Stay ConnectedDiscover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.
A weekly programme looking at common challenges around the world and the creative ways people are trying to tackle them.
Presenter Myra Anubi speaks to reporters, experts and innovators to investigate how effective different solutions are, share their successes and inspire listeners with what is possible.
Copyright: © (C) BBC 2022
In the farming community of Los Negros in rural Bolivia, the river is their life and livelihood. So when that river started to dry up, it made life very hard. They blamed the villages upstream for not looking after their precious water.
This conflict could have turned ugly. But with the support of a local charity, what came out of it instead was a ground-breaking agreement. After years of negotiations, the town at the bottom of the river agreed to support the communities upstream to protect their forests and keep the river healthy.
The idea is now the blueprint for water sharing agreements between communities across the continent.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Jane Chambers Producer: Bob Howard Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Hal Haines Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: Senor Rogelio Valverde sits by his water source
Heroin users in Scotland are being trained to spot when someone is about to overdose and to step in and help.
The training – which includes lessons on how to use the antidote naloxone - is often led by people who have themselves been addicts.
Taxi drivers and police officers are also being trained, and naloxone being widely distributed, as part of a push to save as many lives as possible.
Reporter Craig Langran investigates whether the approach is working.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer: Craig Langran Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Annie Gardiner and Hal Haines Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: Wez, who trains heroin users how to administer naloxone
In the midst of a crisis, sometimes the solution you need isn’t obvious. Today we meet the inventors who found fascinating fixes amid the chaos and destruction of disasters.
We visit the hospital that was painstakingly constructed inside a train, to treat Ukrainian civilians in a war zone.
We follow a team in Fiji who have created a mobile workshop, designed to travel to remote villages after natural disasters and repair and make items on the spot.
Finally we look at a medical robot that could soon treat injured people in places it’s too dangerous for human rescuers to enter.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter/Producer: Claire Bates Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Penny Murphy Picture: University of Sheffield AMRC
Meet the oceans’ unsung hero - the humble sea cucumber. An animal in the same family as starfish that looks like a lumpy sausage and lives on the ocean floor could help with some of the impact of global warming, pollution from fish farms and damage from the fishing industry that are threatening some of the oceans most important ecosystems.
We meet the Australian researchers using drones to count the cucumbers to understand how their poo is helping coral reefs. And in Madagascar, we speak to the local communities which are learning to sustainably farm the creature, protecting the seas and increasing their income along the way.
Repeat - originally broadcast in February 2023.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/Reporter: Lizzy McNeill Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Annie Gardiner Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
(Image: Sea cucumbers. Credit: Getty Images)
More than 400 people in Ireland took their own lives in 2022. In Limerick, helicopters are often heard flying above the city in search of missing people in the River Shannon.
But in response to this tragic situation, a group has sprung up to patrol the Shannon in the evenings to speak with people who are feeling desperate. Katie Flannery joins them on a Saturday night to see how they work and to hear their stories.
We also hear about a law that is under consideration in several US states, which would allow people with mental health problems to voluntarily put themselves on a do-not-sell list for firearms.
This programme contains discussion of suicide and suicide attempts. If you feel affected by this topic, you can speak to someone who can help. Go to befrienders.org to find a crisis phone line where you live.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Katie Flannery Producer: William Kremer Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: Limerick Suicide Watch
Artificial intelligence can sometimes provoke fear and anxiety. Will it take away our jobs? Will it take over the world? So it’s important to recognise some of the good things AI is being used for.
We look at how AI chatbots are helping people tackle anxiety, how AI is being used in Africa to lower infant mortality and even speak to the team using AI to try and communicate with bats.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Hal Haines Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: An illustration of a digital brain (Getty Images)
We eat millions of tonnes of coconuts every year - with the dense white flesh of the fruit making a tasty snack and the juice a refreshing drink.
But the inedible husk and shell go to waste – and it’s this part that innovators and entrepreneurs around the world are now putting to work to solve a whole host of problems.
In Sierra Leone, a personal tragedy was the catalyst for young entrepreneur Alhaji Siraj Bah to start a business which takes the coconut husk and turns it into an alternative to charcoal - which is good for the forests and could potentially save lives too.
And we’ll hear about the start-up using coconut to keep fish, fruit and vegetables cool for longer, without using any plastic.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Eric Mugaju Producer: Craig Langran Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: A coconut (Getty Images)
Earthquakes strike suddenly, leaving death and destruction in their wake. But around the world, people are trying to do what they can to make them less deadly.
We hear from Haiti, where a seismometer developed for hobbyists is now being used by citizens to build the country’s first earthquake risk map.
Over in Zurich, we meet the scientist using tennis balls to buffer buildings in poor countries from shockwaves. And in Indonesia, we find out how a Virtual Reality game is helping students prepare for terrifying tremors.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Claire Bates Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Hal Haines Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: A woman in Haiti holding a Raspberry Shake (Credit: Eric Calais)
Heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases are the biggest killer in the world, causing 18 million deaths globally every year.
Cardiologists and heart surgeons try to manage heart disease with stents, surgery and drugs, but the organ itself does not heal. Finding a way to regenerate heart tissue has become a holy grail for medicine.
Now there is new hope from a strange and pioneering technique from Austria. Doctors there believe that applying shockwaves directly to the heart after surgery dramatically improves patient outcomes.
The shockwaves – which are sonic pressure waves, rather than electric shocks – lead to new growth of blood vessels and trick the body’s immune system into action.
The BBC’s global health correspondent Naomi Grimley travels to Innsbruck to see the treatment in action.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer: William Kremer Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Hal Haines and Gareth Jones Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: Heart surgery
From crops that grow faster to rice that could stop children going blind - the world is full of genetically modified products waiting to come onto the market.
Genetic modification techniques in plants have huge problem-solving potential, but are often clouded in controversy. Most scientists say GM food is safe, yet some consumers and environmental campaigners remain unconvinced.
This week we look at the potential, and the controversy, in this futuristic field.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Lizzy McNeill Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Annie Gardiner Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: Illustration of a strand of DNA (Getty Images)
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