India, located in South Asia, has a population of 1.2 billion people and is on its way to becoming the world’s most populous nation by 2030. However, the country still struggles with providing its growing population with access to quality healthcare, potable water, education and clean energy. The education sector in India, in particular, requires special attention, since so much of the nation’s personal and national development is based upon it.
India, being a developing nation, has struggled in this area for a very long time. For instance, even in the late 1980s, between 30 and 40 million children of primary school age were out of school. Foreign aid to India, as a result, proves to be an effective investment in this arena, and there are many ways foreign aid has advanced education in India.
One of the ways foreign aid has advanced education in India is by initiating projects that focus on improving the sector from its core. For instance, one of the three major goals of USAID’s Global Education Strategy is “improved reading skills for 100 million children in primary grades.” Focus on the children in primary grades is essential, as so much of a country’s future depends on it. For instance, according to the World Bank, “an increase of one standard deviation in student reading and math scores is associated with an increase of two percentage points in annual gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth.”
In order to advance this target, USAID supports 10 initiatives in the country and partners with the government of India to “identify, support and scale early grade reading innovations developed in India.” Additionally, USAID focuses on improving the capacity of educators to improve pedagogy and teaching.
For instance, the Teacher Innovation in Practice program works to positively impact the teaching practices of 14,657 teachers to improve early grade reading outcomes of more than 564,000 primary school children in the states of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in India. By developing teachers’ mindsets, building an enabling environment and improving pedagogical skills and knowledge, the main goal of this program is to reignite teacher motivation to drive better student learning outcomes.
Other initiatives focus on improving the literacy rate in the country, which was as low as 19.3 percent shortly after independence in 1951. USAID, in partnership with Tata Trusts and the Center for microFinance, is leading an initiative called the Nurturing Early Literacy Project that aims to “shift the prevalent rote-based pedagogy in India to one that views the child as an active learner.”
The project incorporates different approaches, including in-class sessions for teachers and equitable access to libraries for children, both in schools and communities. The aim of this project is to improve the reading skills of more than 90,000 primary school children in the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
India reportedly spends a mere 3 percent of its GDP on education, making foreign aid geared towards development in the educational sector crucial. Foreign aid has advanced education in India significantly over the years. For instance, the literacy rate increased to 65.4 percent in 2001, and currently sits at 74.04 percent.
Hopefully, with continued support from foreign investments, India will be able to develop its education sector, thereby potentially boosting its economy and reducing poverty.
– Mehruba Chowdhury
Photo: Flickr
Water Pollution in China is the Country’s Worst Environmental Issue
Half of China’s population cannot access water that is safe for human consumption and two-thirds of China’s rural population relies on tainted water. Water pollution in China is such a problem that there could be “catastrophic consequences for future generations,” according to the World Bank.
China’s water supply has been contaminated by the dumping of toxic human and industrial waste. Pollution-induced algae blooms cause the surface of China’s lakes to turn a bright green, but greater problems may lurk beneath the surface; groundwater in 90 percent of China’s cities is contaminated.
China’s coastal manufacturing belt faces the most pollution. Despite the closure of thousands of pollutant sources, a third of the waterway remains well below the government’s modest standards for water quality. Most of China’s rural areas lack a system to treat wastewater.
Water pollution in China has doubled from what the government originally predicted because the impact of agricultural waste was ignored. Farm fertilizer has largely contributed to water contamination. China’s water sources contain toxic of levels of arsenic, fluorine and sulfates, and pollution has been linked to China’s high rates of liver, stomach and esophageal cancer.
Dabo Guan, a professor at the University of East Anglia in Britain, has been studying scarcity and water pollution in China for years. He believes water pollution to be the biggest environmental issue in China, but the public may be unaware of its impact. Air pollution creates pressure from the public on the government because it is visible every day, but underground water pollution is not visible in the cities, causing it to virtually be forgotten.
Water pollution in China stems from the demand for cheap goods; multinational companies ignore their suppliers’ environmental practices. Although China’s development has lifted many out of poverty, it has also sent many others into disease.
Factories are able to freely discharge their wastewater into lakes and rivers due to poor environmental regulations, weak enforcement and local corruption. Rural villages located near factory complexes rely on the contaminated water for drinking, washing and cooking. These villages have become known as “cancer villages” because of their high rates of cancer and death.
