The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) began in 1987 in Uganda to rebel against President Yoweri Museveni. Children constitute most of the army. The LRA forces child soldiers in Uganda to commit acts of violence on other minors within the LRA ranks as well as brutalities on their own siblings.
LRA and Child Soldiers in Uganda
Between 1988 and 2004, the LRA abducted 30,000 Ugandan children.
Joseph Kony heads the LRA. He grew up in the northern Ugandan village, Odek. His relative, Alice Auma Lakwena, began a rebel group called The Holy Spirit Movement in 1986 when Museveni seized power. In 1987, Kony declared himself a prophet, changed the name of the group to the LRA and began proclaiming rule based on the Ten Commandments.
In October 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) began attempting to arrest Kony. A peace agreement was finalized in April 2008, but the child soldiers in Uganda and neighboring countries remained an issue.
Since 2008, Kony and his forces have been shifting their presence to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic. The LRA Crisis Tracker, a website that reports LRA attacks and notifies email subscribers, lists 27 verified child abductions in these countries in 2018 alone.
Issues with the LRA
The LRA has displaced more than two million people since 1986 thereby increasing poverty in Uganda, especially in the north. However, the relation between the LRA and poverty is not mutually exclusive. The LRA and its brutal use of child soldiers in Uganda is a result of the harsh poverty that Kony and many others in the LRA ranks have experienced. Note the following:
- A huge income inequality, rooted in colonialism, exists between northern and southern Uganda’s north and south.
- British colonists created a militant north.
- The Acholi people have been systematically oppressed.
When the British colonized Uganda in 1860, a centralized government did not exist. They created agricultural and commercial centers in southern Uganda.
This left the north to provide labor. The British found higher success rates in northern Uganda for army recruitment because it provided northerners an opportunity to improve their livelihoods. These divisions continued after Uganda gained independence in 1962.
Acholi
Kony came from the impoverished north and is Acholi, an ethnolinguistic group. Idi Amin Dada, Former Ugandan President from 1971 to 1979, persecuted and executed the Acholi due to their military ties and alignment with Apollo Milton Obote, who was in office as the Prime Minister from 1962 to 1966 and as the President from 1966 to 1971 and then again from 1980 to 1985.
The British created a system where many Acholi people turned to the army to escape extreme poverty and then they were persecuted for it. Poverty and persecution influenced Kony’s disillusionment with the government and his desire to rebel and create child soldiers in Uganda.
However, the LRA’s actions have not combated the root issues of poverty and oppression. The cycle of poverty in Uganda propagates because of Kony and the LRA’s use of Ugandan child soldiers in the following ways:
- One of the biggest populations of displaced people now exists in northern and eastern Uganda. Most LRA raids take place at night, so when Kony’s presence was focused in Uganda, mothers and children trying to avoid becoming Ugandan soldiers fled their villages to bigger towns and secure government camps. More than 80 percent of the Acholi people were displaced.
- Malnutrition exists within the LRA ranks as well and many Ugandans focused on fleeing for their lives over planting food. This created severe food shortages, particularly in 2004.
- A lack of health workers exists because so many of them had to escape the LRA.
- Kony and other men in the LRA took many female captives as “wives” and forced them to have more children in order to provide more resources.
Moving Forward in Uganda
Now that most of LRA’s presence is focused elsewhere, Uganda is working to solve its problems. In 2006, 31.1 percent of Ugandans were under the national poverty line, according to The World Bank’s 2016 Uganda Poverty Assessment. In 2013, it went down to 19.7 percent. Northern and eastern Uganda still suffer devastating consequences from Kony’s reign of terror, and the same study reveals that poverty has increased in those regions from 68 percent to 84 percent in those seven years.
In June 2009, the LRA had abducted 491 civilians and caused 484 civilian fatalities in Uganda. While peace is coming to Uganda and its children, the LRA still violently demonstrates its power in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it abducted 124 civilians in 2018.
In June 2018, there have been no reported fatalities or abductions, meaning there are no new child soldiers in Uganda this year. The growing peace in Uganda provides hope that the country’s poverty rate might reduce and that the LRA would not reign indefinitely.
– Charlotte Preston
Photo: Flickr
Economic Growth in Saudi Arabia and Argentina
Economic growth is one of the most powerful tools for reducing poverty, and a key driver of economic growth is investment. Argentina and Saudi Arabia, two countries that have committed to political and economic reforms in recent years, are hoping to spur investment from abroad. The announcement by MSCI, an equity index provider, to classify them as emerging markets has attracted sizable foreign investments to the two countries. But whether the capital flows support economic growth is still up for debate.
