Education, especially for girls, is one of the best ways to increase a developing country’s welfare. A nation’s GDP can rise by three percent when the number of girls in school increases by 10 percent. On an individual level, every year a girl stays in school, her potential income increases by about 15 to 25 percent. These numbers show that education in Uganda is, just like everywhere else, an ever-important issue.
In Uganda, girls have a low track record of completing their education. Studies show that only 22 percent of Ugandan girls are enrolled in secondary school, contrasting the 91 percent enrolled in in primary school.
Analysts have often pointed out that early marriages and social stigmas keep girls from receiving a complete education in Uganda. But there’s a simpler, more intimate reason behind those causes: menstruation.
This topic remains uncomfortable and awkward in developed countries, but Ugandan girls face this problem on an entirely different level. Many developed countries, including Uganda, have myths and stigmas surrounding periods that shame girls when they menstruate. As a result, most girls have no understanding of what is happening to their bodies or how to take care of themselves.
Adding to this difficulty is the lack of availability of feminine hygiene products. Drugstores that carry disposable pads, tampons and other products can be more than 40 minutes away. Even then, these products are usually imported and are too expensive for most Ugandan women to afford.
Desperate to stop the monthly flow, Ugandan women often resort to using pieces of cloth, shreds of foam mattresses, toilet paper, newspapers, banana plant fibers and even leaves. Not only are these options ineffective and uncomfortable, but are also extremely unhygienic, putting girls at risk for diseases.
About half of Ugandan girls skip three days of school every month because they do not have any feminine hygiene products and do not want to stain their clothes. As the absences stack up, many girls find it too hard to continue their education and eventually drop out. Social stigmas also place pressure on girls to marry once they get their periods and not remain in school.
However, despite the struggle, many girls want to stay in school and complete their education in Uganda, and they’re getting help from several international organizations to do so. Wateraid, a nongovernmental organization that seeks to provide clean water and sanitation efforts to developing countries around the world, started hygiene clubs in Ugandan schools. At these clubs, girls learn about menstruation and how to make their own pads and products.
One of these clubs, located at St. Mary’s School in northeastern Uganda, has taken things a step further. This hygiene club travels to other skills singing, dancing, and even rapping about their periods. This group of girls wants to raise awareness about the stigmas surrounding menstruation and promote education in Uganda.
Despite the work of Wateraid and other groups, many girls in Uganda are still skipping school because they don’t have feminine hygiene products. Wateraid ambitiously plans to supply the necessary sanitation products, from tampons to toilets, for every child and every school in every part of the world by 2030.
On an entrepreneurial level, start-up AFRIpads donates reusable pads to women in Uganda and other areas where women do not have easy access to menstrual products. These organizations hope that soon every girl in Uganda will be able to attend school every day of the school year, whether she has her period or not—and no one will shame her if she does.
– Sydney Cooney
Photo: Google
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Learn about the Protecting Girls Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act.
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Common Diseases in Sierra Leone
Zika Virus
Spread by the bite of an infected mosquito, Zika virus can be from person to person through intercourse as well as from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Zika is linked to a number of birth defects including incomplete brain development. Many people infected by the virus show no or few symptoms such as fever, rash, headache, red eyes and muscle pain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strictly states that women who are pregnant should not travel to Sierra Leone. All travelers should prevent mosquito bites and have minimal sexual contact. The first recorded outbreak of the Zika virus in Sierra Leone was documented by the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1960 to 1983.
Lassa Fever
A viral disease carried by rats, Lassa fever can be contracted through exposure to rodent fecal matter or urine. Within the first week of February 2017, three deaths due to Lassa fever were reported in the city of Kenema in Sierra Leone. According to the CDC, there are an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 documented cases of Lassa virus infections in West Africa every year, with a resulting 5,000 deaths. Lassa fever is more widespread within the country than it ever has been before and is classified as one of the most common diseases in Sierra Leone.
Typhoid Fever
According to the CDC, nearly 26 million cases of typhoid fever are reported annually worldwide. Spread through consumption of water or food contaminated with fecal matter or sewage, the CDC strongly suggests all travelers be vaccinated for typhoid fever if traveling to Sierra Leone. The most vulnerable to contracting the disease in the country are infants ages one to four. The most common symptom is sustained high fever.
