Mashable Pakistan Lab

An estimated 11 million people in Pakistan are suffering from Hepatitis C diseases and the number is increasing drastically every year. Moreover, Pakistan has the 2nd highest HCV prevalence in the world.

Hepatitis C is a disease that causes inflammation and infection of the liver. This condition develops following the transmission of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The effects of this virus range in severity from a mild illness to a serious, lifelong illness including liver liver cirrhosis and cancer.

Major reasons of hepatitis C transmission is the exposure of blood to unsafe injection practices, unsafe health care, unscreened blood transfusions, injection drug use and sexual practices.

NIC Pakistan joined hands with various other organizations to organize a Hepatitis C hackathon to invite entrepreneurs, health-hackers, technology experts and medical students to share their ideas that can help in the eradication of this disease from the country.

Around 340 applications from more than 60 cities in three continents were received from SMEs, startups, and medical experts under thematic areas of prevention, detection, and management. While out of 18 SMEs shortlisted, three startups were crowned winners of the Hepatitis C hackathon, including SLOSH AI, Nano-Detectors and Screen Pakistan.

Mashable Pakistan talks to the Aiman Khan (founder of SLOSH AI) and Dr. Anam Munawar (founder of Nano-Detectors), about the causes and effects of hepatitis C spread in Pakistan and how technology can help in the quick eradication of this disease. Dr. Anam and Aiman Khan shared how their technology-rich projects can enhance the medical services for diagnosing the disease in the early stages in a human body.

Pakistan has one of the highest malnutrition burdens in the world. The 2011 National Nutrition Survey (NNS) revealed that the country faces a complex triple burden of malnutrition, undernutrition, overnutrition (obesity & overweight) and micronutrient deficiency. While the NNS survey conducted in 2018 showed that the nutritional situation has not improved to a significant scale since 2011.

One of the major causes of malnutrition in the country is food wastage. Around 36 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in Pakistan. As per a research, 8 out of 10 children in the country do not have access to nutritious food.

Given the prevalence of chronic and acute undernourishment combined with rising cases of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), it is important to recognize that there is an urgent and pressing need to transform the existing food systems to tackle the menace of malnutrition.

To play there part in addressing the said issue in the country, the National Incubation Center (NIC) organized a hackathon called NutriBiz Innovation Challenge 2021. The focus of the hackathon was to improve the capability and productivity of SMEs and startups working on innovative solutions for problems pertaining to Food and Nutrition in Pakistan.

Dozens of startups applied for the competition, and three out of them were crowned winners of the innovation challenge. The winning startups include Farm to Home, Asqurr and Nutribreads.

Mashable Pakistan Lab talks to Nausheen Barket (founder of Asqurr) and Azam Khan (head of operations of Farm to Home), about the causes of malnutrition in Pakistan, and what steps should we as an individual and the government must take to end this crisis from the country. Nausheen and Azam also shared details about their startups, what products they offer, and how they are playing their part in reducing malnutrition from Pakistan.

The future of healthcare lies in working hand-to-hand with latest technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, among many others. Such technologies could help transform the entire healthcare system, in providing cheaper, faster and more effective solutions for diseases.

The world is facing new and deadly diseases like that of coronavirus, and it is high time that technology should be utilized to enhance medicine and healthcare for effective response to these diseases.

While the rest of the world is trying to integrate technology in their healthcare system with the help of latest tech based tools, there are various organizations in Pakistan as well, which are developing gadgets to help enhance the medical services in the country.

One such company, a startup, named Xpertflow is working to revolutionize the healthcare industry in Pakistan through its deep tech products. The startup is trying to address the day to day problems faced in Intensive Care, High Dependency Units and Emergency by improving the operational efficiency and the quality of patient care.

Mashable Pakistan Lab talks to Shan-ul-Haq, the CTO of Xpertflow, who shares the details about how their tech based healthcare products can help medical service providers enhance their operations. He also shared details regarding which technologies the company is working on to develop their products.

In Pakistan unfortunately there is not a balanced distribution of resources when it comes to sports. As a result, except for cricketers, the players suffer as they for the most part have to fend for themselves and look for ways to pursue the career they are passionate about.

Football is one such sport that has suffered in the country, despite have a considerable fan following and an equal amount of talent that has been going to waste. While there is impressive talent, the structure is decades behind where the international game is standing at the moment. A recent hit came in the form of FIFA’s ban on Pakistan Football Federation.

Mashable Pakistan Lab talks to Umaid Wasim, who is a sports journalist about the state of football in Pakistan and what needs to be done.

For the majority of us the mention of graphic content means a story that revolves around super heroes. However, there are few trailblazers in who are telling all kinds of stories using the medium. One such individual is Sabdezar Irfan, a graphic designer with a corporate day job and an all-time storyteller.

What would it take for your world to come apart at the seams? And when it does, what would it take for you to survive it? Grey Matter by Sabdezar Irfan is an intimate story of a young couple narrated as a graphic novel. She takes on mental health, a subject still taboo in our society.

Mashable Pakistan Lab talks to Sabdezar Irfan about her passion for graphic design and storytelling and how the two came together for her.

According to various studies conducted in Pakistan across the decade, it has been estimated that there are around 2 million people in the country who are visually impaired. Still, there are many visually impaired people out there in this country who have aspirations about their academic or professional lives, and want to achieve big even if they can’t see properly.