In 2011, Greenpeace launched the Detox campaign to publicize the relationship between multinational companies, their suppliers and water pollution in China. The Detox campaign challenges multinational companies to work with their suppliers to eliminate all instances of hazardous chemicals into water sources. Although combating water pollution in China will require much more work, continued efforts from organizations like the Detox campaign provide a beacon of hope for the future of China’s people and environment.
– Carolyn Gibson
Photo: Flickr
Health Media Campaigns in Africa Save Children
More than 15,000 children in developing countries die each day due to conditions resulting from extreme poverty. Simple, and often free, actions like frequent handwashing, recognizing and treating illnesses sooner, breastfeeding and using bed nets would lower the child mortality rate in these developing countries.
Educational media campaigns have the potential to save one in five of these young children, or approximately 3,000 children per day. The London School of Hygiene estimates that by running campaigns in just 10 countries, DMI can save a million lives.
Development Media International produces educational media content, including radio and TV announcements, focusing on lowering the mortality rate of children under five. Informational broadcasts discuss topics like hygiene, family planning and ways to treat malaria and diarrhea. The content is chosen based on the country’s needs and is tailored to the host country’s religious and cultural norms.
Radio is still the main source of information for families in sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 59 percent of households with a radio in sub-Saharan Africa listen to programming at least once a week. DMI broadcasts the health media campaigns in Africa several times a day in the local language and partners with the most popular regional radio stations to reach the widest possible audience.
Unlike other nonprofits that focus on supplementing the “supply-side” of relief by funneling aid to hospitals, schools and infrastructure, DMI targets the “demand side” of relief. This means that DMI aims to increase the demand for relief services provided through educational media campaigns. Targeted informational campaigns, like radio announcements that clearly explain the benefits of bed nets for malaria prevention and where to collect free bed nets, can breach the cognitive gap preventing families in developing countries from utilizing available resources.
For example, 600,000 children under five died from diarrhea, pneumonia or malaria in Central and West Africa in 2015. Two-thirds of West African children displaying symptoms of these diseases are not taken to a hospital. All three of these illnesses can be easily treated by a healthcare provider. DMI’s health media campaigns in Africa — specifically in Burkina Faso, Tanzania and Mozambique — address the signs and treatments of common diseases to increase child survival rates.
Limited data exist on the effectiveness of educational media campaigns. However, findings from a randomized controlled trial of DMI’s child survival messaging in Burkina Faso had promising results. The organization found there was a 35 percent increase in the number of children under five who were brought for treatment for diarrhea, pneumonia or malaria after its educational radio messages were broadcast. This is a promising result that shows the great potential for DMI’s programs to help millions of children.
– Katherine Parks
Photo: Flickr
How Foreign Aid Has Advanced Education in India
India, being a developing nation, has struggled in this area for a very long time. For instance, even in the late 1980s, between 30 and 40 million children of primary school age were out of school. Foreign aid to India, as a result, proves to be an effective investment in this arena, and there are many ways foreign aid has advanced education in India.
One of the ways foreign aid has advanced education in India is by initiating projects that focus on improving the sector from its core. For instance, one of the three major goals of USAID’s Global Education Strategy is “improved reading skills for 100 million children in primary grades.” Focus on the children in primary grades is essential, as so much of a country’s future depends on it. For instance, according to the World Bank, “an increase of one standard deviation in student reading and math scores is associated with an increase of two percentage points in annual gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth.”
In order to advance this target, USAID supports 10 initiatives in the country and partners with the government of India to “identify, support and scale early grade reading innovations developed in India.” Additionally, USAID focuses on improving the capacity of educators to improve pedagogy and teaching.
For instance, the Teacher Innovation in Practice program works to positively impact the teaching practices of 14,657 teachers to improve early grade reading outcomes of more than 564,000 primary school children in the states of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in India. By developing teachers’ mindsets, building an enabling environment and improving pedagogical skills and knowledge, the main goal of this program is to reignite teacher motivation to drive better student learning outcomes.
