Ways in which science and technology can help to improve the condition of poor countries
The way people go about their daily lives has altered as a result of technological advancements. It affects practically every aspect of your life, from how you communicate to how you carry out your daily chores.
It's now easy to go to work or do household duties thanks to technological advancements. A variety of gadgets and equipment are available to make people's life easier. It has also had an impact on today's culture in areas including transportation, education, and medical.
10 Technological Solutions to Poverty
1. Mobile Banking
2. Mobile Health Care
3. Access to clean water
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4. Improve farming techniques
5. Increase access to education
6. Empowering through information
7. Better waste management
8. Improved transportation
9. Disaster relief and management
10. Sustainable energy
Mobile banking allows the poor to obtain financial services without incurring transaction charges or requiring the use of a traditional, physical bank. Access to banking, according to a Brookings Institute Policy Brief, helps the poor secure their money and invest properly. It helps people to save money without worrying about being robbed.
"Access to formal savings increased women's economic empowerment by enhancing their influence over household consumption decisions, children's schooling, and usage of family planning," according to a Brookings study.
Furthermore, mobile banking facilitates and streamlines direct cash transfer operations for humanitarian organisations.
Cell phones provide access to medical information that would otherwise be unavailable to the poor. According to the Research Council of Norway, a recent Ghanaian initiative focuses on pregnant women who lack information on how to ensure healthy foetal growth. Weekly automated messages are sent to mothers to assist counteract superstition and pregnancy-related falsehoods.
"All they need is a cheap mobile phone to receive these messages," explains Jacqueline Mller Larsen of the Grameen Foundation in Ghana. "The health information they acquire in this way can have a significant impact on both the mother and the baby's health."
More than 748 million people lack access to safe drinking water, and more than 2.5 billion people have insufficient sanitation. Every day, more than 1,400 children die from diarrhoea caused by contaminated water and poor sanitation. According to WaterAid, a non-profit dedicated to providing safe water and sanitation, access to safe water would not only slow the spread of diseases, but would also return an average of $4 in enhanced productivity for dollar invested.
Such advancements are not unattainable, and contemporary technology can help to achieve water and sanitation goals. Practical Action, for example, collaborated with Kenyans from the dry, arid Turkana region to design a drought-relieving strategy for the region.
The organisation claimed, "We developed a solar-powered water pump that employs locally-sourced technology to pump 30,000 clean litres of clean, safe water to the hamlet every day."
According to the United Nations, agriculture is the primary source of income for the 1.4 billion people who live on less than $1.25 per day. Agricultural advancements, ranging from improved ploughing techniques to rice adapted to saltier water, have the potential to alleviate hunger for millions of people.
"We can do something revolutionary against hunger if we can get and invent new seeds, new mobile technology, and open new data centres to assist farmers connect their crop prices and understand weather unpredictability," USAID administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah told TIME. "And not just provide food to a small number of those who are hungry."
In rural areas, many children, particularly underprivileged females, have restricted access to school. Furthermore, many of the schools available to rural students have low-quality teachers and little resources. However, modern technology such as solar-powered PCs and projectors allows students to engage in real-time, interactive lectures with qualified instructors. Ghana just launched Making Ghanaian Girls Great! (MGCubed), its first interactive, distant learning project, with the backing of the British Department for International Development in Ghana, according to Ghana Web. This programme makes advantage of modern technologies to provide access to education that was previously unavailable.
According to the United Nations, more people have access to cellphones than to justice or legal services around the world. More than 5.4 billion people have mobile phone subscriptions at this time. Mobile phones provide practically everyone in the world with access to information and the ability to make their voices known because they just demand basic literacy.
Many cities in developing countries, such as Nairobi, Kenya, have been overburdened with solid waste disposal facilities, resulting in littering issues. Technology has the potential to alter the lives of the urban poor, from recycling plastics to controlling human waste.
Trips to town for water and food can take hours, especially for the impoverished who live in villages miles distant from metropolitan towns. They frequently miss medical emergencies and are unable to reach hospitals in a timely manner. Many of the villagers who own bicycles are unable to convey the sick. Villagers help Practical Action build bicycle trailers that can carry up to 200 kg of water, food, or passengers.
"...Whether it's bringing clean water, removing rubbish, or clearing sludge, the bicycle still has the capacity to alter underprivileged communities," writes Practical Action's Matt Wenham.
Thousands of lives could be saved by the simple invention of a bike trailer.
Natural calamities like as tsunamis and earthquakes disproportionately afflict the rural poor, who frequently have no idea what is going on. Mobile phones can be used to warn people of imminent disasters, giving them enough time to leave to safety. In an attempt to save lives, Bangladesh, one of the world's most vulnerable countries to natural catastrophes, has created a mobile alarm system.
According to Syed Ashraf, a communications specialist with the country's Disaster Management Bureau, "this new programme will mean that people would get an alert on their phones informing them that they are likely to suffer flooding or a storm." "As a result, people will be able to take actions such as fleeing their houses and seeking safety in designated areas."
People who have access to electricity can earn their way out of poverty, get an education, and improve their health. Solar and hydro power, for example, are new technologies that can produce energy without the need for costly power plants. Even basic technology advancements, such as fireless cookers that use stored heat, can help the poor save money and time.
"Even providing a few hours of solar lighting helps the human condition," said Justin Guay, associate director of the Sierra Club's International Climate Program.
Private contributors and the federal government should spend more in technical solutions to improve the lives of the world's impoverished.
Posted By InnoTechzz