It’s not a new model, but if it’s going to eliminate cholera in Haiti, Faith Wallace-Gadsden is going to give it a try.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

It’s not a new model, but if it’s going to eliminate cholera in Haiti, Faith Wallace-Gadsden is going to give it a try.

Wallace-Gadsden founded the Archimedes Project, named after the Greek mathematician Archimedes who had a theory that a large, seemingly impossible to move object can be done with a small force and a lever. Archimedes famously said, “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the world.”

The Archimedes Project leverages existing ideas, technology, and local communities and partners to eliminate problems by forming social enterprises around them. They’re about to launch their first clean water social enterprise to eliminate cholera in Haiti. Local women, called “Community Chlorinators”, will be employed, trained, and sent out into the community to sell chlorine for water purification similar to “Avon ladies”.

“Most water-related organizations are focused on distribution, however, without taking proper hygiene precautions people will continue to fall victim to this simple curable disease,” said Khanh Vien, a communications intern at Archimedes Project.

Source: Social Enterprise Buzz (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Health Care
Tags
infectious diseases, public health