Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious bacterial disease that most commonly affects the lungs. It transfers from person to person by cough-induced airborne droplets. For healthy people, the infection is typically fought off by the body’s immune system and symptoms are rare. However, when symptoms are active, a person with TB experiences coughing, sometimes with mucous or blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss and fevers.
Thankfully, TB is a treatable disease if the patient has access to the requisite six-month course of antibiotics. Patients who cannot complete the full treatment cycle have not fully eliminated the bacteria from their bodies. Often times, patients in poorer nations simply do not have access to extensive treatment or cannot afford it, and can become sick again with a more virulent, resistant form of the disease that is less responsive to treatments – also known as drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). Currently, about one-third of the world’s population is infected with a latent form of TB. Each year, nearly two million die as a result of one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
In the last few years, new drugs have been developed to aid in the fight against the strains of DR-TB. Between 2012 and 2014, bedaquiline and delamanid were the first drugs developed to treat TB in over 50 years. They represent a lifeline for the people who are suffering from the most resistant forms of TB. However, people around the world are not receiving access to the drugs. The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is aiming to change that, starting in Guadalajara, Mexico, where the global TB community is meeting for the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health later this year. Some physicians are hopeful that new medicine can solve the tuberculosis crisis in Mexico.
Prior to 2010, Mexico had been experiencing a consistent decline in the presence of the disease. Between 1990 and 2010, the studies with the National Institutes of Health estimate that rates were decreasing annually by about two percent. However, thousands are still diagnosed in Mexico every year. The spread of the disease does not end at its borders, either. The U.S. reports that over 20 percent of its foreign-born TB cases are Mexican, making the presence of TB continue to be a public concern for Mexico and its neighboring countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally, nearly 30 percent of patients with DR-TB could benefit from the introduction of the new drugs into the medical regimen. Yet, as of July 2017, less than 11,000 people are taking new medications. According to Doctors Without Borders, the TB treatment community is largely concerned with the low uptake of the new drugs that have a high potential to aid those with the lowest chances of success under the current standard. Prior to the new drug developments, DR-TB patients are prescribed to take over 15,000 pills over the course of two years. Dr. Isaac Chikwanha, HIV and TB Medical Advisor at MSF’s Access Campaign say, “Today, it’s unacceptable to continue treating [patients] with the same old regimen of medicines and not providing better treatment, knowing very well that we could be giving people a much better chance to stay alive by using these newer drugs.”
Fortunately, despite the conservative physicians’ resistance, the new drugs are being expedited and have since been distributed in over 14 countries. Advocates and campaigns continue to place the spotlight on better TB treatment options being available but underutilized. Poor nations in particular need to focus on acquiring these new drugs, as the sick and malnourished are often even more susceptible to TB than others.
While the Center for Disease Control has identified a TB epidemic throughout the country, new medicine can help solve the TB crisis in Mexico with the implementation of new treatment regimens. Local communities, in conjunction with research and medical services, must cooperate to continue advancing medical treatments. Only then can the global community finally fight back against TB.
– Taylor Elkins
Photo: Flickr
Seven Things to Know About Education in Myanmar
Due to a variety of factors, the access to quality education in Myanmar is generally poor. Below are seven things everyone should know about education in Myanmar.
Though the investment in education in Myanmar has improved in recent years, there is still a lot of progress to be made within the country’s education system. Many organizations, such as QBEP and UNICEF, are taking steps in the right direction by working to provide better access to education for all children in Myanmar.
– Haley Rogers
Photo: Flickr
The Varkey Foundation Seeks Education Advancement Globally
The foundation started with Sunny Varkey, an education entrepreneur who believes that education “plays a key role in reducing conflict, prejudice, poverty and intolerance around the world.” Through the Varkey Foundation, programs geared toward improving classroom instruction, teacher appreciation and the advocation for improved global education have helped the world greatly.
