When a child has a fever, most parents expect it to be a cold or a mild virus. Many parents in the Sindhi province of Pakistan did not anticipate receiving such a severe diagnosis, but the results from their doctors were alarming: their children tested positive for HIV. On April 24th, 2019, 14 cases of HIV were discovered. Since July, over 894 people tested positive for the disease and almost 750 of them were children. The outbreak in Pakistan has increased the pressure on medical professionals to treat hundreds of new cases and fear among the people of Pakistan is growing. Many are afraid to interact with others for fear of spreading or contracting the disease. Along with a heavy stigma surrounding HIV, growing skepticism around medical facilities in Pakistan has made treating this outbreak even more critical. Here’s what you should know about the HIV outbreak in Pakistan:
Poor sanitation methods contribute to the outbreak
In Pakistan, HIV is not an unfamiliar disease. In the Sindhi province alone, health authorities found around 75,000 HIV positive cases. For the most part, doctors have blamed many failures in the healthcare system to be the reason for this sudden outbreak among children.
This recent outbreak has been credited to the reuse of syringes and failure to follow proper procedures for blood transfusions. Some facilities that disposed of used syringes discovered that people were repackaging and selling them to doctors once again for profit. There have also been reports of reusing dextrose and saline drips in certain treatment facilities. These practices created an easy pathway for the disease to spread to many patients and eventually helped facilitate the HIV outbreak in Pakistan.
“Quack” doctors are popular options for patients, but not necessarily the safest
“Quack” doctors, cheap alternatives to qualified doctors, have grown in popularity in certain regions. Many families living in rural parts of Pakistan cannot travel long distances to cities to see qualified doctors. As populations have grown, governments are struggling to provide sufficient healthcare for all communities in the country. Unqualified quacks have arisen as a result, cashing in on the disparities by treating many patients. Because of a loophole in the system, quack doctors use real doctors’ names and qualifications as a cover for their business and then later pay a fee to the qualified doctors to remain open.
Around 70,000 to 80,000 unqualified practitioners have spread across Punjab province alone. Most quack doctors are either totally unqualified to treat patients, or they are operating beyond their expertise. Most are not allowed to prescribe medicines or use syringes, but it is a common practice for them to do so anyway on multiple patients to save money.
In addition to reusing syringes, these doctors often use veterinarian steroids to treat patients as an alternative to recommended medicines. These steroids mask a patient’s symptoms but do not provide long term solutions to the diseases. Overall, these quack doctors put more and more people at risk of contracting illnesses like HIV with their unsanitary practices.
Many organizations are working to address the outbreak effectively
Since the start of the outbreak in Pakistan, many organizations have been working to provide solutions and treatments. The Sindh Aids Control Program (SACP) began a campaign to treat new HIV patients and provide free tests to the public. They have also curated ways to respond to the outbreak effectively, emphasizing the need for low-cost treatment and prevention services for vulnerable regions, in order to make treatment accessible for all. Currently, roughly 8,866 people are registered with the SACP’s Enhanced HIV AIDS Control Program, and they are expanding their outreach after receiving $6.3 million dollars from the Sindh government to continue their efforts.
Additionally, health officials have begun a crackdown on quack clinics. The Punjab Healthcare Commission is one of the organizations investigating the quacks littered across the Sindh province. Around 47,000 quackery outlets have been visited as of this month, 21,640 have been closed down, 13,637 have been abandoned and 8,757 have been marked for surveillance. The hard work of this commission ensures that the quality of treatment in Pakistan prevents outbreaks similar to the one facing the country now.
While treatment efforts are a major priority for these global organizations, there has also been a major focus on strengthening community education. UNAIDS and other UN organizations are raising awareness about HIV prevention to help tackle the stigma and discrimination that HIV patients face in their communities. Health workers, religious leaders, and even local media personnel are also being invited to health education sessions to address this issue.
The HIV outbreak in Pakistan may have affected the lives of hundreds of children and adults, but the efforts of many organizations have led to a heavy focus on HIV education and treatment in Pakistan. With this influx of assistance from global organizations, thousands of families can be protected from a future epidemic for years to come.
