIT IIH for three different styles of effort; also see links on global health data sources below the image).

Don’t misuse stats graphically (previous post)

NationMaster World Stats

Kaiser Family Foundation Global Health Facts

Partners Health Data Tools and Stats

WHO Statistical Information System

US Census Bureau International Database

Population Reference Bureau Data-Finder

WHO Global Health Atlas

World Bank Gender Stats

World Development Indicators

Demographic and Health Surveys

The generic way charities/NGOs elicit action and awareness for global health issues by the everyday person usually happens by appealing to emotions (how many pictures of poor children have you seen? can you remember which issue(s) that was for?). With regards to health, I haven’t seen guilt being used as an emotional tactic, but the below “Far Foods” project which I spotted over at Fast Company (thanks to @cdnorman)  is an example from the green movement. I wonder what public or global health campaigns could use this tactic in a smart and appealing way? Be sure to read the comments on the original post at Tree Hugger for critical observations of this approach.

I just discovered an interesting blog: healthcare + design and they had this post up on design excellence awards. Not sure how much this Breath Counter costs, but worth investigating further:

“Fighting Pneumonia: Breath Counter The Breath Counter is a simple, effective testing device to help detect pneumonia in children under five, living in remote areas in developing countries. Pneumonia is the number one cause of death in the under five worldwide, killing an average of two million each year. The disease is diagnosed by counting the number of breaths taken by the patient in one minute, as those infected will have a much higher count than healthy children. But despite the relative simplicity of detection, the current timing device distributed by NGOs is too basic and unreliable.  Philips Design has created a reliable, easy to use solution that addresses the problems identified by the NGOs in the field. Powered by solar cells, the Breath Counters lifespan is potentally five years longer than what is currently available. An LED screen logs three test results, making them easy to compare. Aesthetically, the Breath Counter looks like a medical tool, to give the user a feeling of commitment and contribution to this important issue. For users who cannot read, Philips Design created a simple manual with clear visuals that explain the procedure.”

Philanthropy by Design
“The Breath Counter was created within Philips Design’s Philanthropy by Design program, established in 2005 in which, together with partners such as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), public bodies and social players with complementary expertise and values, Philips Design donates its creative expertise and socio-cultural knowledge to create solutions to improve the health and environment of the more fragile categories of the world’s developing societies.”

My PictureRx is designed for the domestic US market, but I thought I would post it on the off chance that it might stir up some ideas for situations in low resource settings. Not clear if they have gone mobile with this. While there are a slew of SMS pill reminders (first used in a widespread way in the “South”) it is important to think about this in development context due to the coming wave of chronic diseases – how well do SMS only medication remdiners work for people with co-morbidities and complex drug regimines? Also important to note – this is just one type of tool among many, and doesn’t seem like it helps with remembering whether you took your pill or not (have you ever looked at your watch for the time and then forgotten the time 10 mintues later?). The design looks slick and you can sign up for email reminders, however I am not sure what the efficacy is. Other issue to keep in mind with SMS reminders or something like this – while you can improve pill popping rates (adherence), there are many situations where people don’t want to take their meds (side effects or getting plan fed up with the polypharmacy).

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• Text Message Reminders help Teen Transplant Patients (textually.org)

A different way of conducting a survey (low tech, low cost, no power required data gathering tool):

All images credited to Thayer Avenue

If you have been wondering how to design a more fun data gathering tool, consider the above. I noticed this seemingly successful attempt to gather data from a neighborhood farmers market in the Washington DC area. It struck me because of:

• the easy of use, fun approach compared to paper and pencil surveys
• potential increase in survey response due to above reason
• relative anonymity
• dual purpose data gathering + instant visual representation and analysis
• But also note one unusal drawback might be the influence previous responders have on future respondents.

I thought I would share this because this technique can be used in a variety of both formal and informal settings (group meetings, getting feedback from local communities). It is worth emphasizing the ease of use, the survey participant can just walk by and in a very short period of time answer a few questions (of course doesn’t apply to stigma laden issues). Also keep in mind that when you see this you still have to be careful of mis-interpretation (see our previous post on how graphic stats can mis-tell a story). And if you need some inspiration for data presentation just go see Hans Rosling (who we covered 2 years ago).

This also reminded me of a previous data gathering tool we highlighted that solves the visual respondent influence and potential bias (but would take away from the visual power of the above type of technique and would present other issues):

Related Links:
Forum One Communications: Data for Global Health, Part II, link
 HRIS Data Collection Toolkit (Designing Data Collection Tools and Procedures), link
Datadyne: Collecting Health Data through Open Source Tools, link
Mobiles for Data Collection: Gather , SCDRT