News
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MIRA Theater - delivering Digital Health Communication to Rural Communities
‘MIRA Theatre’ is a digital resource center with a Smart-TV powered by Solar. Developed by ZMQ, a Technology for Development Social Enterprise organisation based in India in collaboration with the Philips Foundation, this most recent MIRA project was launched in November 2019.It addresses the knowledge gap in childhood pneumonia through a series of short digital stories embedded in the larger ‘Maternal & Child Health’ mobile-based platform called MIRA*.
It has created a new genre of storytelling called ‘Talking Comics’ to affect healthy behaviours for rural women with lesser literacy. The programme has created 6 digital stories created in local language and local context which are designed to create awareness on childhood pneumonia, identifying danger signs, prevention (through immunization using pneumococcal conjugate vaccine), treatment and care & support. The programme also supports identifying danger signs & monitoring and generating demand for treatment and support.
MIRA Theater moves from village to village and showcases the stories. The film shows are followed by focus group discussions (FGDs). MIRA Theaters have an average daily footfall of 150-250 women.
Video: MIRA Theater Childhood Pneumonia
*MIRA provides timely information to women about pregnancy-dietary information, medical care, dons and dons thus increasing awareness during pregnancy. It connects women with health services for timely delivery. It supports women to go for regular ante-natal check-ups, taking Iron-Folic acid, timely vaccination and encourage women to go for institutional deliveries. MIRA helps in adopting safer behaviours, and overall reducing maternal and infant mortality rates.
Additional featured MIRA Videos
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Scientific Animations: highlights for December
SAWBO* now includes over 750 different animations in their Video Library, with over 90 different topics in more than 140 language variants.Highlights for December include:
SOLAR TREATING OF COWPEA SEEDS IN PORTUGUESE (BRAZIL)
Cowpea bruchids can cause damage to cowpea seeds in storage, resulting in post-harvest losses. In this animation, we describe a solarization technique for killing cowpea bruchids before the seeds are stored.
MALARIA PREVENTION: BED NETS IN AFAN OROMO (ETHIOPIA)
The malaria mosquito usually bites in the evening until sunrise. At home it is very important to protect yourself through the proper installation of mosquito nets around your beds or sleeping areas. Use of bed-nets every night, children and adults alike, helps to keep the malaria mosquito out!
NATURAL INSECTICIDE FROM NEEM SEEDS IN SPANISH (SPAIN)
Naturally occurring insecticidal compounds can be extracted from neem seeds and sprayed onto crops to prevent pest insect damage. This animation explains how to prepare the solution necessary for spraying on the crops.
CHOLERA PREVENTION IN TIGRIGNA (ETHIOPIA)
Cholera is an intenstinal infection transmitted primarily by consumption of contaminated food or drinking water. This is very common after natural disasters such as a hurricane or earthquake. This animation shows how to prevent cholera using simple techniques.
MALARIA PREVENTION IN DANGME (GHANA)
Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted to people through the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. Symptoms of malaria are: high fever, chills, abdominal pain, headaches, tiredness and fatigue. This video illustrates several important measures to avoid being bitten by the malaria mosquito.
SAWBO also provide tutorials
If you have any questions about how to access SAWBO animations, the link below provides tutorials that explain different ways to access their content.
How to download SAWBO Animations
This tutorial video explains how to download SAWBO animations from the SAWBO video Library.
If you have additional questions about SAWBO, visit their Help page, or contact them directly at contact@sawbo-animations.org.
*SAWBO – Scientific Animations without Borders
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FameLab international science communications competition: applications 2020 now OPEN!
FameLab is an annual science communication competition that runs in many countries worldwide. It was started in 2005 in the UK by Cheltenham Science Festival and has quickly become established as a diamond model for successfully identifying, training and mentoring scientists and engineers to share their enthusiasm for their subjects with the public.Designed to engage and entertain by breaking down science, technology and engineering concepts into three-minute presentations, wherever you are in the world, the competition remains the same. Contestants have just three minutes to present a concept from their field of study to a panel of judges. Make it funny, make it enlightening and make it jaw-dropping.
FameLab is looking for the science communication stars of tomorrow, who can really show off their area of expertise in a fascinating and engaging way. Could you inspire and educate a live audience about your work with content, clarity and charisma?
Take part in FameLab 2020
Countries around the word (apart from the UK)
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Promote Scientific Literacy through Participatory Science Engagement
Eusea – the European Science Engagement Association – has publicised its platform providing information on a wide range of formats to encourage participatory science engagement.
To engage. To explain. To expose and stimulate thinking. To foster dialogue and understanding. To nurture teenagers. To stimulate thinking and many others ….
Left image: Science Shows
Centre image: Water World
Right image: Self Explanatory Experiments/GamesVisit eusea.info and search via Purpose, Target Audience or Format to explore examples or inspirations (videos, links)
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Why is science literacy central to societal and economic development?
