10 Facts and Figures of Afghanistan

Facts and Figures of Afghanistan
After decades of war, Afghanistan is trying to recover and rebuild its country. The following are 10 facts and figures of Afghanistan.

  1. The current population is estimated at 33,300,000, which ranks 41 in the world and includes a 2.34% increase in 2016.
  2. Infant mortality was reported by the CIA in 2016 as 112.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, the highest in the world, while the average life expectancy in 2016 was 43.8.
  3. Recently, more health resources have been made available to women, including access to contraceptives, more midwives and prenatal and postnatal care. As a result, the infant mortality rate, reported in USAID-funded government statistics, fell from 66 to 45 deaths per 1,000 live births between 2001 and 2015.
  4. After years of civil unrest and natural disasters, Afghanistan was reported as one of the world’s poorest countries, ranking 169 out of 187 in 2012. Additional facts and figures of Afghanistan include the 2016 GDP, which was recorded as approximately $64.08 billion, a $1.26 billion increase from 2015.
  5. The international community has committed to helping Afghanistan rebuild itself by pledging over $83 billion between 2003 and 2015. Donors have pledged an additional $3.8 billion in 2016 for development aid between 2017 and 2020.
  6. Due to the large percentage of the population living in poverty, more than 1.5 million people are severely food-insecure. An additional 7.3 million people are moderately food-insecure, and about 60 percent of children under five years old are stunted due to chronic malnutrition.
  7. While access to food is a major issue, water quality also proves to be a problem in Afghanistan.  As of 2012, 27% of the population has access to clean water, which reduces to 20% in rural areas, the lowest in the world. Access is limited mainly due to damaged or destroyed infrastructure from years of war. Because of this and the lack of reservoirs and canals, only 30-35% of clean mountain water is accessible to the population.
  8. With hunger and poor water quality at the forefront of Afghanistan’s growing list of problems, the World Food Programme has increased its support in recent years. Shifting its focus from emergency assistance to rehabilitation and recovery, the WFP has provided more than 3.6 million people with aid, including nutritious meals for the malnourished, food for training and assisting with infrastructure rehabilitation.
  9. Education is also seeing slow but continuous improvement. Afghanistan’s literacy rate rose 7% from 2011 to 2015, where it was reported at 38.2%. Although low compared to other nations, it is continuing to increase with help from aid and rehabilitation programs around the country.
  10. In addition, in 2002, an estimated 900,000 boys attended school, while women and girls were almost completely excluded. However, with help from the Afghanistan ministry of education, USAID and other donors, as of July 2017, more than 16,000 schools have been built, 154,000 teachers recruited and net enrollment rates for children increased by 60%.

As shown by these 10 facts and figures of Afghanistan, with help from various aid programs and the Afghanistan government, the country is making strides to improve the daily life and future opportunities for its citizens.

– Amira Wynn

Photo: Flickr

The Severity of Depression in India

Depression in India
According to the American Psychiatric Association, depression is defined as “a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act.” Depression is not just about someone being sad, but rather about an individual lacking the motivation to do anything, from their favorite activities to simply eating. With the disorder affecting 322 million people worldwide, it is a major health concern on a global level. Depression in India is, according to recent reports, at a severe level.

While depression has no limitations as to whom it affects, there are certain areas that have an exceptionally high number of people suffering from the disorder. India is one nation that has been proven to have high rates of depression. In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked India as the most depressed country on the planet. The WHO also reported that more than 4.5% of the Indian population suffers from mental illness. While 4.5% may not seem like a significant amount, it is actually equivalent to 56 million individuals.

Depression can be treated with several methods such as medication and therapy. However, Indians who suffer from the disorder lack the resources that they need, due to the fact that only .06% of India’s health budget is used for mental health purposes. This number is shockingly low in light of the fact that well-developed countries usually utilize at least four percent of their health budgets for mental health.

As recent studies have shown, there are only 0.301 psychiatrists per 100,000 individuals in India. With not enough psychologists, nurses and social workers, many who suffer from depression in India are not given the opportunity to receive professional help.

With depression rates in India on the rise, the government is making an effort to decrease depression rates. In March, Parliament passed the Mental Health Care Bill. This bill offers all Indians mental health care, prohibits electroconvulsive therapy on minors and decriminalizes suicide.

Despite advancements, depression still remains a serious issue in the country. However, with new policies constantly being devised, depression in India, as well as throughout the world, will hopefully decrease over time.

