Changing its name from the Czech Republic to Czechia in 2016, this Central European country has recently been on the rise economically, and poverty in Czechia has improved. A current account recorded a trade surplus just under one percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015. This was an increase of more than four percent in five years, from a deficit of 3.6 percent in 2010.
In categorical comparison with other countries, the picture of the position of poverty in Czechia – a small, landlocked nation – is bright.
GDP at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is a sound indicator of how poverty in Czechia affects the country as a whole, as it represents the final value of all goods and services produced in a single year factored at current United States exchange rates.
Poverty in Czechia is minimal and limited, based on GDP at PPP, as the country ranked 50th out of the 230 countries, nation-states and islands evaluated by the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book in 2016. The GDP at PPP for Czechia was a reported $315 billion in 2016. Comparatively, China is ranked number one with a GDP at PPP of more than $21 trillion and the small New Zealand island of Tokelau ranked last with a GDP at PPP of $1.5 million.
The actual GDP of Czechia in 2015 was $185.2 billion, according to The World Bank. With a population of 10.5 million people at the time, the GDP per capita was around $32,500 in 2015. Comparatively, Czechia ranked 58th in 2016 with a GDP per capita; Qatar ranked first, at $129,700 per capita and Somalia ranked 230th, or last, with a 2016 GDP per capita of merely $400.
According to The World Bank, poverty in Czechia was at 9.7 percent in 2013, a representative decrease in the percentage of people living at or below the poverty level from a decade prior, when the figure was at 10 percent.
The statistics and graphs shown on The World Bank’s database show large amounts of fluctuation in the poverty levels in Czechia over the last decade, rising and falling almost annually. While this figure fluctuates greatly, a stabilized number in the statistics on poverty in Czechia is the percentage of the population living on less than $1.90 a day. Less than a tenth of a percent of the Czechian population survives on less than $1.90, and that number has been the same for more than a half-decade.
The World Bank predicts a 2.5 percent growth in GDP this fiscal year (2017) for Czechia and a population growth under two-tenths of a percentage point. Currently, in the small, landlocked country–less than the size of South Carolina–there are 137 people per square kilometer.
The country’s Gross National Income in 2015 was around $18,000, and the lowest 20 percent of the earnings population accounted for 9.6 percent of the income share in 2012.
The average life expectancy in the country was 79.5 years in 2015, with 100 percent of the population having access to improved water systems. More than 99 percent of the people used improved sanitation facilities that year.
Poverty in Czechia is on the decline as the Central European member of the European Union saw a 4.5 percent growth in GDP in 2015. Compared to other countries being studied, Czechia is a stably improving country of prosperity, with its auto and manufacturing industries supporting internal growth.
– Shaun Savarese
Photo: Flickr
How to Avoid the Top Diseases in Kuwait as a Traveler
Kuwait is located on the Arabian Gulf and sits between Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. According to the World Travel Guide, Kuwait has a number of tourist attractions, even though its location might hinder it from topping the list for many travelers. Kuwait sits on a beautiful coastline and has many impressive buildings and eateries. As with any other destination, travelers should take the necessary precautions to avoid contracting the top diseases in Kuwait.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that all travelers to Kuwait get vaccinated for hepatitis A and typhoid. Both diseases can be contracted through contaminated food or water, and thus it is important for travelers to be careful when choosing where to eat. Luckily, the World Travel Guide lists many restaurants known for both safety and fine dining, including Pepper Steak House and Ayam Zaman Restaurant. The CDC recommends using available resources such as this guide to determine where it is safe to eat to avoid contracting the top diseases in Kuwait as a traveler. The CDC also warns that travelers staying with family or friends or in more rural areas are at a greater risk of catching typhoid.
Another pervasive disease in Kuwait is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). MERS is a respiratory virus unlike any other known viruses, according to the CDC. It causes a fever, cough, shortness of breath and, in some cases, can be fatal. The first case was reported in 2012 in Saudi Arabia, and it is quickly becoming one of the top diseases in Kuwait. A fatal case of MERS was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in September 2015. The WHO issued a warning which states that individuals who have diabetes, renal failure, chronic lung disease or are immunocompromised have the greatest risk of contracting a MERS infection. The report cautions those at risk against contact with animals, especially camel,s and recommend good hygiene practices, along with avoiding the consumption of raw milk and undercooked meats.
In 2015, the WHO did not recommend any travel restrictions for Kuwait, as there is no evidence that indicates MERS can be transferred through person-to-person contact. However, in May 2016, the CDC issued a level two alert after cases of MERS were seen in several countries around the Arabian Gulf. These cases occurred in travelers and also in people they had been in close contact with. The CDC does not discourage travel to these areas, but they recommend that travelers consult with a doctor to determine risk factors and if additional precautions are necessary.
