German health care, geared to caring for a population of 80 million, is dealing with an unexpected and intimidating challenge by the continuous influx of about 1.1 million refugees in 2015 alone. Escaping poverty, war and repression, as well as family reunification are among the main reasons people attempt to enter Germany both legally and illegally.
Despite having opened its doors to more refugees than any other European country since 2013, Germany restricts asylum-seekers’ health care access to emergency care, treatment for acute diseases and pain, maternity care and vaccinations. Additional care can be provided, however, patients must file various petitions and jump through multiple hoops before getting approval for the same.
The aim of restricting asylum-seekers’ access to German health care dates back to the 1990s when rising numbers of asylum-seekers from former Yugoslavia created a need to reduce Germany’s pull factor. However, it is evident from various studies that this policy has done nothing to bring down the number of people seeking asylum in the country.
In spite of limiting access to health care, the sociomedical system is crumbling with news reports about vaccines not being available for German citizens till 2017 in the normal quantities. Doctors are having to undergo courses in screening and treating diseases like tuberculosis, scabies and psychological trauma.
In addition, there is the cost of material resources like medicines and hospital beds, diagnostic and surgeries that have spiraling economic repercussions. The siphoning of medical services, even in their most basic form, to asylum-seekers, is resented by many German citizens.
However, despite this backlash, there are many reasons for the country to consider providing full access to German health care, both for asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants. The most obvious of these is that any communicable disease can skyrocket the economic cost to the country by a loss of productivity.
In addition, according to experts such as Dr. David Ingleby from the University of Amsterdam, research has shown that, “denying easy and early access to healthcare not only ignores the right to health but actually increases costs: a new study estimated that since their introduction, these restrictive policies have increased the cost of healthcare by 376 euros per year for each asylum seeker.” Clearly, restrictive policies benefit neither immigrants nor state.
Some states like Bremen and Hamburg have been providing their asylum-seekers with health insurance cards like those used by the general population. These enable direct access to doctors and hospitals without having to apply for a certificate of entitlement.
Officially, the restriction on acute and emergency services remains, but the decision is now moved to the doctor’s medical discretion and no longer made by a municipal administrator. An innovative solution, this could be extended to the legal system, resting the decision of what warrants medical attention to the hands of those in the know.
Another solution being considered is granting anonymous insurance certificates that allow refugees without proof of citizenship to seek medical help without legal repercussions. In Berlin alone, up to 250,000 people live without any personal identity documents which are essential to get full medical treatment, making this idea almost a necessity.
In order to provide funding for these and other such policies for less restrictive health care, the European Union Health Program released a statement pledging fund actions supporting the Member States under particular migratory pressure in January this year. Hopefully, with this positive impetus, the German health care system will move to a more inclusive model for both asylum-seekers and undocumented immigrants.
– Mallika Khanna
Photo: Flickr
How are Climate Change and Hunger in Tuvalu Related?
The latest report on poverty headcount ratio conducted by the World Bank was in 2010, which stated that 26.3 percent of the population is estimated to live below the national poverty line. Additional reports conclude that 61.3 percent of Tuvalu citizens aged 15-years and up are employed. Thus, places where poverty is allowed to fester, increased rates of hunger are expected to rise.
Hunger in Tuvalu is considered to be a result of one of the biggest instigators in the country, climate change. Climate change is a constant concern for the people and the government of Tuvalu. Many political figures of Tuvalu are strong advocates for environmentalism and continuously campaign against climate change.
These politicians argue that climate change will not only contribute to increasing sea levels but will expedite the salination of soil that threatens agriculture.
According to U.N. reports, Tuvalu is expected to completely disappear beneath the ocean because of global warming. Moreover, salinization of the soil reduces agricultural output which detrimentally affects local farmers and the Tuvalu economy.
In Tuvalu, the largest export commodity within the country is the dried coconut kernels of coconut palm trees. Without enough land coverage or quality soil for agriculture, hunger in Tuvalu is expected to climb substantially within the following years.
The U.N. has even identified that hunger in Tuvalu is a result of climate change in the following released statement, “The diet of Tuvaluans is primarily based on the marine environment and a limited number of food crops. These will be seriously affected by climate change. There will be a number of impacts that will affect the food security of Tuvalu. These include coral bleaching, ocean acidification, saltwater contamination and sea level rise.”
In response, the U.N., as well as delegates of the Pacific Island States, have committed to reducing both hunger and climate change through the use of ratifying the Paris Agreement.
In 2016 during the annual debate at the U.N. General Assembly, Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoanga applauded and showed solidarity with the ratification of the Paris Agreement.