-Sydney Blakeney
Photo: Flickr
Trama Textiles: Healing for Guatemala’s Women
Guatemala, a country with a rich Mayan past, has a history riddled with trauma and violence which contributes to the country’s poverty level today. After a 36-year civil war that tore the country apart, healing for Guatemala has just begun. While the civil war and accompanying genocide of its indigenous people ended in 1996, the country and those affected have struggled to hold military leaders accountable, to find their missing loved ones and to have the world recognize the pain and suffering that took place from 1960 until 1996.
Civil War and Genocide
The civil war hit a peak in violence in the mid-1980s, when General Efraín Ríos Montt formed a coup and overthrew the government. General Ríos Montt started a bloody genocide where over 200,000 indigenous Mayan Indians were killed or forcibly disappeared, having yet to resurface today. General Ríos Montt was convicted of genocide in 2013 after being found guilty of massacring 1,771 members of the Mayan Ixil group. Despite this ruling, the conviction was overturned shortly after and General Ríos Montt died while a retrial was underway.
Throughout their country’s violence and unrest, the indigenous Mayan people remain very proud of their culture and want to uphold their traditions. While around half of the population in Guatemala is indigenous, these Mayans have suffered through exploitation, discrimination and marginalization. Today, healing for Guatemala means protecting and celebrating the Mayan culture in the face of extreme violence and terror. One long-held tradition of the Mayan people is backstrap weaving, which is a method of weaving beautiful and intricate textiles for clothing and other material uses.
Illiteracy and Language Barriers
Many Mayan women today are still living well below the poverty line (which means living on less than $1.80 per day) and many indigenous women are illiterate. Only 73 percent of women over 15 years of age in Guatemala are literate, a proportion that is vastly skewed toward women who live in cities, not in the rural countryside of the Mayan people. Numbers of Mayan women who are illiterate are unknown because births are often not registered with the state of Guatemala. It is estimated that roughly 60 percent of the indigenous population are illiterate. Due to extreme poverty, in which nearly 80 percent of indigenous families fall, one in two children under the age of five is malnourished.
Many of these Mayan women do not speak Spanish, the official language of Guatemala. These women only speak their Mayan language, of which there are 21 in Guatemala alone. Because these women do not speak Spanish, they are forced to sell their meticulous weavings to a Spanish-speaking middleman for much lower prices. Because of the low rates these women bring home from their weaving, they often have no choice but to pull their daughters out of school to help bring in money for the household. Only one in four indigenous girls over the age of 16 stay in school while the remainder typically start working to help their household.
The Formation of Trama Textiles
During the height of the violence, when it was dangerous and possibly deadly to wear Mayan clothing, the Mayan women of the Guatemala Highlands formed Trama Textiles, a woman-owned cooperative focused on backstrap weaving. As Mayan men were “disappearing,” the women of the community banded together in order to support themselves and their families. They did so by doing what they always had: backstrap weaving.
Weaving with Trama Textiles not only provides a way for these women to deliver clothing, money and other support to their families, it also helps these women deal with their trauma. The 400 members of this artisan cooperative work together, exploring different colors and designs in their textiles. With the sense of empowerment and purpose the cooperative gives them, they are able to grow stronger and work towards a better future. At Trama Textiles, the women weavers who are producing the product are the ones setting their own pricing, not a middleman. Trama Textiles helps these women to uphold Mayan traditions while ensuring a better future for their children.
Trama Textiles provides a place of relief for many indigenous Mayan women of Guatemala. Not only is it delivering healing for Guatemala it is helping women in indigenous villages form a community in which they thrive. These women who are often illiterate and do not speak the same language as one another are able to come together to run a cooperative. They earn money and valuable business knowledge while showing the rest of the nation that peace and healing are possible after a violent and turbulent past. This process, with the help of Trama Textiles and other cooperatives like it, will help pull indigenous communities out of the poverty that the 36-year civil war imposed on them. With a rise in income, these rural communities will be able to let their children finish their education, which will continue the cycle of pulling them out of poverty. Cooperatives like Trama Textiles are imperative in healing for Guatemala and all those affected by the genocide.
– Kathryn Moffet
Photo: Pixabay
Eradicating Poverty Through ICTs
Internet and Communication Technologies (ICT) are social networking websites, instant messaging programs, cell phones and other technologies that allow people to communicate quickly and globally. Information emanates through these technologies allowing developing countries to step into the digital world. Eradicating poverty through ICTs now seems plausible as citizens include themselves in new economic and coordinated opportunities.