The following are descriptions of the Varkey Foundation’s various campaigns and programs:
The Instructional Leader Program is a low-cost teacher training program that addresses the issue of teacher quality. This program consists of a five day, face-to-face course aimed at school administration and principals in order to improve teacher quality within schools. The Varkey Foundation also has training courses for tutors. It has established satellite schools to continue professional development and Saturday workshops based on school needs.
Making Ghanaian Girls Great! (MGCubed) is an interactive distance-learning program—the first of its kind in Ghana. Through the use of technology and multimedia content, MGCubed is able to deliver quality teaching to over five thousand students throughout Ghana. This program uses solar powered computers and projectors to broadcast lessons to connected classrooms across Ghana. Through MGCubed, the quality of education increases and girls also have access to an after-school program specifically geared toward gender studies.
Varkey Teacher Ambassadors are role models who promote great practices in education and are leaders in developing learning techniques. These teachers are known to go above and beyond for their students’ education for the best possible future. The teachers who become ambassadors are given the opportunity to share and promote their projects to larger audiences online or at the Global Education and Skills Forum.
The Global Teacher Prize is a $1 million prize that is annually given to a teacher that has made an extraordinary contribution to their profession. The purpose of this prize acknowledges that teachers should be recognized and celebrated for their efforts. Not only does this prize reflect the impact of the teacher on their students, but also their effort put forth in bettering the community. Through the recognition of hard working teachers, education can improve, thus improving social, political, health and economic issues throughout the world.
The purpose of the Global Education and Skills Forum is to address the challenges of education and how to improve them. This forum brings together world leaders from public, social and private sectors to seek solutions for these issues. The forum emphasizes the question, “How do we get there together?” In other words, the event is meant to bring focus to how leaders can take these solutions, implement them and make sure they benefit everyone. The forum lasts two days, where more than 2,000 delegates share and debate new ways to transform education to best benefit the world.
The Varkey Foundation focuses intently on education and leaders within education in order to improve students and communities around the world. The Varkey Foundation’s programs and campaigns continue to focus on the best possible solution, as well as acknowledging teachers in all their efforts.
– Rebekah Covey
Photo: Flickr
Hunger in Guadeloupe Needs Improvement
Current Statistics
Impact of COVID-19
Good News
Despite facing numerous challenges, there is promising news for the agricultural sector in Guadeloupe. Farmers in the region have responded to these challenges by broadening their crop range and prioritizing greater self-sufficiency in resources, labor and marketing. These adaptations indicate a transition towards more sustainable and eco-friendly farming practices.
Final Thoughts
The current situation in Guadeloupe is alarming due to high poverty rates, malnourishment among older adults and increased obesity among the population. Resolving these issues will require a comprehensive strategy that includes economic assistance, reforms in the agricultural sector, and the implementation of public health programs. Such steps will help reduce unemployment and poverty and ensure access to nutritious food for all residents of Guadeloupe.
– Scott Kesselring and Maria Waleed
Photo: Flickr
Updated: October 18, 2024
Education in Spain Requires Immediate Improvements
Education in Spain is a broad and extended topic. Although the federal form of government in the country resides in Madrid, and is lead by the prime minister Mariano Rajoy, the country is divided within 17 autonomous regions that have smaller forms of government within each one. This leads to some schools in Spain teaching Spanish in the particular dialect from each region, such as in Catalonia, the Basque country, Galicia and more.
The Spanish schooling system is divided within three categories: public schools, private schools and state-funded private schools. Regardless of public schools being completely funded by the state, thus free of charge for the students who attend such schools, class materials, books and sometimes uniforms still need to be paid with citizens’ own money.
Sunken within the 2008 economic crisis, the European country of Spain has just now started to recover its economy and generate interest, breaking the loop that has positioned the country at the second highest unemployment rate within the European Union, Greece taking the first place. The sector that has been most affected by the economic crisis of the past several years has been public education in Spain. This issue has been a notoriously increasing one since the economic crisis started, due to extreme budget cuts on the public schooling system within the European country.