Prime Minister Sopoanga stated that “We must [now] ensure that the Paris Agreement enters into force [and that] it must be fully elaborated and operationalized as early as possible on real adaptation and mitigation.”
Prime Minister Sopoanga also brought to light the plight that climate change has had on the country of Tuvalu. The prime minister expressed that, “We pray that through these great halls of the U.N., our humble voice will be amplified by the conscience and goodwill of humanity for real urgent action.”
During the debate, Prime Minister Sopoanga expressed numerous times that the country of Tuvalu was fully prepared to meet the targets of the global development agenda in order to reduce climate change.
With continued efforts to ratify legislation as well as advocate against climate change, the country of Tuvalu should expect to see significant improvement in not only the integrity of their islands but also a reduction of hunger in Tuvalu.
– Shannon Warren
Photo: Flickr
What Does Brexit Mean for Emerging Markets Like Argentina?
In the wake of the Brexit vote, equity funds in Europe experienced outflows of 19.2 billion euros while some $21.7 billion flowed out of actively managed U.S. equity funds. The uncertainty caused by Brexit is pushing investors to move their money into emerging markets worldwide. Argentina is one of them.
Since taking office in December, President Mauricio Macri has overhauled the protectionist and populist policies of his predecessor, kept Argentina’s peso currency competitive and encouraged more foreign investment. Nevertheless, despite Macri’s clear rules that will potentially guarantee stability and build confidence among Argentines, poverty levels in Argentina have risen.
According to a recent report published in May by the U.N.’s Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), in Argentina between 25 and 32 percent of all children live in multidimensional poverty, among whom 8.4 percent of girls and boys up to the age of 17 live in extreme poverty.
In the first six months in office, Macri’s administration oversaw more than 179,000 layoffs, over 66,000 in the public sector alone. Workers have also suffered under the economic pressures of record inflation and skyrocketing prices of utilities.
Contrary to the popular pessimism, President Macri is hopeful. “The country has already received investment pledges worth $16 billion…The U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union may make countries like Argentina more attractive to investors,” Macri said at the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Idaho in June.
Marci envisioned Argentina to be part of a global scenario, that anyone could come in with their money and go out with their money whenever they like.
The Sun Valley conference is known as a gold mine for deals in the world’s communication and technology industries. With huge outflows of funds in the U.K., Macri is hoping that the new business-friendly atmosphere will attract enough new investment to boost domestic production and create new jobs.
“The number-one priority is reducing poverty,” said Macri. “We are launching the most important infrastructure program in our history–ports, energy, trains, waterways…and agribusiness.”
Long-term aftermath effects of the Brexit vote are still unclear, but President Obama’s historic visit to Argentina this year is expected to kickstart another wave of U.S. international investment.
A study in 2010 found that U.S. companies with international investment create the domestic jobs and pay higher wages than companies focused solely on the domestic market. Indeed, multinational corporations added 289,000 domestic jobs in 2007-2009 even as the recession pillaged more than eight million jobs from Americans overall.
– Yvie Yao
Photo: Flickr
8 Facts About Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is a widespread bacterial disease that has been around for much of recorded human history. The following are some key facts about TB to learn more about what is going on with the disease.
These facts illustrate how dangerous TB is and also the progress that is being made against it as well. With additional developments, the world can hope that the U.N.’s sustainable development goal of ending the TB epidemic by 2030 will become a reality.
– Edmond Kim
Photo: Flickr
USAID Helps Small Time Farmers Achieve Their Dreams
Although giving aid to countries is a great way to lend support, giving small businesses the chance to grow is the best way to make a lasting impact. When small business owners are able to achieve their aspirations, it only motivates others to follow in their footsteps. Although it is possible for an individual to achieve the dream of sustaining their own company, many require financial assistance in order to make that happen.
In the country of Mozambique, small time farmers and entrepreneurs regularly struggle to expand their businesses because the banks view them as a high risk investments. The local banks do not have copious amounts of money to lend out and that forces them to charge outrageously high interest on their loans.
Carlos João Tovela Sigue, a small time farmer in Maputo, Mozambique, has been able to support his family by growing a variety of different crops. Although he has been able to sustain a healthy lifestyle for his family, Sigue had aspirations of owning and operating a much larger enterprise. The giant hurdle standing between him and his dream was financial support. Sigue stressed the difficulty of expanding production without a bank loan, which is a problem many farmers and small business owners in Mozambique face.
