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Finding the Right Last-Mile Distribution Model
Experiments in bringing market-driven solutions to base-of-the-pyramid customers are often done in isolation, with little sharing of what works and what doesn’t. To address this knowledge gap, MIT D-Lab created the Practical Impact Alliance, which brings together leaders from diverse organizations working in inclusive business. The group has just released a 43-page guide called Best Practices for BoP Door-to-Door Distribution.
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- Education
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What We’ve Got Here is a Failure to Communicate: Three Ways to Bridge the Academic/Practitioner Gap
Evidence-based policymaking requires a collaborative relationship between the worlds of research, policy and practice. But productive three-way communication between these actors is difficult, as vague prejudices can limit each side's ability to listen and learn. As every failure to communicate is a missed opportunity, Innovations for Poverty Action explores some ways to improve learning and communication.
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- Finance, Social Enterprise
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Lab-on-a-Stick: Miniaturised Clinical Testing for Fast Detection of Antibiotic Resistance
A portable power-free test for the rapid detection of bacterial resistance to antibiotics has been developed by academics at Loughborough University and the University of Reading.The new test termed Lab-on-a-Stick is an inexpensive microfluidic strip – comprising of tiny test tubes about the size of a human hair – capable of identifying bacteria found in urine samples and checking if they are resistant to common antibiotics.
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- Health Care, Technology
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Opinion: Asia’s Pharma Investment Shows the Benefit of Patent Protection
Next month in New York the United Nations will launch its long-awaited High Level Report on access to medicines. The U.N. hopes this will resolve the debate around intellectual property rights and access to medicines.
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- Health Care
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- academia, public health
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Seven Questions for Career Seekers – Finding Your Niche in Sustainable Development
In the fifth and final post in a series exploring careers in social innovation and global sustainable development for STEM professionals, Khanjan Mehta gives advice on how to get your foot in the door and network in order to "test-drive" different organizations. At the end of the day, he says, it's all about finding the right fit.
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- Education
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Johns Hopkins Students Design Ebola Protection Suit Improvements
For health workers in the field treating people stricken with Ebola and other diseases, a protective suit is the first defense against infection. The suit and head covering itself, however, can hamper their ability to help by impeding breathing, or heating up so quickly in high temperatures and humidity that they can scarcely work for more than an hour.
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- Education, Health Care
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Students and professionals team up for first Ann Arbor Health Hackathon
The "hackathon" included 24 hours of health-related “hacking,” which involved teams pitching ideas and creating prototypes for solutions to health problems. The event focused on preventing disease in underserved areas of the developing world.
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- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- North America
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Consent as Conversation: Lean research in vulnerable settings
Whether research unfolds in Harvard Square or a remote village, in our home communities or in a context with which we are newly familiar, we hope to question our assumptions on agency, power, risk, and vulnerability. In this post, the authors focus on making informed consent a truly meaningful process, particularly when conducting research in vulnerable settings.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment