Pediatric heart disease is seen throughout the world and causes grave sickness in children. It is often complicated and hard to treat. With poverty and lacking resources, pediatric heart disease in developing countries becomes nearly impossible to manage.
It is difficult to determine how many children have heart disease because of lacking global data. Figures are generally surmised from industrialized nations. Since better diagnostics were implemented, experts estimate that 8-12 per 1,000 live births have heart disease. Children can also develop heart disease from heart rhythm disorders and infections (among other things).
Children with heart disease have very complicated health situations. Those born with a heart defect may have other birth defects. And as treatment improves and children live longer, they develop secondary diseases such as kidney failure.
Their situation is worsened by a lack of knowledge in developing countries. There is a common misconception that children do not develop heart disease. Parents may not recognize the serious symptoms, and as a result, children are often diagnosed later in life when treatment is harder and more expensive. Medical professionals do not always recognize heart disease in children, leading to misdiagnosis.
Worldwide, heart disease is expensive to treat. In the U.S. in 2009 the hospital cost of treating heart failure in children was thought to be $1 billion. This figure does not include outpatient visits, medications, treating secondary conditions, transportation and parents’ lost work.
Funding treatment of pediatric heart disease in developing countries is challenging. There is a lack of data to guide medical policy and infrastructure and the disease is likely under-reported. When poor countries decide how to best spend small healthcare budgets, it seems plausible to focus on more prevalent conditions that are cheaper to prevent, such as infection.
Providing adequate cardiac care requires significant resources. For simple heart surgeries, sterile consumables (such as drapes) are needed, as well as sophisticated equipment and trained personnel. More complex heart conditions may require more advanced equipment and highly educated providers.
Many children with heart disease in developing countries have surgically curable defects. Yet, because of costs, these children receive simpler “quick fix” surgeries. Another issue that developing countries have with providing acceptable heart surgeries is they often struggle with clean water and electricity, which are crucial in running any hospital.
Fortunately, many organizations see the struggle of treating pediatric heart disease in developing countries. In 2015, there was a survey of NGOs that provide care for this population. The survey lists more than 80 NGOs.
Some of these organizations perform mission trips to developing countries, where they perform heart surgeries in the local hospitals. Others bring children into industrialized nations for surgery and take them back after recovery. In some instances, organizations have worked with the country and local healthcare providers to build lasting cardiology programs that can serve the country more permanently.
Pediatric heart disease is a complicated condition. While seen throughout the world, it has a greater impact in developing nations because of higher birth rates. This does not mean it is not treatable. With great investment from NGOs and governments, children in developing countries can have the same outcomes as those in industrialized nations.
– Mary Katherine Crowley
Photo: Flickr
Taking Action on Poverty in Africa: Key to the Future Success
Although population growth is rapid and expansive on the continent, the flow of international aid into Africa has been stagnating and decreasing in recent years. Since 2012, the three most significant forms of financing for African countries—official development assistance, domestic revenue and direct foreign investment—have been steadily decreasing; they are now at their lowest aggregate level since 2009. Since 2012, although its population has increased by 15 percent, the combined resources available for development in Africa have nominally decreased by 22 percent.
The authors of the report emphatically underline that the international community must start taking action on poverty in Africa as soon as possible. Alleviating poverty in Africa is key to the future of the continent, one which is uncertain right now and might present very serious challenges. With the population increasing to an estimated 2.5b billion by 2050, and 50 percent of them being 25 years or younger, there is a great risk of further destabilization of the region and massive waves of migration. According to estimates, by 2020 Africa’s unemployed population will equal that of Germany’s entire population, and 50 years from now that number might increase to 310 million, or half the employed population of continental Europe.
Donors who used to largely finance aid and development on the continent have been largely using aid budgets in the pursuit of short-term foreign policy interests rather than in fighting poverty. This shortsightedness might prove catastrophic. As a young population grows up in conditions of extreme poverty, conflict that resonates around the globe might be unavoidable. This is why the authors of the ONE report so emphatically claim that taking action on poverty in Africa is key to the future of the continent and the world. In its conclusion, the report calls for a renewed partnership with African countries, which include the doubling of investments in education, employment and empowerment “to support a programme of economic and policy reform across the continent”. Hopefully, the international community will heed this call and think in the long term in order to avoid catastrophe before it manifests.