One of the main factors hindering the banks from loaning money to Mozambican entrepreneurs is the country’s struggle with inflation. Statistics reported by the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed that Maputo, Nampula and Beira — the three largest cities in Mozambique — had inflation rates of 11.25 percent from Feb. 1, 2015 to Jan. 31, 2016. Additionally, the Mozambican Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee reported “an increase of 100 base points in the Standing Lending Facility (the interest rate paid by the commercial banks to the central bank for money borrowed on the Interbank Money Market).”
This caused the interest rate to increase from 9.75 to 10.75 and marked the highest interest charged in Mozambique since September 2012. Even though the interest rate decreased slightly for a whole year, it only took three months for the interest rate to revert back to the 9.75 mark once again.
Thanks to a collaborative effort from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), several Mozambican banks obtained the Agency’s Development Credit Authority (DCA). The DCA provided the banks with a partial guarantee on loans and pushed for them to loan money to entrepreneurs and small time farmers such as Sigue. The loan allowed Sigue to add another 12 hectares on to his farm, mechanize his framing methods and make improvements to his irrigation system.
Sigue not only paid back his loan in full, but was able to employ seasonal workers on his farm. Sigue’s prosperity over the first two years enabled him to take out a larger loan to sustain his dream for the long term. Sigue “plans to farm 350 hectares of family land, accumulate 700 cows, and buy a larger truck for taking crops for sale to the market.” The Mozambique government has recognized Sigue’s miraculous success and adorned him with many awards.
Sigue is the epitome of what can happen when small businesses are given enough financial support to better the lives of their families and evidently their communities. Mozambican entrepreneurs have been able to acquire 795 loans through the DCA program and the statistics show promising results as well.
Additional statistics show that over 160 thousand borrowers in 74 countries around the world have been provided with financing through the DCA program. When businesses are able to sustain themselves and better the future of their communities, even small time farmers can make monumental impacts.
– Terry J. Halloran
Photo: Flickr
Power to The People: Reaching Sustainable Development Goals
While it is important for the global community to focus on the macro-cosmic picture of tackling these issues, having local governments and citizens face these issues is equally vital. Beneficiaries are often the last group to be consulted about the efforts that are being implemented to help their lives. Problem solving that addresses the specific needs of different communities is so beneficial because it does not focus on one overarching idea, but rather the specific needs of the people within the community.
With the global community and local communities working simultaneously, there is a greater chance for more widespread empathetic progress being made in terms of achieving sustainable development goals worldwide. One of the largest problems is that those who have political power are not impoverished and those who are impoverished do not have political power.
Thus, poverty is often overlooked by those in seats of power. This starts with education. If education is made available to those people who are impoverished, then they are being given an effective say in their communities, and therefore some degree of power.
Eradication of global poverty will not happen unless we are able to give power over to the people who are impoverished and thereby have a more nuanced understanding of the situations that they themselves face. This empowers people in lower income communities to receive an education, making it possible for them to impart the change they want to see in their communities.
However, this is still a tandem effort. By supporting the Education for All Act, a bipartisan initiative that would advance basic education worldwide while protecting U.S. security interests, even those who are citizens of developed nations can help to empower individuals to reach sustainable development goals in developing nations to help themselves and their communities.
– Kayla Provencher
Photo: Flickr
German Health Care: A Broken System for Asylum-Seekers?
German health care, geared to caring for a population of 80 million, is dealing with an unexpected and intimidating challenge by the continuous influx of about 1.1 million refugees in 2015 alone. Escaping poverty, war and repression, as well as family reunification are among the main reasons people attempt to enter Germany both legally and illegally.
Despite having opened its doors to more refugees than any other European country since 2013, Germany restricts asylum-seekers’ health care access to emergency care, treatment for acute diseases and pain, maternity care and vaccinations. Additional care can be provided, however, patients must file various petitions and jump through multiple hoops before getting approval for the same.
The aim of restricting asylum-seekers’ access to German health care dates back to the 1990s when rising numbers of asylum-seekers from former Yugoslavia created a need to reduce Germany’s pull factor. However, it is evident from various studies that this policy has done nothing to bring down the number of people seeking asylum in the country.
In spite of limiting access to health care, the sociomedical system is crumbling with news reports about vaccines not being available for German citizens till 2017 in the normal quantities. Doctors are having to undergo courses in screening and treating diseases like tuberculosis, scabies and psychological trauma.
In addition, there is the cost of material resources like medicines and hospital beds, diagnostic and surgeries that have spiraling economic repercussions. The siphoning of medical services, even in their most basic form, to asylum-seekers, is resented by many German citizens.
