Converting Plastic Waste into a Useful Healthcare and Education Platform

The Community Tablet is an innovative mobile digital infrastructure that has been used as an e-school and e-healthcare platform in Africa for the past six years. Built and developed in Mozambique by a young Mozambican team, the Community Tablet played a vital role during the pandemic as everyone saw a need to access the internet and connect with the virtual world. In 2020, a cold chain compartment feature was introduced in the Community Tablet to fully engage in vaccination programs using an “all in one model”, which includes awareness campaigns, digital citizenship database registrations, online medical consultations, vaccine management and logistics. As we transition out of the pandemic, the Community Tablet continues to operate in remote areas with a lack of infrastructure and electricity – cutting the need for locals to walk long distances to access basic services and routine activities in the education and healthcare sectors.

After its initial success of reaching over 2 million users, the Community Tablet has started scaling its operations to build “Interactive Villages” around rural communities. These Interactive Villages will enable different organisations to deliver their health and educational programs via a Community Tablet unit. Whenever the units are not in use, they can be used as local internet cafés with daily timers per individual in order to allow access to all. Registered locals would use their biometrics to access a daily login code to browse the internet, e-library and research for 15 to 30 minutes. As a means of encouraging women and girls to pursue technology in these communities, login priority will be given to local women and girls who are currently enrolled in any type of academic course. These Interactives Villages will also support local internet hotspots in partnership with strategic partners, one of which is a leading satellite communication provider enabling free internet access around the country. In the near future, these Interactive Villages could be rolled out to other countries and refugee camps around the world where there is a need for connectivity, eradicating digital illiteracy or providing e-health and basic services.

The Community Tablet has recently been awarded another U.S design patent (no. D942,319) this time for its Amphibious model, which aims to break the barriers to digital development in island countries. The prototype will initiate its construction shortly. Once completed, the Community Tablet would no longer be limited to inland countries. This would allow reaching islands and destinations affected by climate change or separated by waters – leaving no one behind!

“Plastic waste normally bound for landfill sites is now being repurposed to provide critical healthcare solutions and educate the nation”, – says CEO and Inventor Dayn Amade. After a few months of research, Dayn Amade and his team have taken a further innovative step forward to refine their contribution to the circular economy by now adopting recycled plastic as the new raw material to manufacture the Community Tablet. With the successful concept assembly of its first recycled plastic waste-based Community Tablet unit earlier this year, one Community Tablet can now reduce 200kg of plastic waste from the planet. As of 2022, the Community Tablet has become even more environmentally friendly, with more than 85% of the Community Tablet being made of recycled wood plastics and powered entirely by solar energy. The Community Tablet is reportedly engaged with UN-Habitat’s (https://bit.ly/3EqJC4m) “Waste Wise Cities” and a number of companies and NGOs focused on reducing the global carbon footprint and closing the digital divide. Although all partnerships are not yet ready to be revealed, the team’s vision is to use plastic waste to reduce the digital divide and provide access to basic service needs such as telemedicine and e-schools while empowering marginalised communities with information and knowledge. Contributing to a greener and more digitised world in their quest for digital literacy and rural empowerment.

SOURCE
Tablet Comunitario