ICTs’ Range of Impact
In the Asia-Pacific, governments utilize ICTs to expand markets and introduce services. They have adapted to using e-commerce, supporting businesses that allow more people to become engaged with the government and programs. New strategies constantly emerge as Asian-Pacific authorities and organizations address poverty.
Bangladesh
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provides solutions globally for poverty and these differ depending on the country. In Bangladesh, the UNDP pushed an initiative called the Access to Information Act or the a2i. The main focus of this act is to offer citizens the right to public information, allowing multiple interpretations for data such as records. By implementing this act, Bangladesh has reduced the costs of access to health and education information services. The amount of time it took for residents to receive information on their phones or computers dropped by 85 percent and the cost dropped by 63 percent. Digitization of rural areas has saved the local residents half a billion dollars.
Vietnam
The UNDP focuses on e-government policies. According to the United Nations, e-government encompasses the delivery and exchange of information between government and citizens. Vietnam now supports online businesses and allows people to pay taxes over the computer. Services, as an effect, run more efficiently and people have more ready access to transfers or deposits. The number of internet broadband subscribers reached 11.5 million and many expect it to grow 9 percent annually along with 47.2 million on cellular data due to the rapid growth of applications. ICTs affect the way the country runs as well; towns have adopted ICTs, using them in creative ways to provide water and electricity.
Taiwan
Recently, Taiwan has grown into a major manufacturer of ICTs, leading to the export of its products. The Cloud Computing Association of Taiwan (CCAT) devotes itself to making the country an exporter of cloud software. At home, these developed cloud systems save service providers 50 percent, avoiding the need to purchase from overseas. The country’s National Communications Commission proposes to provide all of its citizens with ICTs. It appoints companies to offer universal broadband access to mountain villages, projected to make Taiwan the first country with complete internet coverage. Rural peoples have access to data, and the government offers programs to teach rural residents how to properly use technologies, adapting more to the digital age, helping the goal of eradicating poverty through ICTs.
How ICTs Affect Poverty in the Long Run
The UNDP believes that ICTs should create a direct change in the economy and welfare of various nations. However, failure to address the issue to all people in a country, globally too, creates a gap between those accustomed to technology and those who are not. To continue on the path of eradicating poverty through ICTs, governments must continue to pledge support and work with organizations. The countries above benefit by having their governments providing opportunities to learn new technology as well as adapting technology for other everyday services.
– Daniel Bertetti
Photo: Flickr
The Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe
The Republic of Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern parts of Africa. Zimbabwe has a population of around 17 million. Estimates show that one in four Zimbabweans have anxiety and depression, yet there are only 12 psychiatrists in the country. Roughly two years ago, the idea of the Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe was introduced as an answer to this deficiency in mental health care. Now, the success of the program might be able to help other countries.
What is Friendship Bench?
In 2016, Dr. Dixon Chibanda came up with the idea of a friendship bench to treat the enormous problem of depression and inaccessibility to mental health treatment for the people of Zimbabwe. This was in response to the lack of resources and healthcare professionals. He decided to train 14 grandmothers as mental health counselors for a pilot project.
The government of Zimbabwe expanded the program following its success and has trained more than 700 grandmothers since. The mission of the Friendship bench is to boost mental well-being by bridging the gap created by poverty, distance and lack of resources. Friendship benches are wooden benches placed in open areas of health facilities where patients and their counselors have conversations based on problem-solving therapy.
The Randomized Control Studies conducted in 2016 evaluated the success of the Friendship Bench. They found that the benches alleviated symptoms of depression in 86 percent of the patients compared to 50 percent in a control group with standard therapy. These patients were also five times less likely to have suicidal thoughts. Dr. Dixon Chibanda, the founder of Friendship bench Project says that there are also positive effects of this treatment on other health outcomes such as hypertension and diabetes.
Why the Friendship Bench is so Successful?
The Friendship Bench in Zimbabwe has been successful for a number of reasons. By understanding these reasons, other countries could use this method to alleviate their mental health issues. The following are a few reasons that have led to the success of the Friendship Bench.
