The night of November 10, 2021, marked an inspiring day for renewable energy innovations. Jeremiah Thoronka, a 21-year-old student from Sierra Leone, won the Global Student Prize at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. His invention, Optim Energy, utilizes kinetic energy from pedestrian and street traffic vibrations to produce clean, renewable energy. With $100,000 in […]
From November 29 to December 1, 2021, the Philippines vaccinated 7.6 million people in three days. This was part of a mass vaccination campaign called “Bayanihan, Bakunahan.” The intense Philippines vaccination drive exceeded expectations by about 200,000 vaccines. A second wave of the “Bayanihan Bakunahan” campaign ran later in December. According to Our World in […]
Seasonal electricity shortages in Tajikistan are a common occurrence. This winter will be no different, as the government has drafted a plan for winter electricity rationing and the rural parts of the country have undergone electricity rationing since October 2021. These areas only have power from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. to […]
As the “fourth-largest island” globally, Madagascar holds a distinctive ecosystem. However, the country struggles with skyrocketing poverty rates and widespread hunger. Political instability and frequent natural disasters contribute to these circumstances. According to USAID, more than “a third of households lack adequate food at any given time of the year.” The World Food Programme’s (WFP) […]
In September 2020, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented a series of farming laws aimed at loosening the government’s protective role in selling agricultural products. Instead of assisting the farms and their workers, who make up at least 58% of the workforce, the laws left farms with fewer profits. After months of protests, in the […]
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 15% of people worldwide, roughly 1 billion, live with a disability. An estimated 80% of those living with disabilities reside in developing countries where lack of accessibility serves as a barrier for getting through everyday life. Moreover, these physical obstacles can lead to both social and cultural hardships. […]
The term “Arab Spring” characterized a series of upheavals across the Middle East and North African regions (MENA) in which a surge of citizens defied their authoritarian governments. It all started in Tunisia in 2010 when a man set himself on fire in a demonstration against police corruption. Sudan joined the anti-oppression movement in an […]
The HIV/AIDS epidemic remains a significant public health problem in southern Africa. In the last decade, infections have drastically dropped while awareness of HIV status and availability of treatment has increased. This progress aligns with the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goal. Meeting this goal means that at least 90% of people with HIV are aware of their […]
In a 2021 Brookings Institution report, Dr. Damaris Parsitau proposed that African women and girls remain at the forefront of recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic. In explaining why, the Kenyan professor of religion highlighted that African females bear the brunt of the pandemic’s disasters, making up more than 60% of Africa’s health care workforce […]
Without the help of development agencies, peacekeepers may always have to participate in the never-ending cycle of peacekeeping. With 50% of the world’s poor projected to live in counties where violence casts its constant shadow, peacekeeping efforts can only stand to scale, but at what cost, and to what end? Fortunately, technological advancements, such as […]
