Education is a human right and a basic need that children and adults alike do not always receive in developing countries. In 1820, only 12 percent of the people in the world could read. By 2016, the percentages reversed and only 14 percent of the world population was illiterate. However, in countries like Niger, South Sudan and Burkina Faso, the rate of literacy is below 30 percent. With eLearning or electronic learning, these countries might be able to hope for a better future and potentially change their country’s path into a better economy and education system. Here is some information about how eLearning can help developing countries.
eLearning and its Benefits
eLearning is a form of learning through electronic devices like computers, tablets or any other electronic device that one can connect to the internet. Essentially, it is education online.
eLearning can help developing countries because it is not only incredibly adaptable but also cost-effective as it removes the need for buying printed course materials. It also helps improve performance and productivity as it gives the user flexibility to learn at their own pace as they can repeat lectures as many times as they desire. It also facilitates students by cutting the transport factor when countries struggle with public transport and other logistics.
The Department of Higher Education and Training in South Africa said that it has committed itself to “an expansion of online resources” for more colleges and universities to adapt to and reach rural communities so students study and learn at a time and place convenient for them. There are 14.8 million people without access to transport in rural areas.
eLearning is also environmentally friendly. In fact, it consumes 90 percent less power and has generated 85 percent less CO2 emissions compared to onsite education.
Costs of eLearning
However, while eLearning has many benefits for developing countries, it also comes at a cost. The biggest setback is that some developing countries cannot adapt to eLearning due to the lack of access to high-speed internet, trained IT personnel or access to electrical power.
Another setback is that governments need to approve and adapt their education system to deploy eLearning, which relies heavily on investing. According to Market Research, some states in Africa have been investing heavily in eLearning, growing at a rate of 15 percent per year.
South Africa has the largest open distance eLearning institution, The University of South Africa, with a student headcount of over 300,000. In 2011, 91 percent of its students were from South Africa.
UNESCO and other GNO’s initiatives have been aiding countries to obtain access to the internet to be able to utilize eLearning. Senegal and Zambia should grow up to 30 percent in the developing and deployment of eLearning.
India and Latin America are Catching Up
With a population of over 1.2 billion in India, the customer size should grow from 370 million to 500 in 2020. Another factor of this growth is that eLearning has also reached rural areas, promoting India’s economical and educational growth, booming the market.
One can greatly attribute much of this to India’s government work on promoting online sources and eLearning. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that eLearning is one of the “key tools for imparting education.”
According to Business Wire, Latin America is expecting to create revenues of $3 billion by 2023, a growth of more than 4 percent in the use of eLearning.
Countries like Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina have adopted eLearning and overall, revenues should reach $2.2 billion and are growing at an annual rate of 14.6 percent. The increase in these percentages of eLearning use has also been possible with the help of the increasing rise in the use of smartphones and the exchange of audio and text-based applications.
From this revenue, Brazil has been investing in eLearning to adapt it into the educational curriculum, and now 51 percent of institutions utilize eLearning. Overall, technology and innovation are at the forefront of investments in Brazilian schools.
With the help of governments and NGOs, eLearning can help developing countries by helping education reach children and adults alike. Subsequently, this could aid the growth of country’s economies and education systems with eLearning as a key tool as more and more countries adapt to online resources, adding themselves to the eLearning market.
– Merlina San Nicolás Leyva
Photo: Flickr
Type 2 Diabetes in Developing Countries
Type 2 diabetes results from the body’s ineffective use of insulin, a hormone that the pancreas makes and allows the body to either convert glucose into energy or store it. Insulin prevents one’s blood sugar from getting too high since it effectively removes glucose from the bloodstream. Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks and stroke among other conditions. While there are many risk factors for diabetes, physical inactivity and excess body weight are two of the most significant contributors to type 2 diabetes across the globe. However, there is an increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes in developing countries where investments in health care are often inadequate.
Diabetes in Developing Countries
Globally, the number of people with diabetes increased from 108 million in 1980 to 433 million people in 2019. Estimates determine that the global prevalence of diabetes is 9.3 percent, and about one in two people with diabetes are undiagnosed. The International Diabetes Federation projects that global prevalence will increase by 25 percent in 2030 and by 51 percent in 2045 if prevention methods and treatment programs remain unchanged.
