Portugal's New Solar Plant

This post is based off the BBC article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6505221.stm

Portugal has now opened the most powerful solar power plant in the world, which creates enough energy to power 8000 homes. This translates to 30,000 tons of green house gases eliminated if fossil fuels were used for the same amount of power. It has created development and jobs in one of Portugal's poorer regions. Portugal is set to invest $10 billion in renewable energy and has a goal of 45% of it power consumption from renewable resources by 2010.

Imagine the impact if more countries had goals such as these and really had a vested interest in renewable resources. Moreover imagine the health impact of eliminating thousands of tons of green house gases. Clean sources such as wind and solar energy would have a particularly large impact in countries, such as China, that currently have a heavy reliance on coal. Investing in these sort of resources should be a goal for countries. Furthermore, there should be a partnership among countries working together to develop viable "green" energy sources, especially in developing countries--making sure that they do not make the same mistakes that the developed nations have done.

Individual

Later today I will be presenting my individual oral report (my last powerpoint presentation in the semester. yeay!), which I hope all of you will enjoy. Since we are focusing and monitoring, surveillance, and preparedness this week, I chose an article that outlines some important aspects that must be met when setting up a successful global monitoring system, with the focus being on creating a "gold standard" in which to give global reports. Moreover when receiving data on other countries, it is necessary to question if any of the data is skewed or incorrect in any ways. My article noted that in countries like Oman and Honduras, there was over a 100% smear positive when testing for TB. Obviously having over 100% is not plausible. So why are statistics like this being reported on the WHO, a primary resource for researchers, governments, and people world wide. There needs to be an effort to make data viable and comparable so the right allocation of resources, aid, and interventions can be disseminated among various countries.

And this is a touch of what I will be discussing today. Enjoy!

Star Wars, Robots, Ethics, and Health.

Since we are talking about technology and global health this week, this article popped up just at the right time:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6425927.stm

It basically says that a robots ethical code is being drawn up in South Korea and will be instated later this year. This is to prevent abuse between humans and robots and robots and humans.

Being the huge Star Wars dork that I am, when I think robots, I think the two droids C-3PO and R2D2. Their versatility is boundless. They can speak and translate millions of languages and fix almost every sort of machinery. To think that this technology is at the cusp of emerging is truly exciting. When I think about robots from a health perspective I think of the medic droids used in Star Wars. Everything from Luke getting a new bionic hand to helping Padme give birth was done with medic droids. The BBC article said that "a recent government report forecast that robots would routinely carry out surgery by 2018." In 11 years I could be getting knee surgery by a robot. My doctor wouldn't run the risk of being contaminated with my blood, people could be delegated to other tasks to make a hospital run more efficiently, and the programmed function of the robot would make the surgury accurate. This report also noted the aging population of South Korea. Imagine the benefit for aging populations worldwide if they could receive adequate medical care from the comfort of their own homes. The risk of catching an additional infection while at the hospital would substantially decrease, there would be more beds available for emergency situations, and there would be no need to transport the elderly (especially those that would be particularly feeble) and run the risk of them falling while being transported from place to place.

The concept of robots being prevalent in society really does sound like something straight out of a sci-fi film, but when used ethically, there's so many benefits to be asertained. In this day when technology rapidly progresses, I think it is a good thing that ethical matters are brought at the forefront now, rather than later. As many of us in the public health sector believe, prevention is key to ensuring a healthy future.