– Raven Rentas

Photo: Pixabay

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Room for Hope Amid the Refugee Ban Rollout

Good News Amid the Refugee Ban Rollout
The number of refugees around the world is at an all-time high. There are currently 22.5 million people seeking refuge from their home countries. Fifty-five percent of these refugees hail from only three countries: Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan. Most of these refugees are women and children. Children alone make up about half of all the world’s refugees. The Supreme Court’s approval of the refugee ban is bad news for these millions of people, but there is still good news in the way the ban is being rolled out.

Since his days on the campaign trail, President Trump has promised to make entry into the United States difficult for refugees. However, the road to a total blockade of all refugees has been a rocky one. President Trump originally signed Executive Order 13769 on January 27. The order initially intended to reduce the number of annual refugees from 100,000 to 50,000, suspend the U.S Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days and temporarily ban all Syrian refugees. The travel ban was met with mass protests at airports across the country and challenges from numerous judges. Amid this backlash, the Trump administration eased and then suspended the ban in March. It was not until June 26 that the Supreme Court finally approved Executive Order 13780, a revised version of the ban.

The revised travel ban is not as stringent as its predecessor, but it still suspends all refugee resettlement in the U.S. for 120 days. The good news amid the refugee ban is that only a week after it was approved, it already faces obstacles. The cut-off date for all refugee entry into the United States may be pushed back. Estimates project that it could take at least an extra week before the ban actually goes into effect.

The same legal challenges that initially plagued the first executive order persist in the face of the refugee ban. Immigrant, refugee and human rights groups are all pushing back against the ban. Federal judges have also issued challenges to the legality of the ban and the ambiguity of its interpretation. The guidelines allow for the entry of refugees with a “bona fide relationship” to “close family” in the U.S. The blurry lines of “close family” ties and “bona fide relationships” have complicated the implementation of the ban in U.S. embassies. All of these challenges offer points of hope for refugees.

The worldwide refugee crisis is dire and the refugee ban only threatens to worsen the situation. However, even as the order goes into effect, there is still hope for the many refugees who wish to resettle in the United States.

– Bret Anne Serbin

Photo: Flickr

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How the Poverty Alleviation Scheme in Mining, China Worked

Poverty-Alleviation Scheme
Mining, a model town set up by Xi Jinping, China’s president, has paved the way for new poverty alleviation plans focused on poor individuals and the skills they can bring to the table. For many years, aid for the poor has grouped individuals together to streamline aid processing. However, this type of aid does not take into account the individual and can actually end up costing more for the sake of simplicity.

This new method focuses on the interests, skills, environment and situation of every individual. Personalized poverty alleviation plans ensure that the poor will be helped better than assisting with the general development of poor areas in the hopes that wealth will trickle down to the poorest.

In Mining, without help, around 400 citizens would live under the poverty line, which is listed as 2,300 yuan a year. The poverty alleviation scheme worked through a complex system where Mining listed all the problems and requirements for all the poor. The government used this to determine the most efficient way to approach and help these citizens. Skills were taken into account to best match individuals with jobs in order to reduce frictional unemployment and provide the poor with jobs.

Although 46% of the poor in Mining has mental or physical disabilities, creating personalized plans allows for individuals to be supported by the government, rather than be lost or ignored by individual hiring practices resulting in unemployment and poverty.

China has been known as a leader in poverty reduction. Since 1980, about 700 million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty. The country has been able to reduce poverty in cities and decrease the number of rural people living below the poverty line.

China has also incurred successful economic growth based on job generation through the poorest citizens, and the poverty alleviation scheme has allowed for China’s poorest towns to flourish.

Mining is an example of one method of government intervention-based poverty alleviation that the rest of the world can learn from. This project also preaches the value of each citizen and individuality.

World leaders may not be aware that personalized projects like this cost more time than money. Individualizing poverty reduction efforts on a massive scale can lead to higher employment and less poverty on a smaller budget.

China’s poverty alleviation scheme is an impressive example of poverty reduction and shows that large-scale personalization could be key to reducing poverty around the globe.

– Francis Hurtado Rodriguez

Photo: Flickr

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HIV/AIDS: One of the Top Diseases in Antigua and Barbuda

Top Diseases in Antigua and Barbuda
The country of Antigua and Barbuda currently has the fourth-lowest mortality rate in the Caribbean region. Despite a lower mortality rate, in this small country of 90,755 people, communicable diseases are some of the most deadly. Diarrhea and lower respiratory infections are the most common diseases, followed by the highly infectious HIV/AIDS virus, which affects 2.2% of the population and is one of the top diseases in Antigua and Barbuda.