– Alan Garcia-Ramos
Photo: Flickr
Common Misconceptions About Global Poverty Explored
Foreign Aid
Many see foreign aid as a huge waste, but it actually acts as a long-term investment. Certainly, there may be some reason not to have confidence in the process, as it takes weeks of delegation for lasting, positive change. Regardless, what happens across the world affects the United States and the conviction of U.S. citizens in foreign aid can be a lasting solution to the global poverty issue. Most developed countries contribute somewhere around one percent of their fiscal budgets to foreign aid, which can add up to billions of dollars. However, take away from this budget to allocate funds elsewhere and there is potential to see a major impact on disease control, climate change efforts and foreign policy and government support for developing countries. The United States can only benefit by quelling these issues through foreign aid efforts.
Overpopulation
If the United States invests more in the future of foreign countries, it can be posited that there will, in turn, be more people to take care of in the future. Despite popular belief, projections predict this to simply not be true. When experts break down extreme poverty conditions, it is apparent that high birth rates and poor education coincide. Demographic shifts, which are characterized by birth rates lowering as living standards increase, also show that birth rates decrease with education, especially among women. Investing in the education and infrastructure of extremely poor countries has the potential to decrease populations, which can then lead to disease control and other solutions for poor nations.
Ending It Is Impossible
The global community has grown by huge measures in the last few decades when it comes to stymieing global poverty. Developed countries have made great progress in tackling domestic issues, but is an end to poverty realistic? There are several obstacles to this lofty goal, but it is not completely out of the question. There is no doubt that the last few hurdles will be the most difficult to achieve, as they require major global players, including the U.S., to make significant investments in long-term, sustainable solutions. While countries need to support security efforts, it may seem counterintuitive to invest in defenseless and foreign aid more. However, the remaining steps to ending global poverty include peace-making, economic support, and ensuring these countries remain independently resilient.
These are just three of the many misconceptions about global poverty. While tackling global poverty may sometimes seem an insurmountable issue, exploring the common misconceptions about it reveals that it is not impossible with our help.
– Casey Hess
Photo: Flickr
Causes of Poverty in Israel
The first of the causes of poverty in Israel is its system of allowances. While Israel, compared to other countries, collects a significant amount of income from the wealthy in the form of taxes, it lacks in its system of allowances. The government’s influence in curtailing poverty is at around 30 percent. Other countries’ participation is at around 60. Of the allowance payments made by the government, most are handled efficiently. Part of the solution lies in more system of allowances by the government.
Another one of the causes of poverty in Israel comes from low participation in the labor market, specifically with two minority groups: ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arab Israelis. As of 2011, only 48 percent of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and 28 percent of Arab-Israeli women were employed.According to a report by the Bank of Israel in 2015, “the dilemma [of poverty] becomes greater because about half of the poor in Israel belong to the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community – a population sector that attributes great value to devoting time to studying the Holy Scriptures – and the traditional Muslim community, in which there are cultural restrictions on the employment of women.”For these cultural reasons, some of the ultra-religious in Israel choose not to search for jobs and therefore fall into poverty. This is also one of the reasons why the government’s influence on curtailing poverty is so low; it believes it will encourage living on allowances instead of looking for other means of income.
These main contributors work in conjunction to create a difficult environment for the government to control poverty. Between the low participation in the labor market and therefore lower system of allowances by the Israeli government, the population has suffered from impoverished conditions.
To combat these issues, the OECD has offered some recommendations that will hopefully decrease the poverty rate, the first of which includes increasing competition and efficiency in the domestic economy. An OECD survey noted that the banking industry is inefficient and concentrated. Therefore, should allow the entry of new competitors into the market, particularly in non-banking credit entities.
Another way to improve the apparent disparity in the labor market is to boost “investment in infrastructure and promoting skills, particularly among disadvantaged groups [which] can both enhance social cohesion and raise long-term growth.” One of the last recommendations given was improving education for those disadvantaged groups like Arab women and the Haredi population so that they may increase their income levels and contribute to the economy.
– Sydney Roeder
Photo: Flickr
Diversification to Reduce the Suriname Poverty Rate
Malnutrition is a rampant problem. Many children are hospitalized for malnutrition and suffer lasting effects that extend into adulthood. In recent years, AIDS has also become one of the primary causes of child mortality.
The education system in Suriname is also wanting. At the same time, as many teachers are poorly trained, many students, mostly boys, leave primary school at an early age. The children that leave school are often forced to work. It is estimated that 8 percent of children between 5 and 14 engage in child labor under difficult working conditions.
As for the girls that are either discouraged from attending school or leave early, many are subjected to sexual exploitation and trafficking. Both inside and outside of prostitution, violent abuse toward children is a rampant problem.
