People Fixing the World

BBC World Service
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Dec 16, 2025 • 23min

Saving mothers with portable ultrasound

The World Health Organisation recommends all pregnant women should have at least one ultrasound before six months. However, only half of women do in sub-Saharan Africa. This week we visit Kenya to see how portable ultrasound devices are flagging up any issues early. And how AI could overcome the barrier of not having enough trained midwives on the ground.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.Presenter: Myra Anubi Producers: Calvin Manika, Claire Bates Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound mix: Andrew Mills(Image: A midwife gives a pregnant woman an ultrasound scan, BBC/Davis Ojiambo)
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Dec 9, 2025 • 23min

Rethinking dyslexia

Children with dyslexia are often misunderstood — but what if their struggles in school are actually signs of unique strengths? We visit a pioneering school in Kenya that’s transforming education for dyslexic students where children learn through sound, movement and visual tools. And in the UK, we attend a business event with a difference held by the charity Made By Dyslexia — where employers and campaigners celebrate dyslexic strengths like creativity and problem-solving.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/reporter: Janet Ball Kenya reporter: Michael Kaloki Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound mix: Hal Haines(Image: Students at the Rare Gem Talent School, Kitengela, Kenya)
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Dec 2, 2025 • 23min

Building empathy and fighting disinformation

We look at solutions that focus on teaching children how to respect each other and understand their emotions better. We visit a primary school in Botswana where a charity called Think Equal is helping teachers put empathy at the heart of their teaching and speak to Think Equal's founder Leslee Udwin. And Myra visits a school in East London where teenagers are being taught how to interpret what they read online as part of an initiative to tackle misinformation and polarisation.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.This podcast contains references to sexual violence.Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer: Natasha Fernandes Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound mix: Andrew Mills(Image: Myra Anubi with Leslee Udwin of Think Equal in BBC studio, BBC)
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Nov 25, 2025 • 23min

Preserving Peru’s food heritage

Peru is famous for its diverse and innovative cuisine - but how is it making sure its venerable food heritage is preserved for decades to come? We meet the indigenous Quechua people who are cultivating more than 1300 species of potato, working with scientists to safeguard seeds in community banks as part of both ecological and cultural efforts. And we hear how communities in the high Andes are turning back to crops like quinoa and kiwacha in the face of climate pressures and the desire to boost nutrition.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Jane Chambers Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound mix: Annie Gardiner(Image: Peruvian farmer Victoria Quispe on her farm, Jesus Infantes, SIMPLi)
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Nov 18, 2025 • 24min

How literacy can change a life

Learning to read empowers people, reduces poverty and increases their job chances. Yet more than 700 miliion adults are illiterate, the majority of them women. We look at innovations to help adults learn how to read from flatpack classrooms in flood-prone regions of Bangladesh, to an app teaching tens of thousands in Somaliland. Plus how adults in the UK are improving their reading skills thanks to an army of volunteer teachers using a method developed in prison.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter/producer: Claire Bates Series producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Tom Bigwood Sound mix: Andrew Mills(Image: Jahura Begum, Shabnur Akhter, Rashida Begum at Friendship class in Bangladesh, Friendship)
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Nov 11, 2025 • 23min

Saving seabirds and squirrels

How do you save threatened species? This week we look at two novel solutions. In the UK, scientists are developing a unique contraceptive that will be fed in a nutty spread to grey squirrels, an invasive species that threatens the native red squirrel. And how scientists are moving albatross eggs thousands of miles from their low-lying home on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific to a Mexican island to try and protect the under threat Black-footed Albatross.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/reporter: Claire Bates Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound mix: Hal Haines(Image: Scientists remove albatross eggs in Midway Islands, Pacific, GECI)
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Nov 4, 2025 • 23min

Making organ donation easier

Organ transplantation has long been seen as a miracle of modern medicine but each year thousands of people across the world die while waiting for this life-saving operation. We’ll find out how one medical technology company based in the UK is cutting wait times for liver transplants after inventing a machine which simulates the human body. We’ll also visit South Africa which has one of the lowest rates of transplants globally because of a donor shortage and a lack of awareness. There, we’ll meet Zane - a unicorn with a Zebra leg who’s teaching children about ‘sharing a spare’.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/reporter: Claire Bowes South Africa reporter: Mpho Lakaje Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound mix: Andrew Mills(Image: Zane the unicorn meets a student at a TELL transplant awareness event in Midrand, S Africa, Mpho Lakaje/BBC)
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Oct 28, 2025 • 23min

Helping and healing in Sierra Leone

Thousands of people in Sierra Leone lost limbs during the brutal civil war, and many more have struggled to overcome the mental as well as physical burdens of the conflict. We visit the Farming on Crutches programme where amputees are trained in agricultural skills which they can use to start their own farms and teach others in their communities their skills. Plus how former addicts are helping others in their communities to stop using kush, a deadly blend of addictive substances that has become a scourge in Sierra Leone and other parts of West Africa.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter/producer: Sira Thierij Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound mix: Hal Haines(Image: A trainee farmer rakes grass from a field in Sierra Leone, Sira Thierij/BBC)
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Oct 21, 2025 • 23min

Harnessing the wind to keep us cool

Many cities are becoming unpleasant to live in: they are getting hotter due to climate change and all the heat absorbed by the streets and buildings. But Stuttgart in Germany has been tackling this by carefully studying local wind patterns. Using the natural airflow they are cooling the city by creating corridors of wind from the surrounding hills. It’s an idea which is being copied by cities around the world such as Singapore. There we see how new buildings are being designed to allow a breeze to flow despite the continued development.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/reporter: Richard Kenny Singapore reporter: Tessa Wong With thanks to: Indrawan Prabaharyaka Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound mix: Hal Haines(Image: Richard Hassell of WOHA architects in the Punggol Digital district of Singapore, BBC)
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Oct 14, 2025 • 24min

Alaska's wild solutions

The US state of Alaska may be known for its rugged wilderness, but it’s also quietly leading a green revolution. We explore how an island community is powering itself through a locally built and managed microgrid - cutting out fossil fuels and slashing energy costs. And we find out how scientists are using native mushrooms to produce sustainable building insulation and cold fish storage boxes that could help promote sustainability both in Alaska and beyond.People Fixing The World from the BBC is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We release a new edition every Tuesday. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Anna Holligan Producer: Peter Devlin Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound mix: Gareth Jones(Image: Grizzly bear in Katmai National Park, Alaska, Getty Images)

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