Prime minister Mariano Rajoy declared José Ignacio Wert as the minister for education in the year of 2011, and from then to 2015, when Wert was substituted by Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, education was greatly affected. From the year 2012 to 2013, public schools’ teaching systems declined when sharp cuts forced the government to leave up to 25,000 teachers unemployed. Public universities’ tuition fees increased by 66 percent, taking Spanish citizens out on the street to protest the dreadful management that increased the numbers of people who could not afford education for their families.
The main consequence regarding these issues has been the increase of school dropouts, which stood at an alarming rate of 25 percent in 2014, the highest school dropout rate in the European Union. However, there is good news. Even with high levels of poverty, education in Spain was ranked as having the 12th lowest inequality gap for students of all the countries in Europe.
Spanish residents fight for a better schooling system and education in Spain everyday. The lack of teachers, economic resources and the increase of students per class have lead to a series of educational strikes in order to make the Spanish government understand and respond to the gravity of the issue.
– Paula Gibson
Photo: Flickr
The Need for Sustainable Advancement in Developing Countries
According to CAIT Climate Data Explorer, there are a few developing countries – including Indonesia, India and Brazil – that are on the list of top 10 highest emitters of greenhouse gases. Additionally, CAIT’s 2017 report analysis shows that all developing countries contribute 60 percent of global emissions. This means that developing countries are growing industrially, but it also means there is a more negative impact on the environment that comes with this growth. In compliance with the Paris Agreement, developed countries are initiating programs to be more sustainable, so it is important to invest in sustainable practices in developing countries as well.
Sustainable advancement in developing countries is not hard to achieve. For example, the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project by ClimateWorks is a global collaboration program that identifies problems of carbon emissions and finds solutions, while still sustaining economic growth. Research done by the World Resource Institute shows that 21 countries have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by using sustainable practices, while still maintaining economic growth.
Knowing how beneficial sustainability can be for economic growth as well as for the environment, the U.N. has adopted Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. These goals are aimed at increasing human prosperity by giving access to education and equal rights, but balancing this with sustainable practices that will protect our planet. By combating these two issues at once, programs such as the Sustainable Development Goals will help developing countries prosper.
– Deanna Wetmore
Photo: Flickr
6 Effective Health Innovations for Underdeveloped Areas
6 Effective Health Innovations for Underdeveloped Areas
All of these health innovations have provided great support for hospitals and medical clinics in developing and underdeveloped areas at a much more affordable price than what was previously available. While the ultimate goal is to be able to use more expensive equipment, these medical innovations provide a solution to improving healthcare in these areas for the time being.
– Rebekah Covey
Photo: Flickr
6 African Countries Receive Life-Saving Cancer Treatments
The agreement was made between two major pharmaceutical companies: Pfizer, located in the U.S. and Cipla, one of the giants in the Indian pharmaceutical world. Both will cut the prices of 16 cancer treatment drugs, including chemotherapies, for six countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are most affected by the disease.
The six countries receiving major discounts on cancer medicines are Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. A press release by the ACS reveals these are the countries in major need of health improvement, as 44 percent of all cancer cases occurring in sub-Saharan Africa each year happen in these six targeted countries.
According to the Pharmaceutical Journal, there were an estimated 626,000 new cases of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa in 2012, leading to a total of 447,000 deaths by cancer. The World Health Organization predicts this figure could double by 2030 if nothing is done, with killings reaching almost one million sub-Saharan Africans. In comparison to the U.S., with 90 percent of women surviving five years with breast cancer, Uganda and Gambia have survival rates of 46 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
Some of the factors explaining the start of Africa’s cancer crisis are the lack of training for providers, shortages of medications and the insufficiency of diagnostic and therapeutic equipment. Another barrier to quality care for cancer patients in Africa is linked to biology. In fact, there are differences in tumor biology between African cancer patients and patients in developed countries. As an example, African patients often have bigger tumors than patients in other regions, which demands much more care as well as adequate infrastructure to research solutions for curing the disease.