Malaria
Transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected female mosquito, malaria can cause fever, chills and eventual anemia due to damage to the vital organs. In 2013, there were a total of 1.7 million recorded cases of the disease in Sierra Leone’s population of six million. The CDC recommends travelers take a prescription medicine before and during travels to Sierra Leone to lower risk of infection. All areas of Sierra Leone are at risk for the malaria epidemic.
Travelers are at high risk for all common diseases in Sierra Leone. Disease detection, control and prevention remain some of the highest priorities of the country’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation.
– Riley Bunch
Photo: Flickr
Menstrual Hygiene and Girls’ Education in Uganda
In Uganda, girls have a low track record of completing their education. Studies show that only 22 percent of Ugandan girls are enrolled in secondary school, contrasting the 91 percent enrolled in in primary school.
Analysts have often pointed out that early marriages and social stigmas keep girls from receiving a complete education in Uganda. But there’s a simpler, more intimate reason behind those causes: menstruation.
This topic remains uncomfortable and awkward in developed countries, but Ugandan girls face this problem on an entirely different level. Many developed countries, including Uganda, have myths and stigmas surrounding periods that shame girls when they menstruate. As a result, most girls have no understanding of what is happening to their bodies or how to take care of themselves.
Adding to this difficulty is the lack of availability of feminine hygiene products. Drugstores that carry disposable pads, tampons and other products can be more than 40 minutes away. Even then, these products are usually imported and are too expensive for most Ugandan women to afford.
Desperate to stop the monthly flow, Ugandan women often resort to using pieces of cloth, shreds of foam mattresses, toilet paper, newspapers, banana plant fibers and even leaves. Not only are these options ineffective and uncomfortable, but are also extremely unhygienic, putting girls at risk for diseases.
About half of Ugandan girls skip three days of school every month because they do not have any feminine hygiene products and do not want to stain their clothes. As the absences stack up, many girls find it too hard to continue their education and eventually drop out. Social stigmas also place pressure on girls to marry once they get their periods and not remain in school.
However, despite the struggle, many girls want to stay in school and complete their education in Uganda, and they’re getting help from several international organizations to do so. Wateraid, a nongovernmental organization that seeks to provide clean water and sanitation efforts to developing countries around the world, started hygiene clubs in Ugandan schools. At these clubs, girls learn about menstruation and how to make their own pads and products.
One of these clubs, located at St. Mary’s School in northeastern Uganda, has taken things a step further. This hygiene club travels to other skills singing, dancing, and even rapping about their periods. This group of girls wants to raise awareness about the stigmas surrounding menstruation and promote education in Uganda.
Despite the work of Wateraid and other groups, many girls in Uganda are still skipping school because they don’t have feminine hygiene products. Wateraid ambitiously plans to supply the necessary sanitation products, from tampons to toilets, for every child and every school in every part of the world by 2030.
On an entrepreneurial level, start-up AFRIpads donates reusable pads to women in Uganda and other areas where women do not have easy access to menstrual products. These organizations hope that soon every girl in Uganda will be able to attend school every day of the school year, whether she has her period or not—and no one will shame her if she does.
– Sydney Cooney
Photo: Google
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Effects of Poverty on Development of Children
Researchers have long suspected a correlation between a child’s behavior and cognitive abilities and their socio-economic status. This correlation becomes even more apparent among people living in extreme poverty. In a 2015 study published in Nature Neuroscience, a team led by neuroscientists Kimberly Noble from Columbia University in New York City and Elizabeth Sowell from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, California, imaged the brains of 1,099 children, adolescents and young adults in several U.S. cities. Their findings revealed that children from the lowest income bracket of less than $25,000 had up to six percent less surface area than children from families making more than $150,000. Within the poorest families themselves, income inequalities of a few thousand dollars were associated with major differences in brain structure and cognitive skills.