Other initiatives focus on improving the literacy rate in the country, which was as low as 19.3 percent shortly after independence in 1951. USAID, in partnership with Tata Trusts and the Center for microFinance, is leading an initiative called the Nurturing Early Literacy Project that aims to “shift the prevalent rote-based pedagogy in India to one that views the child as an active learner.”
The project incorporates different approaches, including in-class sessions for teachers and equitable access to libraries for children, both in schools and communities. The aim of this project is to improve the reading skills of more than 90,000 primary school children in the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
India reportedly spends a mere 3 percent of its GDP on education, making foreign aid geared towards development in the educational sector crucial. Foreign aid has advanced education in India significantly over the years. For instance, the literacy rate increased to 65.4 percent in 2001, and currently sits at 74.04 percent.
Hopefully, with continued support from foreign investments, India will be able to develop its education sector, thereby potentially boosting its economy and reducing poverty.
– Mehruba Chowdhury
Photo: Flickr
Maintaining Education in Tonga: Response to Cyclone Gita
UNICEF worked with the New Zealand Defense Force to provide aid for the victims of the cyclone, totaling about 25,000 students, according to a Tonga government assessment. A large portion of the aid was aimed at maintaining a level of education in Tonga after the cyclone’s path of destruction.
Relief came in the form of tents to serve as classrooms after an estimated 83 schools were damaged by the storm, according to Radio New Zealand. The two organizations also shipped supplies such as backpacks and the innovative school-in-a-box. The box includes pencils, scissors, paper, textbooks, chalk and a chalkboard, which is also used as the box’s lid.
In a podcast interview with ABC News, a UNICEF director explained the organization’s goal in Tonga by using temporary learning centers. “It will allow them to process what has happened while moving on with their lives as quickly as possible,” the UNICEF director said.
The cyclone, according to NewScientist, was the most powerful that Tonga has seen in more than 60 years, with winds reaching more than 142 mph. The damage to infrastructure did not end with schools, however. Nearly 1,400 homes were destroyed by Cyclone Gita, leaving many without shelter.
According to UNICEF Pacific on Twitter, the project also received assistance from the French Navy, who shipped some of the relief kits and helped progress education in Tonga.
While the government is still taking strides to improve infrastructure quality, the combined and coordinated effort of UNICEF and the New Zealand Defense Force successfully improved conditions for the affected children. Finding an efficient strategy to provide basic education, such as sending the school-in-a-box, allowed for high success rates in Tonga.
– Austin Stoltzfus
Photo: Flickr
The Theory of How to End Genocides
Genocide is described as killing members of a targeted group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, consciously inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, preventing births within the group and taking children away from the group.
Since World War II, genocides have taken place in disparate areas of the world. From Cambodia and Rwanda to Bosnia and Sudan, genocides have often occurred in poverty-stricken countries. So the question is, how to end genocides?
The Stages of Genocide
First, it is essential to recognize the signs leading up to these targeted killings. Being aware of the different steps taken in committing these atrocities is an essential step in how to end genocides.
This is a division between “us” and “them”. A country that lacks interaction between its population’s races and cultures is especially susceptible to genocide. A preventive action of classification is mixing different cultures and races. This promotes appreciation, acceptance, tolerance and understanding among diverse groups.
A targeted group is given a distinguishing name, symbol or color in order to set them apart. Discouraging hate speech and outlawing distinctive symbols such as the swastika are measures to counter symbolization. Coupled with hatred, symbolization can be a dangerous tactic, especially when it is followed by the third stage.
This occurs when one group strips away the humanity of another group. The group is compared to animals, diseases or insects. This stage is vital because propaganda comes into play, which justifies the mistreatment of a group. To combat this stage, propaganda media should be banned and hate crimes should be punished.
This a dangerous stage because this is when mass killings are planned. An organized group or individual militias will become trained and armed. These groups are usually terrorist groups who should not only be outlawed but should also be banned from foreign travel.
At this point is when the genocide commences. Mass killings will take place in hopes of “exterminating” the unwanted group. The killers justify their actions because they do not believe their victims are human and that they have little to no worth. At this stage, drastic measures should be taken. Institutions should be set up for groups to hide in safety and they should also be heavily armed. A higher authority such as the national government or the U.N. Security Council should intervene.
How to End Genocide: Address the Root Cause
Being able to recognize the signs of genocide is only the first part of how to end genocides. It is also important to take action when any of these steps are underway in order to prevent the progression to full-blown mass killing.