Funding is also a major problem for sub-Saharan Africa, as global funding for cancer prevention and treatment in other low-income countries represents only two percent of global health spending. This is far lower than the health spending for diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
Having access to high-quality and affordable cancer treatment facilities and medicine in sub-Saharan Africa has become a major goal for ACS and its partner organizations. On top of this agreement, they are preparing long term strategies that will improve the lack of care facing many African patients for years to come.
– Sarah Soutoul
Photo: Flickr
New Medicine Can Help Solve the Tuberculosis Crisis in Mexico
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious bacterial disease that most commonly affects the lungs. It transfers from person to person by cough-induced airborne droplets. For healthy people, the infection is typically fought off by the body’s immune system and symptoms are rare. However, when symptoms are active, a person with TB experiences coughing, sometimes with mucous or blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss and fevers.
Thankfully, TB is a treatable disease if the patient has access to the requisite six-month course of antibiotics. Patients who cannot complete the full treatment cycle have not fully eliminated the bacteria from their bodies. Often times, patients in poorer nations simply do not have access to extensive treatment or cannot afford it, and can become sick again with a more virulent, resistant form of the disease that is less responsive to treatments – also known as drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). Currently, about one-third of the world’s population is infected with a latent form of TB. Each year, nearly two million die as a result of one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
In the last few years, new drugs have been developed to aid in the fight against the strains of DR-TB. Between 2012 and 2014, bedaquiline and delamanid were the first drugs developed to treat TB in over 50 years. They represent a lifeline for the people who are suffering from the most resistant forms of TB. However, people around the world are not receiving access to the drugs. The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is aiming to change that, starting in Guadalajara, Mexico, where the global TB community is meeting for the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health later this year. Some physicians are hopeful that new medicine can solve the tuberculosis crisis in Mexico.
Prior to 2010, Mexico had been experiencing a consistent decline in the presence of the disease. Between 1990 and 2010, the studies with the National Institutes of Health estimate that rates were decreasing annually by about two percent. However, thousands are still diagnosed in Mexico every year. The spread of the disease does not end at its borders, either. The U.S. reports that over 20 percent of its foreign-born TB cases are Mexican, making the presence of TB continue to be a public concern for Mexico and its neighboring countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally, nearly 30 percent of patients with DR-TB could benefit from the introduction of the new drugs into the medical regimen. Yet, as of July 2017, less than 11,000 people are taking new medications. According to Doctors Without Borders, the TB treatment community is largely concerned with the low uptake of the new drugs that have a high potential to aid those with the lowest chances of success under the current standard. Prior to the new drug developments, DR-TB patients are prescribed to take over 15,000 pills over the course of two years. Dr. Isaac Chikwanha, HIV and TB Medical Advisor at MSF’s Access Campaign say, “Today, it’s unacceptable to continue treating [patients] with the same old regimen of medicines and not providing better treatment, knowing very well that we could be giving people a much better chance to stay alive by using these newer drugs.”
Fortunately, despite the conservative physicians’ resistance, the new drugs are being expedited and have since been distributed in over 14 countries. Advocates and campaigns continue to place the spotlight on better TB treatment options being available but underutilized. Poor nations in particular need to focus on acquiring these new drugs, as the sick and malnourished are often even more susceptible to TB than others.
While the Center for Disease Control has identified a TB epidemic throughout the country, new medicine can help solve the TB crisis in Mexico with the implementation of new treatment regimens. Local communities, in conjunction with research and medical services, must cooperate to continue advancing medical treatments. Only then can the global community finally fight back against TB.
– Taylor Elkins
Photo: Flickr
Organizations Helping to Reduce Hunger in Georgia
A report by Food Security and Nutrition in the South Caucasus stated that Georgia “cannot ensure the population of the country with stable and high-quality or adequate food, even in non-crisis situations.” Market supply-and-demand largely dictates food provision, relying on the physical presence of food in shops and markets. With 70 percent of food being imported into the country, food insecurity and the quality of goods are ongoing issues for citizens.
