Global Health and Innovation Conference by Unite for Sight

I had the honor of attending 9th Annual Unite For Sight Global Health & Innovation Conference at Yale University over Earth Day weekend.

Unite for Sight is a 501(c)(3) non-profit global health delivery organization that eliminates preventable blindness and it sponsors world’s leading global health and social entrepreneurship conference that attracts over 2000 participants from all over the world every year. The goal of this conference is to exchange ideas and best practices across disciplines in order to improve public health and international development on various aspects, including community development, environmental health, social entrepreneurship, refugee health, maternal and child health.

Keynote Speakers

One of the keynote speakers this year was Jeffrey Sachs, Director of Earth Institute, Columbia University, Professor of Sustainable Development, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University; Special Advisor to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon. Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, wife of Jeffrey Sachs, who is a Director of Health, Millennium Village Project at Earth Institute, Columbia University also presented as a keynote speaker. They both spoke about the challenges of fighting malaria in Africa and how technology, like GPS and smartphones, is being used in keeping in touch with case workers in these remote regions, at the heart of the problem, thereby saving lives.

Another keynote speaker was Seth Goldman, President and CEO of Honest Tea, who spoke about the importance of staying with company’s ethos on using organic ingredients and less sugar for better health for people and the planet. Honest Tea doesn’t compromise when it comes to sustainability!

All three speakers were knowledgeable, empowering, and filled the audience with hope for a better world, while reminding us how much more work, still, has to be done for public health, poverty, and healthier environment worldwide.

There were over 300 presenters and workshops and it would be impossible to feature all of them. But one company struck a special chord with me; a solar LED light fixture company Nokero that provides safe, affordable and environmentally friendly technology that eliminates the need for harmful and polluting fuel, kerosene, that is used around the world.

Nokero

Nokero means, No-Kerosene.

Nokero is a for-profit social enterprise that works with Lights for Life, a Project C.U.R.E., to help bring Nokero solar light bulbs to people who might otherwise suffer the terrible health effects of burning fuels for light in remote areas.

Nokero N200 Lights

You can buy and give a Nokero N200s light bulb to Project C.U.R.E. and the Lights for Life program for $15 per bulb – a discount of $5 per bulb. Once donated, the bulbs will be distributed to families living in poor environments. The company works with C.U.R.E. Kit for Kids, Navajo Nation, Child Fund, and Morocco, Solar Sister in Africa.

Kerosene related accidents and fires are totally preventable since solar lighting system can eliminate accidents, burns, deaths, and chemical exposure from kerosene light fixtures that many of these remote areas use.

Nokero N200

Nokero N200 is just one of many lighting options available from the company. What is unique about their fixtures is that they are affordable, durable, and practical for many uses, not just in remote areas in Africa, but also for camping, rural areas, or even in emergencies during black outs. In many off-grid regions, the Nokero N200 pays for itself in 15 days to 2 months by eliminating the need for expensive candles or kerosene. It also makes an ideal camping light, or a portable RV light, emergency light, or marine light. The battery will last for approximately 1.5 years, and can be replaced to keep the bulb in operation. The N200 is about 13.5 lumens on high, and about 5 lumens on low. DBT 1.9 hours when tested with 5000 watt-hrs/m^2-Day on hi setting, 6.6 hours on low.

Why Nokero is different from most solar lighting fixture companies

There are many solar light fixtures in the market that are reasonably priced that we can use, in case of emergency, when we have no access to electricity. But Nokero products are designed for use in off-grid environments – their products are in more than 120 countries and territories – around the world. The company partners with organizations to take them where they’re needed most, using solar energy to power lighting for life.

Solar energy is not only for providing energy efficient power source for homes but providing safe light in areas that otherwise would go dark. And Nokero is the company that have been providing that light source, all over the world for years.

Check Nokero’s website. Donate a light, or two, and buy one to put in your emergency kit for yourself.

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Tags: environment, global health, malaria, National Parks, solar energy

About the Author

Karen Lee Karen lives a simple, frugal, green life and shares her eco tips and news on ecokaren and is a co-founder of Green Sisterhood, a network of community of green women bloggers, making change. When she's not managing Green Sisterhood or blogging on ecokaren, she is a chauffeur to two greenagers, wife to an accidental recycler, master chef to hungry locavores, seamstress, knitter, and dumpster diver, not necessarily in that order.