A cure beyond medicines!

Shivani and Thamanna, two girls studying in TSMS Dharmaram Government School, Telangana, found a unique problem within their community - people were improperly consuming prescribed medicines.

The problem first appeared when Shivani’s mother, who has a kidney ailment, suffered serious side effects by regularly consuming pre-breakfast medicines after eating her breakfast. Shivani and Thamanna did surveys with people across age and gender and found that the problem was widespread. A combination of factors like illiteracy, visual imparity, and inability to read a particular language left people confused between written instructions and similar looking tablets.

What good are medicines without proper intake! The problem definitely needed a cure.

So, the girls came up with an inclusive and sustainable solution - an eco-friendly medicine bag. This bag has separate compartments that pictorially represent the time of the day when a medicine needs to be taken. With some help, people can sort their medicines into these compartments. Shivani and Thammana even designed the symbols in Braille for the visually impaired. They sourced sustainable materials and took help from their peers studying vocational courses to stitch the bag. The bag has additional pockets to hold medical reports, prescriptions, etc. and can be used to carry groceries and other items after the actual purpose is realised.

For their idea, Shivani and Thammana won the first prize at the state level showcase and grand finale of the Telangana State Innovation Challenge 2021 held on 4th April and received a seed fund of Rs. 3 Lakh.

At the grand finale, Hon. minister Shri. K.T. Rama Rao garu and Smt. Sabitha Indra Reddy garu along with officials from government and UNICEF interacted with the student innovators. The top 5 student teams selected by the jury received a total seed fund of Rs. 10 Lakh to develop their ideas.

Through its expanding reach, School Innovation Challenge is enabling the Government, Industry, and Civil Society to realise the creative potential of students and the power it holds to transform the communities at grassroots level. With dedicated guidance, right from idea inception stage upto the showcase and fund support for developing innovations, the program is acting as a strong foundation for developing a robust innovation ecosystem in Telangana State.

The launch of Y-hub, a conducive space for children and youth to develop their innovation capabilities, is a step further in strengthening the innovation ecosystem. (Know more about Y-hub)

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As We Learn And Grow

In March, our team had the opportunity to meet and present our work to the UNICEF Country offices of Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India Regional Office of South Asia and the global Office of Innovation. We walked away with tremendous learnings on the UPSHIFT social innovation curriculum and how it has been implemented in multiple ways across the world.

The interaction with colleagues from different countries also deepened our understanding of the education systems in Bhutan and Maldives. We are excited to partner with UNICEF and are humbled at the global scale of opportunities that is present before us.