Type 2 diabetes relates to obesity and overeating. Therefore, people in the past have associated it primarily with high-income countries, but this viewpoint is changing. The prevalence of diabetes in developing countries has been rising rapidly. In 2019, 79 percent of adults with diabetes were living in middle-low income countries.
Risk Factors of Diabetes in Developing Countries
A majority of type 2 diabetes cases are in advanced nations. However, the disease is becoming a serious problem in developing countries. Diabetes prevalence in low-middle-high SDI countries is 1.48, 3.74, and 3.42 percent, respectively. SDI refers to the Sustainable Development Index as an updated version of the human development index and measures the ecological efficiency of human development. Middle SDI countries also have the highest annual rate of increase in prevalence. The prevalence of diabetes in developing countries is growing with westernization and with the urbanization of rural areas. In Pakistan, for example, a recent study found that urban areas have a prevalence rate of 28.3 percent which was just higher than the rate of 25.3 percent in rural areas.
Obesity, a main contributor to the diabetes epidemic, is increasing rapidly in developing countries. This shift also connects with the nutrition transition. The nutrition transition results from changes in agricultural systems. Specifically, there is a decrease in fruit and vegetable consumption. There is also a rise in processed foods such as refined carbohydrates, added sweeteners, edible oils and animal products.
In many Asian populations, the risk of diabetes starts at a lower BMI than for Europeans. Additionally, increased intake of meat, oils, highly saturated ghee (a type of butter used in Asian cooking) and added sugar have also marked diet shifts in Asia. Before urbanization, physical activity counteracted the effects of high fat and sugar diets. Unfortunately, physical activity has also decreased as a result of the shift from agricultural labor to working in manufacturing services.
Preventive Methods
The current trends show that type 2 diabetes in developing countries will likely significantly increase, but these outcomes are preventable through lifestyle and dietary changes. Since treatments such as drugs and insulin are costly and developing countries have limited resources, people must prioritize prevention. It is crucial to raise awareness about the effects of lifestyle shifts on obesity and type 2 diabetes globally. Low-cost innovations include training non-medical health professionals and using mobile devices to spread awareness about type 2 diabetes prevention. In addition to technology, countries should develop solutions using networks of community health workers.
Accredited social health activist (ASHA) workers are an example of this type of intervention in Asia, where 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas with very limited access to health care facilities and skilled health workers. ASHA workers are health educators in their own communities and have the ability to care for patients at home while also providing guidance regarding diet and physical activity. Telemedicine and the use of technology support this system and keep the ASHA workers in touch with medical professionals. This intervention also offers employment to people with some medical knowledge. ASHAs are able to make money by charging low fees for their services and provide for their families.
Making cities more walkable or cyclable through urban planning can increase physical activity while taking some of the prevention weight off of health systems, especially in countries with limited health resources. Making healthy food more affordable through redesigning subsidies needs to be a priority. This is because industrialization makes processed food cheaper and more accessible. These actions require political will and an understanding of the negative implications of the growing diabetes prevalence. Such actions could make a significant difference in decreasing the epidemic globally.
– Maia Cullen
Photo: Pixabay
UNAMA Improving Human Rights in Afghanistan
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
In 2019, Afghanistan saw an excessive amount of violence. From the beginning of January through September, there were over 8,000 civilian casualties. The Taliban specifically targeted some of these attacks on women and health care providers.
One organization, The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), has devoted itself to eliminating the harsh conditions of typical Afghan life. UNAMA is using its research, reporting, advocacy and engagement to tackle this endeavor.
Specifically, UNAMA aims to protect civilians from armed conflict, defend against the violation of child rights, eliminate violence against women, halt arbitrary detention and prevent torture during detention. So many civilians, women and children, in particular, experience great suffrage as a result of the violence in Afghanistan.
Despite the bleakness of 2019, UNAMA has made progress. Large-scale suicide attacks decreased by 79 percent in 2019 when compared to 2018. Torture in conflict-related detainees decreased by 7 percent as well. Maintaining the mission and engaging in strategic partnerships are key aspects to improving the living conditions of the public and at-risk Afghans. By continuing the impactful research, reporting, advocacy and strategic relationships, UNAMA is improving human rights in Afghanistan.