Within countries that live on less than a dollar a day, researchers have found other developmental problems such as stunted growth and cognitive issues. In an unprecedented study conducted in 1960, a team of researchers began giving out nutritional supplements to young children in rural Guatemala. The study was aimed at collecting data to test the theory that providing enough supplements during a child’s formative years would help in reducing stunted growth. This theory was proved in the early 2000s, when the researchers returned to check on the children who had received the supplements in the first three years of their life. They found that not only did the children grow one to two centimeters more than the control group; they even scored higher in cognitive tests. This experiment proved the effects of poverty on the brain development of children.
In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a study into the heights and weights of children between birth and age five in Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman and the United States. The results showed that healthy children, regardless of their home countries, follow a very similar growth trajectory. Based on these results, the WHO established benchmarks for atypical growth. In countries like Bangladesh, India, Guatemala and Nigeria, over 40 percent of children meet the definition of stunted growth. In light of the growing awareness and consensus around effects of stunting, the WHO included the reduction in the number of children under five with stunted growth by 40 percent as one of its six global nutritional targets for 2025.
Similar studies were conducted in Brazil, Peru, Jamaica, the Philippines, Kenya and Zimbabwe, all with the same conclusion. However, pediatric cognitive development is a complex multidimensional problem and not all stunted growth, which affects an estimated 160 million children worldwide, is connected to malnutrition. Malnutrition is one side of this multifaceted problem; poor sanitation, stressful home environments, exposure to industrial chemicals, lack of access to good education and income disparities are other possible factors.
It would not be an overstatement to say that all research points to an urgent need to address the problem of world poverty. Factors such as lack of education, poor hygiene, lack of pre-post-natal care, nutritional deficiency, exposure to chemicals and stressful childhood are some of the paralyzing issues faced by those in extreme poverty. The daunting effects of poverty on the brain development of children have already been proven by researchers and new research and studies are further fortifying what is already known. In essence, even as officials start to take action in providing adequate nutrition, research cannot be clearer in building the case for the urgent need to eliminate world poverty.
– Jagriti Misra
Photo: Flickr
How Women’s Rights Drive Economic Development
One of the most important economic impacts of women’s rights is increased labor force participation. Women remain a largely underutilized source of talent and labor. Women currently comprise more than 40 percent of the world’s labor force, but are paid less than men and spend more of their time doing housework and caring for children than men do. Within the developing world, women are often relegated to work on small farms and are more likely to be employed in informal and low-paid jobs than men are.
When legal and social restrictions against working women are dismantled and pay is more equally distributed, participation of women in the workforce increases. As more women enter the workforce, they work more productively, since unpaid labor like childcare and housework is split more evenly between sexes. Women’s participation is also an essential part of economic expansion, which leads to greater investment and job creation. Closing the labor force gap between men and women by just 25 percent would result in 100 million new jobs for women by 2025. In some nations, removing legal obstacles for women entering the workforce would raise economic output by 25 percent.
Programs that focus on women’s education also have high returns on development. For starters, closing the gender gap in early childhood has been shown to be an important step toward closing the gender gap later in life. Educated women are more likely to have fewer children, experience a lower rate of child mortality and provide their children with better nutrition and education. Educational reforms for women ensure that it isn’t just women who benefit but their children as well.
Expanding the role of women in societies also expands the diversity of skills and viewpoints in both economic and political sectors. When women enter the workforce and compete on an even plane with men, there is a greater potential to see creativity and innovation from women. Greater gender diversity in workplace leadership has also been shown to increase organizational effectiveness. In the political realm, international trends have shown that female voters and policymakers are more likely to support policies aimed at closing the gender gap. Reforms to give equal voting rights to women in developing countries can help continue economic development spurred by expanding the rights of women.
The more one looks at the data, the more it becomes self evident that women’s rights drive economic development. The McKinsey Global Institute found that if every country advanced towards gender parity at an equal rate as its greatest-improving neighbor, the worldwide GDP would rise by $12 trillion. It’s an extremely ambitious goal but one that demonstrates the untapped potential of women in fighting global poverty. It should be no surprise that Nobel-prize winning economist Amartya Sen believes focusing on women is key to economic development. If the world continues to fight for gender equity in education, the workforce and government, we will not only see one of the world’s greatest injustices finally corrected for but the erosion of global poverty as well.
