, ,

Reducing Disaster Risk in Pakistan

Disaster Risk in Pakistan
Locust swarms ravaged Pakistan in early 2020, overwhelming the agricultural industry. Like many less developed countries, agriculture composes a large portion of Pakistan’s economy. Agriculture alone creates 24.4 percent of GDP and 42.3 percent of the total labor force. Pakistan’s exports also rely on agro-based industries, such as cotton textile processing. As the fourth largest cotton producer in the world, cotton related products in Pakistan provided $11.7 billion of $24.7 billion in total exports last year. Improving preparedness and reducing disaster risk in Pakistan is crucial for national poverty eradication.infrastructure.

Disaster Risk Reduction in Less Developed Countries

Less developed countries (LDCs) are particularly vulnerable to disasters. One study suggested that the efforts aimed at reducing poverty and mitigating disaster risks are interconnected. Removing the loss from natural disasters would remove 26 million people from living in extreme poverty (defined as those who live on $1.9 per day). Poor people and poorer countries are highly vulnerable during natural disasters as they cannot regain societal norms back as effectively as more affluent nations.

Another report from the U.N. OHRLLS summarizes the measures of disaster risk reduction in LCDs and deduces that aims should minimize vulnerabilities and strengthen resilience in LDCs. The initial step taken by most LDCs to reduce the devastating impact of natural disasters is integrating the institutional infrastructure.assessment.

Disaster Risk Reduction in Pakistan

Before the recent locust swarms, natural disasters, including floods, earthquakes, landslides, drought and monsoons have already been an issue in Pakistan’s development. Monsoon season in 2018 alone caused 134 deaths and 1,663 houses to be damaged. Earthquakes in 2005 caused over 80,000 deaths in Pakistan. This staggering number was largely attributed to the low capabilities of emergency services after the earthquakes.

In 2007, Pakistan established the national disaster emergency system. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was placed in charge of general operations for disaster response.

Five years after the foundation, NDMA’s investment in disaster assessment reached $1.4 billion. That large amount of funds generates plenty of room for reducing disaster risk in Pakistan. Specifically, it allows the development of a monitoring and forecast system across the nation, which collects and consolidates data for disaster assessment.

International Efforts

International organizations developed projects for reducing disaster risk in Pakistan based on the Sendai Framework of Disaster Risk Reduction. This framework sets four priorities to embrace an improved disaster response: a better understanding of disaster risks, wider governance in risk management, improved ability in ex-post disaster recovery and greater investment in resilience development.

Based on these principles and priorities, the projects for disaster risk reduction in Pakistan cover varied issues. The World Bank offered $4 million to establish early forecast systems, ensuring Pakistan would have access to crucial disaster assessment information. Further international aid (£1.5 million) was offered from the U.K. to promote local safety and resilience culture through education and innovation. The U.N. provided the largest investment of $46 million to ensure disaster preparedness and other measures are the priority in policy implementation at every level.

Moving Forward

These efforts by the Pakistani government and other international organizations have improved the nation’s ability to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. This work has reduced the significant impact disasters generally have on the impoverished. Moving forward, it is essential that disaster risk reduction projects continue to grow, as new methods and technologies become available.

– Dingnan Zhang
Photo: Flickr

, ,

The Benefits of E-Mental Health in Chile

E-Mental Health in Chile
As mobile technologies and the internet spreads throughout the developing world, health care has become a new field for emerging technologies to treat patients from a distance. While the number of online programs and mobile apps has increased exponentially in the past decade, the science to verify their effectiveness has lagged. For this reason, Swiss researchers with Frontiers, a peer-reviewed health journal, studied a series of Chilean intervention technologies to test their effectiveness in treating and monitoring different mental health symptoms in adults and adolescents. The results show that while case studies are lacking in scope and resources to date, initial findings are that e-mental health in Chile is addressing inequalities in mental health access and affordability.

Mental Health Problems in the Developing World

A common misconception of the developing world since the 1990s was that depression and anxiety were conditions unique to the developed world. The Millenium Goals of the United Nations (U.N.) in 2015 made no mention of mental health as a global issue. The U.N. Millenium Development Goals for 2030 now include low-cost mental health as a pillar of development. The belief that poor countries were relatively immune to mental disorders due to their communal living and family-centered life has often inflated this misconception. Experts believed that these strong ties safeguarded poor communities in developing countries from developing mental health disorders. Health professionals, including doctors, psychiatrists and the World Health Organization (WHO) held this belief for most of the 20th century.

However, WHO reported a stark lack of access to mental health services in Afghanistan, Rwanda, Chad, Eritrea and Liberia in a 2005 report. Each country at the time had only one or two psychiatrists nation-wide. Poorer countries spend almost no money on treating mental health in comparison to general medicine. Many still consider access to mental health a luxury in these countries, exposing the socioeconomic inequalities. Prior to this, the World Bank (WB) in 1993 had found that mental disorders were the greatest cause of disability worldwide, including both in developed and developing countries.