MSCI
MSCI created its Emerging Markets Index in 1998 and since then it has become a benchmark for investment in emerging markets. Many investment funds track the index by buying a similar composition of stocks. Therefore, when stocks are added to the index it inevitably prompts investment flows to increase in certain countries.
In late June, MSCI decided to add Argentina and Saudi Arabia to its emerging markets index. The decision is a result of the reform efforts in both countries. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman, is trying to shift the country from its oil dependency and increase social liberalization, including allowing women to drive while President Mauricio Macri of Argentina has sought to end disputes with international investors and remove barriers to capital entering and leaving the country.
The effects of their addition to the index may be profound. Some estimates predict approximately $3.5 billion and $40 billion of capital inflows into Argentina and Saudi Arabia respectively in the coming year. The inflows could lead to businesses in these two countries giving them cheaper access to credit that will further lead to more investments; thus boosting economic growth and productivity.
Poverty in Saudi Arabia and Argentina
The two countries are seeking to boost economic growth and stability by any means possible. Saudi Arabia’s economy contracted 0.7 percent in 2017, driven by lower oil prices. Argentina also had to turn to the International Monetary Fund for a $50 million line of credit after capital flight weakened its currency.
Given these countries’ extensive poverty, economic growth is needed for their governments to maintain its credibility. Argentina’s poverty rate is over 25 percent, and while there are no exact figures for poverty in Saudi Arabia, it is believed that almost four million people or approximately 12 percent of the population, live on less than $17 a day.
Do Capital Flows Support Economic Growth?
Do capital flows support economic growth in emerging markets? The answer to that is vague. Take Africa for instance. An economic study concerning private capital inflows found that capital flows had a detrimental effect on Africa’s economic growth in the absence of well-developed financial markets. Conversely, a research paper by the World Bank in 2015 found that capital inflows into Sub-Saharan Africa would have a positive effect on its economic growth. This study found, however, that the most effective type of capital inflow in boosting growth wasn’t private capital flows but aid.
The economic literature debating whether capital flows support economic growth is expansive and divisive. Therefore, increasing private capital flows to Argentina and Saudi Arabia may or may not be the answer to the economic instability plaguing the two countries. But both aid and private capital will continue to play an important role in the economic growth and futures of emerging markets.
– Mark Fitzpatrick
Photo: Pixabay
Improving Education and Literacy in Angola in the Aftermath of Civil War
For 27 years—from the end of Portuguese colonial rule in 1975 until 2002—civil war plagued Angola. Over a quarter century of war left the nation’s infrastructure in ruins, and the education system was no exception. Innumerable school buildings had been destroyed, and the population was largely destitute of the professionals and educators necessary to reboot an education system.
As such, it has been a struggle to rebuild the education system in Angola, but great strides are being made. At the end of the civil war, 72 percent of youths ages 15 to 24 were literate (83 percent of males and 63 percent of females). By 2014, that number had risen to 77 percent (with 85 percent of males and 71 percent of females being literate). The number of children attending school in 2002 was roughly two million. By 2013, attendance had tripled, with around six million students enrolled.
What accounts for this progress? And what challenges still lie ahead for Angola?
Improvements and Successes: What’s Working
Achieving universal basic education is one of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. After the end of the civil war, Angola’s Ministry of Education, in conjunction with UNESCO, developed a National Strategy on Literacy and School Recovery aimed at rebuilding the nation’s destroyed education system and spreading literacy throughout Angola. The national strategy is focused on mobilizing the efforts of various local, national and international NGOs, nonprofits and volunteer organizations to act as a single united front aimed at improving education and literacy in Angola.
In recent years, UNICEF has begun an initiative in Angola to digitally collect data on education, the state of schools and regions where schools are lacking. UNICEF plans to use this data to address issues with education and literacy in Angola scientifically. By mapping where schools are performing well and where schools are not (or are not in existence), UNICEF hopes it can direct resources to the right places.
Continued Challenges to Education and Literacy in Angola
Despite the civil war having ended more than 15 years ago, Angola is still facing—and will continue to face—challenges in its education system that date back to these years of violence. Primary education in Angola is compulsory and free for four years for children between the ages of 7 and 11, but the government estimates that approximately two million children are not attending school.