The President of the International Science Council, Daya Reddy, gave the Opening Address at the World Conference on Science Literacy (WCSL), Beijing, China with the focus of "Science Literacy for Sustainable Development". Stressing that a scientifically literate population that can engage with evidence and make thought-out decisions is central to societal and economic development, Reddy challenged the scientific community to take responsibility to rethink how to communicate effectively to non-scientists, defend the scientific method and be creative and compelling in articulating the social, political, economic and cultural values of science.“Scientists have a role that goes beyond being mere brokers of scientific information. Scientists also have roles in the public discourse, often as advocates.”
Reddy used the opportunity to announce Advancing Science as a Global Public Good: Action Plan 2019 - 2021 [https://council.science/actionplan] setting out the ISC’s activities over the next two and a half years. The most important purpose is to form a practical framework and work towards their vision of science as a global public good.
The Plan, which is an ambitious programme of much-needed initiatives, will position the ISC as an impactful global voice for science in four domains:
- The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
- The Digital Revolution,
- Science in Policy and Public Discourse and
- The Evolution of Science and Science Systems
Advancing Science as a Global Public Good ISC Action Plan
More information on the World Conference on Science Literacy (WCSL), 10-18 October 2019 bringing together over 600 Chinese and international guests from five international organizations, 28 countries and 35 national science organizations.
Photo Credit: MAGDA TURZANSKA / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
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Children for Health: 100 health messages now in 18 languages
Congratulations to Children for Health who have announced that their 100 health messages booklets are now available in EIGHTEEN languages.Each PDF booklet has ten sets of 10 messages for children to learn and share in the following topics:
- Early Childhood Development
- Coughs, Colds & Other Serious Illnesses
- Immunization
- Malaria
- Diarrhoea
- Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
- Nutrition & Growth
- Intestinal Worms
- Injury Prevention
- HIV & AIDS
In addition to the sets of 10 messages there is additional content on ideas for activities that can be done with children to help them understand, learn and share these key messages.
All materials can be viewed online and/or downloaded without cost from the Children for Health website.
Assamese, Bengali, Gujerati, Hindi, Kannada, Khasi, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and in English.
Download any of the 18 different language versions of the materials.
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The exclusionary power of Article Processing Charges (APCs)
Humberto Debat’s (@humbertodebat) poster at #Force2019 demonstrated the exclusionary power of APCs, and how APC waivers fail to provide researchers worldwide with the dignity of equal participation in the global research system. -
OA Week 2019: Open for Whom? Equity in Open Knowledge
NIDA believes that OA will promote greater global access, production and dissemination of information for equitable and sustainable development. Read about our strategic focus on advancing equitable Open Access (OA) policies.OA Week 2019, is particularly relevant being dedicated to issues of inclusivity of access/participation in scholarly communications under the theme "Open for Whom? Equity in Open Knowledge”.
Follow the OA events taking place during the week. NIDA will highlight particularly interesting efforts in the field through Facebook and Twitter
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Science on Stage Festival 2019!
Every two years, Science on Stage Europe brings together science teachers from all over Europe to exchange best practice teaching ideas and concepts with passionate colleagues from more than 30 countries.The aim is to improve the quality of STEM teaching by:
- enabling science teachers to exchange teaching concepts and experience
- inspiring and enthusing science teachers
- informing teachers about wider scientific research
The ultimate goal is to improve teaching in order to enable more students to gain the skills they need for a challenging future and encourage them to consider a career in science, ICT or engineering.
The Festival is the culmination of national events in the participating countries. Following the principle “from teachers for teachers” the festival is also a starting point for a wide range of national follow-up activities as the best teaching concepts find their way to teacher trainings and teaching materials after the event.
Each edition of Science on Stage Festival is held in a different country. Portugal and the municipality of Cascais are the hosts 31 October - 3 November but tweets of projects are now being added daily to @SonS2019 and links to videos to Facebook.
Some examples from this week include:
- SensoryMath-Lapbook, Ukraine: a visual and tactile support helps children with autism to stay focused
- Neo and Geo, Spain: students design and mount a radio connected satellite station with low-cost materials!
- “Oh that gravity”, Greece: the result of a cooperation of three teachers and their schools. In this project, students learn about the concept of gravity.
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Digital Green: a global development organization empowering smallholder farmers
Digital Green is a global development organization that empowers smallholder farmers to lift themselves out of poverty by harnessing the collective power of technology and grassroots-level partnerships.Founded in 2006 as a project of Microsoft Research to test if there was a role for technology in small-scale agricultural systems, they partnered with their first NGO partner, Green Foundation and became an independent non-profit in 2008.
They began by working with frontline extension workers, training them to produce and share videos featuring local farmers. This led to significant increases in information sharing, best-practice adoption rates and, above all, sustainable development at scale.
They undertake rigorous data analysis and farmer feedback to continually challenge their assumptions and identify new ways that technology coupled with local knowledge can support development in agriculture, food and nutrition security.
To date (2019) they have worked with more than 1.5 million smallholder farmers – eighty percent of whom are women – and have trained approximately 15,000 frontline workers in digital extension in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and feel they are just getting started!
View the full Digital Green profile on NIDA.