Though the Suriname poverty rate is high, the country’s per capita income is also relatively high, standing at almost $10,000. Inequality between different geographic regions and ethnic groups accounts for the coexistence of the high national income and the high poverty rate.
The Surinamese economy relies on the extraction and exportation of minerals such as alumina, bauxite, gold and oil. While the production of such commodities employs hundreds of thousands of Surinamese and has at times accounted for almost 40 percent of government revenues, the production of these goods is limited to extraction and refinement. As a result, much of the population misses out on economies opportunities.
To lower the Suriname poverty rate, the government should utilize its mineral revenues to subsidize education, health and welfare for the disenfranchised parts of the population. Such measures will serve to increase the value of Suriname’s human capital and work toward diversifying the economy away from commodity exportation.
In addition to actions the Surinamese government can take to reduce poverty in the country, a number of international organizations are already working to improve the Surinamese economy.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), for one, has dedicated millions of dollars in loans and grants under its Low Income Shelter Program (LISP) to provide housing for underprivileged Surinamese. The program has successfully housed more than 3,000 families.
Suriname’s longtime benefactor and ex-colonizer, the Netherlands has also allocated billions of dollars over the past two decades for microcredit lending and infrastructural repair. These efforts have helped facilitate entrepreneurship and stimulate Suriname’s economy from the bottom up.
If these international developmental commitments persist, there may be hope that Suriname can achieve its Multi-Year Development goals, growing small and medium enterprises by 10 percent over the next five years and lifting thousands out of poverty.
– Nathaniel Sher
Photo: Flickr
Pediatric Heart Disease in Developing Countries
It is difficult to determine how many children have heart disease because of lacking global data. Figures are generally surmised from industrialized nations. Since better diagnostics were implemented, experts estimate that 8-12 per 1,000 live births have heart disease. Children can also develop heart disease from heart rhythm disorders and infections (among other things).
Children with heart disease have very complicated health situations. Those born with a heart defect may have other birth defects. And as treatment improves and children live longer, they develop secondary diseases such as kidney failure.
Their situation is worsened by a lack of knowledge in developing countries. There is a common misconception that children do not develop heart disease. Parents may not recognize the serious symptoms, and as a result, children are often diagnosed later in life when treatment is harder and more expensive. Medical professionals do not always recognize heart disease in children, leading to misdiagnosis.
Worldwide, heart disease is expensive to treat. In the U.S. in 2009 the hospital cost of treating heart failure in children was thought to be $1 billion. This figure does not include outpatient visits, medications, treating secondary conditions, transportation and parents’ lost work.
Funding treatment of pediatric heart disease in developing countries is challenging. There is a lack of data to guide medical policy and infrastructure and the disease is likely under-reported. When poor countries decide how to best spend small healthcare budgets, it seems plausible to focus on more prevalent conditions that are cheaper to prevent, such as infection.
Providing adequate cardiac care requires significant resources. For simple heart surgeries, sterile consumables (such as drapes) are needed, as well as sophisticated equipment and trained personnel. More complex heart conditions may require more advanced equipment and highly educated providers.
Many children with heart disease in developing countries have surgically curable defects. Yet, because of costs, these children receive simpler “quick fix” surgeries. Another issue that developing countries have with providing acceptable heart surgeries is they often struggle with clean water and electricity, which are crucial in running any hospital.
Fortunately, many organizations see the struggle of treating pediatric heart disease in developing countries. In 2015, there was a survey of NGOs that provide care for this population. The survey lists more than 80 NGOs.
Some of these organizations perform mission trips to developing countries, where they perform heart surgeries in the local hospitals. Others bring children into industrialized nations for surgery and take them back after recovery. In some instances, organizations have worked with the country and local healthcare providers to build lasting cardiology programs that can serve the country more permanently.
Pediatric heart disease is a complicated condition. While seen throughout the world, it has a greater impact in developing nations because of higher birth rates. This does not mean it is not treatable. With great investment from NGOs and governments, children in developing countries can have the same outcomes as those in industrialized nations.
– Mary Katherine Crowley
Photo: Flickr
Causes of Poverty in Lithuania
The vast inequality present throughout Lithuanian society is the result of a persistent lack of adequate social programs and fair incomes. In addition, many areas of Lithuania maintain a low standard of living, with poor access to social programs and services, quality education and non-agricultural employment opportunities. This is particularly true of rural areas that are largely disconnected from the state’s urban centers and therefore do not benefit from the prosperity of the Lithuanian government or local businesses. Improving infrastructure to connect rural areas to urban centers would supply additional opportunities to those residing outside the city rather than forcing them to pursue only opportunities in their immediate vicinity. To do so would eliminate one of the main causes of inequality and therefore chip away at the causes of poverty in Lithuania as well.
