With 10% of the world population living with a disabling hearing impairment, and 80% of them live in developing countries, a big challenge is the battery, which is often expensive to keep charged and replace. The SolarAid solar-powered hearing-aid battery recharger, developed in Botswana by Godisa Technologies, helps those with hearing disabilities afford to continue in school and participate in economy activity without worrying about their hearing aid battery. There are already more than 7,000 units in use in South America, Central America, Africa, and Asia.

In 1992, Godisa established the SolarAid Workshop in the village of Otse, Botswana. In collaboration with the Botswana Technology Centre, the workshop developed SolarAid with the following tenets in mind:

Affordability – SolarAid is at least 75% less expensive than comparable products allowing bulk purchase for donation purposes by government, deaf schools, hearing INGOs, deaf groups and caring individuals.

Quality– All of Godisa’s products meet applicable World Health Organization guidelines and use robust and proven components that last for many years;

Technology – Internationally award-winning design is combined with rapid and highly effective battery charging, and modern digital behind-the-ear hearing aids.

Environmental Responsibility – SolarAid is solar-powered (clean energy) and reduces the harmful environmental impacts of battery disposal.

Designed for the developing world – Godisa is an African organization that understands the challenges faced by hearing impaired people and organizations in developing countries.

+ Godisa Technolgies SolarAid

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 2:58 am and is filed under Non-Profits & Organizations, Energy, Health, Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.