– Helen Barker
Photo: Flickr
Health Concerns Over Water Quality in Venezuela
The poor water quality in Venezuela has caused health concerns throughout the country.
Venezuela’s water has, in recent years, been very poor quality, even coming out of faucets with a yellow color, reports Ana Carvajal, a worker at the Universitario Hospital in Caracas specializing in infectious diseases. Venezuelans are seeing a spike in a variety of illnesses, especially diarrhea. The lack of clean water is also bringing about skin issues such as scabies and folliculitis. Stomach illnesses have also spread due to the water quality.
Beyond water pollution, the country is also facing a severe water shortage. The 2016 drought brought on by El Niño put major limits on water consumption, resulting in today’s current use of water trucks. However, as water official Tatiana Noguera accounts, these trucks are often robbed by gangs.
Unfortunately, it comes with little surprise that Venezuelans must resort to desperate measures in order to maintain water. Residents often purify water with vinegar, and carefully ‘recycle’ it from the kitchen to toilet. Some collect and recycle rainwater, as well.
Other consequences come in the form of limited electricity. Because 65 percent of Venezuela’s electricity relies on the Guri Dam, which has maintained low water levels, the country has undergone severe power shortages. Even Venezuela’s time zone has been altered in order to increase the amount of sunlight during the day by an extra 30 minutes.
Just like his predecessor Hugo Chavez, President Nicolas Maduro has not taken substantive action in order to counter this water pollution or shortage. Taxi driver Luis Felipe Pedroso comments on the lack of water: “On the days when it comes, it’s only for a few hours and it’s very dirty. This is unbelievable. The government hasn’t taken any measures to solve these problems.”
If the poor water quality in Venezuela is not addressed soon, diseases are likely to spread further. Given citizens’ limited access to medicine, this has seriously negative implications, especially considering the issue is one that is easily preventable. Therefore, the country’s leaders must take immediate action in order to secure the health of their citizens.
– Gigi DeLorenzo
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About the Struggle to End the Water Crisis in Egypt
For the past 10 years, the Egyptian government has struggled with figuring out ways to improve their water system in order for water to be accessible and also in order for the water supply to thrive. The U.N. warns that Egypt could run out of the water by 2025. Here are 10 facts about the water crisis in Egypt.
10 Facts About the Struggle to End the Water Crisis in Egypt
For now, water sources in Egypt are still hard to come by. Government officials have announced a plan to replace underground infrastructure within the next decade. Through the hopelessness, this leaves hope for the people of Egypt.
– Maria Rodriguez
Photo: Flickr
The Threat of XDR-TB, a Highly Infectious, Drug-Resistant Disease
The threat of XDR-TB has recently caused great concern. This disease has been reported in 117 countries and is the deadliest strain of tuberculosis (TB). It is highly drug-resistant and is immune to many antibiotics. It is resistant to four standard treatments for tuberculosis. Because of this, treatment options for XDR-TB are less effective, more expensive and have more adverse side effects. The medication used to treat the disease is taken for up to two years and can cause permanent deafness, nerve damage, vomiting and rashes. The disease itself affects the lungs, causes chest pain and the coughing of blood.
The threat of XDR-TB transmission is the highest among individuals infected with HIV. In 2006, 52 out of 53 patients with both HIV and XDR-TB were reported to have died, and most died soon after the diagnosis. Treatment is successful less than 40 percent of the time, and death rates are as high 80 percent.
Cases of XDR-TB have rapidly intensified in South Africa, and it was found to have extensively spread in KwaZulu-Natal. It has caused tremendous concern among authorities. Between 2002 and 2015, there was a tenfold increase in the disease’s prevalence in South Africa. The threat of XDR-TB has become a challenge for many hospitals and community settings, households and workplaces.
This disease spreads similarly to other forms of tuberculosis. When a person with TB sneezes, coughs, shouts or sings, bacteria to float in the air, which can spread the disease. It has also been diagnosed in persons who were previously taking medication for TB, and the anti-TB drugs were misused or mismanaged. However, nearly 70 percent cases are spread from person to person. In a study of 404 patients with XDR-TB, an analysis showed that 69 percent of the cases were transmitted from person to person.
Efforts need to be directed towards identifying and implementing new interventions to prevent the transmission of XDR-TB in hospitals and community settings. Separation of people with suspected TB from other patients, more rapid diagnosis, and more effective medication is required for the disease. National governments need to plan interventions to prevent the threat of XDR-TB from spreading and to ensure supplies of medication are more readily available.
