Philippines

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Hack To Help The Philippines

Billy Mitchell | InTheCapital | November 15, 2013

The Philippines can take any help it can get right now, totally devastated last weekend by the typhoon that struck the island nation off the coast of Vietnam in the Pacific. While your immediate inclination may be to donate cash and be done with it – and no, this is not telling you not to donate – there are many other routes through which you can help the relief efforts. Saturday in D.C., one group will join together to help through hacking. Read More »

A Deadly Virus Is Spreading Around Saudi Arabia And It Might Be About To Go Global

Sheera Frenkel | Buzz Feed | April 23, 2014

Reported cases of MERS have surged in Saudi Arabia in 2014 and no one seems to know why.

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Africa’s Tech Edge

Dayo Olopade | The Atlantic | April 16, 2014

How the continent's many obstacles, from widespread poverty to failed states, allowed African entrepreneurs to beat the West at reinventing money for the mobile age

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Crowdsource Mapping Helps Recovery Efforts In Philippines

Staff Writer | Here & Now | November 15, 2013

The United Nations says 11 million people are affected by Typhoon Haiyan, which hammered the islands a week ago today. The death toll is now more than 3,000, and the survivors are still struggling to get the food and water they so desperately need. Read More »

Drones for Healthcare Powered by 'Open Source'

About a week after Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, one of the Direct Relief partnering organizations called Team Rubicon sought to determine the operational status of the Carigara District Hospital, located northwest of the city of Tacloban. Travel along damaged roads was difficult and slow. Yet, the assessment team was able to provide local officials and aid groups with a rapid and highly accurate visual analysis of damage to the Carigara District Hospital by deploying the latest in close proximity aerial imaging technology, using a Huginn X1 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or civil surveillance drone. 

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Drones Spread Wings From War Zones To Disaster Areas

While lawmakers around the world struggle to keep up with the growth in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — commonly known as drones — innovation and community participation are changing how this weapon of modern warfare can be used for humanitarian purposes. Read More »

FrontlineSMS In The Philippines And The Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) Response

Laura Walker Hudson | FrontlineSMS | November 17, 2013

In the aftermath of devastating Typhoon Haiyan, we’re working with networks of aid agencies to support the international response any way we can – but we know that the first and most important responders are already in the Philippines. Read More »

Global Health IT professionals gather at OpenMRS Summit

Bradley de Leon | Philippine Information Agency | October 11, 2012

Developers and users of free and open source software for use in health centers around the world have assembled in Silang this week for the sixth annual OpenMRS Implementers Meeting. The event is being held at the Y.C. James Yen Center at the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) and is hosted by the National Telehealth Center (NTHC) of the University of Philippines in Manila. Read More »

GMO Debate Grows Over Golden Rice In The Philippines

Miles O'Brien | PBS | September 17, 2014

Vitamin A deficiency is a deadly threat to kids and pregnant mothers in the Third World. In the Philippines, the best nutrient sources are rarely part of the daily diet, so researchers have tried adding vitamin A to rice, a staple food...

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How Online Mapmakers are Helping the Red Cross Save Lives in the Philippines

Robinson Meyer | The Atlantc | November 12, 2013

It will be months before we know the true damage brought about by super typhoon Haiyan. The largest death tolls now associated with the storm are only estimates. Aid workers from across the world are now flying to the island nation, or they just recently arrived there. Read More »

Interview with Andrej Verity on the Humanitarian.ID Crisis App

One of the most exciting parts of working in tech is seeing firsthand how it empowers people to solve previously indomitable problems. But the best solutions don’t just materialize on their own — they must be driven forward, often against major odds, by passionate individuals and organizations dedicated to making them a reality. Over the past year, we’ve had the honor of working with Andrej Verity of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), who is just such a person. We sat down to talk to him about Humanitarian.ID, the contact management application that transforms how responders coordinate during humanitarian disasters.

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Is This The Best Humanity Can Do For The Philippines?

Conor Friedersdorf | The Atlantic | November 11, 2013

Now that a storm, perhaps the most powerful in recorded history, has struck the Philippines, with winds gusting to 170 mph, a storm surge exceeding 20 feet, and an estimated 10,000 people dead; now that bodies are piling up in such quantities that local officials are digging mass graves [...]; now the world is rushing to send help... Read More »

Mobile Phones Are Now As Crucial As Food And Water In Emergency Aid

Heather Timmons | Quartz | November 13, 2013

Foreign aid is streaming into the Philippines from around the world as the news of the devastation wrought Super Typhoon Haiyan spreads, but it’s no longer just food, water and shelter: Before the storm even made landfall, a team from non-profit Télécoms Sans Frontières was on the ground, carrying satellite phones and laptop-sized BGans, which enable voice calls and internet connections via satellite. Read More »

New Species Of Metal-Munching Plant Found In Philippines

Staff Writer | RT News | May 12, 2014

Scientists in the Philippines have discovered a plant that can absorb large amounts of metal without itself being poisoned, a species called the Rinorea niccolifera, that can be used to clean up polluted soils and harvest commercially viable metals.  

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Online Army Helps Map Guinea's Ebola Outbreak

Hal Hodson | New Scientist | April 11, 2014

Health workers responding to an Ebola outbreak in Guinea had no maps to go on, so they turned to the internet for help

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