Friendship Bench as a Blueprint for Other Countries
The United States has about 16 psychiatrists per 100,000 people. This number is one of the highest in the world, and yet it is inadequate. To cover this gap, New York City launched the Friendship bench project under the aegis of Dr. Chibanda in 2016. New York City has three permanent, bright orange friendship benches in Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem. The project got an enormous response. Within the first year of the program, there were already 30,000 visitors. The counselors in New York City are as diverse as people. In fact, many of them have experienced mental health issues and/or substance abuse.
Canadian Universities have an independent but similar program to tackle depression in students. The Lucas Fiorella Friendship Bench is a nonprofit organization in Canada that started in 2015. The program uses #YellowforHello to spread awareness about mental health. The method is the same; person-to-person conversation to solve the problems causing mental health issues in university students. Dr. Shekhar Saxena, the Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse (MSD) said, “When it comes to mental health, all countries are developing countries.” Depression is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and one of the largest contributors to the global burden of disease.
Zimbabwe’s success with the Friendship Bench has provided a blueprint for mental health treatment in both low- and high-income countries. With New York already following the suit and London in consideration, it is safe to say that Zimbabwe, an otherwise resource-deprived country, is leading the globe with an effective and accessible solution to address common mental health disorders.
– Navjot Buttar
Photo: Flickr
The HIV Outbreak in Pakistan
When a child has a fever, most parents expect it to be a cold or a mild virus. Many parents in the Sindhi province of Pakistan did not anticipate receiving such a severe diagnosis, but the results from their doctors were alarming: their children tested positive for HIV. On April 24th, 2019, 14 cases of HIV were discovered. Since July, over 894 people tested positive for the disease and almost 750 of them were children. The outbreak in Pakistan has increased the pressure on medical professionals to treat hundreds of new cases and fear among the people of Pakistan is growing. Many are afraid to interact with others for fear of spreading or contracting the disease. Along with a heavy stigma surrounding HIV, growing skepticism around medical facilities in Pakistan has made treating this outbreak even more critical. Here’s what you should know about the HIV outbreak in Pakistan:
Poor sanitation methods contribute to the outbreak
In Pakistan, HIV is not an unfamiliar disease. In the Sindhi province alone, health authorities found around 75,000 HIV positive cases. For the most part, doctors have blamed many failures in the healthcare system to be the reason for this sudden outbreak among children.
This recent outbreak has been credited to the reuse of syringes and failure to follow proper procedures for blood transfusions. Some facilities that disposed of used syringes discovered that people were repackaging and selling them to doctors once again for profit. There have also been reports of reusing dextrose and saline drips in certain treatment facilities. These practices created an easy pathway for the disease to spread to many patients and eventually helped facilitate the HIV outbreak in Pakistan.
“Quack” doctors are popular options for patients, but not necessarily the safest
“Quack” doctors, cheap alternatives to qualified doctors, have grown in popularity in certain regions. Many families living in rural parts of Pakistan cannot travel long distances to cities to see qualified doctors. As populations have grown, governments are struggling to provide sufficient healthcare for all communities in the country. Unqualified quacks have arisen as a result, cashing in on the disparities by treating many patients. Because of a loophole in the system, quack doctors use real doctors’ names and qualifications as a cover for their business and then later pay a fee to the qualified doctors to remain open.
Around 70,000 to 80,000 unqualified practitioners have spread across Punjab province alone. Most quack doctors are either totally unqualified to treat patients, or they are operating beyond their expertise. Most are not allowed to prescribe medicines or use syringes, but it is a common practice for them to do so anyway on multiple patients to save money.
In addition to reusing syringes, these doctors often use veterinarian steroids to treat patients as an alternative to recommended medicines. These steroids mask a patient’s symptoms but do not provide long term solutions to the diseases. Overall, these quack doctors put more and more people at risk of contracting illnesses like HIV with their unsanitary practices.
Many organizations are working to address the outbreak effectively
Since the start of the outbreak in Pakistan, many organizations have been working to provide solutions and treatments. The Sindh Aids Control Program (SACP) began a campaign to treat new HIV patients and provide free tests to the public. They have also curated ways to respond to the outbreak effectively, emphasizing the need for low-cost treatment and prevention services for vulnerable regions, in order to make treatment accessible for all. Currently, roughly 8,866 people are registered with the SACP’s Enhanced HIV AIDS Control Program, and they are expanding their outreach after receiving $6.3 million dollars from the Sindh government to continue their efforts.
