Afghanistan

See the following -

Tracking Healthcare Innovation At The World's End

Benjamin Harris | Government Health IT | May 30, 2013

Afghanistan doesn't come to mind when you ask me to list some of the top crucibles of innovation in healthcare right now. [...] Adversity, however, can be a prerequisite for change. Read More »

Which Bionic Limb to Prescribe? VA's Gait Lab Aims to Build Evidence-Based High-Tech Prosthetics

Prosthetics has come a long way—witness the $35,000 computerized knee that sits on a table in Maikos' Gait and Motion Analysis Lab, coupled with a $30,000 bionic foot. The high-tech components are awaiting testing with Veteran amputees who come to the lab. Some have lost a leg to an IED or rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq or Afghanistan—or perhaps to a mine or mortar blast decades ago in Vietnam. Others have lost a foot or leg in an accident, or to diabetes or vascular disease. The purpose of the tests is twofold: to help determine the best prescription for the Veterans, and to gather research data. Along with gait abnormalities, Maikos studies functional outcomes such as walking speed and distance.

Read More »

Why One Tech-Savvy Aid Worker Had to Flee Afghanistan

Spencer Ackerman | Wired | March 6, 2012

Gold, a lieutenant in the North Carolina National Guard who deployed to Iraq in 2009, didn’t think it would turn out this way. She and her friends had started a tech-heavy aid company, the International Synergy Group, that brought Gold to Afghanistan in May 2010. With some contract cash from the blue-sky researchers at Darpa, Gold sought to use mobile applications to get agriculture and health data into the hands of Afghans, particularly for pregnant women in need of natal-care facts, through the use of open-source software favored by aid workers like Ushahidi or FrontlineSMS...

Read More »

Why Wars Always End Up Hurting The Most Vulnerable Americans

Peter Beinart | The Atlantic | July 6, 2014

The impending anniversary of the start of World War I has given historians and pundits the chance to speculate about whether we’re heading for another era of mass war and redrawing of borders...But as we prepare to dwell on the ghastliness that occurred overseas between 1914 and 1918, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the ghastliness that occurred over here...

Read More »