Genocides usually take place during wartime, so to prevent a massacre, it is essential to find the causes. Many conflicts stem from racism, intolerance, discrimination, dehumanization and hatred of others. Addressing these issues should be a primary goal because it can prevent armed conflict.
Utilize the Judicial System
In times of genocide, using the government is essential. When the government is involved, specific measures can be taken. For example, the deployment of military forces and arrests of those committing genocide can help stop the killings. International interventional may be necessary if the country’s government is complicit in the genocide.
Ultimately, the goal is to prevent genocides before they happen. To do this, it is important to address the thoughts and beliefs that allow some groups to devalue others in order to justify their crimes. Emphasizing the value of all human life is key to ending violence and genocides worldwide.
– Cassidy Dyce
Photo: Flickr
The Chaikuni Institute Protects Indigenous Amazonian Tribes
The Chaikuni Institute
The Chaikuni Institute was founded by the Temple of the Way of Light, a Peruvian shamanic healing center. Its goal is to help protect the culture of the indigenous Amazonian tribes that live in the rainforest and to help prevent the destruction of the rainforest. The Chaikuni Institute helps members of the tribes that live in the rainforest get an education, helps tribe members protect their lands from destruction and teaches people how to sustainably grow the medicinal plants that are used by the tribes.
The Chaikuni Institute creates films to highlight human rights abuses that native people living in the Amazon face, and the institute also helps natives decide what is important to their tribe’s development and helps the tribes get what they need.
Educating Members of Indigenous Amazonian Tribes
Without a proper education, foreigners could deceive tribal members, and they would not have the knowledge and skills needed to protect themselves from abuses and their tribal lands from misappropriation. The Chaikuni Institute works hard to remove the barriers to education so that anyone in the tribe can become educated if they choose to go to school and learn.
As a solution to the racism that tribal members face in schools, the Chaikuni Institute has proposed the creation of a school specifically made for tribal members so that tribal members can learn in an environment that is free of discrimination.
Protecting Amazonian Resources
In 2011, the Temple of the Way of Light founded Alianza Arkana, a Peruvian nonprofit organization that fights for environmental justice and human rights for the tribes that live in the Peruvian rainforest. Now operated independently, Alianza Arkana helps to improve the health of the people who live in the rainforest by improving access to sanitation and nutritional foods. The organization also helps to ensure that the knowledge held by the tribes that live in the rainforest is preserved so that it will not be lost.
The Chaikuni Institute is also helping members of the tribes that live in the rainforest fight against polluted water that resulted from oil spills, and the institute also teaches people who live in the rainforest fishing methods so that they can become financially independent.
The Chaikuni Institute and Alianza Arkana are good examples of corporate stewardship and should serve as an example to other businesses that decide to operate in an improvised area. By giving back to the environment and to the people that call that environment home, the Temple of the Way of Light is ensuring that the rainforest will survive and the medicinal plants that the tribes depend on will not be destroyed because of the deforestation of the rainforest.
– Michael Israel
Photo: Flickr
Women Can Do It: Myanmar’s Push for Women in Government
In 2011, Myanmar, the Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma, began to transition to a democratic form of government after previously being under military rule for decades. This transition to a civilian-led government encouraged leaders of Myanmar’s economy to open their borders to foreign investment and reintegrate the country into the global economy.
Myanmar’s Isolated Past
Despite the country’s best efforts to catch up economically, Myanmar remains one of the poorest countries in Asia. Roughly 26 percent of the population’s 55 million people lives below the poverty line. This is a result of the isolationist policies that existed for years prior to the country opening its borders to the rest of the world. As a result, Myanmar suffers from poor infrastructure, underdeveloped human resources and deeply embedded government corruption.
As the country moves to a democratic form of rule, women have been finding ways to participate in a political system that was historically headed by men. A recent push for women in government in Myanmar’s last two elections in 2010 and 2015 shows the potential for more women representation and equality for women across the country.
Women in Government
On paper, Myanmar appears to be one of the most progressive countries in Asia when it comes to women in government. In 1935, women were given equal political participation rights in the constitution. Additionally, in 1995, Myanmar endorsed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This aimed to remove obstacles for women in both the public and private spheres of life.