Within Europe, more equal societies typically have the lowest rates of poverty. These are the states that prioritize social protections and mandate an adequate income in order to support a decent living, whereas others neglect disadvantaged populations in favor of other kinds of spending. Thus, one of the main causes of poverty in Lithuania is also one of the main causes of inequality: lack of adequate government assistance and social protections. For example, Lithuanian pensioners often do not receive enough to live on and thus become dependent on their families, placing an additional burden on household incomes that are already low. A more equitable allocation of government spending and redistribution of government services would serve to provide poorer and more vulnerable populations the resources they need to rise out of poverty.
By national standards, nearly 30 percent of Lithuania’s population faces poverty and social exclusion, one of the highest rates among members of the European Union. A comparable portion of the population is considered at risk of poverty. These facts and the lack of opportunities and government assistance available to Lithuanians have driven Lithuanians out of the country in search of better employment, despite the growth of the Lithuanian economy. In 2016, 50,333 Lithuanians left the country, 5,800 more than in 2015 and 13,172 more than in 2014. Should this pattern persist, economic growth in Lithuania will eventually slow, resulting in higher rates of poverty and inequality. In addition, those leaving are likely to be skilled workers, which means that Lithuania could also soon face a brain-drain, deepening the economic downturn that could occur.
While the causes of poverty in Lithuania are relatively simple to identify, their implications for the future are complicated as the country moves forward. In order to stop the emigration that would inevitably worsen Lithuania’s poverty rate, there must be a shift toward more equitable social programs and an effort to improve the access of rural communities to urban centers, therefore exposing them to education and employment opportunities necessary to their success. Should these issues be addressed, it is likely that Lithuania’s recent prosperity will continue.
– Alena Zafonte
Photo: Flickr
Quality of Life Uncertain for Refugees in Kenya
There have been quite a few issues that have risen since the town’s creation. The most prominent of these issues is that Kalobeyei was established just as South Sudan’s civil war greatly intensified, causing many refugees in Kenya to arrive with hardly anything more than the clothes on their backs, as well as without the proper resources that would help them make an attempt at a new life.
The World Food Programme provides $14 per month as a cash allowance to each refugee, which is supposed to cover up to 80 percent of an individual’s needs in the town. This may not be enough to live off of due to the current conditions these refugees are left in after the civil war, especially since Kalobeyei is hosting nearly 40,000 refugees, including individuals from places such as South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.
There have also been many complaints from the refugees in Kenya who are currently residing in Kalobeyei. Refugees say that little to nothing that they were promised has been offered in the town. They have found themselves in an isolated camp where both food and water are in short supply and that residents are at the mercy of thievery that goes on within Kalobeyei. One resident of the town—an Ethiopian refugee—said, “When they brought us here, we were told that the place would be like a community village with many development projects, a school, clinic, market and almost everything close by,” but there is close to nothing within the settlement that is within walking distance.
When the UNHCR’s office in Kenya heard of this story, communications director Yvonne Ndege had a drastically different description of what life was like residents of Kalobeyei saying that the town was in fact not built in a remote area and had markets, water tanks and primary schools on-site, as well as stating that “there is no heightened security situation or security threat at Kalobeyei or Kakuma.” She went on to explain that refugees had the option to visit the camp before relocating and that perhaps they “may have had different expectations,” despite having viewed Kalobeyei in advance.
Whatever the case may be, it is wise to be empathetic and understanding toward refugees in Kenya when it comes to these situations—having to relocate yourself and your family is never easy, and struggling in a new environment does not make anything less difficult. Hopefully, the UNHCR will empathize and refugees in Kenya will be able to resolve and overcome the issues with Kalobeyei, for the town is meant to only do good.
– Sara Venusti
Photo: Flickr
WHO and LSE: Reducing Suicide in Low-Income Countries
A recent study conducted by the London School of Economics determined trends that indicated a positive association between poverty and suicidal behaviors. Low-income countries in Asia and the Pacific, two of the poorest regions globally, also suffer from the highest burden of suicide in the world.
Suicide in low-income countries displays trends that are very different than those in high-income countries in Europe and North America. For example, high-income countries report a greater number of male suicides, and those who commit suicide usually use different methods than those in low-income countries. The differences between risk groups and trends between high- and low-income countries highlight the importance of targeted research and prevention strategies.