In areas where classrooms were completely demolished during the war and have not yet been rebuilt, classes typically are held outside and often must be canceled due to bad weather. Where classrooms do exist, they tend to be overcrowded and undersupplied, with outdated or insufficient books and pencils as well as not enough desks and chairs.
The government continues to work to alleviate these problems. Between 2016 and 2017, Angola opened 200 new schools, and numerous humanitarian organizations, including UNICEF, Inda Cares and Develop Africa, work to collect and send donated school supplies to Angola. UNICEF’s digital data collection is also of use here, as the organization hopes this data will help track both where help is most needed and the long-term impact of sending school supplies.
Furthermore, 27 years of fighting took a toll on the state of professionals in Angola. The Angolan government employs roughly 17,000 teachers. Of these, it is estimated that 40 percent are underqualified for their positions. Today, less than 0.7 percent of Angola’s population attends universities; a lack of higher education perpetuates the teacher shortage problem. Additionally, the Angolan government estimates that an additional 200,000 teachers are needed in order to enroll all children in schools with appropriately sized classrooms. Finances as well as a lack of educated professionals prevent the government from hiring these needed teachers.
Looking Forward
Since the end of its civil war, Angola has made tremendous strides in bettering its education system and moving towards achieving universal primary education for all. But challenges still exist for the sub-Saharan African nation, where a lack of infrastructure, school supplies and educated professionals continue to impact the education of Angolan students. However, the commitment to improving education and literacy in Angola—seen in both the Angolan government and international organizations like UNICEF—offers hope that progress will continue to be made and that literacy and school attendance rates will continue to improve.
– Abigail Dunn
Photo: Flickr
Seven Important Victories Against FGM in Africa
Today, there are an estimated 200 million women and girls living with female genital mutilation, or FGM. FGM is widely practiced in 30 countries around the world. At least 65 to 70 percent of FGM victims live in Africa.
According to the World Health Organization, FGM is a broad term including “all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.” Traditionally, it is used to control female sexuality, but it often leaves a myriad of health and social problems for survivors. Despite the ingrained nature of this practice, in recent years there have been several victories against FGM in Africa.
Seven Victories Against FGM in Africa
Female genital mutilation contributes to poverty in areas where it is practiced. Girls are cut at young ages to prepare them for child marriage, a practice linked to lower development. As the British NGO ActionAid put it, “Girls who marry young are more likely to be poor and stay poor.” Each victory against FGM in Africa is a victory against extreme poverty and the violation of women’s human rights.
– Lydia Cardwell
Photo: Flickr
The Gates Foundation’s Efforts to Fight Polio in Nigeria
This year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will start paying off Nigeria’s $76 million debt over the course of the next 20 years. The money was originally borrowed from Japan by Nigeria to fight the polio epidemic in the country.
In 2017, Nigeria had no new cases of polio, which is a significant improvement compared to 2012, when Nigeria accounted for half of all cases worldwide. The Gates Foundation decided to repay the debt on the premise that Nigeria would ramp up its polio vaccination efforts.
The Importance of Polio Eradication
Polio cripples and can potentially kill those who suffer from it. The disease damages spinal nerve cells, causing temporary and sometimes permanent paralysis. Paralysis can sometimes occur within a matter of hours. It is often spread through contaminated food and water. Up to 10 percent of those who become paralyzed die.
Thankfully, there is a vaccine that has contributed to the almost total eradication of polio worldwide. The main problem is getting the vaccine to the children who need it. In order for Nigeria to receive the money from the Gates Foundation, it has to provide vaccine access to at least 80 percent of the country.
The key to eradicating polio in Nigeria is to send health workers across the country to provide the vaccine. Children and families are unable to travel to receive the vaccine, so Nigeria has begun a campaign to bring the vaccine straight to people’s homes, with the support of the Gates Foundation.
Fighting Polio in Nigeria a Priority of the Gates Foundation
Polio in Nigeria was by far the biggest issue in the overall epidemic, which is why Bill and Melinda Gates honed in on the country after announcing that the eradication of polio was their highest priority. In addition to beginning to repay Nigeria’s loan, the Gates Foundation donated $3 billion in 2017 to polio eradication.
The change these donations have made in the epidemic of polio in Nigeria is tangible, since there are currently no known cases in the country. Worldwide, there are only 22 known cases, down from 350,000 cases 30 years ago.
Children today are walking that would have been paralyzed were it not for the generosity of the Gates Foundation and organizations like it. Volunteers on the ground are also the unsung heroes.
