Team:Mingdao/Sustainable
Mingdao
Introduction
Cleandy and the SDGs
The United Nation stated on their official SDGs website, saying: " The world is off-track to achieve health-related SDGs. Progress has been uneven, both between and within countries. There’s a 31-year gap between the countries with the shortest and longest life expectancies. And while some countries have made impressive gains, national averages hide that many are being left behind. Multisectoral, rights-based and gender-sensitive approaches are essential to address inequalities and to build good health for all."
Medical care has always been one of the most prominent inequalities, and since oral health plays an important role in our holistic physical health, we see brushing teeth as the primary solution of preventing tooth decay. However, the efficacy of brushing teeth might not be as ideal as you thought, hence, our team came up with Cleandy, a sugar alcohol-based candy containing probiotics that prevents your teeth from cavities. No age limit was set on the usage of Cleandy as long as teeth existed, members from our entrepreneurship crew were also devoted to affordable pricing practice in order to end inequalities.
Medical care has always been one of the most prominent inequalities, and since oral health plays an important role in our holistic physical health, we see brushing teeth as the primary solution of preventing tooth decay. However, the efficacy of brushing teeth might not be as ideal as you thought, hence, our team came up with Cleandy, a sugar alcohol-based candy containing probiotics that prevents your teeth from cavities. No age limit was set on the usage of Cleandy as long as teeth existed, members from our entrepreneurship crew were also devoted to affordable pricing practice in order to end inequalities.
Background
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were born at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. The objective was to produce a set of universal goals that meet the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing our world. All 17 Sustainable Development Goals were interconnected, meaning success in one affects success for others, and were also adopted in 2015 by all UN Member States in order “to promote prosperity while protecting the planet”.
Figure 1. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nation, 2019)
SDG events in Mingdao High School
Associated with the Taiwan Sustainable Campus project held by the ministry of Education R.O.C., the SDGs Committee of Mingdao High School (MDHS) has hosted several SDGs events, including the annual MDHS SDGs Summit, starting from 2019 and the SDGs implementation proposal this year. Ｗe, as iGEMers, couldn’t miss out on these meaningful events obviously.
MDHS SDGs Summit
Through the summit, our members were separated into different teams, we learned about the definition and how to distinguish the difference between each goal. The summit inspired us to connect SDGs to our project. In that way, synthetic biology could not only benefit human activities, but also pay back to the earth.
Figure 2. MDHS SDGs Summit (2019.12.28) and MDHS SDGs Declaration
SDGs Implementation Proposal
To become more engaged with more SDGs activities, our team also participated in the annual SDGs proposal competition, this event gave us a platform to interpret what the goals distributed to each team represented and offer solutions on how we could make changes to it with our own words.
Figure 3. MDHS SDGs implementation proposal presentation
iGEM Intramural Presentation
During our intramural presentation, we mentioned about how we’ve addressed three SDGs through our overall preparation stage, the three goals are:
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being
- Goal 4: Quality Education
- Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
While we explained the coherence between our project and the three goals we’ve picked out, one of the teachers suggested us to consult with the school’s SDGs committee, where we might get more feedback and recommendations.
While we explained the coherence between our project and the three goals we’ve picked out, one of the teachers suggested us to consult with the school’s SDGs committee, where we might get more feedback and recommendations.
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being
- Goal 4: Quality Education
- Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
Feedbacks
Aside from the numerous advices and courses we received, together, through discussion, iGEM Mingdao and MDHS SDGs Committee figured out one more addressable goal:
- Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Nevertheless, there will be four goals in total which our project addresses, for more detailed information, we listed correlation between each goal and our act down below.
Nevertheless, there will be four goals in total which our project addresses, for more detailed information, we listed correlation between each goal and our act down below.
- Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Impacts of our work
Society
Goal 3. good health and well-being
The 2010 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study estimated that oral conditions affected 3.9 billion people, and that the burden of oral conditions had increased by almost 21% between 1990 and 2010, indicating that the severity of oral health has been deteriorated. Nevertheless, we aim to increase good oral health through the functioning of Cleandy in oral environments. Biosafety procedures and affordable pricing will be enforced, probiotics will be tested, and positive impact on human bodies will also be proven by trusted organizations before our product is ready to launch in the market.
