Belgium, located in Western Europe, has a population of 11 million people. One of the smaller European countries, Belgium has one of the best healthcare systems in Europe, ranking in the top 10 European countries with the best healthcare for the past several years. Belgium also spends much of its GDP on healthcare, and only 2.4% of the population has reported an unmet need for medical care.
How it Works
All healthcare in Belgium is accessible through health insurance. A government-funded mandatory insurance scheme pays for the system and anyone who lives and works in Belgium has access to the country’s healthcare system. Public healthcare receives financing from both health insurance and social security contributions, which comes out of people’s salaries and goes to the state.
When someone is sick and in need of a doctor, they pay the medical fee after the appointment but receive a reimbursement of most of the money.
Health Status
As of 2019, the average life expectancy in Belgium was around 81 years. Social inequalities in the average life span are greater among men than women. For women, the average life span is 84 years; for men, it is 79 years. About 76% of Belgium residents reported being in either good health or very good health. Meanwhile, records determined that 20% of the population over 14 years old was in bad health.
Though Belgium does have a healthy populace, it is not without problems. As of 2018, 29% of Belgium residents over the age of 14 lived with chronic diseases. This number also increases with age: for example, 44% of the population over 74 years lived with a chronic disease. However, these diseases are preventable with solutions like promoting healthier lifestyles, preserving the environment and facilitating healthcare access. The two most common causes of death in Belgium are cardiovascular diseases and cancer, though both have decreased slightly over the past few years.
Who it Affects
Unfortunately, Belgium faces health inequalities, as upper-class individuals live almost around 20 years more than lower-class individuals. Vulnerable groups like low-income families, individuals with low levels of education, single parents, undocumented immigrants, the under-represented ethnic groups or unemployed individuals suffer from unmet needs, mainly due to financial issues or unawareness.
Though policies like the maximum-billing system and other schemes ensure some free medical help to lower-class individuals, some still have to forgo medical care when they need it, as out-of-pocket spending is fairly high in Belgium. This is especially the case for asylum seekers or undocumented migrants as there is a fear of others reporting them to authorities.
Another group that deserves special attention in healthcare is the elderly residents of Belgium who make up 19% of the total population. Because many of them require long-term care, the need for long-term care is growing at home and in institutions. The level of care that Belgium’s health insurance covers is dependent on the individual’s degree of dependency with daily activities and if they have any disorientation of sorts. In comparison to other countries, Belgium has well-developed nursing home care services and residential facilities, but there is a growing worry about affordability.
The Good News
Belgium is making major improvements. It is working hard to enhance not only its health system as a whole but also to better people’s health. The management of rising numbers of residents with chronic diseases is slowly improving as well. There is time to do even more to improve healthcare in Belgium.
– Katelyn Mendez
Photo: Unsplash
How the Beirut Explosion Could Impact Health
Though there is still uncertainty about the massive explosion that occurred on August 4, 2020, near the port of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, there are some facts and predictions about the health outcomes that it has and will cause. NGOs mobilized humanitarian aid teams immediately after the tragedy in an effort to provide aid. The recent explosion could impact much of the population’s health, considering the mass amounts of ammonium nitrate and other toxins in the air, the falling infrastructure and destroyed hospitals, an increasing lack of access to healthcare and the rising demand for emergency response teams. The following four points are a few of the health outcomes and predictions regarding the Beirut explosion, as well as what organizations on the ground are doing to help those the explosion impacted the most.
4 Facts About How the Beirut Explosion Could Impact Health
Beirut has a population of nearly 2.5 million people, all of whom may be at risk of detrimental health outcomes from the explosion. When considering the impacts of the toxins in the air, destroyed housing and other vital infrastructure and mental health impacts from the Beirut explosion, it is critical for experts to account for and properly assess present and future health outcomes in order to aid the affected civilians. The most reliable and effective place to donate is through the Lebanese Red Cross. Thirty teams mobilized to work on the ground in Beirut; they worked on rescuing and searching for the wounded, and treating them on-site and/or transporting them to hospitals. Additionally, Lebanese Red Cross teams have provided emergency shelter for thousands of families, with goals to shelter over 10,000 families in the coming months, as well as offer food, water, hygiene kits and PPE to families.
