Opioid addiction is an emerging epidemic. Traditionally, the most commonly abused opiate drugs were morphine and heroin. Today, the problem is complicated by the rising use of opiate painkillers, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone.
While opiate pills are incredibly effective at managing pain in the short-term, usually after surgery or injury, they pose a serious risk of long-term dependence, abuse and overdose. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 15 million people worldwide are addicted to opiates and 69,000 die from overdose every year.
Because they affect the part of the brain responsible for respiratory regulation, a high dose of opiates can cause a person’s heart to stop beating. Even in the case of a non-fatal overdose, a prolonged lack of oxygen can still cause irreversible brain damage.
There are growing concerns within the global health community over the strong link between opiate painkillers and heroin use. In the 1960s, more than 80% of people following an opiate addiction treatment reported starting with heroin. Newer research from the early 2000s reveals that 75% of people receiving opiate addiction treatment reported starting with prescription opiate painkillers.
Naloxone, a powerful emergency drug that reverses the effects of overdose, is used worldwide to prevent death once an overdose occurs. In most countries, naloxone is only available to health professionals and emergency responders.
This means a person must receive immediate medical attention at the onset of overdose symptoms. However, the people most likely to witness overdose include friends and family members. WHO recommends that naloxone be made available to friends and family members as well as health care workers in order to increase people’s chances of surviving an overdose.
It’s important to note that preventing overdose does not in itself control opiate abuse. People also need to stabilize their health in order to control their addiction in the long run. Canada recently pioneered an experimental health policy with that intention. September’s amendment to the nation’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act will allow doctors to prescribe controlled amounts of heroin to addicts in order to stabilize their dependence.
The policy aims to achieve two main goals. First, by administering addicts a controlled amount of heroin under professional supervision, doctors hope to avoid the type of overdose wherein someone takes a lethal amount of an opiate substance at one time. Second, they hope that the provision of medically “clean” heroin will prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases through intravenous needle sharing.
Canada’s new policy reflects a global movement to rethink opiate addiction treatment. Whereas the traditional view on drug policy has been to incarcerate drug users, some countries are implementing legally-sanctioned alternatives.
For instance, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Spain, Denmark, Australia, and Canada have supervised injection centers where opiate addicts can get safe injection kits, information about addiction and overdose, treatment referrals and access to medical staff. Some centers also offer counseling and hygienic amenities, like toilets and showers.
What supervised injection centers and Canada’s new policy have in common is the belief that addiction is a disease before it is a crime, and should be treated as such. Thus, it becomes the responsibility of a country’s health care system and government to provide safe care.
But what would Canada’s new policy look like in a global context? To start, countries looking to implement a similar policy would need to have reliable health care infrastructure — that means sanitary medical facilities, trained health workers and strong security. Unfortunately, that rules out many low-income nations who don’t have the financial means to uphold such standards.
On the other hand, the United Nations predicts that drug use over the course of the next 35 years will have a disproportionately high effect on urban populations in developing nations. Finding new ways to manage addiction could help developing nations spend less money on prisons where addicts typically end up serving long sentences at the cost of the state.
Moreover, if intravenous drug use happens under medical supervision, then people in condensed urban communities would be less exposed to contaminated needles, illegal drug sales or other intoxicated people.
The amendment to Canada’s drug policy demonstrates how drug policy is changing worldwide. Opiate abuse is just one example of how trends in drug use are an important factor in policy reform.
– Jessica Levitan
Photo: Flickr
Taking a Closer Look at Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh has made a remarkable improvement in poverty reduction since 2000. The number of individuals living in poverty declined from 63 million in 2000 to 47 million in 2010, representing a 27% decrease.
Poverty in Bangladesh has reduced significantly largely due to changes in demographics and increases in labor income. Fertility rates also declined during this period. This led to fewer dependency ratios and a higher per-capita income.
“Against the odds, Bangladesh lifted 16 million people out of poverty in the last 10 years and also reduced inequality; that is a rare and remarkable achievement,” said Johannes Zutt, World Bank Director for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s recent improvement is a step toward becoming a middle-income country by 2021. Bangladesh needs to lift an additional 15 million people out of poverty. To do so, the government must boost investments in the transportation, power and gas sectors.
Moreover, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh could improve the skills of its labor force and focus specifically on the youth. This will harness the “demographic opportunity” of the country.
Bangladesh could also make use of its vast social safety net expenditures by improving program design to emphasize on human capital accumulation. Such services will be targeted towards the poorest communities and ensuring that growth remains inclusive.
Another considerable factor that contributed to poverty reduction in Bangladesh was microfinance institutions (MFIs). Such programs thrive to create innovative ways to financially support the poor.