Goal 4. Quality Education
Our education crew have designed several educational kits (see more in Science Communication ), and collaborated with several dentists to help educate those who lack oral hygiene related knowledge and to have a better understanding. Oral hygiene concepts are very important, since teeth are meant for permanent use, we should therefore take good care of them. In addition, prosthetic teeth cost a considerable expense, making oral health education even more inevitable due to the fact that economic inequalities are everywhere now. Overall, our goal is to spread awareness about oral health through implementing oral health education from local elementary schools near by our campus, and eventually reaching to international partnerships, regardless of whether the economic state of the country is fully developed or not, we are ought to offer help with not just both of our hands, but more innovative ideas.
Economics
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
“Dental caries is the world’s most widespread chronic disease. In the African Region, DMFT (Decayed, Missing, and Filled Permanent Teeth) levels in local people vary widely, ranging from less than 1.0 to over 4.0 in Africa. Moreover, local studies indicated a rapidly rising disease burden among both urban and rural populations. According to reports by the World Health Organization, most tooth decay in those regions remains untreated.
Inequalities are usually caused by a region’s natural environment, economic development, and education level. According to a survey data released by the WHO, the funds for oral diseases treatment in developed countries accounts for as much as 5-10% of all medical care expenditure, but many developing and undeveloped countries are incapable of affording the money.
With both distance and finance factors, to seek medical help is exceptionally inconvenient in these countries, leading tooth decays remain untreated. In order to lessen the fee for frequently visiting dental clinics, we designed Cleandy to prevent oneself from exerting dental cavities. Not only can the product be used instantly, but we also offer affordable pricing to make sure customers under poor financial condition can feel less burdened obtaining the probiotics compared to the vast expense of visiting medical institutions afar. We hope doing so could make a difference in reducing the economic inequality when it comes to medical care. Every patient deserves their treatment.
Inequalities are usually caused by a region’s natural environment, economic development, and education level. According to a survey data released by the WHO, the funds for oral diseases treatment in developed countries accounts for as much as 5-10% of all medical care expenditure, but many developing and undeveloped countries are incapable of affording the money.
With both distance and finance factors, to seek medical help is exceptionally inconvenient in these countries, leading tooth decays remain untreated. In order to lessen the fee for frequently visiting dental clinics, we designed Cleandy to prevent oneself from exerting dental cavities. Not only can the product be used instantly, but we also offer affordable pricing to make sure customers under poor financial condition can feel less burdened obtaining the probiotics compared to the vast expense of visiting medical institutions afar. We hope doing so could make a difference in reducing the economic inequality when it comes to medical care. Every patient deserves their treatment.
Environment
Goal 12. responsible consumption and production
General candy wrappers consist of various materials, including plastic and aluminum. However, the rule for recycling is that the fewer material a product is made of, the easier it is to recycle, hence traditional wrappers were hardly considered worthy to be recycled. In order to lessen the impact of our packaging on the environment, we made us of waste PET bottles gathered from our oxygen water producing collaborator, SEPOM Technology Ltd, and compressed them into a thin layer of plastic wrapper, with recycled paper used in making lollipop stick, environmentally friendly packaging was applied on product.
Interactions with other SDGs
Survey
Figure 4. Analytic graph according to the survey
Fifty responses from our classmates have been collected to graph out the correlation between our project and the seventeen SDGs. Three options were offered in each question, respondents are required to choose a single answer that best describes how Cleandy, our project, will be impacting each SDG. The color bars represent the shares of synergies (green), nonclassifieds (yellow), and trade-offs (oranges) observed within a goal for the entire dataset.
Fifty responses from our classmates have been collected to graph out the correlation between our project and the seventeen SDGs. Three options were offered in each question, respondents are required to choose a single answer that best describes how Cleandy, our project, will be impacting each SDG. The color bars represent the shares of synergies (green), nonclassifieds (yellow), and trade-offs (oranges) observed within a goal for the entire dataset.