According to Tina Rosenberg of The Guardian, the data from the WB in 1993 did not fully capture the influence that depression has on general health in poor countries. The data neglected to take into account how depression and other mental health issues can interact with other illnesses such as its effect on the immune system, remembering to take HIV and other essential medicines or maltreatment of newborns from a depressed parent, for example. Although the debate over mental health has changed since the turn of the century, poor countries still spend very little money on mental health programs or access to treatment.

Affordable Solutions

Psychiatrist Vikram Patel, a Pershing Square professor of global health at Harvard Medical school, stated that the majority of people with mental health disorders require very little counseling to guide them in what he describes as “hope interventions.” In his research in Zimbabwe, he found that there are inexpensive solutions to providing mental health help to those experiencing depression or anxiety. An example he points to is a program that elder community members in Zimbabwe runs. This program sets up benches outside of clinics to engage the public in talking through issues with lay mental health workers. He concluded from his research that mental health coverage in poor countries depends on implementing solutions that were affordable and scalable.

Technology is becoming one of these affordable solutions to address the lack of mental health care. Recent data from WHO shows that 85 percent of developing countries are not getting the mental health treatment they need. The spread of mobile phones in developing countries is a novel solution to bringing a therapist to low-income and rural areas to help bridge the accessibility gap. WHO is now promoting the use of electronic health technologies in its Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020. Technology also offers a confidentiality element that gets around the mental health stigma in some places so patients can seek help in privacy if desired. Smartphones can also be proactive in monitoring their owners, offering routine check-ins, noticing a drop in sociability, reacting to phone usage and vital signs. Above all, e-mental health has the potential to cut costs as there is no need to travel to see a trained professional.

E-Mental Health in Chile

Although technology seems to be a viable and affordable solution to the gap in mental health services in the developing world, it has so far outpaced the science to back up the claim that it is an effective solution. In an effort to catch up with the science, Swiss Researchers with Frontiers Public Health conducted several mini studies on the effectiveness of different mental health intervention technologies in both adults and adolescents in Chile which the Millennium Science Initiative of the Ministry of Economy funded in its Dec. 2019 publication.

Researchers also wanted to know how to address the inequalities in treatment that are observable between socioeconomic groups. They found that only 38.5 percent of people diagnosed with a mental health disorder received treatment in Chile. This comes in spite of 25 years of progressive policies by the government to support the expansion of health services in the country. Those who received treatment tended to come from wealthier and urban communities, such as the capital city.

Nevertheless, the researchers concluded that internet-based digital technologies that individuals used as interventions could reduce the gap in access to mental health care in Chile. For example, the researchers evaluated remote collaborative depression care programs that can monitor patients who live in rural areas with little support. The results show that the program received a higher user satisfaction ratio at six months of care when compared to traditional care. The program utilized internet and telecommunication training for interventions, while making it clear to participants that a trained profession was available in an emergency situation.

Another case study the Swiss researchers examined was from the University of Chile Faculty of Medicine that conducted a feasibility and acceptability study for depression management among adolescent females with mild to moderate depressive symptoms. The psychotherapeutic tool used was an online adventure video game to score and recognize negative cognitive bias, interpersonal skills, healthy lifestyle skills and behavioral health. Most patients, as well as their therapists, rated the game favorably, indicating that they believed their mental health benefited from playing it. In a similar project, called The Mascayano, mental health providers created a suicide prevention program through an online intervention for adolescents. The format for the technology was both an online platform and a mobile application with a virtual community. The intention was for the program to be informative and interactive for participants as well as identify those most at risk.

Another program, called Ascenso, aimed to monitor patients post-discharge from treatment. It used an online assessment to monitor symptoms on a biweekly basis and provided automatic feedback. Most patients accepted the program favorably and said that the program was easy to use, educating them on depression, teaching them self-monitoring skills and being a generally beneficial source of support.

The Implications of E-Mental Health in Chile

The heterogeneous studies that researchers conducted regarding e-mental health in Chile show that digital technologies have the potential to bridge the gap in coverage for low-income and rural areas through a patchwork of different programs that aim to improve mental health for those experiencing depression and other mental health disorders. Those who participated in the different programs reported a good level of acceptability on par with traditional care, if not better in some instances. This is particularly hopeful for those who live in remote locations of Chile and have limited access to health care but experience mental health issues at higher levels than their wealthier counterparts due to economic inequality or location.

Furthermore, the conclusion of the mini studies suggests that the spread of internet-based technology and mobile devices to a younger, tech-savvy generation has proven to be a feasible method of reaching people living in low-resource areas. The authors of the study project that digital technologies such as these have a larger implication for the developing world as well. They represent an affordable delivery system to reach poor communities with mental health treatment, follow-up, education, monitoring and interventions that may inspire policymakers and stakeholders from other developing countries to invest in their own mental health infrastructure to resemble the early successes of e-mental health in Chile.

– Caleb Cummings
Photo: Flickr

,

Ending Violence in Burkina Faso

Ending Violence in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a small African nation that lies between the more well-known countries Ghana and Mali. Like many other underprivileged nations, Burkina Faso experiences excessive rates of violence. Fortunately, humanitarian organizations noticed and began efforts to calm the violence. Keep reading to find out who and what organizations are ending violence in Burkina Faso.