However, women’s ability to participate in Myanmar’s government has been relatively limited. Sixty years of military rule kept women from participating in any capacity in the decision-making process. Even today, though Myanmar appears to be progressive when it comes to gender equality, the reality is that there are relatively few women in government compared to men. In the 2010 elections, only 6 percent of national parliamentarians were women.
It is essential to include women in the government decision-making process as Myanmar attempts to address issues of poverty within their borders. Female representatives can bring new perspectives as the country continues to develop. Many groups exist to promote the inclusion of women in politics of Myanmar. One of the many active groups is Women Can Do It.
Women Can Do It
Women Can Do It (WCDI) is an organization dedicated to raising awareness and building self-confidence in women. Across the country, women influenced by this organization are encouraged to run for office and become change-makers for their communities.
Created in 2001, well before the country’s transition to democracy, WCDI is working to create a just, peaceful and gender-equitable society in Myanmar. One of its key goals is to get women involved in the government decision-making process on issues of peace and development nationwide. This includes some of the aforementioned issues like addressing poor infrastructure, inadequate human resources, and fighting corruption.
WCDI works in five primary sectors:
By focusing on these five sectors, WCDI educates women and pushes for more women in government across the country. The organization uses these five areas to give women a springboard from which to advance and become more involved in their communities. These efforts have great potential to improve the quality of life not only for its women, but for all of Myanmar’s citizens.
– Sonja Flancher
Photo: Flickr
One Woman’s Solution to the Trash Crisis in Nigeria
Nigeria’s problem with urban waste management has been mounting for quite some time. Inadequate funding for waste management, poor policies, limited infrastructure and a dearth of professionals with the know-how to address this issue have had undesirable consequences for Nigeria. Urbanization and development have piled on additional issues. Car emissions are unregulated, and Nigerians often turn to generators that emit harmful fumes because of spotty electricity. To combat the trash crisis in Nigeria, many citizens have adopted waste burning as a regular practice. As a result, the country is home to some of the most polluted cities in the world.
Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, has become somewhat of a poster child for the global trash crisis. As trash piles built up on the streets and pollution worsened, one woman from the city found a solution while studying abroad at MIT. A Lagos native, Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola relocated to the U.S. to pursue an MBA at MIT. What started as a school assignment grew into the lauded social enterprise known today as Wecyclers.
Adebiyi-Abiola launched Wecyclers in Lagos in 2013 as an answer to the trash crisis in Nigeria. Wecyclers is a low-cost social enterprise that incentivizes recycling for the residents of Lagos’ low-income communities. The process is simple:
Wecyclers’ waste-to-wealth model quickly became a success. Wecyclers recycled more than 525 tons of waste in its first two years. Since launching, the company has enjoyed partnerships with the Lagos Waste Management Agency and corporate sponsors like DHL, Oracle and Unilever. Wecyclers has also received widespread recognition, recently earning the Le Monde Smart-Cities 2017 Global Innovation Award among others.
Since its inception, Wecyclers has expanded beyond a community rewards-for-recycling program. Today, Wecyclers provides both residential and commercial waste collection. The company also conducts sustainability training and consulting for organizations, helping corporate clients and donors develop and implement socially responsible initiatives. Wecyclers has benefited community members and various stakeholders in numerous ways, transforming the old adage: one person’s trash may very well be their treasure.
– Chantel Baul
Photo: Flickr
Water Pollution in Brazil a Serious Issue with Some Improvements
The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro brought glaring international attention to the issue of water pollution in Brazil. Untreated sewage flows into coastal waters, particularly around Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the two largest cities in the country. Beaches are coated in trash, sand is reduced to a greasy sludge and the water is black and noxious.
In the weeks approaching the 2016 Games, the United Nations advised athletes to spend as little time in the water as possible, avoid swallowing water, cover cuts with waterproof bandages and shower as soon as possible after exposure.
The reason for these extreme precautions was due to the massive amounts of raw, untreated sewage that is allowed to flow through the channels and into the Atlantic. The worst affected areas in Rio de Janeiro are in the northern part of the city, where the low-income favela communities are concentrated. In these neighborhoods, the government has invested inadequate resources into water systems and sewage treatment.