Human Rights Defenders
For a long while, human rights defenders have been victims of violence and intimidation within Afghanistan. Specifically, in 2019, escalated tensions surrounded human rights workers where there were specific activities of attacks and/or kidnapping. During that escalation in violence, the Taliban announced that there would be an attack on all media outlets responsible for criticizing Taliban fighters. These defenders are vital to aiding the protection of people’s human rights in Afghanistan. In turn, these defenders must also receive protection.
Response to Rising Tensions
In January 2020, at an Amnesty International event, the authorities publicly committed to protecting the defenders of human rights in Afghanistan. Other organizations that support human rights throughout the nation attended the event. All of these groups designed a strategy outlining the actions they should take to protect human rights defenders.
This support launches initiatives that will investigate attacks, respond to incidents and/or threats of attacks, offer relief to human rights defenders and enable human rights defenders to continue work without the fear of retaliation. Helping these human rights defenders is vital to changing the situation of human rights in Afghanistan. If these defenders are unable to safely complete the work, then the human rights of Afghans will never improve.
Currently, human rights in Afghanistan are in need of remarkable improvements. Organizations are aiming to develop response mechanisms and preventative strategies toward improving human rights in Afghanistan. UNAMA is aiming to utilize research, reporting, advocacy, strategic partnerships and the protection of human rights defenders to help the Afghan population.
– Jacob E. Lee
Photo: Wikipedia
10 Celebrities at DREAM’s 8th Annual Benefit
The DREAM Project is a nonprofit organization that is working to improve the Dominican Republic. More than a million children live in poverty in the Dominican Republic. About 578,000 children younger than 15 are living without parental care and about 20 percent of them are orphans. DREAM provides more than 1 million hours of education to more than 8,000 children across 27 communities in the Dominican Republic. DREAM just held its eighth annual benefit on February 27, 2020, to raise money to keep operating its education programs. Gathering at The Mezzanine in New York City, New York, was the star-studded invitee list. Here are 10 celebrities who attended the DREAM’s eighth annual benefit to promote children’s education.
10 Celebrities Who Attended DREAM’s 8th Annual Benefit
All proceeds went towards DREAM’s Early Childhood Education and At-Risk Youth and Development programs. DREAM’s programs focus on children between the ages of 2 and 7, using Montessori methods instead of traditional teaching ones. In addition, they help with birth registration and parent education. Thanks to these programs, families can learn new techniques to use at home with their children, extending the education past the walls of the classroom.
– Catherine Lin
Photo: Flickr
5 Developing Nations Harnessing Solar Power
Approximately 840 million people lack access to electricity, most of whom live in developing nations in South Asia, Latin America and rural Africa. In India, around 300 million people live without electricity. In addition, the number is twice as high in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, the majority of developing nations have enormous solar power potential. Almost all of Africa receives 325 days of strong sunlight a year. Countries in Central Asia have an average of 250 days of sunlight a year. Additionally, many nations are capitalizing on that resource to increase access to electricity and alleviate energy poverty. In 2017, the developing world surpassed first world countries in renewable energy production, largely due to investments in solar. Here are examples of five developing nations harnessing solar power.
5 Developing Nations Harnessing Solar Power
Energy poverty or the lack of, including electricity and clean cooking facilities, remains a barrier to global prosperity and individual well-being. That is why ensuring basic energy for 100 percent of the world’s population by 2030 is one of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. These five developing nations harnessing solar power are leading the way in turning the lights on.
– Kayleigh Rubin
Photo: Flickr
A Look At Agricultural Development in Mali
Mali is a subsistence farming-based economy in West Africa. Approximately 80 percent of the population works in the agriculture industry, yet low productivity, natural disasters and poor crop yields prevent many Malians from rising out of poverty. The 40 percent poverty rate includes farmers that rely on outdated farming techniques for their livelihoods while also depending on favorable crop prices that fluctuate based on Mali’s fragile economy. Since agriculture is the main industry, USAID and the World Bank are working towards agricultural development in Mali.