The Statistics

In Burkina Faso, the United Nations’ report reveals the harsh reality that citizens live through. The homicide rate is 9.8 per 100,000 people. The homicide rate for men is 14.1 out of 100,000 people, while the homicide rate for females is 5.2. In addition, with a population of 20,321,378, the total number of homicides for 2019 was 1,991 deaths. For comparison, the homicide rate in the United States in 2018 was 5.0 people per 100,000 people, which is nearly 50 percent less Burkina Faso’s homicide rate. These astronomical homicide rates are why ending violence in Burkina Faso is a crucial issue.

How Violence Affects the Nation

The extreme homicide rate in Burkina Faso is detrimental to society, but in many more ways than just an increased death toll. Between January 26 and February 15, 2020, approximately 150,000 people fled their villages in the Sahel region. In addition, United Nations News reported that nearly 4,000 people flee their communities every day. The violence in Burkina Faso forces communities from their villages. Additionally, the violence forced over 2,000 schools to close due to threats toward education personnel, military usurping school facilities and assaults directed at the schools themselves in February 2019. As a result, about 133,333 children had their education interrupted, and 3,050 teachers became jobless.

Who is Ending Violence in Burkina Faso?

Fortunately, the violence in Burkina Faso is not going unnoticed. Many different humanitarian organizations are working toward ending violence in Burkina Faso. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a branch of the United Nations that focuses on the well-being of refugees, people forcibly removed from their communities and stateless people. The UNHCR is working to provide safe zones for fleeing individuals. Its distinct focus is relocating the elderly, children and single women.


The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) works to decrease the impact of the closure of schools on the youth’s education. Additionally, UNICEF works toward this goal by implementing innovative learning methods. For example, radio learning is a way that UNICEF works toward ending violence in Burkina Faso. Radio learning is an inventive way to provide education to the many children who have to flee their homes because of violence. The radio lessons follow a basis of literacy and arithmetic. Moreover, UNICEF works with education and government officials to bring a resolution to the table. The organization works on the ground to assist teachers in resolving the threat of violence to their schools. Also, UNICEF provides psychological support to students and teachers who have become emotionally scarred from the harsh reality they witness daily.


– Cleveland Lewis
Photo: Flickr

,

Building Safer Roads in Latin America

Roads in Latin America
In 2010, the United Nations declared the Decade of Action for Road Safety, calling upon governments to take the actions necessary to reduce the 1.3 million annual traffic deaths that plague modern society. For Latin America in particular, where 60 percent of roads remain unpaved and the rate of deaths from traffic fatalities stands at twice that of high-income regions, this was and is an incredibly pressing issue. That is why, as the Decade of Action for Road Safety comes to a close in 2020, it is important to reflect on what governments have done to build safer roads in Latin America, and how they can continue to carry the torch in securing the future of the region’s most vulnerable.

Taking Action on the Ground Level

Efforts to improve road safety have traditionally fallen into one of a few categories. Awareness campaigns, such as Salvador, Brazil’s Life Not Traffic program, invest heavily in training drivers on proper road etiquette, as well as lobbying for stricter drunk-driving laws. For Salvador and other Latin American cities, in particular, educating the youth through programs like “child drivers of the future” is also a major priority, as traffic deaths are the leading cause of death for Latin Americans ages 15-29.  So far, the results of these efforts are striking. In just eight years since its initial launch, Life Not Traffic has contributed to a 50 percent drop in traffic fatalities in Salvador.

Structural solutions, on the other hand, focus on pinpointing areas of improvement in regard to material conditions on the road, as well as looking at safer and more efficient ways to control the flow of traffic. The construction of roundabouts to replace traditional four-way intersections, for instance, has led to a 50-70 percent drop in traffic fatalities and a 30-50 percent drop in traffic injuries. Meanwhile, increased investment into speed and red-light cameras is also yielding promising results.

Structural solutions can also bring economic benefits, such as in the case of Tocantins, Brazil, where times of rain have historically inhibited the region’s road network, depriving Tocantins’ residents of access to Brazil’s urban population centers. To combat this issue, the World Bank has funded the construction of more than 700 concrete bridges in cooperation with local authorities, which has both increased employment and the average wage of the region’s agricultural workers. Safer, more reliable roads have also meant a rise in the percentage of children attending school in Tocantins, which has had the added effect of opening up more work opportunities for Tocantins’ female population.

Obstacles to Improvement

The World Bank’s work in Tocantins is a particularly salient example in this case, as it highlights the traditional obstacles to improving Latin America’s road infrastructure, as well as the steps necessary to overcome them. For one, there is the problem of geography. Where conditions in European and North American nations are, for the most part, agreeable to road building, tall mountains, thick jungles, expansive deserts and urban centers hamper Latin America. These, in combination with the region’s low population density, have made road-construction very costly.

However, while geographic conditions certainly make the task of building better roads more difficult, the real crux of the issue lies in the lack of funding that Latin American governments are able to devote to infrastructure. Estimates from the Inter-American Developmental Bank indicate that the region faces an annual infrastructure-spending shortfall of around $100-150 billion, due to regional governments’ issues with fiscal deficits and mounting public debts. As a consequence, programs aimed at both improving and expanding the region’s road networks frequently go underfunded, leading to the need for foreign aid and investment.