These initiatives include training and entrepreneurial programs for the poor communities, helping 32 million individuals. In the past two decades, MFIs have contributed to poverty reduction in Bangladesh.
– Noman Ahmed
Photo: Flickr
Canada Experiments with New Opiate Addiction Treatment
While opiate pills are incredibly effective at managing pain in the short-term, usually after surgery or injury, they pose a serious risk of long-term dependence, abuse and overdose. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 15 million people worldwide are addicted to opiates and 69,000 die from overdose every year.
Because they affect the part of the brain responsible for respiratory regulation, a high dose of opiates can cause a person’s heart to stop beating. Even in the case of a non-fatal overdose, a prolonged lack of oxygen can still cause irreversible brain damage.
There are growing concerns within the global health community over the strong link between opiate painkillers and heroin use. In the 1960s, more than 80% of people following an opiate addiction treatment reported starting with heroin. Newer research from the early 2000s reveals that 75% of people receiving opiate addiction treatment reported starting with prescription opiate painkillers.
Naloxone, a powerful emergency drug that reverses the effects of overdose, is used worldwide to prevent death once an overdose occurs. In most countries, naloxone is only available to health professionals and emergency responders.
This means a person must receive immediate medical attention at the onset of overdose symptoms. However, the people most likely to witness overdose include friends and family members. WHO recommends that naloxone be made available to friends and family members as well as health care workers in order to increase people’s chances of surviving an overdose.
It’s important to note that preventing overdose does not in itself control opiate abuse. People also need to stabilize their health in order to control their addiction in the long run. Canada recently pioneered an experimental health policy with that intention. September’s amendment to the nation’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act will allow doctors to prescribe controlled amounts of heroin to addicts in order to stabilize their dependence.
The policy aims to achieve two main goals. First, by administering addicts a controlled amount of heroin under professional supervision, doctors hope to avoid the type of overdose wherein someone takes a lethal amount of an opiate substance at one time. Second, they hope that the provision of medically “clean” heroin will prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases through intravenous needle sharing.
Canada’s new policy reflects a global movement to rethink opiate addiction treatment. Whereas the traditional view on drug policy has been to incarcerate drug users, some countries are implementing legally-sanctioned alternatives.
For instance, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Spain, Denmark, Australia, and Canada have supervised injection centers where opiate addicts can get safe injection kits, information about addiction and overdose, treatment referrals and access to medical staff. Some centers also offer counseling and hygienic amenities, like toilets and showers.
What supervised injection centers and Canada’s new policy have in common is the belief that addiction is a disease before it is a crime, and should be treated as such. Thus, it becomes the responsibility of a country’s health care system and government to provide safe care.
But what would Canada’s new policy look like in a global context? To start, countries looking to implement a similar policy would need to have reliable health care infrastructure — that means sanitary medical facilities, trained health workers and strong security. Unfortunately, that rules out many low-income nations who don’t have the financial means to uphold such standards.
On the other hand, the United Nations predicts that drug use over the course of the next 35 years will have a disproportionately high effect on urban populations in developing nations. Finding new ways to manage addiction could help developing nations spend less money on prisons where addicts typically end up serving long sentences at the cost of the state.
Moreover, if intravenous drug use happens under medical supervision, then people in condensed urban communities would be less exposed to contaminated needles, illegal drug sales or other intoxicated people.
The amendment to Canada’s drug policy demonstrates how drug policy is changing worldwide. Opiate abuse is just one example of how trends in drug use are an important factor in policy reform.
– Jessica Levitan
Photo: Flickr
National Development: Horizon 2020 Initiative in Equatorial Guinea
The Embassy of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea outlined five key goals of the Horizon 2020 initiative: invest in strengthening economic growth, strengthen the development of structured investments, promote and strengthen the development of social policy actions, ensure a transparent social climate and develop the prospects for better monitoring and evaluation of poverty.
Secretary of state for Planning and Development, Hon César Mba Abogo, also cited the declaration of Article 8 in the country’s new constitution that emphasizes a commitment to abide by international laws as they are set forth, as well as the limitations on executive mandates.
Regardless of the restriction, significant amounts of oil revenue were discovered to be invested into private western and offshore bank accounts via an investigation conducted by the United States Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in 2004.
However, constraints on the growth of Equatorial Guinea’s economy have begun to arise in 2016 as a result of decreasing oil output and notably low crude oil prices. Human Rights Watch reported an increase of over 5,000 percent since the country struck oil in 1992.
As a part of the Horizon 2020 in Equatorial Guinea initiative, the government created the Social Development Fund that budgeted $1 billion for spending toward equality, transport, water, education, social welfare and housing infrastructure. Government programs to develop public governance and investment through mobilizing and educating human capital.