Though there is economic growth in the country, it is largely unrelated to food-related industries such as agriculture. Agricultural stagnation contributes to the issue of food insecurity as there is no dependable market. More than 50 percent of the population derives income and sustains themselves from the agriculture industry that only accounts for 10 percent of the nation’s aggregate GDP.
There are a few organizations that aim to minimize and eliminate the extent of hunger in Georgia.
The first is Action Against Hunger. They have been involved with hunger in Georgia since 1994, helping 2,754 people gain economic self-sufficiency in 2016 alone. This economic self-sufficiency can help individuals and families avoid hunger in the current food economy and beyond. The organization does this through a focus on the development of long-term food security programs. In at-risk communities, Action Against Hunger identifies income-generating activities and provides training in conflict resolution as well as encourages community participation in water, sanitation and hygiene programs.
Another organization is the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Their work in Georgia started in 1995 and is concentrated on six priority areas: post-conflict livelihoods and food security, animal health, plant protection, food safety and consumer protection and forestry and fisheries. Overall, FAO puts an emphasis on utilizing natural resources and developing legislation for food safety and trade standards to help the impoverished of Georgia.
Heifer International is another organization that has been supporting Georgians since 1999. They have implemented specific projects in Georgia and within the Caucasus region. In 2007, they launched the Chiauri Dairy Farm Rehabilitation Project and Khashmi Dairy Farm Rehabilitation Project in the Kakheti region.
These organizations, as well as others, raise awareness for Georgians and encourage reform in the country so that widespread hunger does not remain a concern in the country.
– Gabriella Paez
Photo: Flickr
Water in Pakistan
This specific issue of arsenic contamination points to a broader theme of water contamination on the whole. Water supply lines are often located directly adjacent to uncovered sewage lines, causing water contamination to be so prevalent that 40 percent of all ailments in Pakistan are the result of water-borne illnesses. Further, access to clean water in Pakistan is not recognized as a national right but is seen as a responsibility which local governments are meant to take on. This means that such access fluctuates depending on the area, although infrastructural support for a clean water system is, on the whole, dismal.
The scarcity of clean water in Pakistan has allowed extremist groups to use water as a focal point of their recruitment process. Lakshar-e-Taiba, an extremist group that perpetrated the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 172 people were killed, has accused India of committing “water terrorism,” citing such as motivation for terrorist actions in India. By exploiting the issue of water, an issue which every Pakistani citizen is forced to deal with in order to survive, extremist organizations are able to reach larger swathes of the “common man” and augment grassroots support. Thus, the issue of water in Pakistan goes beyond simple health problems and infiltrates international security issues as well.
The wide berth of the problem has initiated an increase in the bottled water industry, but the reality is that such is still financially inaccessible to the majority of low-income individuals, forcing low-income communities to rely on easily contaminated groundwater. In order to address this, an organization called Pharmagen has entered the scene. Pharmagen ensures its water is affordable for low-income customers, requiring only two rupees per liter. It operates through a chain of open water shops that extracts groundwater and purifies it to meet WHO standards before distributing it to the impoverished communities it serves. Currently, the organization provides more than 100,000 liters of potable water per day in Lahore alone and seeks to expand to include 32 additional open water shops while also adding one bottled water facility.
Yet, it is important to note that 21.6 million people in Pakistan still have no access to clean water, and this is a hotbed for extremist activities. The work of organizations such as Pharmagen is both admirable and necessary, but it is also necessary that the international community step up as a whole; the issue of water in Pakistan ultimately goes beyond Pakistan-specific problems, due to its relationship with international extremist organizations. In a world teeming with terrorist activities, it would appear that mitigating grassroots extremist movements by improving access to clean water should have a greater presence on the world stage.
– Kailee Nardi
Photo: Google