On his blog Gates Notes, Bill Gates wrote, “The heroes who have made this progress possible are the millions of vaccinators who have gone door to door to immunize more than 2.5 billion children. Thanks to their work, 16 million people who would have been paralyzed are walking today.” The efforts of these workers should not go unnoticed, as the progress made would not have been possible without people like them.
The progress towards mitigating polio in Nigeria has been phenomenal, with the disease now entirely eradicated from the country. It only takes one child or one traveler for polio to begin to spread again, so it is essential for the countries with a history of the disease to continue their efforts to fight it. Continual vaccinations and immunizations are necessary to maintain the current polio-free Nigeria.
– Amelia Merchant
Photo: Flickr
Golden Women Vision Gives Hope to Northern Uganda
The Destruction Left Behind
Golden Women Vision works to improve the social-economic status of the people left vulnerable from the insurgency. Even after the conflict ended, the terror continued for many victims. Women were left battered and lost, some without limbs or living with bullet wounds. Widows were left without husbands and single mothers had their children taken by the LRA. These women were at a disadvantage for even basic survival.
“The real victims are the many who are in dire need of even finding what they need to eat on a daily basis,” said Joyce Freda Apio, a Kampala-based transitional justice expert, regarding how the insurgency left many without a source of income and stability.
Giving Women Hope
Sylvia Acan was one of those women severely affected by the insurgency. She lost her family to the conflict and was sexually assaulted at the age of 17. Acan had to marry her attacker when she learned she was pregnant. In an effort to learn to provide for herself, Acan signed up with a nongovernmental organization called Caritas. Caritas trained women affected by the conflict in catering services to help them recover and reintegrate with society.
By 2008, Acan learned how to bake, gained business skills and realized the importance of financial savings. She also realized her skills could positively impact the lives of women around her. The traditionally patriarchal society of northern Uganda limited the potential of women. Many females affected by the insurgency were stuck in the cycle of poverty and hopelessness.
Golden Women Vision
Sylvia Acan is the founder and director of Global Women Vision. She started the organization to change the futures of these women. The community-based organization trains women and girls with income-generating skills like baking, making soap or creating paper beads. With 84 members since its beginnings in 2011, the Golden Women Vision helps victims regain a sense of control and sufficiency. She states that she will “spend the rest of her life on this earth” creating activities and possibilities for the survivors of that brutal time.
Golden Women Vision works to provide women the skills and knowledge necessary for self-sustenance. By teaching women how to create financial independence and security through their own means, they can be more successful throughout life. By forging a positive future and peace within the community, the organization not only teaches the women how to financially survive but also builds bonds with each other.
“There is no one helping us so we are helping ourselves,” Acan said. “The world should see what women are capable of doing.”
– Jenny S Park
10 Important Facts About Girls’ Education in Uganda
Girls’ education in Uganda varies from region to region. The gender gap has become smaller; however, there are serious issues holding back the progress of the development of girls’ education. Below are 10 facts about girls’ education in Uganda that highlight the obstacles as well as the benefits proven to be derived from the continuation of a girls’ education.
10 Facts About Girls’ Education in Uganda
While the Ugandan education system has progressed and policies have been adopted, the lack of enforcement is the real issue. There must be further investment in the future of girls and their education; as these facts about girls’ education in Uganda illustrate, investing in girls would benefit the country in immeasurable ways.
– Trelawny Robinson
Photo: Flickr
Child Soldiers in Uganda: History and Facts
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) began in 1987 in Uganda to rebel against President Yoweri Museveni. Children constitute most of the army. The LRA forces child soldiers in Uganda to commit acts of violence on other minors within the LRA ranks as well as brutalities on their own siblings.
LRA and Child Soldiers in Uganda
Between 1988 and 2004, the LRA abducted 30,000 Ugandan children.
Joseph Kony heads the LRA. He grew up in the northern Ugandan village, Odek. His relative, Alice Auma Lakwena, began a rebel group called The Holy Spirit Movement in 1986 when Museveni seized power. In 1987, Kony declared himself a prophet, changed the name of the group to the LRA and began proclaiming rule based on the Ten Commandments.
In October 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) began attempting to arrest Kony. A peace agreement was finalized in April 2008, but the child soldiers in Uganda and neighboring countries remained an issue.
Since 2008, Kony and his forces have been shifting their presence to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic. The LRA Crisis Tracker, a website that reports LRA attacks and notifies email subscribers, lists 27 verified child abductions in these countries in 2018 alone.
