Causecast

by CLAIRE MORGENSTERN, Contributing Writer

Give a blanket, save a life. That’s the principle behind the Portable Light iTeach Blanket, a solar-powered blanket that will ultimately increase HIV and Tuberculosis patients’ access to health care in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa.

The blanket helps some 14 million people without electricity – the group that also has the highest incidence of HIV – in three ways. While patients use the blanket to keep warm during the day, they are also harnessing sunlight to power a rechargeable battery integrated into the blanket. By nightfall, the battery serves to recharge a cell phone the patient can use to send and receive health care information. In addition, the battery pack becomes a detachable portable lantern capable of providing 10 hours of bright light, which health care workers can use to better tend to their patients during nighttime hours.

The project is a joint venture between iTeach, a South Africa-based organization that works to find practical solutions to the HIV and TB epidemic in Africa, and the Portable Light Project, which designs innovative ways to bring renewable energy via solar textiles to regions with no existing electrical infrastructure.

“Technology has been widely used to address many of the world’s challenges, but we at iTEACH believe that it has not yet been fully utilized to address health challenges, such as HIV,” iTeach Outreach Director Zinhle Thabethe stated in an interview with global innovation firm Frog Design. “We are living at a time when technology is changing people’s lives around the globe.”

Cell phones are the most prevalent form of communication in the developing world. Only 27 percent of the residents of Tanzania have access to a land line phone – but 97 percent can communicate via cell phone. In South Africa, Thabethe reported, 80 percent of the population has access to cell phones. Cell phones and GPS technology have enabled residents of developing countries to communicate in a whole new way. For example, in Kenya, Save The Elephants workers use GPS/SMS tracking collars to keep track of elephants via mobile devices and alert farmers’ cell phones if there’s an elephant in range and poses a threat to their crops. In Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia, global tracking company Helveta uses a system of barcode technology scanned via mobile device to prevent illegal logging of forests.

The biggest issue with projects based around the availability of cell phones is how to keep the phones charged in areas without electricity, a problem solved by the Portable Light iTeach Blanket’s rechargeable battery. In addition, the construction and usage of the blankets themselves empower members of the local community, whether they’re sick or not.

Local women’s sewing clubs are responsible for attaching solar kits to the blankets, part of which are made of locally-produced cloth. While the women aren’t paid for their efforts yet, the project leaders stated in their assessment of the product that in the future they would like to manage a factory in which to produce the blankets, which would create jobs for members of the community.

Now, the makers of the product are working to create a sustainable business plan that will enable the Portable Light iTeach Blanket to be disseminated from more access points to reach a larger segment of the population.

“We would like to partner with a micro-finance organization that can help us establish a self-sustaining business model that can meet the needs of over 14 million people in South Africa who use mobile technologies without regular or reliable access to electricity,” the team wrote in their assessment of the project. They’d also like to create an online community through which they can provide information about the blankets themselves and also receive feedback from users and advocates.

Think you have something to contribute to the Portable Light iTeach Blanket project? Read the team’s assessment for more details, or contact iTeach or the Portable Light Project.

You can make a donation to the Portable Light Project via the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Keep up with iTeach on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Photo by sidelife, flickr.