Importance of Crops
The main crops in Mali are cotton, corn, cereal, peanuts and tobacco. It exports cotton to neighboring countries like Senegal on the Ivory Coast, and various types of cereal remain important due to their ability to withstand droughts. Since the Sahara Desert covers the northern portion of Mali, it is difficult to find suitable land for farming and livestock. Most farmers rely on the Niger River and its surrounding area for fertile land, as about 65 percent of the country is desert or semi-desert.
Mali cultivates less than 5 percent of its land, yet almost half of its GDP is from agriculture. Most of the cultivated land involves various types of cereals, such as sorghum and millet. One issue that affects the agriculture sector in Mali is desertification, which overgrazing livestock, droughts and deforestation can cause. Farmers rely on rainfall, yet rainfall in Mali is rare and droughts are common. Since the agriculture sector in Mali remains the most important industry for the majority of Malians with more than 40 percent of its GDP comprising of the agriculture sector, further agricultural development in Mali could benefit its people and economy by increasing income and reducing poverty.
USAID Projects
As part of its strategy to end world hunger, the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future initiative in Mali focuses on cereal for food security and poverty reduction, as well as rice production to improve income and livestock for food security and another source of income. To date, the Feed the Future initiative has benefitted approximately 500,000 Malians. In 2019, USAID used two methods as part of its Fertilizer Deep-Placement Micro-Dosing. This project aims to improve crop production through fertilizer deep placement and micro-dosing technology. More than 453 jobs emerged in rural areas due to the success of the two productivity methods.
Another project in the Mopti region helped increase farming productivity by 60 percent. The goal of the Large Scale Diffusion of Technologies for Sorghum and Millet Systems project was to increase sorghum and millet income. Seed treatment, hybrids of sorghum and millet and soil fertility improvement were among the reasons for the high productivity. Sorghum and millet were the focus crops due to their climate resilience and drought tolerance.
Nah Drame benefitted from the project in the Mopti region after receiving training on fertilizer, irrigation, sowing, land preparation and harvesting. She replicated what she learned on her own five-acre farm. Production and income increased so much that she expanded her farm to 12 acres and hired three employees to help with her expansion. Drame used some of the money she earned to buy clothes and school kits for her grandchildren. She also used the money to help her daughter start a business of her own, and it was all thanks to USAID’s involvement in the agriculture sector in Mali.
The World Bank’s Involvement
The World Bank’s $150 million Fostering Agricultural Productivity Project for Mali began in 2010 with the goal of improving productivity and crop yields. The project proved successful as crop yields increased from 27 million pounds in 2016 to 34 million pounds in 2018. The project also benefitted 668 farms and 4,300 producers in Sabalibougou, and it developed more than 6,600 acres of land for agriculture in M’Bewani and Sabalibougou.
USAID, the World Bank and various other organizations are continually working towards agricultural development in Mali. Economic development is slow, yet improving income for millions of farmers in Mali could help reduce poverty and develop the economy. If more Malians like Nah Drame obtained training on improved farming techniques, an even greater impact could take place, as increased income would help millions afford better education, health care, necessities and many other things that those in developed countries often take for granted.
– Lucas Schmidt
Photo: Wikipedia
How eLearning Can Help Developing Countries
Education is a human right and a basic need that children and adults alike do not always receive in developing countries. In 1820, only 12 percent of the people in the world could read. By 2016, the percentages reversed and only 14 percent of the world population was illiterate. However, in countries like Niger, South Sudan and Burkina Faso, the rate of literacy is below 30 percent. With eLearning or electronic learning, these countries might be able to hope for a better future and potentially change their country’s path into a better economy and education system. Here is some information about how eLearning can help developing countries.
eLearning and its Benefits
eLearning is a form of learning through electronic devices like computers, tablets or any other electronic device that one can connect to the internet. Essentially, it is education online.
eLearning can help developing countries because it is not only incredibly adaptable but also cost-effective as it removes the need for buying printed course materials. It also helps improve performance and productivity as it gives the user flexibility to learn at their own pace as they can repeat lectures as many times as they desire. It also facilitates students by cutting the transport factor when countries struggle with public transport and other logistics.
