Product/Service Development

Currently only 16% of the Congo has access to on grid electricity. Towns and health clinics without energy use generators or household solar systems or do without, depending on what they can afford. The proposed model provides a solution for addressing energy needs in marginalized rural conflict zones by changing the financing and management model to increase health center and community energy access.

Our innovation addresses the lack of energy access in South Sudan by quickly and affordably meeting the energy needs of communities across the country. The instability of South Sudan has hindered investment in energy infrastructure, stifling economic development, and increasing poverty. As of 2020, only the capital Juba had access to grid power (1% of the population), while the rest of the country has no access. As a result, only costly energy sources such as diesel gensets are available to meet energy needs.

This innovation addresses two barriers to quality post-abortion care (PAC) in Yemen: the inadequate PAC training and the lack of mental health support for those providing this service. A 2019 BMC Public Health study found that 63.2% of doctors surveyed in Yemen are experiencing a high degree of burnout (defined as emotional exhaustion, increased depersonalization, and a diminished sense of personal accomplishment due to chronic emotional stress). This percentage is likely to be higher for PAC providers, who face significant social stigma for the services they perform.

Many persons with mobility impairments or amputations in NW Syria are in need of prosthetics or orthotics. A needs assessment jointly conducted by HIHFAD and Medecine du Monde-Turkey in Afrin and Al Bab in November 2019 showed an alarming percentage of persons with disabilities in the area revealing existing gaps in services provision.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne deadly disease that is rapidly spreading across the globe. Because dengue is difficult to diagnose with no curative therapy, it is essential to prevent transmission and outbreaks before they escalate. The vector, Aedes, is extremely hard to target as they preferentially breed in smaller, man-made water containers and bite outside during the day. Aden in Yemen is an urbanized city in a tropical environment with a weak sanitation infrastructure due to the war.

Access to information is extremely limited in South Sudan, due to lack of energy infrastructure and of access to face-to-face information for population that have been displaced due to conflict to hard-to-reach areas. About 13,565 South Sudanese individuals are displaced by conflict in Mundri West and 13,725 in Mundri East Counties (IOM DTM, Sept 2020), majority of whom are hiding in the bushes and/or are cut off from communications with other areas.

In South Sudan, over 99% of households utilize traditional charcoal and wood fuels for cooking and the vast majority of cooking is on indoor unvented and unimproved cookstoves or over open flames. This results in high levels of household air pollution (HAP), which can lead to serious respiratory illness and death, especially for women and young children (over 4400 HAP related deaths of children under 5 in South Sudan in 2016).

We seek to address the availability of P-IV serums and oral rehydration solution (ORS) in post conflict medical facilities located in rural areas of the DRC. The majority of hospitals located in these post conflict areas suffer shortages of medical supplies due to the poor quality of transportation infrastructure. Poor road quality frequently causes potentially fatal accidents which contributes to loss of life and loss of medical supplies This situation limits the supply chains of many essential medical supplies including pharmaceutical water, P-IV and ORS.

Since 2015 Yemen has been beset by civil war, destabilizing family and community life and subjecting children and adolescents to severe psychological crises. With active war-related trauma, Sana’a with a population of 2-3 million people has been particularly hard hit. Frequent bombing raids have destroyed public buildings and homes and caused collective fear and trauma. A 2016 survey found 79% of school children had symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, yet there are almost no resources to help them.

El Nino Southern Oscillation led to more than five years of below average rainfall in Somalia. The impact can be managed by supporting an early warning system for government agencies with information for preparedness actions: water rationing or planning for life saving water provision. Implementing an early warning system in fragile contexts has many challenges that have affected timely data collection, including but not limited to access, safety, and security among other logistical challenges.