Foreign Aid Successes

Indeed, recent years in Latin American have seen an increasing number of successes in road improvements due to foreign aid, though economists estimate that still more aid is necessary before Latin America will be able to bring its infrastructure on par with the rest of the world. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, for instance, has provided $26.8 billion in infrastructure-related loans to Latin America since 2005, including financing a major highway in Bolivia that should bring significant economic benefits to the region after its completion in 2021. The United States, for its part, has also recently launched a new initiative to encourage more private U.S. financial investment into Latin America’s roads and other infrastructure.

In addition to building new roads, many new organizations have also taken root in the region with an eye on other means of improving road safety. The Latin NCAP is one such organization, launched under the umbrella of the U.N.’s Decade of Action for Road Safety, which has published over 100 safety assessments for new vehicles since 2010, helping to keep Latin America’s drivers safe before they even step in the car.

While much work remains when it comes to building safer roads in Latin America, it is undeniable that foreign aid has led to major improvements for the region’s inhabitants.

– James Roark
Photo: Pxfuel

, , ,

Eradicating Food Insecurity in Brazil

Food Insecurities Decrease Around Brazil
Brazil is the largest country in South America. It also has the largest economy, which has been a key contributor to agriculture and business all over Latin America. Even with improvements in income distribution, poverty remains widespread, as income inequality remains an unsolved issue at the root of rural poverty. Thirty-five percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day, which is a reason for the food insecurity in Brazil. Additionally, 19 percent of Brazil’s population lives in rural areas, which means that Brazil has 18 million poor rural people. Meanwhile, the country’s northeast region has the single largest concentration of rural poverty in Latin America. In this region alone, 58 percent of the total population and 67 percent of the rural population live in poverty.

Food Insecurity

Food insecurity is an important subtopic coinciding with global poverty. When someone is food insecure, it means that they lack access to enough safe and nutritious food to give them the growth and development necessary to be active and in good health. Food insecurity might include a lack of resources or availability altogether.

The Food and Agriculture Organization has implemented the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) which explains the differences between the following categories:

  • Food Security to Mild Food Insecurity is uncertainty regarding the ability to obtain food.
  • Moderate Food Insecurity is the reduced quality and/or quantity of food, as well as uncertainty about how to obtain food due to little or no money or other resources. Moderate food insecurity can also lead to malnutrition. An example of this is stunting in children, which is where they do not have adequate nutrition for necessary growth and physical development. Micronutrient deficiencies are another hazard where children do not receive enough nourishment to give them the proper nutrients they require for growth.
  • Severe Food Insecurity is when one has simply run out of food, and at the most, has gone a number of days without eating.

How Fome Zero Has Decreased Food Insecurity

Brazil, which is the largest country in South America, has been able to combat food insecurity, along with poverty, through government spending on social welfare programs. For instance, one way that poverty and food insecurities have decreased around Brazil is through Fome Zero or Zero Hunger. It launched in 2003 under President Lul da Silva and has been successful in leading the nation out of poverty and improving its food security conditions. Fome Zero has been able to provide meals that have nutritious value and can support the poor’s overall health in order to combat food insecurity in Brazil.

Stunting and Food Insecurity

From the standpoint of public policy, the program has also implemented other ways of protection for those under the poverty line. These include providing not only meals and overall health improvement but also education reform, food production, health services, water, sanitation services and the prevention of growth stunting in children under the age of 5. Stunting has resulted in malnutrition, impaired cognitive ability and declining school performance later on in their lives. With Fome Zero as a premiere social-welfare program, stunting has also declined by almost 20 percent in the last quarter-century. From 1996 to 2007, stunting reduced by half from 14 percent to 7 percent.

These improvements happened because of optimal breastfeeding practices, ensuring a child’s healthy growth and development. Initiating breastfeeding for six months provides protection against gastrointestinal infections, which can lead to severe nutrient depletion, causing the process of stunting to begin. Setting a daily diet and schedule for children, as well as diversity in diet, has improved their health and overall growth.

Stunting results from a household, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural standpoint that requires that interventions for better nutrition integrate in conjunction with nutrition-sensitive interventions. One example is that one can prevent infections by hand-washing with soap, the success of which depends on behavior change to adopt the practice, the availability of safe water and sanitation needs and the affordability of personal hygiene products. Available high-quality foods and affordability of nutrient-rich foods will affect a family’s ability to provide healthier foods to prevent stunting.

Bolsa Familia

Another program that da Silva started in 2003 is Bolsa Familia, or Family Allowance, which has helped decrease poverty and food insecurity in Brazil. The conditional cash transfer program supplies low-income families with a minimum level of income. However, there are two stipulations that go with the deal: their children must attend school daily and they must schedule doctor’s appointments in order to receive aid from the government. More than 20 percent of Brazil’s global domestic program went towards education, health care and protection for all low-income families. From 2003 to 2013, the extreme poverty line population has decreased from 9.7 percent to 4.3, with Bolsa Familia reaching 14 million households, equaling 50 million people. As such, many consider the program to be the most successful in the world.

