On Hunger in Saint Pierre and Miquelon

Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a self-governing archipelago of France that resides near the Newfoundland and Labrador province of Canada. It is currently the only part of New France that remains under French control. Hunger in Saint Pierre and Miquelon is mainly attributed to climate change and overfishing.

Fishing on both commercial and local scales provides 41 percent of the population’s income. During U.S. Prohibition in the 1920s, the islands became a popular spot for rumrunners to import alcohol into the United States. Business was so successful that men quit their jobs to work on producing alcohol. As soon as Prohibition ended, the economy of Saint Pierre and Miquelon started suffering.

As of August 2017, the standard of living in Saint Pierre and Miquelon is already quite small in comparison to Paris. Additionally, it is also small in comparison with any territory or country. Although Saint Pierre and Miquelon has a low standard of living, they also import more than 95.35 million euros, mostly in clothing and meats.

The low cost of living in a way helps the people with access to very affordable fruits and vegetables. Some can cost less than one euro per pound. This low cost contributes to the lack of hunger in Saint Pierre and Miquelon because healthy food is readily available to them. Most only earn a monthly salary of 1,400 euros, with 0.92 euros being equivalent to one U.S. dollar.

In 2008, the unemployment rates were 9.9 percent, contributing to a rise in poverty and ultimately hunger in Saint Pierre and Miquelon. The fluctuation in fishing profits directly influences the standard of living. The inhabitants have earned their income through the fishing trade, both domestically and internationally, which contributed to their economy and dinner plates. This economy, however, has been declining due to disputes with Canada over fishing quotas, and the use of overfishing.

Although France subsidizes Saint Pierre and Miquelon to the great benefit of living standards, the current living standards remain quite low. An average monthly salary in Paris is over 2,000 euros, which contributes to their high standard of living and low poverty, along with a large number of profits from tourism.

Through the islands, rich smuggling history and many sights to visit, Saint Pierre and Miquelon could thrive with a successful tourist industry that might counteract the effects of the fishing economy decreasing. With a boost to the economy, hunger in Saint Pierre and Miquelon, as well as the unemployment, could be improved upon while creating a higher standard of living.

– Stefanie Podosek

Photo: Flickr

Hunger in the Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands are a collection of islands located on the Pacific Ocean. Due to the reduced amount of rainfall in the region, hunger has become a growing problem for its citizens.

One of the primary sources of income for many on the island stems from their ability to grow food to sell at the numerous marketplaces in the country. About 5,000 people living in the Marshall Islands rely on agriculture as their primary form of income, and as sea levels continue to rise, these people have found it increasingly difficult to grow crops. The combination of drought and rising sea levels has thus increased hunger in the Marshall Islands

As water levels continue to rise in the region and food becomes a more scarce resource for many in the Marshall Islands, many citizens of the island nation have begun to consider moving to the United States. Under a 1986 compact, about 70,000 citizens of the island nation are free to immigrate to the United States. As sea levels continue to rise, and hunger in the Marshall Islands continues to increase, many citizens of the nation have begun to consider this option.

The Millennium Goals of the United Nations have started to make an effort in addressing the issue of hunger in the Marshall Islands. The government of the island, alongside the United Nations, has created three goals to help improve the conditions for people living on these islands. These goals include:

1. Between 1990 to 2015, halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day.
2. Achieve equal opportunities for decent work for all citizens. This opportunity is mainly for women in the country, who are not allowed to work many jobs.
3. Between 1990 and 2015, reduce the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 50 percent.

These three goals should allow the Marshall Islands to begin reducing the amount of hunger in their country. This policy change, alongside new technologies allowing for excellent crop yields, could mark the beginning of a new era in the country. In time, hunger in the Marshall Islands should be a thing of the past.

– Nick Beauchamp

China’s Poverty Reduction Plan Making Strides

The 11th ASEAN-China Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction took place in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province. During the meeting, over 120 government officials, experts and scholars from China and ASEAN countries gathered together. They discussed China’s poverty alleviation plan and most successful practices.

The Country Director of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Cambodia, Nick Beresford, praised China for their poverty-reduction methods, which have lifted “hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.” According to the China’s State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, more than 700 million Chinese citizens have transitioned out of poverty. In addition, the rural poor population in China has declined to 43.35 million in December 2016.

The President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Gilbert Houngbo, also believes that China’s poverty reduction plan presents an excellent model for other countries to implement within own their economies. China’s economy is the second largest and accounts for 14.8 percent of the world economy, right behind the U.S. economy. With 1.38 billion people, China also has the largest population in the world.

“Even as a symbol,” President Houngbo stated, “China’s economic transition offers hope to other developing countries that want to do the same thing.”  The primary component of China’s poverty reduction plan is steady income growth for the bottom 60 percent of households in rural China. This plan has four underlying factors:

1. Increased industrialization and urbanization throughout the country has transformed an agricultural surplus labor force into urban employment in China.
2. Equally distributing land between the bottom “quintile households” and the top income households is another goal. The equal distribution of land enables the lower income households to proportionally benefit from the payments the state provides to support agricultural development.
3. Universal social development programs are making contributions to increase income growth for bottom households. China has successfully implemented several social development programs designed to improve educational, medical and income growth.
4. Targeted poverty reduction programs will develop the physical infrastructure and increase social development. They will also generate income to assist poor households.

A global market research and consulting firm called Ipsos conducted an international survey titled, “What Worries the World.” The 2017 survey documented answers from 26 different countries. They asked a random sample of 18,557 adults, aged 16 to 64, if they believed China had been making the right decisions for its citizens.

China has the highest percentage (87 percent) of people believing their country is going in a positive direction. In the survey, China was the only country to list “moral decline” as their top issue. A majority of the other 25 remaining nations listed “health care” or “unemployment” as their country’s top issue.

