health
Good in School
Last month, GOOD posted this write-up about an increasing number of graduate design programs focused design for social impact. There’s more to say on this, but in the meantime, no need to wait for grad school — why not start a student-run Design for America studio on your own campus? DfA’s previous projects focus on childhood diabetes, hospital-acquired infections, cafeteria water conservation, and children with post-war stress.
25 April 2011 | And that doesn’t even include veterans.
Supply Side
On the War of the Poppies:
Myles Ambrose, one of President Nixon’s closest advisers in the War on Drugs, was scathing in his judgement of some of his fellow drug-warriors:
“The basic fact that eluded these great geniuses was that it takes only ten square miles of poppy to feed the entire American heroin market.
And they grow everywhere.”
“Do you want a salad with that?” A powerful NY Times infographic on how shifting the default parameters of a space can motivate changes in behavior, in this case quietly altering lunch line layout and interaction to nudge kids into making healthier lunch choices. The graphic does a good job of calling out key data, and the data is astonishing, but lacks citation or context so here’s an article and a longer report by the authors which covers the same material in more depth.Food Pyramids
I missed this when it first hit the web, but wow, that’s a striking presentation.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine published this graphic during the 2007 debate on the US Farm Bill.
My Stories
In July 2009, I noted a study concluding that Brazil’s telenovelas have inspired both a drop in birth rate and rise in divorce. Via the Communication Initiative Network, I found a a few other items on soap operas and public health:
- A German report looks at TV soap operas in Kyrgyzstan, the Dominican Republic, and Côte d’Ivoire as vehicles for HIV/AIDS education.
- A radio soap opera in Vietnam reached millions of farmers changing their attitudes and practices managing rice pests, fertilisers, and seeds.
- Authors of a 2006 paper on a radio soap opera in Bihar, India document how it spurred fundamental, sustainable shifts in people’s values and beliefs.
- A May 2008 Master’s thesis looks at the effect of two Ethiopian radio dramas on attitutde towards reproductive health and spousal abuse.
- Fans of a radio drama in Sudan learned about, or were reinforced in, the importance of abandoning female circumcision, giving girls more control of their reproductive health, having a small family, and staying away from drugs and alcohol.
And though I couldn’t find a study on its impact, straphangers in New York City may remember Julio and Marisol: Decision, an episodic comic strip soap opera dealing with AIDS that ran in English and Spanish in NYC subway cars from 1989 through 2001.
“Where does the food in your bodega come from? Who decides whether to stock tortilla chips or salad greens, and how much they’ll cost? How come it’s easier to find fresh fruits and vegetables in Brooklyn Heights than in the South Bronx? What’s the connection between the incidence of diabetes and the food market supply chain?” Bodega Down Bronx is a 30-minute video produced by Jonathan Bogarín, a group of Bronx students and the Center for Urban Pedagogy. Interviewing residents, bodega owners, distributors, politicians, and health professionals, it’s a fantastic, holistic breakdown of the day-to-day realities that flow from public policy, and what you can do about it.
If you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere. Last year the New York City Health Department gave away 41 million condoms. Now they are inviting you to design next year’s wrapper. The deadline for entries is January 22, 2010. Read more at the NY Times or the official nyc.gov condom site. Designism 4.0
The Art Directors Club hosted Designism 4.0 this Wednesday night in their New York City gallery. This was the fourth annual event on design and social change there, and after last year’s ambitious program was cut short by the Vice-Presidential debate this year’s program was significantly streamlined — four slideshows, a roundtable, and one big question: how to do good work and still eat.
