Written for AgWired by Carol Trehearn.
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Earlier this month thousands upon thousands of people from around the world met in Des Moines, Iowa for the World Food Prize to continue discussions about one of the biggest challenges in our future: food. On a global level, there has always been major concerns over world hunger and how to provide aid and nutrition to third world, developing countries. Not only do these nations have problems growing enough crops to feed their own people but they also don’t have the money to buy agricultural products from countries that have an excess and they certainly don’t have the technology to improve the ways in which crops are grown with increased yields. For those nations that have adequate space for agricultural pursuits, higher education in agriculture and healthcare along with money to aid those nations, it is up to them to help provide solutions to at least keep them fed with adequate nutrients so that they can perhaps learn to feed themselves.
Technology for Disseminating Information
One of the major problems in the past has been the ability to disseminate information on healthcare concerns because there was no way to get current information out. With the advent of the Internet and advanced health informatics, workers can go out in the field to assess current conditions, pass that information along to organizations such as WHO, the World Health Organization, and hope that there are funds and food available to feed undernourished children who sometimes don’t eat for days on end. Technology is making it easier to quickly get aid where it belongs but that is only a beginning.
A Focus on Recruitment of Healthcare Humanitarian Aid
In the United States, there are a number of healthcare programs in colleges and universities that can raise up a workforce qualified to go out and assess health problems around the world. Those who pursue a masters in healthcare informatics would design platforms to keep current needs in the Cloud so they could be viewed, assessed and responded to by humanitarian agencies around the world. A graduate degree in health care informatics is essential in designing platforms for gathering data that will communicate current needs and levels of need. Some countries have reached crisis levels of hunger and those are the metrics which need to be assessed and dealt with. It is only in knowing that a problem can be addressed and technology is key to disseminating that information.
Technology for Higher Yields with Higher Nutritional Values
In recent years, technology has found ways to increase the yield, specifically in grains and also technology has provided ways in which to increase the nutritional value in foods that are grown in the earth. Vitamin A is a major vitamin that can see increases due to technology and it is the hope that if insufficient amounts of food can be produced, at least the nutritive value can be improved.
When looking at the big picture, there are a great number of countries that have been hit hard by famine and disease. Affluent countries such as the United States, the UK and Germany can, and do, offer ongoing humanitarian aid but is it enough? At this time it is not but with the sharing of new advances in agricultural technology, there is hope for the future.