More than 50 million people receive payments from the program. This depends on family earnings that range from $14 to $140, whether people work part-time or full-time, as well as the number of dependents. As the largest conditional cash transfer in the world, Bolsa Familia reaches more than a quarter of the nation’s population and has lifted more than half out of poverty.

BF has also started a trend globally that has expanded conditional cash transfer programs, alongside Latin America, where over 40 countries have adopted this model to aid those on the poverty line and who are food insecure. Brazil’s next step to put a halt to poverty included the Brazil Learning Initiative for a World without Poverty (WWP), launched in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development, Ipea and UNDP’s International Policy Center in 2013. The Initiative helped support continuous innovation.

The endgame of these program developments is to sustain, if not overachieve, in providing aid to families in Brazil. The levels of success and vast improvements of these programs have helped the country come close to eradicating food insecurity in Brazil, as well as poverty.

– Tom Cintula
Photo: Flickr

, ,

8 Facts About Food Insecurity in Afghanistan

Eight Facts about Food Insecurity in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, although rich in natural resources, has high rates of poverty and food insecurity. More than half of the population lives below the poverty line, and conflict has caused food insecurity to increase. Other challenges include climate change and natural disasters, which will only exacerbate the nation’s struggles in the coming years. Here are eight facts about food insecurity in Afghanistan.

8 Facts About Food Insecurity in Afghanistan

  1. Food insecurity is defined as the lack of access to healthy, affordable food. In Afghanistan, food insecurity is driven by a number of factors, including droughts, flooding, climate shocks and insufficient infrastructure.
  2. Between 2014 and 2017, food insecurity in Afghanistan increased significantly, reaching 13.2 million out of a total population of 35.7 million. Approximately 54 percent of the population lives in poverty and an estimated 41 percent of Afghan children under the age of five are stunted due to food insecurity.
  3. Food insecurity is worsened by conflict. Due to the seemingly unending conflict in the Middle East, the people of Afghanistan have been denied access to the most basic human right: food. Years of oppression from the Taliban regime along with drought further worsened food insecurity in Afghanistan.
  4. Bombings conducted by the U.S. and the U.K. have also driven many people into camps where food delivery is nearly impossible. As of Dec. 2018, there were more than 2.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan. Even outside of camps, displaced individuals are more likely to experience food insecurity.
  5. Groups like the World Food Program (WFP) assisted more than 3.6 million people in 2015. Most of the assistance came in the form of food deliveries to people in rural areas where food insecurity is the highest. The WFP’s work aims to protect the most vulnerable and impoverished families and illiterate schoolchildren. They also place a particular emphasis on protecting women and girls.
  6. In 2015, the WFP also reached more than 814,000 women and children with take-home food baskets. Along with these baskets were small tablets that provide nutrients that those who are food insecure often lack.
  7. The nonprofit organization Action Against Hunger was able to help 374,814 people in 2018. In the same year, conflict escalated even further in Afghanistan, forcing 278,000 Afghans to flee their homes. Action Against Hunger has operated in Afghanistan for two decades. Since 1995, this program has worked to alleviate malnutrition in children, build safe sanitation services and create food security across the nation.
  8. The Save the Children Initiative has also worked to quell the extreme food insecurity that has resulted from years of war and conflict in the Middle East. Save the Children has helped 24,733 parents to provide food for their children so they do not become malnourished.

These eight facts about food insecurity in Afghanistan highlight that while Afghanistan has seen years of conflict and still wears the scars of war, there are always organizations working to alleviate the hunger crisis. There are many things people in the U.S. can do to help alleviate this conflict as well, including voting to continue foreign aid to the Middle East and supporting candidates and congressional leaders who wish to end the war in this region of the world.

– William Mendez
Photo: Flickr

, , , ,

Socio-economic Equity in Brazil and Chile

Socio-economic Equity in Brazil and Chile
Latin America has the worst socio-economic equity gap in the world. The average Gini Index (percentile measurement of income distribution) is 41, which is a 10 point difference in comparison to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average. The Gini Index is like golf in a sense—the lower the score, the better the distribution. Although this region has a high Gini rate, Brazil and Chile have shown real promise in leading the rest of the region in socio-economic equity.

Chile: Counter-cyclical Spending and Education Investments

The Bachelet Administration effectively implemented a counter-cyclical spending policy that helped safeguard against a total economic collapse during the 2008 global crisis. Essentially, social spending reduced and taxes increased during a boom period, allowing Chile to save approximately $18.1 billion with the Economic and Social Stability Fund. During the global recession, Chile increased its social spending and lowered taxes creating demands for goods. When properly executed, counter-cyclical spending more evenly distributes resources without causing stagnation or inflation.

Education is essential to decreasing inequality between low-skilled workers and high-skilled workers; it provides an endowment of marketable skills. Generally speaking, better skills receive better pay. Chile spends 1.2 percent of its total GDP on Early Childhood Education and Care programs.

 In 2017, nearly 33 percent of 19 to 20-year-old Chileans enrolled in tertiary education and 25 percent finished with a four-year degree. Systemic education reform made tertiary education 100 percent free for low-income households. As a result, students receiving government loans and scholarships increased from 17 percent in 2007 to 58 percent just 10 years later.