– Naomi Schmeck
Photo: Wikipedia
Pregnant Women and Children In the Yemen Crisis
The Yemeni Civil War began in 2015 and has become a humanitarian crisis, devastating families and communities. The conflict between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels continues with no end in sight. More than 80 percent of the population, about 24 million people, lack food, health care and safe living conditions. Those who need assistance most are pregnant women, newborns and children.
Childcare and the Civil War
The civil war in Yemen prevents the most defenseless people in Yemeni society — pregnant women, newborns and children — from receiving life-saving medical treatment on time. At MSF’s Taiz Houban Mother and Child Hospital, the number of children and newborns dead on arrival at the location has doubled from 52 in 2016 to 103 in 2018. The most prevalent causes of death in newborns were prematurity, deprivation of oxygen known as birth asphyxia and severe infection.
Families struggle to find access to limited medical facilities and must navigate frontlines and checkpoints to receive care. Additionally, the Yemenis’ ability to access healthcare of any kind has dramatically diminished. Due to the declining economy that has devalued people’s savings, the vast majority depend on insufficient public healthcare.
Despite the conditions pregnant women and children during the Yemen Crisis are facing, several organizations aim to help these disadvantaged Yemenis receive the care they need.
Stay Safe Mama Project
The United Nations Population Fund, with help from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has launched the Stay Safe Mama project so that pregnant women in Yemen can safely deliver their babies. As a result, 300 health facilities have been enhanced with reproductive health kits, medicine and supplies for maternity units. The project also supports midwives in local communities so that pregnant women and children during the Yemen Crisis who don’t have access to a hospital can still obtain the care they deserve. Aisha, a 27-year-old, who fled the violence from her village in Hodeida and now lives in a small shack with multiple relatives and children, received healthcare through a center organized under the ‘Stay Safe Mama’ project.
“The care I received at the center was beyond what I expected,” Aisha told representatives from UNFPA. Aisha also said that she “had regular check-ups, and when it was time to give birth, [she] was not worried anymore. [She] gave birth to a healthy baby girl.”
Responsive Governance Project
The Responsive Governance Project (RGP), with the assistance of the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID), provides instruction to improve the skills and knowledge of midwives. Additionally, RGP’s main priority is to provide pregnant women and children during the Yemen Crisis access to emergency obstetrical and natal care. Dr. Jamila Alraabi, the Deputy Health and Population Minister, states that the RGP has supported her agency and local health councils to improve maternal health policies.
In speaking with Jeff Baron from Counterpart International, Dr. Alraabi said that “no one can work alone, and no one can achieve success alone. It should be a partnership, and this is our hope in Yemen, that we will not have a woman die from preventable causes.”
UNICEF and Yemen
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provides Yemenis access to health treatment and access to safe water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. As of August 2019, UNICEF maintained over 3,700 health centers and aided around 730,000 pregnant and lactating women by providing basic health care services. Additionally, 11.8 million children were vaccinated for measles and rubella, and 200,000 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition. Going forward, UNICEF’s efforts will focus on “strengthening systems, improving access to primary health care, as well as malnutrition management and disease outbreak response, including maintaining vaccination coverage.”
These three organizations are just examples of the efforts raising awareness and providing aid toward the Yemen Crisis. Children continue to be killed and injured during the conflict. Before COVID-19, 2 million children under the age of five were dying from acute malnutrition and in need of treatment. In addition to this, around 70 percent of the arriving pregnant women experience “obstructed labor, prolonged labor, eclampsia, uterine rupture or post-partum bleeding” and other life-threatening conditions. While the conflict continues, these organizations are making efforts that have helped many women and children in Yemen.
– Mia Mendez
Photo: Flickr
Refugee Poverty in the Netherlands
In 2018, the Netherlands’ government reported that 584,000 households, or 7.9% of the general population, were subsisting on an income at or below the poverty line. In other words, they were making less than 60% of the national median disposable income. This is relatively low; the Netherlands has the fifth-lowest rate of poverty amongst the nations in the European Union, and poverty rates have been on the decline over the past several years due to economic growth and lower unemployment rates. However, refugee poverty in the Netherlands remains a major concern.