The Department of Higher Education and Training in South Africa said that it has committed itself to “an expansion of online resources” for more colleges and universities to adapt to and reach rural communities so students study and learn at a time and place convenient for them. There are 14.8 million people without access to transport in rural areas.
eLearning is also environmentally friendly. In fact, it consumes 90 percent less power and has generated 85 percent less CO2 emissions compared to onsite education.
Costs of eLearning
However, while eLearning has many benefits for developing countries, it also comes at a cost. The biggest setback is that some developing countries cannot adapt to eLearning due to the lack of access to high-speed internet, trained IT personnel or access to electrical power.
Another setback is that governments need to approve and adapt their education system to deploy eLearning, which relies heavily on investing. According to Market Research, some states in Africa have been investing heavily in eLearning, growing at a rate of 15 percent per year.
South Africa has the largest open distance eLearning institution, The University of South Africa, with a student headcount of over 300,000. In 2011, 91 percent of its students were from South Africa.
UNESCO and other GNO’s initiatives have been aiding countries to obtain access to the internet to be able to utilize eLearning. Senegal and Zambia should grow up to 30 percent in the developing and deployment of eLearning.
India and Latin America are Catching Up
With a population of over 1.2 billion in India, the customer size should grow from 370 million to 500 in 2020. Another factor of this growth is that eLearning has also reached rural areas, promoting India’s economical and educational growth, booming the market.
One can greatly attribute much of this to India’s government work on promoting online sources and eLearning. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that eLearning is one of the “key tools for imparting education.”
According to Business Wire, Latin America is expecting to create revenues of $3 billion by 2023, a growth of more than 4 percent in the use of eLearning.
Countries like Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina have adopted eLearning and overall, revenues should reach $2.2 billion and are growing at an annual rate of 14.6 percent. The increase in these percentages of eLearning use has also been possible with the help of the increasing rise in the use of smartphones and the exchange of audio and text-based applications.
From this revenue, Brazil has been investing in eLearning to adapt it into the educational curriculum, and now 51 percent of institutions utilize eLearning. Overall, technology and innovation are at the forefront of investments in Brazilian schools.
With the help of governments and NGOs, eLearning can help developing countries by helping education reach children and adults alike. Subsequently, this could aid the growth of country’s economies and education systems with eLearning as a key tool as more and more countries adapt to online resources, adding themselves to the eLearning market.
– Merlina San Nicolás Leyva
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts about Sanitation in Namibia
Namibia suffers from a lack of sanitation, particularly in rural areas. Since 2006, the country has been working to improve sanitation levels through organizations that have provided increased access to facilities. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, global sanitation and hygiene are more prominent than ever. How has sanitation in Namibia changed? How is the government responding to COVID-19? The following 10 facts detail how organizations and the government continue to fight for improved hygiene.
10 Facts About Sanitation in Namibia
Sanitation in Namibia continues to be a problem in the country. Thankfully, organizations like UNICEF and the Community-Led Total Sanitation campaign are working to improve living conditions for the public. Through these programs and maintaining sanitation at the forefront of local government’s agendas, Namibia will see progress in the health and sanitation of its country.
Women in the Garment Industry in Bangladesh
Breaking the ceiling of the minimum living cost per day remains a challenge for millions of the poorest people on the earth, especially women. Amongst the causes of poverty, the fact that women are often not part of the labor force is one of the biggest quagmires that keeps them struggling. However, one area that women in the developing world often work in is the garment industry. In fact, there are many women working in the garment industry in Bangladesh today.
Bangladesh’s garment industry’s products make up the majority of what it exports. The expansion of the garment industry is quickly pulling people out of poverty in Bangladesh. Women are the major source of labor, where they make up 80 percent of workers. One might ask whether the garment and textile industry could be a gateway for women in the rest of the world to escape poverty.
Demand for Growth
Despite the fact that international trade has recently encountered uncertainty, a report from Mckinsey pointed out that the demand for growth from major populated countries, such as India and Indonesia, will continually saturate the market. With the demand continually persisting, many expect that the supply will continue to expand as well.