– Carson Hughes
Photo: Flickr
Three Common Diseases in the Maldives
Most commonly, the Aedes aegypti mosquito lays eggs near houses in suburban areas, which is the primary reason why mosquito-transmitted viruses cause the most common diseases in the Maldives. Visitors are also at-risk for contracting Zika, dengue or chikugunya, because mosquitos tend to reside close to aquatic areas – which tend to be popular tourist locations.
Once they enter the body, Zika, dengue and chikugunya begin as flu-like viruses and they all share fairly similar symptoms including high fever, headache, joint pain, vomiting and diarrhea. The difficultly to distinguish each virus from each other is one of the explanations as to why many cases are left untreated or improperly treated and eventually transform into long-term diseases.
The Zika virus – which was deemed an epidemic in the United States in 2015 by the World Health Organization – was first reported in the Maldives when a man returned to Finland from traveling there in 2015. The strain of Zika virus found in the man was similar to that of other Zika virus strains found in nearby Asian countries.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) strongly advises that pregnant women do not travel to the Maldives, because the Zika virus may be spread from the mother to their fetus. Furthermore, the spread of the Zika virus may be prevented by practicing safe sex and using condoms and avoiding mosquito bites. Currently, there is no vaccination for the Zika virus.
In 2015, the Maldives government reported that 1,800 individuals had contracted the dengue virus; however, a steady decline in the dengue virus through various awareness programs has fortunately been reported as well.
Like the Zika virus, there is no vaccination for the dengue virus. However, the CDC provides preventative techniques similar to those that pertain to the Zika virus, including avoiding mosquito bites, spraying bug repellent after applying sunscreen and using a bed net.
The chikugunya virus resembles both the Zika and dengue viruses, and it is extremely difficult to discern between all three of the mosquito-transmitted viruses.
Due to the difficulty of identifying and properly treating theses three viruses, the best course of action is for residents and visitors of the Maldives to take the aforementioned precautionary steps in order to avoid illness. Only then will the prevalence of these common diseases be able to significantly decline.
– Emily Santora
Photo: Flickr
Finally Free: Poverty and Inequality in Bolivia
There was a sharp turnaround between 2004 and 2014, according to the World Bank. Economic growth averaged 4.9 percent annually, moderate poverty rates dropped from 59 to 39 percent, and inequality plummeted. Poverty and inequality in Bolivia began to wane.
Fighting Poverty and Inequality in Bolivia
It was not until 2006, a year after the election of Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous president, that government commitment to economic growth and poverty reduction began to drastically improve. Morales increased spending on health, education, and poverty reduction programs by 45 percent between 2005 and 2006.
On July 22nd, 2017, President Evo Morales declared Bolivia completely independent from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Spurring this independence are the improvements achieved by Morales’s government. Since his election, inflation has run below four percent each year, basic consumption goods have been at a surplus, extreme poverty has fallen to 17 percent and the richest 10 percent of the country, which used to earn 128 times more than the poorest, now only earns about 38 times as much.
What’s more, as Francisco Toro writes, “Bolivia was running budget surpluses every year between 2006 and 2014. This allowed it to draw down the public sector’s debt, which fell from 83 percent of GDP in 2003 to just 26 percent in 2014, even as Bolivia built up its international reserves dramatically, from $1.7 billion in 2005 to $15.1 billion at the end of the boom in 2014.”
Much of this had to do with the burgeoning natural resources in the country. Export revenue, in the decade following the appointment of Morales, grew by six percent contributing to the impressive reduction of poverty an inequality in Bolivia.
Independence from the World Bank and IMF marks a new era for Bolivia. Its unprecedented economic improvements and reduction of poverty and inequality are a victory for the fight against poverty. The question is, will the world follow suit?
– Joseph Dover
Photo: Pixabay
Causes of Poverty in Niger
Main Causes of Poverty in Niger
High Birth Rate
Niger has a literacy rate of only 19.1 percent and 42.2 percent of children under five suffer from malnutrition. With the highest birth rate in the world – about 7.4 births per woman – the growing population makes it difficult to feed and educate families.
While there are family planning programs implemented throughout Niger, only 11 percent of married women take advantage of contraceptives and family planning methods. This is mainly due to the lack of education surrounding contraceptives, as well as fear of how they will affect the body. However, many organizations are working hard to break these myths about contraceptives and teach men and women the beneficial effect that family planning can have on breaking poverty in Niger.