Chileans have benefited from a reformed education system in a tangible way. Individuals with vocational degrees earn 40 percent more than secondary educated workers. Those with a bachelor’s degree earn upwards of 100 percent, and doctoral graduates earn 4.7 times the average of upper secondary educated workers.

Universal education invests in resource mobility; however, this is only possible if leaders prioritize the fundamental needs of those living in extreme poverty. Brazil, through conditional cash transfer programs, directly addresses the imbalance of socio-economic equity by providing those needs.

Brazil: Conditional Cash Transfers

Non-contributory social protection or social assistance works specifically for those in vulnerable living situations. These programs, funded through a general budget and taxation of public companies, provide monetary assistance to low-income households with children.

Of more than 30 active conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs in Latin America, Bolsa Familia (PBF) is the most prevalent. PBF reduced poverty in Brazil by 28 percent during its first 13 years and assisted over 11 million families a year.

The goal of PBF (and CCTs) is to end cyclical systemic poverty by investing in human development. Families receive assistance after they agree to social responsibilities like taking their children to health care providers and attending school.

Since its inception in 2003, Bolsa Familia integrated four other CCT programs. Today it reaches 46 million people, 54 percent of whom are women. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean estimates that out of 133.5 million people living, 30.2 million households receive a conditional cash transfer.

There is no denying the obvious progression in addressing the imbalance in socio-economic equity in Brazil and Chile; however, much of Latin America still lives in poverty. The long term solution for socio-economic equity is to integrate non-discriminatory policies into law.

Universal Social Protection

The idea of a basic level of income is not new; the concept received debate during the early 19th century in the U.K. Meanwhile, some proposed it in the U.S. in the 70s and then again in 2019 with Andrew Yang’s promise to give $1,000 to every U.S. citizen every month.

Creating a “care pillar” would not only meet the urgent needs of those who need it most but would also promote human development for all. A stronger care system by function distributes necessary provisions of public goods and services, creating socio-economic equity. Unconditional, universal payment to the state inhabitants allows them to meet their basic needs.

The Universal Social Protection in Latin America and the Caribbean states that “by freeing people of the more serious consequences of material dependency, a basic income could lead to a rearrangement of social hierarchies, increase bargaining power of women…and [others facing] discrimination…and open up spaces for greater autonomy…for all people.”

In other words, bettering the linkage between the components of social protection and coverage, while eliminating discriminatory mechanisms, guarantees access to a decent life.

Brazil and Chile have made exemplary progress in the battle for socio-economic equity, but like the rest of Latin America, they have a long way to go before income distribution is fair and balanced. Breaking the cycle of poverty begins with policy. It is up to the countries that have disposable funds to implement policy change and reform. Once those countries reach socio-economic equity, they will have the resources to help neighboring countries reach the same goal.

– Marissa Taylor
Photo: Flickr

The Struggles of Single Parents in Yemen

The Struggles of Single Parents in YemenThe current civil war in Yemen is a bloody one. Since the beginning of the civil war in 2015, the reported casualties reached 100,000 in October 2019. Among this number, about 12,000 were civilian casualties who attackers directly targeted. This ever-mounting amount of civilian casualties has multiple effects on many families in Yemen. On a surface level, these civilian casualties reflect the numerous children who lose their parents during the on-going conflict. Some reports suggested that there are currently more than 1.1 million orphans in Yemen. On the other hand, the casualty number also reflects the single parents in Yemen who are trying to raise their children in a war zone.

Single parents in Yemen are struggling due to many reasons including a lack of access to basic goods, or professional services such as maternal care during and after pregnancy. This struggle of being a single parent in Yemen falls mostly on many Yemeni women who lost their husbands in the on-going conflict.

Struggles of Single Parents in Yemen

Being a single parent, especially a single mother, in Yemen is difficult. Yemen’s female participation in the workforce is extremely low. This means that many women in Yemen rely on their husbands for financial support. However, the conflict in Yemen took many Yemeni men from their families. As casualties rise, both military and civilian, many women lose their husbands. However, because the majority of women do not have much work experience, they lack the experience or qualifications to go out and find employment.

The challenge of single parenting in Yemen begins even before a child is born. This is especially true for mothers, single or otherwise, in Yemen. According to UNICEF, one woman and six newborns die every two hours from complications during pregnancy and childbirth in Yemen. This is the reflection of poor conditions in Yemen where only three out of 10 births take place in regular health facilities. WHO’s 2016 survey of hospitals in Yemen reported that more than half of all health facilities in Yemen are closed or only partially functioning.

For mothers and newborns, this means that they lack essential natal care, immunization services and postpartum/postnatal interventions. This lack of natal care and medical services for newborns resulted in one out of 37 Yemeni newborns dying in the first month of their lives.