Beyond Asia, many in Africa see opportunities in the rising garment industry. Case studies from the African Development Bank Group indicate that women make up a significant part of the garment industry in Africa. In Ethiopia and Cote d’Ivoire, the two major cotton cultivators in the world, 80 percent of garment workers are women. Moreover, these countries’ start-up entrepreneurs are largely women.
Lifting Women Out of Poverty
The rising figures of women in the garment industry excite people’s outlook on the economy, but this is not the final answer to lifting women out of poverty. The problems of delayed or no and low payment, forced labor, dangerous working environments and other exploitation of women pull the world’s attention and push for reform. From a global perspective, the campaign for humanitarian improvement is one major goal of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Beyond economic growth, acquiring decent work conditions, gender equality and opportunity for education matter when it comes to empowering women workers.
In Bangladesh, the international garment industry used to benefit from cheap labor because of loose legislative regulations and awful working conditions. More recently, the situation of underpayment has received challenges. For example, garment workers in Bangladesh raised their issues of low wages and poor working conditions, causing unrest and subsequently leading to Bangladesh increasing the minimum wage by 5 percent. This may seem minor, but it greatly impacted the garment industry in Bangladesh and started the process of reform. Consequential bills, including the signing of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, constantly forge the formal framework to ensure the well-being of women in the garment industry.
The development of the global garment industry is a good hammer for women to smash the wall of poverty, but they still require more. The problems rooted in the most impoverished countries are not only “money concerned.” Social injustice and gender bias also influence the liberation of women. Luckily, the action of women and their social power is opening another window for reforms and improvement.
– Dingnan Zhang
Photo: Flickr
Nonprofit Programs in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country located in the West Indies where it occupies much of the eastern region of Hispaniola. As of 2020, the nation’s capital Santo Domingo had a population of 2.2 million with the entire country having a population of nearly 11 million people. Poverty has also victimized the Dominican Republic for generations. In fact, the Human Development Index (HDI) has ranked the nation 88 out of 177 countries around the world. With poverty still a widespread issue, more than 20 percent currently resides in shanty cabins. The majority of the Dominican Republic’s citizens have no access to clean drinking water, basic sanitation needs or fluid electricity. Despite these ongoing problems, a major decrease in poverty occurred, reducing from 54.70 percent in 1989 to 19.90 percent in 2016. Poverty relief through nonprofit organizations and education programs in the Dominican Republic has allowed for these results.
Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring
In 1995, a group of students from Dartmouth College traveled to the Dominican Republic. They volunteered at public schools in the small town of Cabarete for one semester. Spearheaded by Donald Rabinovich, his project DREAM, or Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring, became a rapid-fire success as the project began rebuilding the town’s local schools. DREAM focused on rebuilding classrooms, computer labs and libraries, as well as renovating bathrooms. The project soon evolved and planned new programs to offer children opportunities to further improve the Dominican Republic.
DREAM offers innovative education programs by adopting the Montessori learning system for its students to advance their learning ability. The system adopts self-directed activity where students decide how they learn and at what pace through experiential learning. The DREAM program boasted a 93 percent attendance rate for more than 450 students while 3-year olds developed better linguistic, socio-economic, kinesthetic and cognitive skills. Parents participated in weekly meetings to help foster their children’s education through the Montessori system at home.
Food for the Poor
Another of the many programs in the Dominican Republic that are improving living quality is Food for the Poor. The organization has helped alleviate poverty and provide fresh food and clean water to the Dominican Republic since 2000. One way it provides aid is by teaching dozens of families how to plant, grow and harvest fruits and vegetables through its greenhouse projects. On September 12, 2013, the city of Pedro Santana, located near the border east of Haiti, witnessed the building of its eighth greenhouse. This, along with the other seven, helps to increase food security and production in the Dominican Republic. The Church of the Nativity in Virginia provided funding for this project through its Operation Starfish program.
Operation Starfish
Operation Starfish began in 1998 with the aim of allowing families to engage in spiritual reflection and giving back to the less fortunate. The program encourages each family to donate at least 50 cents per day to aid the poor. Father Dick Martin came up with Operation Starfish to help others assist the poor at a minimal level while making a big difference. One year during Lent, more than 2,500 families donated 50 cents per day during the 40 days of Lent, resulting in the collection of over $67,000. This was more money than Fr. Martin initially predicted.