An emergency program, Holding Equatorial Guinea 2020, has already been launched as a conduit to foster growth in the economic sector, promote human rights, and secure good hiring and employment practices. The main aims of the initiative are founded in economic stability and the eradication of poverty and the success of such programs exemplify the potential outcome for Equatorial Guinea at the conclusion of the initiatives.
– Amber Bailey
Photo: Flickr
Pedaling Out of Poverty: Bamboo Bikes Help the Poor and Unemployed
“I remembered I had bamboo in my backyard growing where I grew up in Long Island, and I did some Googling and saw that people have been building bikes out of bamboo since the 1890s,” Wilkins said to the Hatchet. “It just never really caught on.”
Pedal Forward exclusively hired the underemployed and homeless for its workforce through the Back on My Feet organization, tasking them with the construction of the bikes themselves. Their New York warehouse was purchased through the $44,748 the duo earned on Kickstarter last February, and construction of the bamboo bikes is currently well underway.
Over 70 percent of the world’s poor lives without adequate transportation, according to Pedal Forward’s mission statement. Wilkins hopes to manufacture bikes in Tanzania and Uganda to bring affordable transportation to the poor there. In the meantime, however, Pedal Forward has been buying bikes from local vendors and distributing them to orphaned children and farmers so they can sell goods in markets.
“It’s combining my two favorite things which are bikes and building things, but at the same time it has a huge impact to a ton of people around the world,” Wilkins said to the Hatchet.
The bamboo used by Pedal Forward has been treated to make it four times more shock absorbent than carbon fiber and has higher tensile strength than steel. It also grows at a sustainable rate of one meter per day, earning it the name Iron Bamboo.
On top of being strong, the bamboo is good for the environment and easily recycled, making it cheap, green and created for a good cause. It took Wilkins three years to perfect the prototype of the bike after he won best business idea at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in 2012, thus delaying Pedal Forward’s commercial start to 2016.
The first bamboo bikes are set to sell for $499 this September on their website.
– Regina Park
Photo: Flickr
Water For People: Ending Water Scarcity Through Infrastructure
They are especially concerned with the impact water scarcity has on women and girls, who often bear the burden for water collection.
They work at the ground level to build trust within the community and by tailoring their solutions to the issues at hand. Local governments, community members and business owners are all required to co-invest, ensuring that all partners have an equal stake in the results. This collaboration allows for a better understanding of the abilities of a community to finance and maintain the projects for the future.
The U.N. states that more than 2 billion people are affected by water scarcity. That figure is expected to rise due to climate change. This is especially problematic for developing countries struggling with poverty.
According to Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group, “Economic growth in some regions could be cut by as much as six percent because of water scarcity alone.”
That is why one of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 includes improved access to clean water and sanitation. There are several targets for doing so, including moves to:
This last target is where Water For People comes in. The organization, which was established by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) in 1991, has provided access to clean water in nine developing countries: Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and India.
Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF’s global head of water, sanitation and hygiene put it simply: “No matter where you look, access to clean drinking water makes a difference in the lives of people.”
The fight for ending water scarcity is ongoing but there continues to be an increase in access to clean water thanks to Water For People.
– Sabrina Santos
Photo: Flickr
USAID: Reducing Poverty in Malawi Through Feed the Future
Malawi ranks 160 out of the existing 182 sovereign nations on the Human Development Index and is currently one of the world’s poorest nations. Nearly three-fourths of the population lives on less than a $1.25 a day, and approximately 90% live on less than $2 a day.
Agriculture makes up 35% of Malawi’s gross domestic product (GDP), and nearly 85% of Malawians are employed in the agricultural sector.
Maize is typically grown for local markets; small-scale farmers typically grow various fruits and vegetables such as pineapples, guava, mangoes, lemons, green peppers, cabbage, cucumbers and eggplants.
Agricultural growth in Malawi is often limited and difficult to effectively sustain due to reoccurring droughts in the region. Nearly 80% of Malawians are smallholder farmers who rely on their crops to feed their families and communities.
Malawi experiences extreme weather conditions — periods of drought and flooding — that contribute to widespread famine and destroyed infrastructure.
USAID reports that they are currently developing the National Nutrition Policy and Strategic Plan that is closely related to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) plan, and the Agriculture Sector-Wide Approach to promote agriculture and address food insecurity at the national and local levels to reduce poverty in Malawi.
Feed the Future, USAID reports, is working closely with the Malawian government to devise policies to promote agricultural sustainability, improve access to food and invest in crops such as legumes and dairy that would expand domestic and export markets for Malawi to help their economy prosper.
Through the Feed the Future initiative, USAID helped trained farmers on better farming techniques to increase productivity and provided financial and marketing services to farmers as well. USAID reported that they are committed to promoting private sector development by strengthening government institutional capacity that will accelerate long-lasting agricultural sustainability.