Additionally, health officials have begun a crackdown on quack clinics. The Punjab Healthcare Commission is one of the organizations investigating the quacks littered across the Sindh province. Around 47,000 quackery outlets have been visited as of this month, 21,640 have been closed down, 13,637 have been abandoned and 8,757 have been marked for surveillance. The hard work of this commission ensures that the quality of treatment in Pakistan prevents outbreaks similar to the one facing the country now.
While treatment efforts are a major priority for these global organizations, there has also been a major focus on strengthening community education. UNAIDS and other UN organizations are raising awareness about HIV prevention to help tackle the stigma and discrimination that HIV patients face in their communities. Health workers, religious leaders, and even local media personnel are also being invited to health education sessions to address this issue.
The HIV outbreak in Pakistan may have affected the lives of hundreds of children and adults, but the efforts of many organizations have led to a heavy focus on HIV education and treatment in Pakistan. With this influx of assistance from global organizations, thousands of families can be protected from a future epidemic for years to come.
-Sydney Blakeney
Photo: Flickr
Ending Child Marriages
Africa, Asia and the Middle East have the highest percentages of child marriage. Research done by CARE, an organization fighting global poverty, provided the top 26 countries where girls under the age of 18 are more likely to get married rather than enroll in secondary school. The country with the lowest percentage of girls enrolled in secondary school is Niger with only 10 percent. However, 76 percent of girls in Niger are married before age 18. Other countries with significantly low enrollment rates include Somalia, Mozambique and Ethiopia.
Girls Not Brides
Girls Not Brides became an independent charity in 2013. It is an organization committed to ending child marriages. There are 1,300 civil organizations from 100 countries involved in the organization. The sole intention of Girls Not Brides is to end child marriage so girls can live a fulfilling and healthy life. Its main goal is to bring global attention to child marriage and support laws or programs that will protect girls worldwide from the dangers of child marriage.
Girls Not Brides also offers support to those who were already married all over the world. They believe that the minimum age for marriage should be 18 years old for both boys and girls. This is in accordance with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Girls Not Brides aims to encourage an open dialogue about the dangers of child marriage, work with other organizations to end child marriage and help to introduce different policies and funding to end child marriage.
In 2016, Girls Not Brides published a strategy set on their plan to tackle child marriage from 2017 until 2020. The plan is an overarching blueprint of what the organization wants to do that is based on their successes in its 2014-2016 plan. Its number one goal is to work with governments to get child marriage legislation passed as well as bring it to the attention of lawmakers. Other goals include globalizing, engaging communities, increasing their funding and donations, using facts and evidence to further their claims about child marriage and setting up partnerships with other organizations.
Other Organizations Fighting Child Marriages
Even though Girls Not Brides is one of the only organization that is dedicated specifically to fighting child marriage, there are other organizations that have made ending child marriages a part of their mission. CARE focuses on ending global poverty through women’s empowerment. Breakthrough uses more artistic and creative means to fight for social justice, which includes children’s rights. Humanim is an NGO fighting for children’s rights and protections.
On a more local level, some organizations focus nationally. In Egypt, the Egyptian Foundation for the Advancement of Childhood Conditions works under the Childs Rights International Network to protect the basic human rights of children. Seya, in Yemen, is a children’s rights organization that puts protecting children as its most important mission. Vasavya Mahila Mandali, which is one of two organizations based in India that believes in empowering women and children.
Child marriage is a huge issue for girls and young women globally. It is one of the top three things holding girls back from obtaining an education and living their lives to the fullest potential. Child marriage violates a young girl’s autonomy and puts her in danger of being seriously injured or, at worst, killed. The existence of Girls Not Brides and the other organizations that are dedicated to ending child marriages and working to educate the public about it are making the world a better place for those who are at risk of becoming a child bride.