– Aishwarya Bansal
Photo: Flickr
How Presidents are Impeached in the United States
It begins in the House of Representatives, which reserves the sole power of impeachment. This means that for an impeachment trial to begin, it must be initiated in a declaration by a member of the House. In promoting such a declaration, though, the process can be encouraged by the judicial conference of the U.S., an independent counsel, the president, a state or territorial legislature, a grand jury or a petition.
The House examines all charges of impeachment before putting it to vote, usually by the House Committee on the Judiciary. That committee then needs a majority vote confirming allegations of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors for the impeachment to be proposed to the full House.
If it is brought to the full House, the committee presents all specific allegations to be voted on. The House can vote on each article of misdemeanor separately, or the overall accusation, and if the majority votes for impeachment then managers are selected to bring the case to Senate.
There is no set definition for what these allegations should include, which can make it difficult to determine how presidents are impeached, but it is widely accepted that impeachment should only be considered in cases of a clear disregard for duty, whether criminal or otherwise.
Any formal accusation, by majority vote, is considered impeachment. This often-overlooked definition means that in the notable case of Bill Clinton, for instance, he never was convicted but he was impeached in 1998 when the Republican-controlled House voted to bring the allegations against him to the Senate.
By contrast, Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before he could be impeached by the House, let alone convicted by the Senate.
The sole power to try all impeachments is held by the U.S. Senate, and the proceedings are similar to a case held in court. The managers are chosen by the House present evidence to either the full Senate or a chosen subcommittee on a set trial date, providing witnesses and opening and closing arguments.
Each article of impeachment is voted on separately by the Senate as a whole, and one or more must obtain a two-thirds vote for conviction. Any convicted officer will be removed from office, but the Senate can vote on whether they are barred from holding any other office of public trust under the United States (in which case they only require a majority vote).
This is how presidents are impeached, and if it is a different official being removed from office, the president does not have the ability to pardon them.
– Brooke Clayton
Photo: Flickr
5 Facts About Education in San Marino
Double Burden of Top Diseases in Barbados
In the small Caribbean island of Barbados, diseases have increasingly affected the overall health of the population. The double burden of diseases involves both infectious and noninfectious diseases.
Barbados has a long history of infectious disease, from pneumonia to tuberculosis and influenza to HIV/AIDs. Out of these top diseases in Barbados, HIV/AIDS levels were especially high. In 2008, 14 percent of deaths in Barbados resulted from HIV/AIDs, but by 2012 the rates declined to 0.9 percent. The prevalence of HIV/AIDs has fluctuated throughout the years but has remained one of the top diseases plaguing the population. Less than half of those with HIV/AIDS are aware of their status.
Although communicable disease remains a major threat to the population, noncommunicable diseases are the top diseases in Barbados today. Some of the most common noncommunicable diseases include heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, stroke and cancer. Approximately 38,000 people suffer from hypertension alone. Out of 284,000 people in the population, 90,000 are overweight and 19,000 are diabetic.
Many of these top noncommunicable diseases in Barbados are caused by exposure to tobacco smoke, unhealthy diet, alcohol abuse, sedentary lifestyles and psychosocial stress. These conditions have a harsher effect on the poor because of isolation from the important resources and networks needed to combat rising health issues. Households living in poverty have steadily increased from 8.7 percent to 15 percent, encompassing a significant amount of the population. Few people have sufficient access to healthcare. In fact, only 20 percent of Barbadians can access cardiac rehab centers once they have suffered a heart attack. The limited access to treatment makes it harder to fight this new series of burdens.
The epidemiological transition from communicable diseases to noncommunicable diseases brought forth a double burden of diseases. Although deaths from noncommunicable diseases have surpassed deaths from communicable diseases, both remain active in the Barbadian community. What has the population done to combat these diseases in Barbados?
Funding from the Tropical Medicine Research Institute has driven the development of the world-renowned Chronic Diseases Research Centre. The Centre focuses on the surveillance and prevention of chronic noncommunicable diseases, with the magnitude to influence healthcare in Barbados and the wider Caribbean.
While the double burden of disease is an island-wide phenomenon, there lies a ray of hope in the workings of the Chronic Diseases Research Centre.
– Katelynn Kenworthy
Photo: Flickr
Worst to First in Europe: Comparative Poverty in Czechia
Changing its name from the Czech Republic to Czechia in 2016, this Central European country has recently been on the rise economically, and poverty in Czechia has improved. A current account recorded a trade surplus just under one percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015. This was an increase of more than four percent in five years, from a deficit of 3.6 percent in 2010.
In categorical comparison with other countries, the picture of the position of poverty in Czechia – a small, landlocked nation – is bright.
GDP at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is a sound indicator of how poverty in Czechia affects the country as a whole, as it represents the final value of all goods and services produced in a single year factored at current United States exchange rates.
