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Fake Drugs Impact Africa, More Profitable Than Illicit Drug Market
The fake drug market, worth over 400 billion euros, is more profitable than the sale of illicit drugs. Each year 800,000 people, most of them in Africa, die because of fake drugs, because they can be less expensive and more accessible than the real thing. RFI has launched a public awareness campaign against fake medications with the Chirac Foundation with the slogan "Street medication kills".
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Rural Children in India Have Better Immunization Rates
Contrary to earlier studies, children in rural India have higher vaccinationrates than those in cities and Hindu kids are more likely to get their shots than Muslims, researchers from a leading American university have said.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- vaccines
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German Startup Franchises Biogas Bag Business in Africa
German social enterprise B-Energy has developed portable “digester” bags that produce methane gas out of food waste or animal droppings, which can help low-income entrepreneurs in the global South make a living through a franchise model, BBC Newsreports.
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- renewable energy
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Unitus Seed Fund Expands Its India StartHealth Investment Program
Unitus Seed Fund, the leading impact venture seed fund investing in startups innovating for the masses in India, announced that it is doubling down on its StartHealth investing initiative targeting investments of INR 15 crore in 6 new early-stage health technology startups. With partners such as Pfizer, PATH, Manipal Hospitals and Narayana Health, the StartHealth program provides flexible funding, expert support, and mentorship as well as access to healthcare facilities to accelerate the go-to-market path for promising startups. Unitus also announced that Dr. Ashwin Naik, founder of Vaatsalya hospitals, will be joining as a healthcare fund advisor to help support healthcare entrepreneurs invested in by Unitus. Separately, StartHealth participant UE LifeSciences announced earlier this week that it has raised a INR 19.5 crore Series A investment round led by Aarin Capital.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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OPINION: India’s health ministry gets a sanitary-napkin machine—but there’s just one problem
India’s union ministry of health and family welfare installed four vending machines to dispense sanitary napkins in the ladies’ washrooms of its New Delhi office. In a country where millions of women still do not use sanitary napkins—and rely on old, unhygienic rags for their monthly cycle—initiatives like these are very welcome. ... But ...
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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A baby box aims to save infant and maternal lives
Under a new student-led nonprofit aimed at reducing infant and maternal mortality in South Asia, expectant mothers would receive a free box full of newborn essentials like baby clothes, diapers, and wipes, as well as health-related items such as a clean delivery kit and oral rehydration salts. The caveat: Women would only get the box—which doubles as a portable basket in which babies can sleep or play—if they agree to a prenatal checkup.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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OPINION: Why the ‘people’s agenda’ for sustainable development is also the business agenda
The 193 member states of the United Nations last month unveiled a new global agenda for sustainable development. The 15-year plan, titled Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is set to be formally endorsed by world leaders in New York this month and will come into force at the beginning of next year. It is worth considering where the countries of the Middle East fit into this.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
- Tags
- public policy
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Zambian capital can’t quench thirst of its booming population
Dorothy Zulu survives on 10 kwacha ($1) a day and, like the majority of Ngombe's 120,000 residents, spends up to a third of it on water. "If you don't have money here you can't drink water," Zulu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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