Scientists search Palau's coral reefs for new anti-cancer drugs

RedTire, short for Redefine Your Retirement, is helping small businesses stay afloat by facilitating transitions in business ownership and acting as a non-profit business broker. The service helps rural communities thrive since small businesses are essential to the vitality of small towns. In its five year history, RedTire has brokered sales that collectively total over $22 million.

For profit-driven pharmaceutical companies, there is little incentive to innovate with treatments for diseases most often found in impoverished countries, because of an inability to pay exorbitant prices. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative works to create low-cost, patent-free treatments for diseases ignored by profit-driven decisions, and has created new treatments for seven diseases.

In Jamaica, locally-led coral nurseries are working to restore the coral reef that have been lost to natural and manmade disasters. These organizations have small coral gardens where they can grow free of danger and when they’re big enough, are transported to a reef. With coral and fish being so codependent in the underwater ecosystem, the regrowth of coral has meant an increase of fish and fishing for the country, which many people rely on for their livelihood.

Societal and environmental changes over the years have impacted the likelihood of women being diagnosed with breast cancer, but preventative measures may help mitigate that. From risk-reducing medications for those who are at higher-risk due to family history to a focus on prioritizing exercise, there are a number of measures that are showing promise at reducing the diagnosis.

To protect the Mesoamerican Reef from the effects of climate change, key stakeholders in Mexico created the world’s first insurance policy to protect a natural asset. The policy provides an immediate infusion of cash in the event of a damaging storm, allowing hotel owners and local governments to quickly repair the reef and prevent further degradation. A volunteer corps of people called the Guardians of the Reef make those repairs. While the insurance policy doesn’t cover pollution or overfishing, this mechanism could work for reefs in other countries to restore and protect threatened ecosystems.

P.ink, or Personal Ink, is a non-profit that curates a Pinterest page where women considering mastectomy tattoos can browse designs, find bios of vetted tattoo artists, and get help connecting with local artists. During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the group hosts a mastectomy tattooing event called P.ink Day, where they also raise money to help survivors around the country pay for mastectomy tattoos. Using their mobile app, women can “try on” tattoos by overlaying the image onto a photograph or ordering a temporary tattoo of the image. For some women, covering scars with artwork helps emotional healing.

The Children Living With Cancer Foundation organizes dance parties for children with cancer, to provide them with a sense of joy, encouragement, and community during times of need. The nonprofit also organizes community events and donations and works with local pharmacies to get patients the medicines they need at subsidized rates. So far, the Foundation has supported 300 childhood cancer patients and their families.

The Mashkiki Waakaa’igan Pharmacy provides Native American patients with their prescriptions for no out-of-pocket expenses and provides culturally-conscious care.

Drug Aid Africa sources unused, unaltered drugs from people who don’t need them anymore and distributes them to people who do need them but can’t afford or access them. Drug Aid Africa provides free routine medications for conditions like sickle-cell anemia, as well as antimalarials, antibiotics and frequent visits to communities where they provide healthcare support and supplies. So far, the organization's efforts have helped more than 10,000 people.

Nurse Initiated Management of Antiretroviral Treatment (Nimart) provides special training to nurses, allowing them to prescribe antiretroviral medicines to manage HIV treatment, increasing access among those who need the care. Previously, only doctors were allowed to prescribe the drugs, but since Nimrat launched all 17 area clinics now offer treatment and an average of 732 patients started treatment each month in the first year the program started.