Malnutrition is another challenge that single parents in Yemen struggle against. Multiple factors contribute to malnutrition in Yemen. Some reports suggest that the Saudi coalition intentionally targeted Yemeni farms. A report suggested that the Saudi-led coalition launched at least 10,000 strikes against food farms, 800 strikes against local food markets and about 450 airstrikes that hit food storage facilities. This made civilian access to food extremely difficult on a local level. The Saudi-led coalition’s blockade of Yemeni ports and other entry points for food, medicine, fuel and foreign aid worsened this food shortage. Yemen’s impoverished civilians, 79 percent of whom are living under the poverty line, find it difficult to afford the ever-increasing food prices. For single parents in Yemen, this makes feeding their children a difficult challenge. An estimated 2.2 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished.

Organizations Helping Yemen

Numerous organizations help single parents in Yemen. Doctors Without Borders, between 2015 and 2018, provided natal care for pregnant mothers and delivered 68,702 babies in Yemen. Oxfam provided multiple humanitarian services in Yemen. Since the beginning of the conflict in 2015, Oxfam provided cash to Yemeni families so that they could buy food. On top of this, Oxfam delivered water and repaired water systems in remote regions of Yemen. UNICEF launched the Healthy Start Voucher Scheme in 2019. This program provides coupons for poor and vulnerable pregnant women to help them cover the cost of traveling to hospitals for childbirth. The coupon also gives these women access to newborn care in case of complications.

The Future for Single Parents in Yemen

Single parents in Yemen struggle against the difficult daily conditions in the country. Lack of access to food, water, health care and basic goods makes it extremely difficult for single parents in Yemen to provide for their children. Malnourished children dying of hunger are truly a disheartening image of the current conflict in Yemen. However, there are signs of peace. In November 2019, the combatants of the conflict held behind-the-scenes talks to end the conflict in Yemen. In the meantime, the international community is relying on many relief organizations that work tirelessly to help the people of Yemen.

– YongJin Yi
Photo: Flickr

,

10 Facts About Health Care in Sudan

Health Care in Sudan
Sudan is rich in natural and human resources; however, it is poverty and conflict-stricken. Agriculture is an income provider for 70 percent of the populace. Due to a lack of resources and training availability, the health care sector of the country remains underfunded and understaffed. Here are ten facts about health care in Sudan.

10 Facts About Health Care in Sudan

  1. Approximately 14 percent of Sudanese do not have access to health care. This is largely due to the fact that Sudan has a critical shortage of health care workers. According to the World Health Organization, there are 23 qualified health care workers per 10,000 members of the population.
  2. Sudan’s maternal mortality rate has improved, but it varies by region. In 2015, the maternal mortality rate was 311 per 100,000 live births. This was a significant improvement from 744 per 100,000 live births in 1990. Unfortunately, these rates are not consistent across the country. While more recent data is not available, in 2006, the maternal mortality rate in Southern Kordofan was 503 per 100,000 live births. In the Northern state, however, the rate was only 91 per 100,000 live births.
  3. Approximately 32 percent of Sudan’s population is drinking contaminated water from untreated water sources. This is a result of chemical and bacterial contamination from industrial, domestic and commercial waste that degrades the water quality. There are acts at the state and national levels to help prevent this washing and injection; however, these acts need activation. UNICEF is working with the Sudanese government to increase access to basic treated water supplies for the people of Sudan, with a focus on women and children.
  4. Sudan suffers from outbreaks of cholera, dengue fever, Rift Valley fever (RVF), chikungunya and malaria. Increased outbreaks in 2019 were, in part, a result of heavy rainfall during the rainy season. Consequently, this rainfall left behind stagnant pools which were breeding grounds for mosquitos, contributing to the spread of infection. Government authorities and their humanitarian partners worked to respond to outbreaks across the country. The Kassala and North Darfur Ministries of Health launched weekly response task force meetings and developed state-level plans to mitigate the outbreak.
  5. Sudan has widespread micronutrient deficiencies. This is partially due to insufficient levels of crop growth. Only 14 percent of 208 cultivable acres are being cultivated. Drought, pests and environmental degradation also contribute to widespread malnourishment. However, vitamin A deficiency decreased due to repeated vitamin A supplementation given during National Immunization Day campaigns.
  6. Many Sudanese women and girls lack adequate health care and resources. Women and girls living in the rebel-held areas of Southern Kordofan or the Nuba Mountains of Sudan have very limited or no access to contraception. Human Rights Watch found most of the women interviewed did not know what a condom was and was unfamiliar with other common contraceptive practices. This lack of education and the low availability of condoms are why there are high percentages of women testing positive for hepatitis B. Consequently, gonorrhea and syphilis are on the rise in Sudan.
  7. The National Expanded Program on Immunization in Sudan supports an increase in routine immunization coverage. In addition, the government’s financial investment to EPI and polio eradication program is 15 million USD. Challenges the program faces include poor service delivery and a lack of resources and skilled staff.
  8. Sudan spends 6.5 percent of its gross domestic product and 8.3 percent of government spending on health care. Before the 1990s, receiving care at public health care facilities was mostly free. However, the structural reforms of 1992 introduced user fees. Now, out-of-pocket expenses for patients hover in the 70 percent range.
  9. There are 75 degrees and diploma-granting health institutions in Sudan. About 28 of these institutions offer diplomas and 47 of these schools offer degrees. There are 14 private institutions, while the others belong to agencies such as the Federal Ministry of Health and other government agencies. In 2001, the Federal Ministers of Health and Higher Education signed a Sudan Declaration and Nursing and Allied Health Workers in 2001. The goal of the declaration was to improve nursing and other health care education. The Academy of Health Sciences was established in 2005 to help implement this goal.
  10. The Sudanese government is working to rebuild and reform the health care system. A 25-year plan spanning from 2003 to 2027 was created in the early 2000s. This plan focuses on ensuring health care services are accessible and high quality, particularly for impoverished and vulnerable populations.