The Netherlands’ Reputation
Refugees and immigrants have always been attracted to the country because of its historically high levels of tolerance. The Netherlands is also notorious for being a nation of prosperity, egalitarianism and humanitarian aid. For instance, in World War I, 900,000 Belgians sought refuge in the Netherlands, which was neutral, to escape fighting. During the Holocaust, tens of thousands of people fleeing the Nazis hid in the Netherlands until Axis powers occupied it.
Fast forward to the 21st century, and once again, tens of thousands of people from all over the world are applying for asylum in the Netherlands each year. Although some are moving around within the European Union, many are escaping their war-torn countries of birth. In 1998, this was due to the Yugoslav wars, which kept the number of asylum seekers at high numbers until 2004. In 2015, the Syrian Civil War commenced the flow of a new wave of refugees that are still coming in high numbers today.
The Struggle for Refugee Poverty in the Netherlands
Although the country welcomes these refugees, they do not fare as well economically as their Dutch counterparts. Currently, 79% of Syrian refugees are making less than the low-income threshold, and 95% rely on income support as their main source of income. The nationality of refugees that are best off, Iranians, are still four times as likely to be living in poverty as their Dutch counterparts. In total, 53% of refugee households have a low income.
A cycle has developed because sectors of the Dutch economy, such as agriculture and labor, depend on migrant workers. However, these jobs consistently do not pay well, and few efforts occured to increase their wages. Because refugees typically do not have schooling on par with those from the EU, they have limited job options, and they continue to struggle economically.
The One’s Providing Aid
The Dutch government has done a lot to help incoming refugees. To ensure that immigrants are adjusting well to a new country, immigrants must take a national integration exam within three years of arrival. There are additional levels of support for highly educated refugees resettling in the Netherlands. The Foundation for Refugee Students (UAF) allows for better planning of “educational guidance, language training and educational courses once refugees arrive in the Netherlands.” UAF provides housing for refugees in areas that are close to universities and higher education establishments, and it has recently created a mentor program that matches Dutch students with resettled refugees to provide them with support to settle into university life.
The Netherlands has been a place refugees immigrated to during many different conflicts, including the 2015 Syrian Civil War. However, an economic gap still remains between native-born Dutch citizens and refugees. In order to address this issue, the government and UAF have been working to make the transition into the country easier and positively impact refugee poverty in the Netherlands.
– Sophie van Leeuwen
Photo: Pixabay
Dance Education in Favelas: Uplifting Brazil’s Most Marginalized
Favelas and Poverty
Given their marginalization, progress toward achieving socio-economic mobility and employment is far more difficult for children in favelas relative to children of wealthier neighborhoods. They are at a heightened risk of involvement in crime, such as the extensive drug trafficking occurring within these favelas. Child labor within drug operations is a widespread issue affecting homeless and/or orphaned minors living on the outskirts of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Young girls are often swept into the sexual exploitation occurring within the gangs.
In order to combat the injustice and marginalization of the favelas’ youth, civil society groups have recently offered creative endeavors that have proven imperative to restoring hope and sparking change. Dance education in favelas brings Brazil’s impoverished children closer to a sense of purpose and self, by offering an option for physical activity off the streets. In particular, the separate favela dance projects Espaço Aberto and Na Ponta dos Pés have collectively taught thousands of previously disempowered children lessons of resilience and patience in order to progress toward brighter futures.
Espaço Aberto
Opened in 1998, the Rio favela dance school “Espaco Aberto,” meaning “open space,” has the primary mission of spreading joy and inspiring young children and adolescents with the opportunity to dance.
The school mainly teaches ballet, a style typically associated with wealth given its formalities and years of extensive training required to master the art.
The school’s co-founder and dance instructor, Yolanda Demetrio, seeks to unravel and transform disheartening favela stereotypes of indignity and permanent grievance. With professional dance instructors alongside her preaching messages of encouragement and incentive, the past 22 years have seen countless favela residents go on to follow Demetrio’s footsteps— eventually opening their own dance studios and improving their economic circumstances.
However, the school is not meant to lead students to only pursue dance careers, although that may be a feasible result. Rather, Espaco Aberto motivates a historically overlooked population to find the potential within themselves. For example, just two years into dance studies, a young student named Jeferson became inspired by the school’s value of goal-setting. His newfound confidence in his abilities emboldened him to re-enroll in formal school.