However, despite this backlash, there are many reasons for the country to consider providing full access to German health care, both for asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants. The most obvious of these is that any communicable disease can skyrocket the economic cost to the country by a loss of productivity.
In addition, according to experts such as Dr. David Ingleby from the University of Amsterdam, research has shown that, “denying easy and early access to healthcare not only ignores the right to health but actually increases costs: a new study estimated that since their introduction, these restrictive policies have increased the cost of healthcare by 376 euros per year for each asylum seeker.” Clearly, restrictive policies benefit neither immigrants nor state.
Some states like Bremen and Hamburg have been providing their asylum-seekers with health insurance cards like those used by the general population. These enable direct access to doctors and hospitals without having to apply for a certificate of entitlement.
Officially, the restriction on acute and emergency services remains, but the decision is now moved to the doctor’s medical discretion and no longer made by a municipal administrator. An innovative solution, this could be extended to the legal system, resting the decision of what warrants medical attention to the hands of those in the know.
Another solution being considered is granting anonymous insurance certificates that allow refugees without proof of citizenship to seek medical help without legal repercussions. In Berlin alone, up to 250,000 people live without any personal identity documents which are essential to get full medical treatment, making this idea almost a necessity.
In order to provide funding for these and other such policies for less restrictive health care, the European Union Health Program released a statement pledging fund actions supporting the Member States under particular migratory pressure in January this year. Hopefully, with this positive impetus, the German health care system will move to a more inclusive model for both asylum-seekers and undocumented immigrants.
– Mallika Khanna
Photo: Flickr
Tackling Brazil’s Income Inequality
Almost 10 percent of Brazilians live under the extreme poverty line. This is coupled with extreme inequality of income distribution. Recently however, Brazil showed a tremendous progress towards redistribution of wealth. Even though there isn’t any considerable average increase in gross domestic product (GDP), efforts to reduce poverty exist along with overcoming Brazil’s income inequality. This counts as an important step toward achieving the millennial development goals.
This change in Brazil’s income inequality resulted from improvements in education. The government tried to reduce the gap between skilled and unskilled labor. Thus, the supply of skilled labor increased. This helped more families get out of poverty by earning higher wages. Another factor was using social policies that provided small transfers to low-income families.
Brazil is apparently following the trend in Latin America as the whole continent is fighting poverty. Latin American society is becoming more aware of the harmful effect of inequality on the whole global economic growth. However, Brazil’s progress is unique. Their inequality is far higher than many advanced countries and can do more to improve its situation.
One positive aspect is that Brazil‘s economy is very inclusive. With new policies bringing more labor to the market, Brazil’s economy will strengthen. However, the business environment is not very encouraging. Many people view entrepreneurial failure as an embarrassment and not necessarily a learning experience.
The World Economic Forum during a 2015 report explained that education must be reformed as well and more students from low socioeconomic background should be included.
Brazil’s income inequality gap is narrowing. Media focused recently on the events of a World cup and the Olympic Games but on the other side, Brazil socioeconomic conditions were becoming better. This is remarkable as Brazil was on the brink of collapse due to the global economic financial crisis. The model of socio-economic development that Brazil used can be applied in other countries such as Zambia or Nigeria.
– Noman Ahmed
Photo: Flickr
Eight Facts About Refugees in Jordan
In the past five years, the Syrian Civil War has turned into one of the biggest humanitarian crises of the 21st century. Millions of civilians have been displaced from their homes and forced to flee to other countries. This has created a refugee crisis the likes of which hasn’t been seen since World War II. Few countries have borne a greater brunt of this crisis then Jordan. Here are eight facts about refugees in Jordan.
While the situation in Jordan is problematic, it is by no means hopeless. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace outlines a number of measures that can be taken to help improve the lives of both Syrian refugees and Jordanian citizens. Increased humanitarian and developmental aid can be implemented to help meet the basic needs of refugees.
Allowing refugees access to formal employment will help create a more sustainable situation by allowing refugees to become more self-sufficient. Greater governmental aid can be provided to the Jordanian government to improve their capacity to manage the situation.
– James Long
Photo: Flickr
Poverty Reduction Through Entrepreneurship
There are two types of programs most commonly associated with helping the global poor.
The first is government to government aid. The second is a direct service NGO that performs tasks like building wells and distributing medicine. However, another effective way to boost poverty reduction is through entrepreneurial assistance.
There is a persistent impression of the world’s poor as being entirely dependent on others and incapable of improving their own lives. Contrary to this belief, there is a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit in the developing world. After all, given the lack of government support in these regions, citizens have to become creative in order to simply survive. The problem is just that most of these individuals lack the knowledge, skills or financial means to turn their ideas into reality.
