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When most people see these pictures for the first time, one of the first things that they think is “what the heck are these people doing?” Whereas someone in one of these third world countries would instantly think “why the heck haven’t I gotten my hands on one of these”. What is being used to drink water out of these filthy streams and rivers in these pictures above is a lifestraw. The pictures are pretty graphic, but sometimes it takes a picture like this to get you to really know what is going on in the other parts of the world, especially to people who are less fortunate.
The lifestraw is a handy water purifier that that effectively removes all bacteria and viruses responsible for causing common waterborne diseases. It was developed by Vestergaard-Frandsen; a Europe-based international company. The company specializes in heavily needed emergency response and disease control products. They adopt a Humanitarian Entrepreneurship business model, and have a "profit for a purpose" approach to doing business. The company focuses on the developing products for the developing regions rather than for the already developed and wealthy regions.
The main thing that lifestraw does is that it effectively removes waterborne bacteria and viruses. The device works by using two textile filters to remove dirt, along with two chambers. The first chamber uses a resin that contains iodine, while the second chamber works by using activated carbon to kill bacteria and viruses. All the user has to do is dip the lifestraw into any water source and suck on it to draw the purified liquid up. The lifestraw doesn’t require or use any form of electric power or additional spare parts. It is also very easy to carry it around, and safe and clean water is only a suck away.
This product is highly needed because over one billion people currently lack access to safe drinking water. The United Nations set a goal in 2000 to significantly reduce the amount of people without
References: http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/ United Nations. 2007. The Millennium Development Goals Report