Na Ponta Dos Pés
The Na Ponta Dos Pés ballet dance project, translating to “Pointe Break,” is specifically geared towards favela girls in the impoverished Alemao complex located in northern Rio. Professional ballerina Tuany Nascimento began the project in 2012 when she recognized that the daily violence and hardships faced in favelas scar vulnerable children— and particularly girls.
Historically, the more than 60,000 Alemao residents have suffered from the aftermath of poor political decisions, further endangering the community. Prior to 2010, a lack of government authority in the area resulted in the control of drug cartels threatening the security of civilians. Recent years have seen the sudden presence of armed police units with the formal intent to reduce narco-political power, yet it has only contributed to community violence and disorder. As residents are killed by the police and the death toll continues to rise, the violence results in instability. Female victims are disproportionately affected.
Similar to Espaco Aberto, Nascimento also wishes to offer an alternative to those falling victim to, or choosing, a harmful lifestyle.
“People get into crime because they don’t have opportunities, but the ballet project gives them a chance not to fall into the wrong kind of life,” said Nascimento.
The project began in a rented basketball court, safe from outdoor violence. Since then, as more people come to realize the importance of dance education in favelas, the project has received a several thousand-dollar grant to build a proper dance studio. Dance education in favelas inspires girls to imagine their worlds as extending past illegal activity and including endless opportunities. In the vice documentary entitled Ballet and Bullets: Dancing Out of The Favelas, in which Nascimento and her students share their stories, one described her newfound hope and determination.
The student said, “Poor people don’t have a future? No. We’re a lot more than that… Not just because we’re ballet girls. You can do a plié, a grand écart, why can’t you do other things in your life as well?… A black woman can be a businesswoman.”
Overall Impacts of Dance
These two grassroots projects show how dance education can positively impact people living in favelas. Both dance studios emphasize patience, yet inevitable achievement. Newly found confidence in one’s dance capabilities, as in the cases of Jeferson from Espaco Aberto and the student from Na Ponta do Pés, can transform into one’s motivation to achieve improved living conditions through education and hard work.
– Breana Stanski
Photo: Pixabay
7 Facts about Sanitation in Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea is a country located on the western coast of Central Africa. Corruption in politics has culminated in a small elite group receiving money and success. Around 44% of the population still lives under the poverty line. Here are seven facts about sanitation in Equatorial Guinea.
7 Facts About Sanitation in Equatorial Guinea
Sanitation in Equatorial Guinea has improved tremendously throughout the years even if it seems like the country still has a long way to go. It has not helped that Equatorial Guinea’s government has not always been supportive of sanitation legislation. Thankfully, outside organizations like U.N.-Water and UNICEF are providing aid.
– Bailey Sparks
Photo: Flickr
An Examination of Healthcare in Belgium
Belgium, located in Western Europe, has a population of 11 million people. One of the smaller European countries, Belgium has one of the best healthcare systems in Europe, ranking in the top 10 European countries with the best healthcare for the past several years. Belgium also spends much of its GDP on healthcare, and only 2.4% of the population has reported an unmet need for medical care.
How it Works
All healthcare in Belgium is accessible through health insurance. A government-funded mandatory insurance scheme pays for the system and anyone who lives and works in Belgium has access to the country’s healthcare system. Public healthcare receives financing from both health insurance and social security contributions, which comes out of people’s salaries and goes to the state.
When someone is sick and in need of a doctor, they pay the medical fee after the appointment but receive a reimbursement of most of the money.
Health Status
As of 2019, the average life expectancy in Belgium was around 81 years. Social inequalities in the average life span are greater among men than women. For women, the average life span is 84 years; for men, it is 79 years. About 76% of Belgium residents reported being in either good health or very good health. Meanwhile, records determined that 20% of the population over 14 years old was in bad health.
Though Belgium does have a healthy populace, it is not without problems. As of 2018, 29% of Belgium residents over the age of 14 lived with chronic diseases. This number also increases with age: for example, 44% of the population over 74 years lived with a chronic disease. However, these diseases are preventable with solutions like promoting healthier lifestyles, preserving the environment and facilitating healthcare access. The two most common causes of death in Belgium are cardiovascular diseases and cancer, though both have decreased slightly over the past few years.
