Future of Health: Efficient Distribution, Accountability, And Teacher Absenteeism

Last week, PSFK spoke with a UNICEF team in Uganda as part of our Future of Health project. Through the conversation they pointed to a handful of concerns they are working to address. As PSFK begins to direct research toward uncovering innovation in areas impacting these concerns, we have collected an initial set of ideas that help us start thinking about the forces surrounding these complex issues.

Tracking Supply Chains

Efficiency in distribution channels was brought up as one of the UNICEF team’s larger concerns. TrashTrack is one program that has been developed to help think about more efficient infrastructures in cities.

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Accountability

The UNICEF team pointed to low levels of accountability applied to distribution teams. One idea we’ve seen emerge to address similar issues has been put forward by Amazon:

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Teacher Absenteeism

Education is a critical part of a healthy community. Over the last couple of years, Uganda’s Ministry of Education has noted that the country suffers from the highest rates of teacher absenteeism in Africa. While this is a complex and deeply rooted issue, we see innovation in social motivation developing, drawing from ideas in behavioral economics.

• Blood Glucose Meter Connects To Nintendo DS, Rewards Regular Testing
• Using RFIDs To Take Student Attendance
• Wireless Tracking Devices Reward Green Behavior With Automatic Bank Savings

Over the next few weeks, PSFK is running a trends research and innovation project in association with UNICEF. We will be researching (with your help) the development of key trends that impact health and wellbeing and then using our findings to develop with partners concepts that UNICEF and likeminded organizations could consider deploying across the world.

Find out more here: PSFK presents the Future Of Health in association with UNICEF