Because HIV/AIDS is responsible for 19.4% of deaths in Antigua and Barbuda, the government has taken direct action to prevent, treat, and inform people of the disease.

In 2001, Antigua and Barbuda officially called upon the United States for a systematic global response to the HIV/AIDS virus—a plea that was met with generous funding for HIV antiretroviral drugs available to the country for increased accessible treatment. Further, the U.S. and other external agencies including the U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program (CAREC) assisted the country in attaining accessible HIV testing to all individuals. Since then, the HIV/AIDS-awareness response in the country has grown tremendously, though the government still faces hardship in preventing one of the top diseases in Antigua and Barbuda.

In 2013, the HIV mortality rate had increased by an alarming 183 percent since 1990, and in 2015, the country, unfortunately, saw 48 new cases of diagnosed HIV in both males and females between 20 and 60 years of age.

The good news is that the country’s government provides continuous HIV/AIDS treatment and care services for free and operates from its own national response team with some help from outside relief organizations.

In 2015, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), tested and counseled more than 3,000 people in the Caribbean region and provided preventative, comprehensive and evidence-based interventions for more than 7,000 individuals. Progress like this proves that preventative care and external aid, paired with $22 million in funding to the region in 2016, has led to great success in combating one of the top diseases in Antigua and Barbuda.

Internal efforts to combat the disease have dramatically increased the speed of treatment and prevention in the country as well. In 2015, the Barbuda Council collaborated with agencies such as Antigua State College, Community Development Division and AIDS Secretariat and Partners, to host 36 HIV awareness programs. Among these were multiple counseling sessions including testing and distribution of informational materials and health fairs encouraging the education of HIV prevention.

Additionally, the government now provides a clinical care team to all patients, and health care providers receive training for new HIV Care and Treatment Guidelines.

Furthermore, the country is working to overcome challenges of treating HIV, such as limited data on people most at risk, by attempting to increase HIV testing for all people and preparing to mobilize HIV assessment and care into primary health care.

Because of relief efforts both inside and outside the country, the disease is becoming less prevalent. For example, premature deaths due to the virus decreased by 28.9 percent between 2005 and 2015. It is the government’s ambitious programming and training for the population that should continually decrease the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Antigua and Barbuda.

– Olivia Cyr

Photo: Flickr

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10 Important Facts About Schools in Africa

schools in Africa
Africa, the second-largest and second most-populous continent, is also home to the youngest population in the world. These young men and women are the future of Africa, but their future is also uncertain. Due to major limitations in education and other mitigating factors, the students of Africa fight an uphill battle to obtain their education.

Here are 10 facts about schools in Africa:

  1. In 2010, there were still approximately 9 million children of primary school age unable to attend schools in Africa due to various reasons.
  2. Girls, nomadic peoples, orphans, children with disabilities, children affected by HIV/AIDS, children affected by armed conflict and children affected by natural disasters are at a particular risk of missing out on education. Young girls are in significant danger due to the threat of bodily injury and sexual abuse while traveling to and from school.
  3. For every two children who attend school in Africa, one will drop out before graduating.
  4. Approximately 8 of the 10 countries with the lowest primary enrollment rates are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, 33 million primary school-aged children in Africa do not go to school.
  5. Many schools are located far away from children’s homes. Only 7 in 10 children who live in rural areas will ever set foot in a school. Secondary schools can only accommodate 36% of students of age and qualification.
  6. Regional primary enrollment rates now stand at 89% for boys and 86% for girls.
  7. Rates for secondary school enrollment are significantly lower than primary schools. Regional enrollment averages 32% for boys and 29% for girls and many do not actually attend school. Approximately 28% of both boys and girls will attend secondary schools in Africa.
  8. Enrollment in percent education programs is expanding throughout Africa. It nearly doubled between 1999 and 2012.
  9. Primary school attendance has more than doubled between 1999 and 2012. Enrollment rose from 62 million to 149 million during this time.
  10. Parents often can’t afford the cost of education, including books, uniforms, and tuition fees for their children to attend schools in Africa. In response, 15 countries have abolished school fees since 2000, enabling more children to attend primary school.

Africa has made significant strides in promoting healthy growth in enrollment. However, there is still much work to be done to ensure that all children in Africa receive a quality education.

