As part of its work to fight the spread of HIV, the BBC World Service Trust has launched a novel ringtone in India designed to break down the social taboo of using condoms. The new advertising campaign, which features a ‘condom a cappella’ ringtone is also funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The strategy is to show social support for condoms, as this has a positive effect on use, and positions condoms as a product that men use to show they are responsible and care about themselves and their families. Read more and watch the advert.
Adopting AI in Sri Lanka’s public sector with vision & caution: Insights from LIRNEasia’s Merl Chandana at AI Asia Summit ’24
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers significant potential to enhance public services and drive innovation within Sri Lanka’s public sector. At the AI Asia Summit 2024 in Colombo, Merl Chandana, Research Manager and head of the Data, Algorithms, and Policy (DAP) team at LIRNEasia, shared insights on how the government can harness AI effectively and responsibly.
Software failures and public funds: Monumental coding errors explained
In the world of technology, programming errors—whether stemming from minor oversights or fundamental misunderstandings—can have catastrophic consequences. From the tragic failure of spacecraft missions to the collapse of critical infrastructures, history is filled with examples where a simple bug or miscalculation triggered massive disasters.
Aswesuma to Prajashakthi: considerations for future social protection programmes
This article was carried in the Daily Mirror on 17 October 2024 on International Eradication of Poverty Day Poverty in Sri Lanka has increased significantly with the onset of COVID-19 and the macroeconomic crisis. LIRNEasia’s national survey in 2023 highlighted that 4 million people fell into poverty between 2019 and 2023, causing 7 million individuals — or 31% of the population — to live in poverty at the time.
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Sanjana Hattotuwa
In Sri Lanka, this may not pass muster with the President’s singular views on obscenity on the web…