– Sydney Toy
Photo: Flickr
Infrastructure Development in Micronesia
The Federated States of Micronesia relies heavily on foreign aid, yet under its Infrastructure Development Plan 2016-2025, it plans to gain self-reliance and growth in six main areas. In addition, the Sustainable Energy Development and Access Project and the Maritime Investment Project, funded by the World Bank, are two major projects that are already underway. The developments are in key areas, such as fishing and island connectivity, which many Micronesians rely on for their livelihood.
Federal States of Micronesia Infrastructure Development Plan 2016-2025
As part of Micronesia’s Infrastructure Development Plan, economic growth and self-reliance are two areas of improvement. Micronesia is a remote region containing more than 600 islands northeast of Papua New Guinea, 74 of which are inhabited. Due to its remoteness, tourism and investment in the main regions of Micronesia are sparse. The Infrastructure Development Plan is focused on six main areas: macroeconomic stability, good governance, developing a private sector-led economy, health and education services, infrastructure improvement and long-term environmental sustainability.
Under this umbrella, Micronesia already has a number of accomplishments under its belt. Specifically, the School Facility Repair and Construction Master Plan came to fruition in 2013. Likewise, the Airport Master Plan was completed in 2012 and involves safety and security in air transportation. There are four international airports, and development in air transportation is another step to attracting tourism to Micronesia, and therefore, income to those employed in the tourism industry. Although infrastructure development in Micronesia covers many areas, positive economic growth and progress in becoming self-reliant are two important goals for developing its economy.
Sustainable Energy Development and Access Project
The World Bank donated $30 million to Micronesia’s Sustainable Energy Development and Access Project in December 2018. The project aims to increase electricity access and quality and to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels. The four main states of Micronesia, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Chuuk and Yap rely on fossil fuels like diesel. About 96 percent of electricity use in Micronesia comes from fossil fuels, and about 75 percent of the total population has access to electricity.
The project’s goals are the following: increase electricity status in the state of Chuuk, increase renewable energy generation in the states of Chuuk, Kosrae and Yap, improve performance of the Pohnpei Utility Cooperation and provide technical assistance relating to governance, accountability and financial performance of the energy sector. Electricity access varies on the islands. Only 27 percent of the population in Chuuk has access to electricity, yet Pohnpei has a 95 percent electrification rate. The project aims to provide access to renewable energy to the islands for long-term use.
Federated States of Micronesia Maritime Investment Project
The Maritime Investment Project is another source of infrastructure development in Micronesia that was approved on May 9. At a cost of over $38 million, its focus is to increase efficiency, safety, security and climate resilience of maritime infrastructure and operations in Micronesia, including upgrades or repairs to terminal structures at Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap ports. The project will also improve the connection between the islands with regards to access to food, water and emergency response services.
More than 90 percent of exports are fish. The project benefits not only for infrastructure development in the major ports but also for Micronesians that work in the strong fishing industry. The project ends on August 1, 2024. Sihna Lawrence, Microneisa’s Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, said, “Guided by our Infrastructure Development Plan, we look forward to working with the World Bank to improve our maritime transport and develop stronger connectivity across the archipelago.”
Ongoing Infrastructure Developments
Micronesia’s goal of self-reliance is given through the development plan and projects. Infrastructure development in Micronesia is a major move toward reducing the 41 percent poverty rate and improving health, education and the overall wellbeing of Micronesians.
– Lucas Schmidt
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Kazakhstan
Life expectancy in Kazakhstan has been steadily increasing since the mid-1990s. As the world’s largest landlocked country, Kazakhstan is a Central Asian nation that extends into two continents and is abundant with natural resources. Along with Kazakhstan’s increased life expectancy, the country is in a period of economic growth – its economy expanded by 4.1 percent in 2018 due strong private consumption and a higher number of oil exports. Subsequently, poverty in Kazakhstan has fallen to 7.4 percent. Here are 10 facts about life expectancy in Kazakhstan.
10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has made significant progress in social and economic reforms in the decades since its independence from the Soviet Union. These 10 facts about life expectancy in Kazakhstan show that the average life expectancy has improved through a reduction of poverty rates and an emphasis on education. Development in rural regions and improving universal health care are imperative to keep Kazakhstan’s life expectancy on the rise.