– Drew Hazzard

Photo: Flickr

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Relief in Bangladesh After the Mora Cyclone

Relief in Bangladesh
In the wake of Cyclone Mora’s rampage, the world has risen to provide relief in Bangladesh for the estimated 2.8 million victims.

On May 29, Mora swept the coast of Bangladesh between Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar. Immediately after the storm hit, on-the-ground aid arrived to assist the nation. Later, the IOM (the UN Migration Agency) appealed for $3.7 million to help the hundreds of thousands of people, including Rohingya refugees, that the storm had displaced.

The refugee settlements were makeshift and not built to withstand the 117 km/h cyclone winds. The IOM’s appeal aims to help up to 80,000 people in such communities.

Mora damaged an estimated 80% of refugee settlements and completely demolished another 25% in Bangladesh. IOM plans to use UN funding throughout the remainder of the year to provide relief in Bangladesh. They improve water access, sanitation, and other protections in the aftermath of the disaster.

Although local hospitals treated 20 refugees, there were no major human casualties in the camps. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)attributes this fact to the urgent coordinating and preparation that took place before Mora hit.

UNHCR was on the ground working with Bangladesh authorities before and as soon as the storm found land. Agents in schools and other community buildings prepared to take in any individuals who needed shelter.

The storm has also brought international attention to the growing refugee crisis Bangladesh has been facing for almost a year.

An estimated 74,000 Rohingya refugees are living in mud huts and unsubstantial housing along the coast. They have fled Myanmar following a harsh change in military regulation in October of last year.

The storm’s damage to the refugee camps highlights the immense need for a permanent solution to the crisis. However, with the increase in publicity and continual aid, Bangladesh will hopefully continue to rebuild.

– Emily Trosclair

Photo: Flickr

10 Revealing Facts About Poverty in Hungary

Poverty in Hungary
Hungary is a nation of 10 million people in Central Europe. Even though the country has a very high standard of living, many of its people live in poverty. Here are 10 facts about poverty in Hungary:

  1. According to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the portion of Hungarian children living in relative poverty has risen from seven percent in 2007 to 17% in 2012. As housing prices have increased, especially outside of cities, it has become increasingly difficult for families to find affordable housing.
  2. Fewer people live in poverty in Hungary than the EU average. While the average number of people living below the poverty line in the EU is 17%, this number in Hungary is 14.6%.
  3. Many young people feel like they have no future in the country. According to a report by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, about half of people between the ages of 19 and 30 would like to work abroad.
  4. As housing prices have soared, more families are accumulating debt. Housing prices have increased by an average of 31% over the past three years. The only European country with quicker rising real estate prices is Sweden.
  5. Almost half of Hungarians–44%–can not afford basic resources. This compares with an average of 19% across the EU.
  6. The highest rates of poverty in Hungary are in the northeastern part of the country. The regions of Ezak-Magyarorzag and Eszak-Alfold have poverty rates above the EU average. The causes of this range from inadequate infrastructure to little economic activity to an insufficiently skilled workforce.
  7. For every 1,000 Hungarian children, 6.1 die before their fifth birthday, according to a report by the Save the Children Foundation. This is above the EU average as well as the rates in countries such as Libya, Bulgaria, Cuba and Macedonia. Since malnutrition is contributing significantly to this abnormally high statistic and hunger is a taboo subject in Hungary, the Save the Children Foundation has started an initiative to provide vitamins, baby formula and medicine to children and expecting mothers.
  8. Recently, more children have been taken from their families due to poverty. The government places children in orphanages and forbids them from returning home to see their parents.
  9. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto believes that digitalization may be the key to reducing poverty. Szijjarto said in a U.N. address that Hungary wants to be a hub for digital innovation. The government plans to reduce the tax rate on internet services and bring broadband with speeds of 30Mbps to all Hungarians by 2018.
  10. The unemployment rate in Hungary was only 4.5% as of the fourth quarter of 2016. This is better than the OECD average and similar to the rate in the U.S.

While Hungarians face several poverty-related issues, from rising housing prices to malnourished children, there is reason to be hopeful as the country’s government and organizations like Feed the Children are aware of the situation and have ideas to solve the problem of poverty in Hungary.

