Julia Fenster, Editor-in-Chief of The Lohasian, contributed this article.

Dr. Seyi Oyesola“Hospital in a Box” developed by Dr. Seyi Oyesola, is a portable medical system containing anesthetic and surgical equipment. Light enough to be dropped into inaccessible zones by helicopter and powered by solar panels, the kit is a life and death solution for those most in need. But for millions in Africa the kit is not enough to address a continent-wide challenge of an outdated health care system that fails to properly and safely treat the most basic medical conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

*Scott Harrison is the founder of charity:

$150 toilets, water towers and dignity

India | January 1, 2008
I never thought I’d be spending New Year’s Eve looking at toilets. And I never thought I’d be asking my friends for money to build them.

Like many things in my comfortable western life, toilets have always just been there for me. They were usually made of white porcelain, held about five gallons of clean water in their tanks, and were in rooms with doors I could lock. Yet 2.5 billion people on our planet don’t know what any of that is like.

“Cover your face and expose your base,” Joe Madiath says darkly with a chuckle.

It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m in rural East India, talking about what else but toilets and open defecation. Orissa is India’s poorest state, and the 150-acre compound we are at is where Joe lives and works. It’s truly in the sticks - about four hours from the nearest city. Read the rest of this entry »