These ten facts about health care in Sudan illuminate some of the struggles the nation has faced, as well as improvement efforts by the Sudanese government and other humanitarian organizations. It is imperative that these efforts continue in order for health care to continue to progress in Sudan.

– Robert Forsyth
Photo: Flickr

, ,

10 Facts About Sanitation in Croatia

Facts About Sanitation in Croatia
The Republic of Croatia is a country in Southeast Europe. After declaring independence from Yugoslavia, Croatia went through a period of bitter conflict. Under U.N. supervision, Croatia entered NATO in April 2009 and the E.U. in July 2013. Situated next to the Adriatic Sea, Croatia is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. Croatia has abundant but unevenly distributed sources of water. Here are 10 facts about sanitation in Croatia.

10 Facts About Sanitation in Croatia

  1. Currently, 99.6 percent of people in Croatia have access to improved drinking water. The majority of the Croatians have access to public water infrastructure. The Croatian Ministry of Health monitors the country’s water infrastructure.
  2. Some Croatian islands can procure their own water supply. Croatia has over 1,000 islands as part of its territory. Croatian islanders sometimes procure their own water by building private wells, harvesting rainwater and water slimming. Some islands also have their own water infrastructure such as desalination plants or water pumping stations near a water source.
  3. The World Bank aided in improving sanitation in Croatia. In 2018, the World Bank stated that the six-year-long project, which the World Bank funded, improved sanitation in Croatia. After the conclusion of its $87.5 million project, the World Bank stated that the country eradicated the practice of discharging untreated sewage into the ocean.
  4. Coastal water contamination is an issue that needs attention. People know Croatia for its beautiful beaches. This contributes to Croatia’s booming tourism industry, which constituted about 20 percent of the country’s GDP in 2016. This makes it especially important for Croatia to maintain the swimming water quality of its coasts. Recognizing this importance the Croatian government requested project support from the World Bank. The project, which lasted from 2009 to 2015, strengthened water supply and sanitation services across 23 municipalities. The World Bank reports that this project benefited over 230,000 people.
  5. The European Union’s Cohesion Fund is further supporting the modernization of sanitation in Croatia. On March 1, 2020, the E.U. approved the investment of more than 128 million Euros (143,143,808 USD) from the Cohesion Fund to improve sanitation in Croatia. The supported project aims to give access to high-quality drinking water and wastewater treatment to more than 29,000 people.
  6. There are concerns over possible pharmaceutical pollution in the Sava River. Located 15 kilometers upstream from Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, there are concerns over possible contamination of the city’s water source. Nikolina Udikovic Kolic, a microbiologist who raised this concern, reported that bacteria in the Sava River are possibly developing antimicrobial resistance. This is problematic since this means that there is a chance that a superbug could develop from this river which can resist anti-bacterial chemicals. Kolic suggested that a factory that Pliva owns, which is Croatia’s biggest drugmaker, might be responsible for polluting the waterways.
  7. Around 97 percent of people in Croatia have access to improved sanitation facilities. The percentage of people without basic sanitary facilities decreased since 2012. Compared to 2012, when 1.9 percent of the population lacked access to basic sanitary facilities, the conditions improved to only 1.1 percent of the population in 2018.
  8. While access to flush toilets in rural areas is nearly universal, people have limited access to sewerage services. A 2018 study found that 94 percent of rural areas had access to flush toilets. Nearly 93 percent of flush toilet users had on-site fecal sludge containment facilities. However, among the interviewed households, only 12 percent of them had access to sewerage services.
  9. People in the poorest wealth quintile are the ones who lack access to piped water access and flush toilets. The same 2018 study stated that 25 percent of the rural Croatian population relies on self-supplied water and sanitation facilities. The main reason these houses were not connected to the public system was that these houses’ were physically not able to connect to the network.
  10. Climate change poses multiple threats to sanitation in Croatia. A 2012 study that the E.U. and other organizations conducted studied the impact that climate change could bring to Croatia. Experts suggest that the potential decrease in precipitation can diminish groundwater levels, which will affect the supply of drinking water in Croatia.

These facts about sanitation in Croatia show that it maintains adequate service quality and access to service. The wide availability of sanitation facilities and water facilities is making life better for many Croatians. However, for the residents of rural communities in Croatia, the need for improvement is apparent. The Croatian government and many other international organizations are addressing this need. Organizations such as the World Bank are working with the Croatian government to improve sanitation in Croatia. With all the dangers that climate change poses, the need for sustainable development is also paramount. With all this assistance, better sanitary conditions are coming for the people of Croatia.

– YongJin Yi
Photo: Flickr