Who it Affects
Unfortunately, Belgium faces health inequalities, as upper-class individuals live almost around 20 years more than lower-class individuals. Vulnerable groups like low-income families, individuals with low levels of education, single parents, undocumented immigrants, the under-represented ethnic groups or unemployed individuals suffer from unmet needs, mainly due to financial issues or unawareness.
Though policies like the maximum-billing system and other schemes ensure some free medical help to lower-class individuals, some still have to forgo medical care when they need it, as out-of-pocket spending is fairly high in Belgium. This is especially the case for asylum seekers or undocumented migrants as there is a fear of others reporting them to authorities.
Another group that deserves special attention in healthcare is the elderly residents of Belgium who make up 19% of the total population. Because many of them require long-term care, the need for long-term care is growing at home and in institutions. The level of care that Belgium’s health insurance covers is dependent on the individual’s degree of dependency with daily activities and if they have any disorientation of sorts. In comparison to other countries, Belgium has well-developed nursing home care services and residential facilities, but there is a growing worry about affordability.
The Good News
Belgium is making major improvements. It is working hard to enhance not only its health system as a whole but also to better people’s health. The management of rising numbers of residents with chronic diseases is slowly improving as well. There is time to do even more to improve healthcare in Belgium.
– Katelyn Mendez
Photo: Unsplash
5 Projects Fighting Hunger in Tajikistan
5 Projects Fighting Hunger in Tajikistan
Through various technological and modernization developments, Feed the Future has had a huge success, including secure access to land and water, increased breastfeeding rates and the establishment of a pilot program to prevent and treat moderate acute malnutrition in children. One of the most notable accomplishments was the introduction of seedling technology that helped produce more than 1.5 million seedlings of improved produce, such as cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet peppers.
While hunger is still a very prominent issue throughout Tajikistan, the Tajik government and international organizations’ efforts have brought forth numerous improvements throughout the last 10 years. With continued support, Tajikistan has high hopes for an improved future.
– Heather Law
Photo: Flickr
Improving Healthcare in Malawi
Malawi is a landlocked country in Southern Africa with a population of over 18 million people. It also has one of the worst healthcare systems in the world, ranking at 185 out of 190 countries and having a life expectancy of about 64 years old. While Malawi is gradually improving its system, lowering death rates and increasing its life expectancy, healthcare in Malawi still faces serious issues.
Healthcare Structure
Malawi’s healthcare system has three sectors:
Major Contributions to a Struggling Healthcare System
Several factors contribute to a struggling healthcare system, but there are two major healthcare issues in Malawi to be aware of:
Solutions
While healthcare in Malawi is slowly progressing, poverty is still an issue that makes good healthcare a challenge to attain. Programs to educate future and current healthcare workers, proper resources and suitable facilities all require adequate funding. Fortunately, there are organizations like CHAM that are working towards providing Malawi with better healthcare with health-workers and accessible facilities.
CHAM is the largest NGO and healthcare practitioner trainer in Malawi. It emerged with the hope of bringing affordable and quality healthcare to hard-to-reach and rural areas. CHAM is a network of church-owned health facilities, hospitals and training colleges. It has over 175 healthcare facilities and 12 training hospitals where it has educated 80% of Malawi’s healthcare workforce, provided care for 37% of the Malawi health services and 73% of the health services in rural communities. CHAM’s health facilities also administered projects like family planning, HIV prevention programs and empowerment programs. In the future, the organization hopes to find ways to bring in more income so that it can continue to affordably help Malawi citizens, as well as expand its colleges to accept more healthcare trainees.
Although Malawi is receiving help and steadily improving, more can and needs to occur to help fund and implement effective healthcare in the country.
– Sophie Dan
Photo: Flickr
Poverty, Policy and Pandemic with Johan Swinnen
The Borgen Project has published this article and podcast episode, “Poverty, Policy and Pandemic with Johan Swinnen,” with permission from The World Food Program (WFP) USA. “Hacking Hunger” is the organization’s podcast that features stories of people around the world who are struggling with hunger and thought-provoking conversations with humanitarians who are working to solve it.
When it comes to ending global hunger, policy plays a powerful role. It shapes the operation and strategy of humanitarian organizations and influences their ability to make an impact. Smart policies enable WFP, for example, to reach even more people with the lifesaving support they need.