– Trey Ross
Photo: Flickr
Life in the Dumps: The Garbage Communities of the world
Making a Living
Members of garbage communities spend each day rummaging through the trash, hoping to find something decent enough to recycle. Once they find something — say a can or bottle — they collect these pieces and bring them to a middleman called an “agent”. The agent, (oftentimes a gang leader or crime lord) then sells the goods for much more, sucking up a large portion of the collector’s wage. This method brings in somewhere around $2.50 a day, not nearly enough for a decent living in most countries. Getting rid of the middleman is not an option, as violence and coercion are commonly used methods of silencing the garbage workers if they attempt to sell the items directly to the recycler.
Breeding Grounds of Disease
Living in waste — whether human, animal or artificial — brings with it a host of health problems. Contact with feces can cause intestinal worms, which can lead to stunted cognitive and physical growth in children. Pneumonia, spread by poor hygiene, is rampant in these communities, as are many other infectious diseases. This is likely because each gram of feces in which people in these conditions come into contact holds 10 million viruses. As a result, the average lifespan of people raised in these communities is about 35 years old.
But along with the physical burden is a huge mental and emotional weight. Garbage pickers are often stigmatized in their communities and referred to as “local rats”. Even if they are able to attend school or enter society looking for a job, they are seen as less than because of their occupation. Infections, illness, injuries from sharp objects, trauma and mental illness, spontaneous combustion from a buildup of methane gas, the list of dangers is endless. And yet, for the world’s most vulnerable, this is what it costs to live.
Promise for a Better Future
Several organizations are committed to bringing change to garbage communities and offering them a shot at a better life. ActionAid is an organization that specifically works with women and children in impoverished regions to help them stand up to sexual abuse and violence. ActionAid also helps children living in landfills get into school by pairing them with sponsors throughout the world. International Samaritan does similar work, providing promising young people in the dumps with scholarships so that they can escape the dump. This organization also funds entrepreneurs to start up their own businesses outside of the landfills.
By reaching the next generation, these programs bring promising hope for the future. Yet, many people still live under the burden of collecting and sorting the world’s waste. Although insufficient, an improvement would be providing a living wage, clean environment and benefits for garbage communities. Even by following correct rather than cheap landfill protocol, governments could greatly improve the quality of life for these communities by reducing the number of toxic waste individuals come into contact with.
– Hannah Stewart
Photo: Flickr
The App to Help Refugees in Uganda
Uganda has been accepting refugees for many years. Unfortunately, these refugees have limited access to economic opportunity. That is where LevelApp comes in. The nonprofit Refunite created the app to help refugees in Uganda. The program creates small tasks for refugees to complete in exchange for payment. It is not a substitute for a regular income, but it provides some money on the side that refugees can save for the future. The work pays well too; a refugee may normally make around $1 a day, but the app gives them the potential to make up to $20 a day.
Uganda’s Refugee Crisis
Refugees have been seeking shelter in Uganda for many years now. Here are some facts about refugees in Uganda.
How LevelApp is Helping Refugees
Refugees need to be able to save money if they are to lift themselves out of poverty. The app helps women, who are important in local economies, by giving them tasks they can do from home. Almost 30 percent of users are women and they can use extra money in many beneficial ways. Some ways are to send kids to school, buy livestock and access health care, which might make them less dependent on foreign aid. Another important benefit is that by using this new technology, refugees learn new skills that they can use when they return home.
How LevelApp Works?
Refugees complete simple tasks like categorizing images and datasets. The more tasks they complete, the more money they make. They can download tasks and complete offline, which is important because many refugees do not have access to a consistent internet connection. Refugees can make almost $200 a month with this simple work. As of July 2019, LevelApp had around 1,500 users and the hope is that this number will grow.
The tasks are to help Refunite develop artificial intelligence. The basic tasks refugees complete, like labeling and mapping, help the AI learn. For Refunite, this is a win-win scenario because it is helping refugees climb out of poverty while developing AI.
Unexpected Benefits of LevelApp
While LevelApp is helping to lift refugees out of poverty, there are also some other positive effects. Using the app, refugees are beginning to learn English, which is an incredibly useful language to know. Also, through LevelApp, young people can new people. This is beneficial because a high number of refugees are young, and they are often stuck in limbo socially and economically. The youth often have difficulty making friends and progressing their careers. The app has also benefited the careers of young people by teaching them 21st-century skills that they can use when they return home.