Poverty in Czechia is minimal and limited, based on GDP at PPP, as the country ranked 50th out of the 230 countries, nation-states and islands evaluated by the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book in 2016. The GDP at PPP for Czechia was a reported $315 billion in 2016. Comparatively, China is ranked number one with a GDP at PPP of more than $21 trillion and the small New Zealand island of Tokelau ranked last with a GDP at PPP of $1.5 million.
The actual GDP of Czechia in 2015 was $185.2 billion, according to The World Bank. With a population of 10.5 million people at the time, the GDP per capita was around $32,500 in 2015. Comparatively, Czechia ranked 58th in 2016 with a GDP per capita; Qatar ranked first, at $129,700 per capita and Somalia ranked 230th, or last, with a 2016 GDP per capita of merely $400.
According to The World Bank, poverty in Czechia was at 9.7 percent in 2013, a representative decrease in the percentage of people living at or below the poverty level from a decade prior, when the figure was at 10 percent.
The statistics and graphs shown on The World Bank’s database show large amounts of fluctuation in the poverty levels in Czechia over the last decade, rising and falling almost annually. While this figure fluctuates greatly, a stabilized number in the statistics on poverty in Czechia is the percentage of the population living on less than $1.90 a day. Less than a tenth of a percent of the Czechian population survives on less than $1.90, and that number has been the same for more than a half-decade.
The World Bank predicts a 2.5 percent growth in GDP this fiscal year (2017) for Czechia and a population growth under two-tenths of a percentage point. Currently, in the small, landlocked country–less than the size of South Carolina–there are 137 people per square kilometer.
The country’s Gross National Income in 2015 was around $18,000, and the lowest 20 percent of the earnings population accounted for 9.6 percent of the income share in 2012.
The average life expectancy in the country was 79.5 years in 2015, with 100 percent of the population having access to improved water systems. More than 99 percent of the people used improved sanitation facilities that year.
Poverty in Czechia is on the decline as the Central European member of the European Union saw a 4.5 percent growth in GDP in 2015. Compared to other countries being studied, Czechia is a stably improving country of prosperity, with its auto and manufacturing industries supporting internal growth.
– Shaun Savarese
Photo: Flickr
15 Years of Decriminalization of Drugs in Portugal
In 2001, Portugal passed Law 20/3000, which eliminated criminal charges for possession and usage of all illicit drugs. The decriminalization of drugs in Portugal does not mean that drugs are legal; rather, it means that drug usage and possession no longer automatically result in criminal actions.
An important component of Portugal’s drug policy is the distinction between recreational and addicted drug users. Those who are using a drug recreationally are fined, while those identified as drug addicts are offered enrollment in a government-funded treatment program. Another vital distinction in the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal is that drug dealers are still subject to criminal charges. The distinction between drug dealers and personal users is determined by supply at the time of apprehension. Those with less than a 10-day supply of drugs are subject to a fine and treatment program but not jail time.
The decriminalization of drugs in Portugal arose primarily as a response to the country’s heroin epidemic in the 1990s. At the time, nearly 1 percent of the country’s population was addicted to heroin, one of the worst drug epidemics globally. In the 15 years since decriminalization, the results have been generally positive. Drug-related HIV infections have been reduced by 95 percent, and Portugal’s drug-induced mortality rate is five times lower than the European Union average.
Fifteen years after its introduction, the success of decriminalization of drugs in Portugal is a great and somewhat unexpected accomplishment. Drug usage has not increased, though the rates of illicit drug use have mostly remained unchanged in the last 15 years. Furthermore, the number of individuals enrolled in voluntary drug treatment programs has increased by 60 percent. Treatments are developed with a holistic understanding of addiction, with options such as access to mobile methadone clinics and non-12-step treatment programs.
The logic behind the decision for the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal was that jailing drug users did not lead to a reduction in drug use and further removed individuals from society, exacerbating issues like isolation and poverty that lead to drug usage and addiction. Drug addiction is a challenge faced in many countries across the globe, and it frequently affects those in poverty or drives individuals into poverty. The decriminalization of drugs in Portugal has shifted the treatment of drug addiction from a criminal issue to a health issue, focusing on social determinants and mental health. This alternative approach to the War on Drugs has proved successful for Portugal so far and could serve as a model for other countries to follow.
– Nicole Toomey
Photo: Flickr
10 Powerful Women Fighting for Girls’ Access to Education
Women around the world are working to end economic gender discrimination and poverty by advocating for girls’ access to education. These 10 women are among the many who are advocating for women’s rights through education.
10 Powerful Women Fighting for Girls’ Access to Education
Overall, the fight for girls’ access to education is key to ending poverty. These 10 women are pursuing groundbreaking strategies to implement equality into developing communities around the world.
– Rachel Cooper
Photo: Flickr