– Brock Hall

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About SARS

SARS
SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, comes from a coronavirus. Symptoms center around the respiratory system can lead to severe breathing problems if the patient goes without treatment. Here are ten facts about SARS:

  1. The first widespread case occurred in late 2002 in the Guangdong Province of the Republic of China. The delayed health response led to a global spread of the disease on par with the Ebola epidemic of 2014. The final statistic from WHO showed over 8,000 reported illnesses and more than 700 deaths.
  2. The disease was hard to diagnose due to its irregularity and similarity to pneumonia. Until 2000, cases of SARS were considered rare. Therefore, medical treatment of the virus was scarce, especially in developing countries where the spread happened fastest.
  3. Of the 194 countries that are the Member States of WHO, only 64 of them have efficient alert and response plans for unusual and rare disease outbreaks.
  4. The disease might have originated in animals. A report from the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific Region showed that “the palm civet in southern China may have played a crucial role in this respect and that the close relationship between animals and humans seems to have been a likely precondition for the virus to jump the species barrier.” A solution to preventing the initial infection of humans with SARS is to halt unhygienic veterinary and animal husbandry practices that are common in these areas.
  5. In Singapore, 76% of infections occurred in a healthcare facility. Additionally, SARS infected 42 percent of those were health care workers; 49 nurses, 13 physicians and 22 other specialists. Among the healthcare workers, there were no cases among laboratory workers or pathologists.
  6. The source of the Taiwanese outbreak was a 42-year-old laundry worker in a hospital who continued to work despite showing symptoms of SARS. It took 6 days for professionals to diagnose SARS.
  7. The epidemic in Taiwan was mainly due to the health care system’s poorly-executed response.
  8. In October 2012, the National Select Agent Registry added the SARS-associated CoV to its repertoire. The Registry handles the regulation and possession of bacteria, viruses and toxins that pose a potential threat to the public. The addition of the virus to this list ensures maintenance of a national database as well as inspections of objects that may possess, use or transfer SARS-CoV.
  9. SARS is no longer a large-scale threat, due to the global response and the willingness of countries to share their medical information with other countries to quickly control and eradicate the virus.
  10. Future outbreaks are still possible since the virus lives in wild bats and civets. Fortunately, since the end of the epidemics in 2004, there have been no reports of human cases.

SARS is no longer an imminent health concern, but reflecting on this outbreak can help prevent the spread of another viral outbreak like this. Training medical facilities in how to handle highly infectious diseases like SARS and open communication between health professionals around the globe is key to preventing the spread of such diseases.

– Taylor Elgarten

Photo: Google

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Heart Ailments Top List of Common Diseases in the Philippines


Heart ailments are still the most fatal and most common diseases in the Philippines, according to the country’s Department of Health.

Called the “silent epidemic” by former Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have topped the list of most common diseases in the Philippines over the past few years, responsible for 15 to 20% of reported deaths annually. In some years, these numbers are significantly higher. In 2012, the National Statistics Office reported that half of the country’s deaths stemmed from cardiovascular causes.

The most common of these ailments is coronary heart disease. Other heart ailments such as angina, atherosclerosis, hypertension and congenital heart disease have also been rampant among Filipinos.
Heart diseases can lead to other complications in vital organs, which makes the commonness of heart conditions alarming.

The Department of Health has estimated an increase in the number of kidney disease incidences from 10 to 15% annually starting in 2013. The trend coincides with increases in reported hypertension cases. Hypertensive patients are more likely to develop kidney complications.

Analysts trace the cause of these diseases to two main factors: growing urbanization and a general unawareness of public health issues. As cited in a 2015 study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, the quick development of high-paying industries and subsequent rapid economic growth have given Filipino consumers more purchasing power than ever before. Yet this growth has not always necessarily translated to a shift toward healthier options or awareness of healthier food alternatives. Fast food consumption is higher than ever before, with 25% a week according to Nielsen.

The Filipino government acknowledges the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases among the citizenry and has put in place several strategies and plans to combat the increase in cases. The Health Department has begun its efforts to remove CVDs from the top of the list of the most common diseases in the Philippines by targeting the most basic of social groups, schools, as a starting point for training, research and propagating information regarding the possible consequences of unbalanced diets and unhealthy life choices. The agency hopes that the chances of Filipinos adopting high-risk behaviors and habits that lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases will be diminished by informing citizens in their early years.

Other Health Department actions include the continued development of a framework for an integrated chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) registry system, which enables patients to access government programs more easily and train national hospitals for its operation. It has also established a national coalition on the prevention and control of NCDs. Its future plan of action involves the full implementation of the integrated NCD registry system and the development of service packages for patients, among many others.

– Bella Suansing

Photo: Flickr