That’s why organizations like International Food Policy Research Institute – known as IFPRI – are critical to advancing the fight against hunger. IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Its solutions have influenced government and NGO policies across the globe.
As COVID-19 threatens to increase rates of global hunger and poverty, IFPRI’s insights are more critical than ever as governments desperately seek to lessen the virus’ economic impact.
On today’s episode of Hacking Hunger, we caught up with Johan Swinnen, IFPRI’s director general, to get the inside scoop on his predictions of the virus’ impacts, challenges and potential effects, and solutions that might protect vulnerable people from it now and in the future.
Click the link below to listen to what Johan Swinnen’s predictions are regarding the pandemic.
World Food Program USA · Episode 47: Poverty, Policy and Pandemic with Johan Swinnen
Photo: Flickr
The Current State of Poverty in Togo
Poverty in Togo is a widespread issue. The nation is one of the world’s top five producers of phosphates, which are widely used in making fertilizers. However, Togo remains poor. Although Togo’s overall economy and GDP have improved in recent years, many worry that the rate of poverty in Togo is not declining fast enough. The disparity is especially notable in Togo’s agricultural sector, in which the majority of Togo’s population has employment. These issues leave many wondering, “What can be done to aid the people of Togo?”
Poverty in Rural Areas
Togo is a presidential republic in West Africa. Formerly known as French Togoland, Togo achieved its independence from France in 1960. A few years later, in 1967, General Gnassingbe Eyadema installed a military rule. After President Gnassingbe’s nearly four-decade-long rule, the military placed Faure Gnassignbe, the son of the former president, into office. Since then, Togo has been moving toward gradual reform of its democratic system. However, the Togolese’s frustration with the slow pace of this reform sometimes results in violent outbursts of political demonstrations.
According to the CIA World Factbook, 55.1% of Togo’s population lived below the poverty line in 2015. Rural poverty is especially concerning as more than half of Togo’s population resides in rural areas. In the World Bank’s estimation, the 2015 rate of poverty was worse for Togo’s rural areas, where 69% of the households lived below the poverty line.
These rural residents, the majority of whom are farmers, make up 65% of the Togolese workforce. Recognizing the vital role that the agricultural sector plays in Togo’s economy, many organizations and experts are focusing on revitalizing Togo’s agricultural sector. According to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a multi-donor trust fund that provides food security in the world’s poorest countries, Togo’s food yields from agriculture have been consistently low.
The Link Between Rural Poverty and Agriculture
The yields of Togo’s major export crops, such as cotton, coffee and cocoa, have been declining for some time. In order to make up for the food deficit, Togo still relies on foreign imports for some basic food items. Upon closer inspection, industry experts stated that some of the barriers to agriculture improvement in rural Togo include:
To address Togo’s rural poverty, GAFSA and the World Bank implemented the Togo Agriculture Sector Support Project (PASA) in 2017. PASA, a $19 million project, aimed to improve Togo’s agricultural output and foster an institutional environment that can encourage agricultural investment. According to GAFSA’s report, PASA brought numerous changes to Togo’s agricultural sector. Under PASA, Togo’s rice yields increased by 30%, farm employment opportunities in rural areas for the youth rose and numerous coffee farms and cocoa farms underwent rehabilitation. PASA rehabilitated 17,174 hectares of coffee farms and 11,578 hectares of cocoa plantations by implementing improved planting materials and improving coffee and cocoa value chains. Reports determined that PASA has helped 877,191 Togolese citizens.
Poverty in Togo has a close relationship with the performance of Togo’s agricultural sector. As the greatest source of employment for Togolese workers, the improvement of Togo’s agricultural sector is paramount to ensure a more stable economic future for Togo. While Togo’s economic potential is becoming a reality through steady improvement, there is still a long road ahead for Togo. The Togolese government and many other international experts recognize the importance of bolstering the country’s economy through the improvement of the agricultural sector. Organizations such as the World Bank and GAFSA are already implementing measures to alleviate poverty in Togo.
Although there are still many improvements that need to occur in agriculture and maintaining political stability, Togo has the ability to lift itself from poverty in the near future.
– YongJin Yi
Photo: Flickr