In a distant southern Chinese village, China’s poverty reduction plan is being tested. The Yi ethnic group has a unique language and culture from mainstream China. They reside in a geographically remote location. Many of them are illiterate and have a value system distinct from traditional money and prospects. Years of government intervention have failed to alter the Yi ethnic groups way of life.

In the village of Liangshan, more than 400,000 people are “classified as poor, meaning their yearly income is less than 340 dollars.” The Communist Party of China believes that lifting the Yi ethnic group and others out of economic hardship is critical to achieving the country’s goal of ending poverty by 2020.

While insufficient schools and language barriers present large issues, many locals believe that job creation for minority groups would be more successful than simply giving them money.

– Madison O’Connell

Photo: Flickr

Pharmacovigilance Against Tuberculosis Infection

Every year, 30,000 individuals in Papua New Guinea are newly infected with tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is an airborne infection that causes the bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis to develop into a disease that destroys organ tissue most commonly in the lungs. It can be fatal if left untreated. From those 30,000, one out of four are diagnosed; one out of five receive treatment; and less than half get successfully treated. If left untreated, one person can infect 10 to 15 people every year.

Increasing incidences due to minimal health care, poor housing and nutrition have contributed to poverty, overcrowding and people failing to complete their treatment. In fact only 50 percent of individuals have access to adequate healthcare. Children face the greatest risk of contracting disabling forms of tuberculosis. Unfortunately, 10 percent of children die from tuberculosis.

Papua New Guinea’s island of Daru has the highest rate of tuberculosis infection in the world. Out of 150,000 people on the island, 160 get infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis as of January 2016. The rise of two aggressive strains of tuberculosis are a result of recent developments of antibiotic resistance.

This resistance stems from multidrug resistant and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis. To treat tuberculosis infection, a daily regimen of injections, oral medication and supervised medical care of anywhere between six to 24 months is recommended.

With funding from the United States Agency for International Development and the National Department of Health, FHI360 is hosting a series training courses for doctors to introduce Bedaquiline. Janssen Pharmaceuticals developed Bedaquiline, the first new class of antibiotics approved by the United States Food and Drug Association in more than 40 years.

By utilizing pharmacovigilance—the science of early detection and adverse effects—Bedaquiline is slowly being introduced to practitioners and their patients. In fact, 85 courses of Bedaquiline have already been distributed to Daru hospital.

– Tiffany Santos
Photo: Flickr

10 Facts About Improving Women’s Education

In January 2014, former U.S. President Barack Obama stated, “You can judge a nation, and how successful it will be, based on how it treats its women and its girls.” Indeed, educating women throughout the world has proven a pivotal locus for ensuring communities’ and countries’ social and economic success. In order to highlight some of the tremendous growth that women and girls’ education generates, here are 10 facts about improving women’s education.

1. Emphasizing the need for ensuring the continual empowerment of women worldwide, the United Nations made equal access to education for girls a central focus of its Millennium Development Goals. The U.N. has made the elimination of gender disparities in primary and secondary education its third goal. Furthermore, it sought to reconcile the injustice that limited women’s opportunities for both education and, by extension, employment. Since the completion of the Millennium Development Goals, women have constituted 41 percent of paid workers in fields outside of agriculture. This is a tremendous increase from the 1990 rate of 35 percent.
2. Educated women are likely to marry at later ages and consequently have fewer children. In fact, by simply providing girls with an extra year of schooling, nations can reduce a woman’s fertility rate by 5 to 10 percent. Limiting the number of individuals present will ensure improved accessibility to resources and better opportunities for all people, particularly in countries struggling with overpopulation, such as Nigeria and China.
3. Girls who stay in school longer lower their probability of contracting HIV, thereby adding securing their health and wellbeing. In fact, the Girls Global Education Fund has reported that in Africa, children born to mothers who have not received education have a one in five chance of dying before age 5.
4. Improving women’s education promotes continued education for whole families. In sending women to school, they are likely to encourage their children’s educations. This chain reaction illustrates the ways in which educating a girl improves an entire nation’s access to education.
5. For each additional year that a girl spends in primary school, her wages increase by up to 20 percent. By continuing with her education through secondary school, her wages increase by 25 percent. Improving education for girls therefore ensures their socioeconomic stability and successes worldwide.
6. By providing women and girls access to education, the probability of their involvement in the political process increases. Through education, women are more likely to participate in civic engagement and decision-making. Consequently, this promotes a more representative government. In fact, the average proportion of women in parliaments across the world has doubled over the past 20 years. This is a direct result of the success of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals in reducing the gender disparity in primary and secondary school education.
7. In recent years, young women accounted for 59 percent of the total illiterate population. By providing women and girls with an education, illiteracy rates worldwide will inevitably increase, suggesting the overarching trend of global educational success.
8. Educational depravation for women and girls has proven costly for the global economy. By refusing to give women and girls education, individual economies suffer as much as a $1 billion loss in revenue. Throughout the world, this constitutes a $92 billion loss each year. This suggests that investing in women’s education is a lucrative decision for all nations to make.
9. Girls’ education has a tremendous impact on the environment. According to the Brookings Institution, secondary educational opportunities for women remain the most cost-effective investment against climate change.
10. When girls are educated, communities maintain their stability at higher rates and can recover faster from conflict. By providing women and girls with secondary educational opportunities, nations also reduce their risk of war substantially and secure limitations on terrorism and extremism.

Ultimately, girls’ education holds significant implications for the global community. By improving women’s education, the world thrives both socially and economically. It is critical for nations to invest in women’s education in order to guarantee both individual and global success.

– Emily Chazen

Photo: Flickr