A woman is raped every 17 seconds in South Africa, according to estimates by Interpol, the international police organization. Through her program Girls and Football South Africa (SA), Jos Dirkx believes that teaching girls to have strength over their own bodies will decrease rates of pregnancy and HIV, give them knowledge about prevention and how to get help if they need it, and help them avoid trouble plus give them confidence not to blame themselves if they do become victims of sexual assault.

Stigma and disbelief prevent many of the victims from reporting rapes. Jos Dirkx, the founder of Girls and Football South Africa (SA), believes that South African girls will continue to be plagued by sexual assault, HIV/AIDS, and unwanted pregnancy as long as they lack support, accurate information, and confidence.  

For a year now, Nick Pearson has been preparing the launch of his first model, mobile maternal health clinic in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, where 100,000 women give birth each year. Most deliver at home with an unskilled birth attendant or go to a public facility where conditions are often appalling.

“Our ambition is to change the way maternity care is provided for the more than one million poor women giving birth each year in urban East Africa,” said Pearson, the founder of Jacaranda Health. “We aim to become the largest provider of affordable maternity care in the region, and more importantly raise the standard of care among other private and public providers.”

What if a child could significantly reduce his chance of developing mental retardation by putting salt on his food? Or if the simple act of eating bread could do more to prevent blindness than any other single intervention?

Imagine a world where every time a pregnant woman eats a tortilla or sprinkles seasoning on her food, she reduces the chances of her unborn child developing a debilitating or fatal birth defect by more than 50 percent. David Dodson founded Project Healthy Children in 2000 to create food fortification programs that improve the health of women and children around the world, every time they eat a meal.

In the Kibaale district of Uganda, small-scale farmers are revitalizing their trade and putting a fresh spin on traditional practices.

With the help of the Uganda Rural Development and Training Programme (URDT), local farmers play an active role in their independence, researching and implementing sustainable systems that increase crop production and enhance the quality of life.