The Transformational Business Network (TBN) explains that growing entrepreneurship can be a powerful means of poverty reduction for three main reasons. First, it provides individuals with the tools to improve their own circumstances as opposed to relying on aid from foreign governments or NGO’s. Second, it gives people the means of achieving a sustainable income. Third, it improves overall economic growth which benefits all the citizens of a country.
The TBN identifies microfinancing as a popular means of facilitating entrepreneurship in the developing world. Microfinancing involves providing individuals with small loans, usually a couple hundred dollars, to help them set up micro businesses. Microfinancing has shown a large degree of success with an extremely high loan repayment rate and has grown into a multi-billion dollar global enterprise creating millions of entrepreneurs.
Microfinancing does have its limits. The Carnegie Council identifies two different types of entrepreneurship: opportunity entrepreneurship and necessity entrepreneurship. Opportunity entrepreneurship involves the creation of real businesses that have the capacity for significant growth. Necessity entrepreneurship usually involves self-employed individuals who are barely surviving.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project found that opportunity entrepreneurship is a much more effective way of growing a nation’s economy and lifting entire populations out of abject poverty than necessity entrepreneurship. Microfinancing, however, tends to create more necessity entrepreneurs.
USAID’s PACE initiative is currently engaging in a comprehensive strategy to increase both necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship by partnering with over 40 accelerators, incubators and seed-stage impact investors. According to the PACE initiative website, the idea is “to catalyze private-sector investment into early-stage enterprises and identify innovative models or approaches that help entrepreneurs bridge the” gap between promising enterprises and potential investors.
The PACE initiative also hopes to expand the entrepreneurship knowledge base by partnering with a number of organizations including the Omidyar Network, the Argidius Foundation and Emory University. Together these groups are launching a research project designed to assess the efficacy of accelerator programs, providing these programs with “statistical data and market insight to better inform their own decision-making.”
It’s clear that the future of anti-poverty efforts will and should involve an increased investment in entrepreneurial enterprises.
– James Long
Photo: Flickr
Climate Change and its Consequence for Africa
Africa, the most underdeveloped continent, has the most to lose from the effects of climate change. Africa is susceptible to dramatic environmental consequences if the current rise of temperatures continues to increase. For instance, a two-degree Celsius rise in average temperatures has the projected effect of creating an additional 110 million undernourished Africans.
Without serious global commitments to reverse course, African biodiversity will be in jeopardy. Both consumptive (food, fiber, fuel, shelter, medicine, wildlife trade) and nonconsumptive (ecosystem services and tourist industry) will suffer.
African immigration is an additional future consequence. Currently, Africa houses more than 26 percent of the world’s refugees. This number is likely to increase if the projected food insecurity crisis ensues. As current shelter plans have proved insufficient, it is likely that additional refugees cannot be accommodated.
By 2050, population growth forecasts predict that Africans will have doubled to 2.4 billion, or 3.5 million more people per month, or 80 per minute. Additionally, food production in sub-Saharan Africa alone will have to increase by 60 percent to accommodate the needs of the population surge.
The effects of climate change are already evident. A World Bank senior blogger claims — “I already see evidence of this during my travels across Sub-Saharan Africa, where high levels of poverty, highly variable and unpredictable weather, limited livelihood options, weak infrastructure, insufficient access to productive resources, and scare safety nets all combine to make Africa even more vulnerable to climate risks.”
Fortunately, Africa demonstrates the potential to adapt to smart agriculture policies. Over 200 million hectares of uncultivated land are available for purchase. Additionally, agriculture in Africa has been reinvigorated by a wave of young Africans seeking economic prosperity.
Moreover, African governments are heeding the call to increase climate-smart agriculture infrastructure. International partners are also contributing to the climate-smart agriculture movement. For instance, the World Bank developed the Africa Climate Business Plan, which calls for “$16 billion in funding to help African people and countries adapt to climate change and build up the continent’s resilience to climate shocks.”
The international community has demonstrated its concern with the ramifications of an average temperature increase. In December 2015, 197 nations met in Paris, to sign the Paris Agreement, which aims to prevent the rise of the average temperature to 2 degrees Celsius.
Informing the world of climate-smart agriculture in Africa is key to secure the generations of humanitarian progress made, but also prevent a cataclysmic relapse. The World Bank, U.N. and the African Union have made monumental first steps, but individuals of the world must prioritize this concept if meaningful change is going to happen.
– Adam George
Photo: Flickr