Issues with the LRA
The LRA has displaced more than two million people since 1986 thereby increasing poverty in Uganda, especially in the north. However, the relation between the LRA and poverty is not mutually exclusive. The LRA and its brutal use of child soldiers in Uganda is a result of the harsh poverty that Kony and many others in the LRA ranks have experienced. Note the following:
When the British colonized Uganda in 1860, a centralized government did not exist. They created agricultural and commercial centers in southern Uganda.
This left the north to provide labor. The British found higher success rates in northern Uganda for army recruitment because it provided northerners an opportunity to improve their livelihoods. These divisions continued after Uganda gained independence in 1962.
Acholi
Kony came from the impoverished north and is Acholi, an ethnolinguistic group. Idi Amin Dada, Former Ugandan President from 1971 to 1979, persecuted and executed the Acholi due to their military ties and alignment with Apollo Milton Obote, who was in office as the Prime Minister from 1962 to 1966 and as the President from 1966 to 1971 and then again from 1980 to 1985.
The British created a system where many Acholi people turned to the army to escape extreme poverty and then they were persecuted for it. Poverty and persecution influenced Kony’s disillusionment with the government and his desire to rebel and create child soldiers in Uganda.
However, the LRA’s actions have not combated the root issues of poverty and oppression. The cycle of poverty in Uganda propagates because of Kony and the LRA’s use of Ugandan child soldiers in the following ways:
Moving Forward in Uganda
Now that most of LRA’s presence is focused elsewhere, Uganda is working to solve its problems. In 2006, 31.1 percent of Ugandans were under the national poverty line, according to The World Bank’s 2016 Uganda Poverty Assessment. In 2013, it went down to 19.7 percent. Northern and eastern Uganda still suffer devastating consequences from Kony’s reign of terror, and the same study reveals that poverty has increased in those regions from 68 percent to 84 percent in those seven years.
In June 2009, the LRA had abducted 491 civilians and caused 484 civilian fatalities in Uganda. While peace is coming to Uganda and its children, the LRA still violently demonstrates its power in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it abducted 124 civilians in 2018.
In June 2018, there have been no reported fatalities or abductions, meaning there are no new child soldiers in Uganda this year. The growing peace in Uganda provides hope that the country’s poverty rate might reduce and that the LRA would not reign indefinitely.
– Charlotte Preston
Photo: Flickr
Accessible Healthcare in China
In 2009, China’s government set five major goals. According to China Business Review, the primary healthcare reform goals include extensive plans to broaden basic healthcare coverage, establish a national essential drug system, expand infrastructure for grassroots medical networks, provide equal access to basic public healthcare services and implement pilot reform of public hospitals. These goals will also include addressing the gap in healthcare accessibility between urban and rural regions. Below is a breakdown, highlighting how each objective has been approached within the last decade.
Medical Insurance
According to the book China’s Healthcare System and Reform edited by Lawton Robert Burns and Gordon G. Liu, there are three main public medical insurance programs that reach about 95 percent of China’s population: Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI), Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) and the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS). Moreover, there is a National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) put out by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, which sets the agenda as to which specific drugs are reimbursed by insurance and to what amount.
In public health insurance, the government aims to increase coverage to 100 percent by 2020 as well as reduce out-of-pocket spending costs to lower than 30 percent. So, far several provinces have already reduced co-pays.
The government also supports a more active role for private health insurance in its goal of attaining full coverage of its nearly 1.4 billion populace. This remains a developing program and faces challenges such as a lack of standardized treatment practices in China’s public hospitals.
National Drug System
To increase accessible healthcare in China, the government also reformed its drug supply policy. China’s Essential Drugs List (EDL) was established in 2004 to set the criteria for the “minimum number of molecules needed to cure the broadest spectrum of diseases at the lowest possible cost.” An updated EDL was announced in May 2013, covering 520 molecules, up from 307 in 2009. Drugs were also extended to include diseases such as cancer, blood disease and psychiatric disorders.
Healthcare Services
As noted by the China Business Review, China designated three billion U.S. dollars toward the improvement of grassroots medical networks in 2009. In that same year, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) reported its support of 34,000 hospital constructions in towns and townships.
Incentives are being used to encourage medical students to seek work in rural areas by offering subsidies of 6000 RMB, roughly $900. Additional public hospital reforms are in place that center reform on system administration, management and upgrades to the quality of medical services provided. For example, in 2009, the Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a list of required and essential medical equipment to be held by community centers and rural clinics.
