Outreach

With the establishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS and agreements by pharmaceutical companies to supply discount anti-retroviral drugs to poor countries, the international community is beginning to tackle the runaway HIV epidemic in the third world. But treating AIDS in places like Africa involves more than just drugs. African countries don’t have the infrastructure to provide health care to vast parts of their populations. And urban shantytowns and rural villages lack not only doctors and clinics but also electricity, clean water, and passable roads.

The Outreach project comprises modular pavilions of shipping-container-size frames with a variety of “membranes” for walls, floors, and ceiling. Floor-to-ceiling metal shutters can be locked for security or opened for transparency. Local artisans can use indigenous materials, like thatch or fabric, to create shaded areas. In urban settings the modules hook up to electrical and water grids; in the bush they rely on solar power and whatever they can find.

The idea is you have a box in a box. It’s like a mail order system: When health professionals are going out into a particular area of say Malawi, the theory is that they would say we need this much equipment because the number of people affected is this large, but doctors going to other parts of Africa might not need so much equipment. So the idea is that you can pre-order and choose between three sizes of storage space that can be put into a frame. You can add a satellite dish or solar panels, or whatever you need.

Clearly, a project with the capability of improving life for a vast number of people.