Droughts
Niger’s economy is based mostly in agriculture, which makes up for 36.5 percent of its GDP. When external shocks due to climate occur, it leads to both food and job shortages. For example, Niger has been struck by three major droughts within the last two decades, all causing major food shortages, an increase in food prices and fewer available jobs. The last major drought from 2010 still has Niger recovering from its effects.
Organizations like the World Food Programme (WFP) are implementing measures to help combat the underlying causes of poverty in Niger. Through WFP, communities are learning about environmental rehabilitation programs, agricultural recovery programs and emergency preparedness programs, so that they can better understand how to alleviate poverty.
Boko Haram
In 2015, about 750 troops were deployed to Nigeria to help fight off the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. During this time, over 115,000 people were displaced and sought refuge within Niger, causing a greater imbalance within the already flawed economy.
Over the last two years, Niger has been involved in fighting Boko Haram; their involvement – notably their violent and controlling ways – has disrupted economic development within the country as well as created fears of food shortages.
While the outlook seems grim for Niger, the new president of Nigeria has been implementing new solutions to help ward off Boko Haram. Through the creation of the Multinational Joint Task Force to strengthen the region, as well as a loan from World Bank, there is some hope to restore economic stability in the area.
The causes of poverty in Niger range from social, economic and political issues regarding population growth, unstable weather and social conflict. While all of this creates an economically unstable country and negatively affects its people, there is help from surrounding countries and organizations to help put Niger back on its feet.
– Rebekah Covey
Photo: Google
Step-By-Step: How Are Presidents Impeached?
Impeaching a president is one of the ultimate forms of checks and balances within the United States government. Article two, section four of the U.S. Constitution states the president can be impeached on conviction of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” This raises an important question: how are presidents impeached?
Impeachment can remove an unfit president from the highest office in the nation, with no chance for an appeal. The serious, multi-step process of impeachment involves specific roles for each party involved.
How are presidents impeached?
The managers will appear before the Senate bar to explain the impeachment articles against the president. The managers present back to the House afterward.
How are presidents impeached? The House of Representatives brings impeachment charges based on a president’s misconduct, and the Senate determines his or her fate.
Two presidents have been formally impeached, but neither of them were convicted or removed from office. President Andrew Johnson was impeached, but his conviction failed by one vote in the Senate. Bill Clinton was impeached, but the Senate found him not guilty. President Richard Nixon came close to being impeached. He had pending impeachment charges against him in the House, but he resigned before the process could start.
– Kristen Reesor
Photo: Google
Eight Facts About Vaccines in Uganda
After revamping its vaccination program in the early 2000s, Uganda has made significant progress in curbing the spread of disease. While there are still areas to be improved, vaccines in Uganda have saved thousands of lives thus far and have improved the health of the country.
– Nicholas Dugan
Photo: Flickr
Top Diseases in Micronesia
The leading causes of death in the Federated States of Micronesia have historically been endocrine and nutrition-related diseases; metabolic diseases like diabetes mellitus; diseases of the respiratory system like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and diseases of the circulatory system. Parasitic and infectious diseases in Micronesia are also a common cause of hospitalization.
The number of diseases in Micronesia preventable by vaccine has decreased in recent years, while waterborne and foodborne diseases, like typhoid, as cause for hospitalization have remained high. Dengue fever, hepatitis A, and Zika virus have all had random outbreaks in the Federated States of Micronesia over the years.
Zika is currently a very real risk in the Federated States of Micronesia, and pregnant women are advised not to travel there. Sexually transmitted infections are prevalent, along with leprosy, and a drug resistant tuberculosis. Chikungunya and Zika are both diseases carried by mosquitoes, making bug bite prevention a necessary step in staying healthy.
Each state in Micronesia has its own healthcare services, including a central hospital with at least the minimum primary and secondary level services available.
The development plan for the Federated States of Micronesia’s healthcare includes improving:
The Federated States of Micronesia is a tiny nation in the middle of a vast ocean, with a population of 104,196 as of 2017. It faces risk from diseases that many other countries do, though there is less risk of said diseases spreading to other countries.
– Ellen Ray
Photo: Flickr