LevelApp is helping refugees by providing an income that they normally would not have. It is a unique economic opportunity that greatly benefits refugees by providing them with 21st-century technological skills to use to access higher-paying jobs when they return home. The creator, Refunite, is also benefitting because the work refugees do for the company helps develop its artificial intelligence program. The company could easily develop this technology at home in the United States, but giving this opportunity to refugees is beneficial to combatting poverty. This app to help refugees in Uganda has created benefits that stretch beyond just poverty reduction and display the need for innovative solutions to global poverty.
– Gaurav Shetty
Photo: Flickr
ADB Helps Pakistan to Fight Poverty
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) helps Pakistan to fight poverty by pledging $10 billion to Pakistan over the next 5 years for the purpose of infrastructure development, with the goal of improving important economic sectors that could revitalize regional trade. Two central areas of investment for the ADB will be water resource development and transportation infrastructure. Transportation infrastructure is an especially important focus area, as it undergirds the possibility of developing trade in other sectors of Pakistan’s economy. Water resource development will be crucial in continuing to sustain the agriculture sector and in ensuring that citizens have access to water. Here are some ways ADB helps Pakistan to fight poverty by addressing some major issues.
Trade and Transportation
While trade and poverty may appear to be separate, the economic growth prospects offered by expanding trade programs often spill over to effect poverty reduction. The positive gains in GDP growth result in increased capital coming into a country, which creates more opportunities for employment and access to markets. Since 2001, consistent yearly GDP growth in Pakistan, ranging from 1.7 percent to 7.5 percent has come alongside a 24.7 percent reduction in the number of Pakistanis living in extreme (less than $1.90 a day) poverty.
However, the poor transit system could have negative effects on the future of economic growth in Pakistan. Most of the nation’s railway system is over 100 years old and was built during the British colonial period. This has severely hampered the possibility of ramping up trade and industrial production, as only 4 percent of commerce can be shipped via rail. This has had a while GDP growth has been consistent, the share of growth caused by trade has declined, as the service industry, at 58.6 percent of GDP and agriculture sector at 24 percent both outpace the contributions of industrial production, which has declined from 22 percent of GDP to 19.3 percent. Moreover, the ADB estimates that 2 percent of GDP is lost annually due to poor transportation infrastructure.
In response to this, the ADB has announced plans to invest in providing more locomotives, increasing the overall prospects for shipping capabilities by rail, and has also invested in updating railway lines, as well as improving north-south highways for travel via motor vehicles.
Water Resource Development
Water resource development is another way ADB helps Pakistan fight poverty. This is not to suggest that agriculture is unimportant, as in some cases, agricultural development is integral to the maintenance of local economic growth, offering a means of mitigating the worst impacts of poverty. This is especially true of Balochistan, a province that faces severe water scarcity, impacting both the living standards of the population and the local economy. Agricultural production requires massive levels of water to operate successfully, and with 60 percent of the population employed in agriculture, the impact of water scarcity on poverty is compounded by pressing economic concerns.
As a result of water scarcity in Quetta, the provincial headquarters of Balochistan, many tube-wells were installed in order to redirect water from rural areas to provide water to the urban areas. This program has produced a massive strain on the population of Balochistan, eliminating access for water for both drinking and for use in agricultural production, with poor water resource management producing a scenario in which one portion of the population is only able to access the water by depriving another.
However, the ADB is seeking to combat this water scarcity by protecting watersheds and building 276 kilometers of new irrigation channels, to support agricultural production. Watersheds will prevent soil erosion, and increase water storage capabilities in the region, while irrigation channels will assist in combating the scarcity brought on by tube-wells. Beyond its use for irrigation, these programs will also be important for developing methods of helping increase access to water in the region, which some estimate could have a profound impact on increasing women’s access to water.
Conclusion
Water scarcity and poor transportation infrastructure have hindered effective economic development in Pakistan, limiting the prospects for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. The influx of capital offered by expanding networks for regional trade promises to offer new avenues for employment and sustainable income for Pakistanis living in poverty. Water resource management will provide new avenues for managing agricultural development, ensuring stable irrigation routes and providing overall water security.
– Alexander Sherman
Photo: Flickr