However, majority of them have to face certain hurdles in their path to grow academically. One of the major barrier is the unviability to study material in Pakistan written in the language they can understand.

That certain language is called ‘braille’. Braille is a system of raised dots that can be read with the fingers by people who are blind or who have low vision. It can be termed as a code which many languages around the world can be written, so that visually impaired people can read. Braille provides a means of literacy for all.

Every country is trying to develop study material in Braille language, turning their native languages into codes, to help visually impaired people receive education. Unfortunately, there is not much study material on braille available in Urdu for people who live in Pakistan.

A startup named Boltay Huroof, discovered this problem in the country and have provided a solution in the form of a software that can turn Urdu alphabets into Braille language codes. These braille codes can be later imposed on a piece of paper to develop reading material for blind people in Pakistan.

Mashable Pakistan Lab talks to Umer Farooq, CEO of Boltay Huroof, who shares the details about how their software works, and their mission to turn all education material present in Urdu and other languages into braille.

In 2017 UNDP Pakistan made a commitment to invest in innovative solutions for development. They accelerated their support in 2019 by launching UNDP Innovation-Accelerator Lab Pakistan. The Lab is funded by the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Germany, and is part of a global network of labs serving in 114 countries.

The development work needs a fresh approach as the old system is not able to come up with long term sustainable solutions. Crises today are multidisciplinary in nature as it impacts economy, human health, and social well-being all at once. Development must take a new perspective on the design of programming that achieves systemic transformation through diverse partnership from government to private sector, and creative thinkers.

UNDP Innovation-Accelerator Lab is a dedicated learning space to reimagine development solutions. The team works with the country office programmes and partners to explore and experiment new approaches, from ethnography to design, to find inclusive and human centered approaches for meaningful change.

Mashable Pakistan Lab talks to Beenisch Tahir, Head of UNDP Innovation-AccLab Pakistan and Exploration Lead. She provides strategic support to the team and UNDP Country Office (CO), to identify emerging trends and build partnerships to scale solutions developed by the AccLab team and CO units.

Tahir has been working in the humanitarian and development sector for the past 10 years in the fields ofcommunications, ICT4D, innovation and partnerships. Beenisch has an MSc in Social Policy Development from London School of Economics.

Water scarcity (also called water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water recourses to meet the fresh water demand. Millions of people around the world lack access to fresh water, which is an essential element for a healthy human life. Even in Pakistan, there are certain regions where fresh water, or even any water is available for the population. This is a cause for concern, for every country, especially Pakistan.

As per latest IMF’s research, Pakistan stands at number three in the list of countries around the world which are facing water shortage crisis the most. Along with that, majority of research studies have predicted that, by 2040, Pakistan will become the most water stressed country in the world.

All of these facts and research results, are a silent urge to people in Pakistan that we need to take steps and develop such products, so that we conserve as much water as we can, to delay the water crisis we are facing.

Keeping all of facts in mind, Ali Khursheed – the founder of Aabshar – one day decided that there must be a solution to reduce the wastage of water in every household and other places, each day in Pakistan.

The startup company Aabshar, has developed a water optimizer that converts water into tiny droplets that helps to reduce water wastage by 98 per cent (as company claims) and save you 16 per cent of electricity bills.

Mashable Pakistan Lab talks to Ali Khursheed about the journey the journey of his company, how he shifted from tech field to an entirely different domain and what persuaded him to work on water shortage crisis.

Hacktivate is NIC’s flagship hackathon event that came into existence in 2018. Since then, three hackathons have been organized to date, with global reach in terms of participants as well as mentors and judges. These hackathons were based on agriculture, health, and education. The marketing efforts of NIC and the respective partners brought in an influx of applications from around the world, which were then scrutinized by a panel of experts and only a handful could make it to the hackathon.

The latest Hacktivate 4.0 was titled, A Fintech Hackathon.

Fintech is significantly reshaping the banking, insurance and investment landscape. To maximize its potential and nurture fintech startups across Pakistan, the NIC, under the Hacktivate banner, organised a hackathon on this theme.

Mashable Pakistan talked to the two winners of the competition; Nomaan Bin Bashir, Co-Founder and CEO of Ozoned and Zain Gohar, Co-Founder of Ekhata ERP.

Ozoned Digital, is Pakistan’s first true-to-the-core InsurTech startups, aiming to create a technology platform that builds upon a mix of new tech and disruptive business models, in turn creating efficiencies, value additions and customer satisfaction in the insurance industry. Ozoned is led by a team of insurance and technology professionals having several decades of combined industry experience under their belt. The company has a self-ingrained vision that remains deeply committed to the promotion of financial inclusion in developing and under-developed insurance markets.

Ekhata ERP, is an easy to use accounting and inventory solution integrated with a B2B platform, Digits and aims to change the way Pakistan’s traditional businesses are operating from decades.

Tello Talk is Pakistan’s first social media app that not only allows the users to communicate with their friends and family but also gives them a platform to build a localized community. The apps services include; chat rooms, live news, stories, music and entertaining time pass content to name a few.

The app is available for both iOS and Android users.

Mashable Pakistan Lab talks to Tello Talk’s CEO, Shahbaz Jamote about the journey of the company, its challenges in the local budding tech environment, data security and what is in store for its future.