Community Development Projects
The Dominican Republic built almost 3,000 homes through its Community Development Projects. Additionally, the program also helped rebuild schools, clinics and community centers. Moreover, it assisted in building women’s human rights programs that teach independence, self-care and vocational training.
The greenhouse facility in Pedro Santana provides large stocks of produce thanks to efficient farming. The location, operated by local farmers, has performed beyond its expectations. A portion of profits from vegetable sales goes towards the greenhouses in the seven additional locations. Food for the Poor helped create a drip irrigation system that a water reservoir and underground supply lines feed.
With the progress that the Dominican Republic has made through education, mentoring and community rebuilding, the process of downsizing poverty and restoring its youth with innovative methods of developing skills and knowledge is improving the nation. These ways of poverty relief from nonprofits and pedagogical programs have been key factors in giving the Dominican Republic a fighting chance in becoming a future contributor to others in need itself.
– Tom Cintula
Photo: Flickr
Examining the Threats to Global Health
Mankind can often feel a state of invincibility. This might be due to ignorance or denial that one could become sick, but global health is constantly experiencing threats. Some of the biggest threats to global health include pollution, diseases and fragile locations. For people who live in developed and booming economies, this may mean nothing. However, those living in poverty are often in direct contact with the threats that can sometimes be fatal.
Air Pollution
Air pollution is one of the most widespread pollution problems and kills nearly 7 million people a year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nine out of 10 people breathe in contaminated air.
The most common forms of air pollution are smog and smoke. Smog can come from factories, industrial areas or vehicle emissions. The worst cases of smog often occur in major cities that have large populations. For example, several of the most highly polluted cities in China because of the population density and a large number of factories. Xingtai, named the most polluted city in the world, has a population of nearly 7 million.
Smoke is also a common air pollutant largely due to the large population of smokers. Inhalation of heavily polluted air can cause stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.
Diseases
Noncommunicable or noninfectious diseases are illnesses that do not transmit from one person to another, and in fact, people cannot transmit them at all. They include a wide number of disease but some of the most significant ones are stroke, cancer, diabetes and heart disease. The World Health Organization recognizes noncommunicable diseases as one of the biggest threats to global health. Air pollution can cause some forms of diseases, but environmental factors, lifestyle choices or genetics cause noncommunicable diseases.
According to WHO, noncommunicable diseases are the leading cause of death in the world as well as one of the biggest causes of poverty. In fact, 15 million people who have died from noninfectious diseases were living in poverty. This is often due to poor sanitation conditions as well as the inability to receive proper health care to treat said conditions.
Fragile Locations
Fragile locations are places that have poor sanitation, famine, drought or conflict (war or corruption). Living in fragile locations can lead to several complications especially due to poor health care. Often countries that have high unemployment and poverty rates are fragile locations. This is because the fragility of areas can put a risk on people’s health that may disable them or put them on the streets. Living in fragile locations can also increase the risk of developing noninfectious diseases.
Poverty
Nearly 36 percent of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty. When dealing with global health threats, a vast majority of those in need of care either cannot afford it or access it. People living in poverty frequently face the challenges of poor economic stability, poor or nonexistent health care and a weak education system. lack of education in developing countries can also lead to recklessness when caring for those with diseases, both noninfectious and infectious. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, ODPHP, strategies that aim to increase the economic mobility of families may help to alleviate the negative effects of poverty.
Organizations’ Help on Global Health
The CDC closely monitors and researches global health threats and ways to prevent and respond to them. Whenever there is a serious global health threat, the CDC is on the front line to aid in recovery, however, aid is not always helpful. According to the CDC, 70 percent of the world’s countries report that they are not prepared to face an outbreak. However, the world can do its part to prevent air pollution by smoking less and relying more on economically friendly means of travel. Although people cannot alter genetics it is important to avoid factors that may cause noninfectious diseases. For those in fragile locations, organizations like the CDC and WHO are attempting to provide aid and support to those in need.
Threats to global health are everywhere. Some threats are inevitable but others are man-made. It is important to regulate and reduce people’s ecological footprints so global health can experience improvement as a whole.
– Sarah Mobarak
Photo: Flickr