Foreigners are not the only ones wary of the water in Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay. Locals know to not even dip their toes in, aware that they will likely get a disease from the sickening waters. It has been reported to contain high levels of bacteria and viruses that could likely lead to stomach and respiratory illnesses.
Water pollution in Brazil is not only a major health issue, but an environmental concern as well. Fishermen have seen major decreases in fish and wildlife populations in coastal regions. Where they used to catch six fish in an hour, they may now only catch one.
In response to international criticism, the Brazilian government erected “eco-barriers” across streams and rivers to keep trash from floating into Guanabara Bay. However, not only are they ineffective, the eco-barriers inconvenienced the poor and disenfranchised local fishing communities, cutting off the water routes fishermen used to get to Guanabara Bay.
For many poor communities in Rio de Janeiro, fish are a vital resource for both food and income. Fish are used to feed families and are sold at the local market to buy essential goods like rice and beans. Guanabara Bay is a lifeline for many desperately poor families and the eco-barriers disturbed their access to that lifeline.
What is worse is that the eco-barriers did little to stem the flow of trash into Guanabara Bay, only collecting about 7.5 percent of the rubbish. The inefficiency of government initiatives like this only exacerbates and prolongs the crisis of water pollution in Brazil.
However, one initiative looks promising. Under the umbrella of the Clean Urban Delta Initiative is a proposed solution to help litter pickers get more value from plastic waste by providing a low-cost plastic shredder and molding machine that can make plastic statues or trinkets that could then be sold to tourists at iconic sites in Rio. Local people would be given the opportunity to earn significantly more money, and the government may find some relief from the problem of water pollution in Brazil.
– Sydney Lacey
Photo: Flickr
The Link Between Poverty and Epidemics
A widespread pandemic is the most likely cause of a mass extinction event in the 21st century, yet despite its relatively high probability of occurring, it remains less discussed than many flashier topics like war and environmental disaster. The last time the risk of pandemic sparked widespread fear and discussion was in 2014, with the spread of the Ebola virus devastating communities in West Africa, and, in rare cases, spreading to other countries as well.
Though the topic has since faded from national conversation, the threat remains real. Even more important, unlike reducing carbon emissions or preventing nuclear proliferation, one major remedy for disease is relatively straightforward and within our capability. The human race could significantly reduce the likelihood of a pandemic disaster by eliminating extreme global poverty.
In 2014, West Africa suffered an outbreak of the Ebola virus, which devastated communities and killed more than 11,000 people by 2016. It also shed international light on the link between poverty and epidemics. Ebola became such a threat in 2014 because the region was impoverished and lacked the basic healthcare infrastructure necessary to fight the outbreak. This allowed the disease to spread at a fierce pace, risking a worldwide epidemic and sparking fears around the globe. Many patients were at first handled without proper caution, which led to an increase in cases and the rapid spread of the virus throughout the region.
If the United States invested more in these countries, especially toward improving their medical infrastructure and quality of life, such spending would not only create a new market for American exports, but it would also decrease the likelihood that a virus-like Ebola could spread without proper defensive strategies from the medical community. If healthcare infrastructure in West Africa had been better in 2014, the outbreak could have been contained much faster and the death toll reduced drastically.
The way in which a given disease spreads and becomes an epidemic is a complicated issue that depends on many factors. Poverty, however, has been shown to be a major determinant of how many people will be infected and how quickly. A World Health Organization report found that poverty in Africa correlated with an increase in the likelihood of contracting HIV, which researchers speculated was due to poor sexual education and high levels of economic disparity in impoverished regions. Similarly, the National Health Institute found in a 2012 report that communicable disease and poverty were linked to one another.
Though correlation did not imply causation, the researchers stressed that it would be foolish to disregard the link between poverty and epidemics, and that environmental conditions like economic status played a major role in the spread of disease. They argued that the link was likely caused by poor education, crippled healthcare infrastructure and the lack of clean water and food, all of which are common in areas suffering from extreme poverty. By investing in the healthcare infrastructure of other nations, the United States could help both itself and the world by reducing the likelihood of a major global pandemic, as the link between poverty and epidemics is a major risk that could become even more dangerous to the future of humanity than nuclear warfare.
– Shane Summers
Photo: Flickr