DIY PADS

http://craftvic.org.au/craft-cubed/satellite-events/workshops-events/diy-pads

This is a project that focuses on women in Melbourne. Carla Pascoe, whose thesis topic was the history of menstruation, Soumitri Varadarajan, who works on maternal health, and The Scale of Things, a newly established design collective, are presenting an event inspired by a number of research projects looking at maternal health and menstruation.

The ‘End of Menstruation’ is currently a hot topic around the world with some advocates saying that menstruation has outlived its purpose; for women who choose not to have periodic cycles, a permanent solution must be found.

The workshop, a do-it-yourself session on making reusable cloth pads, will include the showing of Period: The Movie and a friendly discussion on the topic while learning to make beautiful pads.

If you would like to know more about the topic, check out The Museum of Menstruation and Women’s Health and the article Is Menstruation Obsolete?

End of Menstruation

I have been having a conversation with Carla, who did her masters in Menstruation about doing an event on Menstruation as part of the design festival in Melbourne in 2011.

I am now also speaking to Craft Victoria – so this then become a DIY event – to make your own pads.

The other aspect here is a debate – and I have written to Insight to see if J Brockie will take up to do this event as part of the SBS Insight programme. The debate – a face to face one – if held in July will be a conversation (potentially on video?). It would be great if we could get two strong voices for each of the positions – one for menstruation and one against.

Some useful linke to think about this topic are:

1. A documentary – Period:The end of menstruation.

2. An article in the Guardian.

3. “FDA approves first pill to end periods“

(Let me know if you have links to contribute to this topic.)

Tags: end of menstruation

facts and figures on India

 go to:

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_statistics.html#70

and read up on all the statistics associated with India, and then open

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/australia_statistics.html

in the window next to it.

flick between the two and you’ll discover that,

 in India, there is a Lifetime risk of maternal death of  1 in 70

and in Australia, there is a Lifetime risk of maternal death of 1 in 13300

I understand that looking at these figures, it would seem hard to argue against the idea that one method is better than the other, it seems to be the case.

In truth, the idea of giving birth as a mother in India is often a spiritual and wholesome experience, with nature taking its course. In places like Australian where nearly every birth occurs in a hospital, it is a more clinical process.

The projects we are working on aim to bridge this gap, with education and knowledge being a key factor in most cases. We aim to improve maternal care without imposing our own ideas of clinical procedures onto a different culture.

Tags: australia, death, fifth goal, fifthgoal, India, maternal, maternal care, mortality, rate

Addressing Maternal Mortality in Assam

I am working on a Public Forum – where the Fifth Goal 2010 projects will be showcased. The draft programme will be like this.

I am still to get all confirmations – and also there will be a little movement in the time planning.

The XXXIV Indian Social Science Congress

Gauhati University  December  27-31, 2010

(Guwahati, Assam, India)

THE THEME : INDIA- POST 1991

Draft Programme

30th December, 1.30 PM

CHAIR – Jayanta Madhab (Soumitri Varadarajan), RMIT University

1. Dr. Ekka, National Rural Health Mission (1.45 – 2.10)

2. Dr. Sanjoy Hazarika, Centre for North East Studies (2.10 -2.30)

3. Dr. Sunil Kaul, The Action North-East Trust (2.30 – 2.50)

4. Dr. Dilip Nath, Gauhati University (2.50 – 3.10)

5. Dr. Soumitri Varadarajan, RMIT University (3.10 – 3.30)

6. Dr. Amiya Sharma, Rashtriya Grameen Vikas Nidhi (3.30 – 3.50)

Discussion 3.50 – 4.30

Tags: Assam, birth, fifthgoal, maternal care, maternal health, public health, White Ribbon Aliance

An application of communal phone charging

Located in Changi Airport, and is free to use. Interesting concept…

Tags: fifthgoal, mobilephonecharging

The Water Road Project

Assam a state of India, is dominated by the graceful, yet furious Brahmaputra. About 2,900km long and an average depth of river is 38 metres, heavy rain monsoon rainfalls can create incredible floods. Up too 21 kilometres wide, they have the ability to wipe out lives, crops and houses each year! Constant flooding has turned many areas into swamplands, inaccessible by usual boat methods. They have strong boating industries, but do make boats that can travel through Assam efficiently.
An Airboats purpose is to navigate swamplands, and would be perfect for the environment in Assam.
It could become the waterway link and lifeline between many of these communities that live in these swamps. A network of Airboats built by Assam would increase general wealth of the state, and would be run by the people and access to communities in these swamps land would become rather easy. This easy access would also be possible in times of flooding, providing potential emergency services to the people of Assam. All of a sudden many lives could be saved by the simple use of this Airboat.

Mobile Phone Charging Rig

This is my test rig for charging mobile phones using a hand crank and belt. There’s a smaller wooden wheel behind the plastic casing of the induction motor which is connected to the big wheel using a rubber band. In the plastic casing there are multiple gears to rotate the shaft of the induction motor at an even faster speed.

Tags: fifthgoal, handcrank, mobilephonecharging

This is possible…

We’ve been talking about micro finance opportunities to boost the income of disadvantaged families within Rural Assam.

We’ve been talking about the improvement of infrastructure to provide ease of access to and for riverine communities. 

We’ve been discussing possible concepts to implement, decreasing the rate of Maternal Mortality in Assam.

We’ve been offering ideas to reduce the environmental impact and have the presence of a dense population work to their own advantage and the improvement of their immediate surrounds.

This is possible.

Tags: island, NGO, social enterprise

Air Boats are Affordable

If i had all the cash i needed i would defiantly want an air boat implemented like this;

However of course due to funds this is not possible, this boat could have of sate of the art medical facilities and save millions of lives. My idea is of course to have medical facilities on an air boat, but what i makes this project so important is that something as simple as this has the ability to Save Life’s.

http://www.airboatfun.com/bt1_2.htm

These could be built by the people themselves and manufacture by the boating industries of Assam would not even be needed. It could be used as an emergency tool and would definatly save hundreds of lifes. It would be a far more efficient way of travel than this in the floods;

This is really all they have.

Millenium Development Goals Summit 2010

check out the website and find out what progress has been made with womens health :

http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/

“We know what works to save women’s and children’s lives, and we know that women and children are critical to all of the MDGs,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “Today we are witnessing the kind of leadership we have long needed.”

Tags: 2010, Development, fifthgoal, goals, summit