A few tablets a day keep rickets away

Child mortality rates are decreasing in Afghanistan due to more readily available basic health care, more effective vaccinations, and locally-trained volunteer health workers.

Twelve million people are blind in India, and are robbed of their livelihoods as a result. A hugely successful chain of cataract hospitals in India helped its business by treating half its patients for free.

A nutrient powder can save anemic children, but the people who could benefit are distrustful. Having local mothers distribute the supplement was successful in Bangladesh.

New York City black tar roofs cause a number of environmental problems, including air pollution, heat absorption that raises energy consumption, and storm water runoff in the sewer system. Efforts to turn these old roofs into green spaces cool the buildings, enable the containment of more rainfall, reduce sewer discharge, generate energy, and absorb carbon emissions. New York City has a pilot program offering financial help for green roofs.

Tuft University is training global organizations a new approach to create long lasting change. The process teaches locals to identify positive deviance in their community and design a way to spread the behavior, with only local ideas and administration.

Tooth decay affects children from all backgrounds, but it’s concentrated among low-income and rural populations, who have the most difficulty accessing and affording dental care. One approach gaining momentum in the United States to extend access to underserved groups is based on an idea that was pioneered in New Zealand 93 years ago, and has been adopted in more than 50 countries - the idea is to train “dental therapists,” who, like dental hygienists, work under the supervision of dentists, but who can also drill teeth and perform non-complex extractions.

To combat hunger and malnutrition, Digital Green, an N.G.O., is creating and delivering videos about cheap, innovative farming techniques that can substantially increase small farmers' production of staple foods in India, Ghana, and Ethiopia.

In war zones, people have a difficult time finding clean water and safe areas to inhabit. Social media, smart phones, and technology applications are aiding in people’s survival. In Aleppo, Syria, the International Committee of the Red Cross posted a map on Facebook to show alternative sources of clean drinking water that reached approximately 140,000 people.

In India, 620 million people openly defecate outdoors, causing harm to hygiene, sanitation, food, and water resources. The president of India funded an initiative to build public toilets for the people in his country, but the people did not use them because of traditions and behaviors. The Total Sanitation Campaign is starting to change villagers’ minds by having local leadership persuade those who resist the toilets by holding community activities and creating special committees to maintain the sanitation.

Once-a-day generic AIDS drugs for poor countries are hard to make because each ingredient is patented by a different pharmaceutical company. The Patent Pool provides a way for companies to donate their intellectual property safely.