Public Health Service
As a result of government investment in 2012, clinical training programs were established in rural regions in order to train 4.95 million physicians and other health practitioners, enabling accessible healthcare in China. By 2013, the percentage of physicians holding undergraduate degrees had increased from 30.8 to 35.3 percent.
Changes in Public Hospitals
China aims to make public hospitals cost-effective and sustainable in four ways. First, China will adjust its funding source to government subsidies and medical services. Reforms in cost control will limit cost on copays and set caps on deductibles, and management transformation will set clear key performance indicators for increased quality and efficiency. Lastly, China will implement a redistribution of resources that will ensure that important resources will be shared by hospitals in the cities with hospitals in rural areas.
Health policy reforms are now more promising in attaining accessible healthcare in China. Making effective healthcare available in all regions, urban and rural, is crucial to reducing poverty and improving the standards of living.
– Christine Leung
Photo: Flickr
The Importance of Treating Obstetric Fistula in Developing Countries
Obstetric fistula is a condition in which there is an abnormal opening in a woman’s birth canal due to prolonged, obstructed labor. When left untreated, obstetric fistula leads to skin infections, kidney disorders, incontinence and death of the child, and is responsible for around 6 percent of all maternal deaths.
This ailment is highly preventable and treatable, yet there are an estimated two million women living with it untreated in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. An additional 50,000 to 100,000 women are diagnosed each year. These women are predominately underprivileged, poor and young.
Operation Fistula Raises Awareness of the Necessity of Treating Obstetric Fistula
Operation Fistula is one of the few organizations that has collected data on the condition. It has measured the burden on life that not treating obstetric fistula has had and compared that weight to that of other debilitating diseases. The organization found that living with obstetric fistula is ranked just below terminal cancer.
In developed countries, obstetric fistula is practically non-existent because women have access to the education and medical services that assure a healthy pregnancy. Unfortunately, these care services are not readily available to women in poverty-stricken areas.
Even with the establishment of care centers in the most prominently affected areas, the lack of attention that obstetric fistula receives is incredible. Because the condition is nearly unheard of in Europe and the U.S., there is limited global awareness and therefore very little capitalization. In fact, treating obstetric fistula receives less than1 percent of annual global health funding even though it is relatively inexpensive to care for.
Global Efforts Bring Treatments to Women in Need
To counter the mass neglect, Operation Fistula works to provide women with timely and high-quality treatment. It also plans to eliminate fistula altogether by 2045. The organization’s approach is data-centric and focuses on performance-based funding to surgeons who have successfully treated patients. This simple solution yielded four times the target amount of patient treatments between 2012 and 2014.
In addition, USAID’s Health Service Delivery project is working to make the proper medical services available by establishing treatment centers at multiple hospitals in Guinea, where obstetric fistula is extremely prevalent. The treatment centers allow women to undergo the reconstructive surgeries necessary for recovery.
Operation Fistula’s most recent effort in continuing its 2045 eradication plan is working with the government of Madagascar and the United Nations Population Fund to wipe out fistula in every region of the country.
Operation Fistula concentrates on the patient first and foremost. With its performance-based funding, Operation Fistula makes sure that each patient gets the best possible treatment rather than focusing solely on the number of patients treated. Through their endeavors, every woman that Operation Fistula has treated so far has gained back, on average, almost 11 years of healthy life.
While advancements in the global treatment of women with obstetric fistula have been made, there is still a need for prevention. Health professionals in affected areas are being trained continuously and efficiently in order to prevent and manage obstetric fistula, but the most basic method of prevention is through awareness.
– Samantha Harward
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Poverty in Italy That Everyone Should Know
In 2017 the number of individuals in Italy living in “absolute poverty” rose to 5.1 million people, or 8.4 percent of Italy’s population. That number is up from the 7.9 percent reported back in 2016. Absolute poverty refers to a condition where a person does not have the minimum amount of income needed to meet the minimum requirements for one or more basic living needs over an extended period of time. With such a great amount of people unable to support themselves on a day to day basis and the overall region experiencing a rise in poverty levels each year, it is time to take another look at the facts about poverty in Italy.
10 Facts About Poverty in Italy
While Italy has one of the worst economies in the E.U., the nation is working to improve its conditions. These 10 facts about poverty in Italy demonstrate both the breadth and depth of the problem as well as the steps the country is taking to resolve its issues.
– Michael Huang
Photo: Flickr