Most low-income countries, however, do not have the proper structure or information to effectively help those contemplating suicide. These countries face issues such as poor education and high mortality from infectious and noncommunicable diseases that consume their limited resources. In poor countries, there are less than 0.5 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, and, in high-income countries, there are 6.6 physicians per 100,000 population. Clearly, access to physicians and proper healthcare in poor countries is limited.
The recent study done by the London School of Economics is thus a positive step, despite its sobering results. Another recent study published by Global Mental Health exposed the significant knowledge gaps between suicidal information for high- and low-income countries. Therefore, any gathering of data regarding mental health in low-income countries is helpful and important.
Other organizations are also taking concrete steps toward helping those experiencing mental health problems in poor countries. In 2013, the 66th World Health Assembly announced the first ever Mental Health Action Plan of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The program seeks to remedy the problem of a shortage of mental health professionals by allowing more general health workers to aid in suicide prevention under the supervision of psychiatric experts. The WHO hopes to reduce the rate of suicide in countries by ten percent by 2020.
The actions by the World Health Organization and the London School of Economics are promising in the battle for mental health and against suicide in low-income countries. While their actions are steps in the right direction, further research and development of prevention strategies are necessary to effectively combat the high prevalence of suicide.
– Lauren Mcbride
Photo: Flickr
Human Rights in Singapore in Need of Reform
Singapore’s Media Development Agency (MDA) requires all online news sources to register themselves and subjects them to regulation by the government. They are prohibited from receiving any foreign funding, and the government also limits the circulation of any foreign news sources in the country. This is supposedly so that the organization can maintain religious and racial harmony and national security.
In 2009, Singapore passed the Public Order Act, which requires a police permit for all group assembly in public. While this is similar to the policy in the United States, where one must apply for a protest permit, the grounds for denial of the permit in Singapore are very broad. There are far more applications that are denied than accepted, severely limiting the right to free assembly. Singapore does have a “Speakers’ Corner” which is open for rallies and protests—as long as they don’t touch on racial or religious issues, and as long as they are only Singaporean citizens; foreigners need a police permit to participate.
In 2014, Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong sued an activist and blogger for defamation. The blogger, Roy Ngerng Yi Ling, was fired from the private hospital he worked at, and the courts ended up ruling against him. This was an open denial of free speech on the part of the Singaporean government.
Even as recently as May 2017, Singapore has continued to limit freedom of speech. Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong’s nephew, Li Shengwu, made criticisms of the country’s leadership in a private Facebook post. Since then the government has been pushing him to sign an apology letter and to admit to contempt of court, but Mr. Shengwu refused and continued to point out the human rights violations the Singaporean government was committing.
Singapore has committed a number of other human rights violations, but these are very basic rights its citizens lack. Much reform is needed to make Singapore a more equal and free nation, but activists and citizens are hopeful for change in the future. As unfortunate as it is that certain human rights in Singapore are often denied, most countries started with many human rights violations before realizing the importance of granting their citizens these rights. Singapore is hopefully on its way to doing so as well.
– Liyanga De Silva
Photo: Flickr
Positive Planet: Lending to the Greater Good
Because this service goes to low-income individuals, it is popular among many nonprofits and private businesses to help people start enterprises around the world. Many microfinance institutions lend to women, young people and others who have been historically kept out of finance.
One organization, in particular, strives to alleviate poverty by empowering marginalized populations.
Since its founding in 1988, Positive Planet has set out to provide microloans to women who want to start their own businesses. The nonprofit aims to provide the chance to start a viable, sustainable business to women without resources. The organization also follows some of the intuition behind the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the goals of gender equality, decent work and economic growth.
The organization, based in France, manages projects through different locations that provide assistance to people in different countries. Positive Planet’s reach extends all over the world to 35 countries. Its projects span from helping refugee businesses in the Middle East to inspiring young people in West Africa.
Since its beginning, the organization has touched more than 40,000 people through nearly 40 projects. Just one of these projects helps microfinance groups provide women with financial education. The project aimed to help further develop the infrastructure in place for microfinance in China and also support women’s finance training. Through a partnership with Diageo and the Huimin Microcredit Company, the project was able to directly impact more than 7,000 people.
Another project assisted low-income women in Brazil with entering the labor market and learning the basics of entrepreneurship. The program attempted to benefit vulnerable women through individual support. By partnering with Gerando Vida, a local NGO, the program was able to directly impact the women and their families.
By helping vulnerable women around the world, this organization takes a staunch position against global poverty. This organization and its results demonstrate the importance of empowering women entrepreneurs.
– Selasi Amoani
Photo: Flickr