ConsciousWorld_July14

Conscious World: What’s happening in our world right now is a new feature on www.consciousmagazine.co with a roundup of stories based on topics from global headlines, social good, innovation, science to what’s trending on Twitter. In this column, we want to provide you with information that is exciting, new, relevant, innovative, and offer you a way to create intriguing conversations on the daily starting right here. So, post your thoughts below! Also, if you ever find something interesting that is a developing idea with the potential to impact or influence, share your thoughts in our sidebar “Change The Conversation” box. Enjoy!

01 | JetBlue To Promote Literacy in Underserved Communities

Summer reading is taking off in underserved communities thanks to JetBlue, in partnership with Random House Children’s Books, who have installed free book vending machines in “a church, a grocery store and a branch of the Salvation Army in Southeast D.C., the Kojo Nnamdi Show blog reported”. This pilot program is part of JetBlue’s annual Soar With Reading program to help kids combat the Summer slump. Read in full on Huffingtonpost.com.

02 | The Top Innovative Countries In The World

“Technological innovation is the key to a competitive and growing economy, unlocking major productivity gains and allowing companies to move towards higher value-added activities.” According to the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Report and after evaluating 144 of the world’s economies, here are the top 10 innovative countries (in order):

Finland
Switzerland
Israel
Japan
United States
Germany
Sweden
Netherlands
Singapore
Taiwan, China
(Source: World Economic Forum)

03 | Mobile Health

Innovations in information and communications technology (ICT) are changing the landscape of disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and control. The widespread availability of mobile technology, including in many of the least developed countries, is an exceptional opportunity to expand the use of mobile phones for health (mHealth).

According to the 2015 Millennium Development Goals report of the United Nations, as of 2015, 95% of the world is covered by a mobile signal and mobile-cellular subscriptions opening making a huge impact on global health in the following ways:

– Making an online exchange of information available to connecting nurses and connecting midwives
– Providing real-time means for clinics and hospitals to report on medicine shortages
– Providing a global response to non-communicable diseases, which are the leading cause of death worldwide and dominate healthcare needs
(Source: IFPMA)

04 | Solving Youth Unemployment in Africa

“By 2040, half of the world’s youth population will be African, the majority of which will be women and girls. This means that in the next fifty years, approximately 1.1 billion of the global workforce will be African” said Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission.

Due to this projection, “there is need for urgency, action and collaboration to create sustainable impact on a large scale”. To combat this issue and create a catalyst for change, Ashoka teamed up with the MasterCard Foundation for Future Forward: Innovations for Youth Employment in Africa and discovered 3 ways to address youth unemployment in Africa:

1. Put trust in youth and put them in charge.
2. Strengthen job-matching services.
3. Redefine “work.”
Read in full via Devex Impact

05 | Malala Urges World Leaders To Spend More On Education

Malala, a champion for girl’s education rights, visited a Syrian refugee camp on July 13, 2015 that is home to 20,000 refugees. During her visit to the camp, she addressed the challenges faced by Syrian refugee children including girls getting married at a very young age, and boys being sent off for child labor.

Malala and Mezon al-Melihan, a 17 year old refugee, spoke to the girls there about how the world must do more to help the refugees. Malala said countries and leaders have been “quite stingy” when it comes to spending on education, and concluded with education is the only way to achieve success.
Read in full via AP.

Join the conversation by posting your thoughts below.

This week’s roundup was co-created by Rachael Baxter-Lechliter and Elena Baxter

FROM THE EDITOR
At Conscious, we are inspired by remarkable people, and so we set out to tell stories that highlight social good, global initiatives, community development, innovation and more. You can read more stories like this when you pick up your copy of Conscious Magazine. Subscribe today via our Conscious Shop and subscribe to Conscious Updates.