Since the beginning of the initiative, milk productivity has substantially increased by 52%. USAID has also succeeded in organized 23,000 Malawians from rural villages into savings-and-loans groups. Adding to that success, USAID trained 60,000 farmers on new agricultural technologies and techniques that would improve irrigation and crop harvesting.
The Feed the Future initiative aims to improve the vulnerability of rural smallholder farmers to help them escape poverty and hunger. Also, they plan to impact the lives of 293,000 children in helping to provide better nutrition to reverse growth stunting and prevent infant mortality.
Economic issues and food shortage issues have historically affected the poverty in Malawi; however, the successful partnership between the Feed the Future initiative and the Malawian government continues to improve agricultural techniques, farming technologies and promote food security for impoverished communities.
– Haylee Gardner
Photo: Flickr
Addressing Problems with Water Quality in Russia
During the final preparation stages for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, journalists covered the peculiar conditions of their and the athletes’ living quarters for the duration of the sporting event, including water quality in Russia.
A Chicago Tribune reporter posted a picture on social media of the warning near the sink of her hotel bathroom that read, “Do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.” Another reporter tweeted, “peach juice…oh wait, that’s water,” and many other reporters joined in on the spectacle.
However, what seemed entertaining for the press was and continues to be a harsh reality for Russians. Over 10 million people lack access to quality drinking water in Russia and 60 percent of the country’s population drinks water from contaminated wells.
Russian regulatory bodies report that between 35 percent and 60 percent of the country’s drinking water reserves do not meet sanitary standards. Forty percent of surface water and 17 percent of underground spring water are not safe enough to drink. Russian rivers and lakes contain pollution from agricultural and industrial waste in amounts that exceed all minimum standards.
The poor water quality in Russia is due to the “thousands of companies [that] have dumped dangerous chemicals into rivers and lakes, and these pollutants are inevitably absorbed into the human body through water and food,” according to Greenpeace. Waterborne illness as a result of such pollution behaviors contributes to the deaths of more than 3 million people every year — more deaths than those a war causes.
Greenpeace also reports that “companies are not adopting clean technologies, and the government is ineffectual when it comes to preventing criminals from poisoning the water.” However, many Russian companies have started to improve water quality, offering an increasing number of water purifying technologies.
Traditional water purification methods include ozonation, chlorination, UV treatment, ultrafiltration and electrolysis. The use of chlorine and ozone is dangerous because they are poisonous substances and the use of ultraviolet light is inefficient because it purifies water only near the source. Thus, the safest and most effective is electrolysis.
A team of former equipment suppliers to Russia’s largest energy company, Gazprom, and the Novosibirsk Institute of Mining have created and implemented a new water purification system called the Aquifer. The system uses electrolysis to kill bacteria and stirs the water intensively to give it more oxygen. Because the system has no moving parts, the Aquifer will improve the water quality in Russia while reducing energy consumption.
Experts predict that the demand for water supply will exceed the global supply by more than 50 percent by 2025 if there is no improvement in access to quality drinking water. Sustainable solutions like the Aquifer give hope to reversing the trend.
– Ashley Leon
Photo: Flickr
Housing Shortage in Bahrain Causes Serious Concern
The lack of affordable housing is one of Bahrain’s main economic concerns, especially considering the increase in demand from the youth sector. The shortage is one of many key factors creating housing inequality and fueling grievances against the country’s wealthy rulers.
When compared to neighboring Arab states, Bahrain subsidizes fewer housing units. The government has promised to provide living spaces, but the waiting list keeps increasing. According to the housing ministry, more than 46,000 people in Bahrain are waiting for subsidized houses, and current recipients of homes have been waiting since the 1990s.
To resolve the affordable housing shortage in Bahrain, the country’s government launched a new plan based on Public Private Partnerships (PPP). The project aims to build and deliver low-cost housing for ordinary citizens. Its goal is for private corporations to raise funds and brainstorm innovative ideas to support the public sector’s housing projects. This method has proven successful in other countries such as Mexico and Brazil.
The real problem lies in the fact that the government spends more money on luxurious housings units for the wealthy, even though the majority of Bahrainis are looking for simpler, more affordable housing. In addition to this, the government’s plans for new housing units are taking an extremely long time to complete. Nevertheless, the government hopes that its projects will foster better relations with opposition groups in the country.
Recently, Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman urged officials to continue providing speedy solutions to the peoples’ housing needs. He also urged stronger and more cooperative relations with the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat).
– Noman Ahmed
Photo: Flickr
The Link Between Sanitation and Education for Girls
More than 50 percent of all primary schools in developing countries lack access to adequate water and sanitation facilities. On top of that, nearly two-thirds of all primary schools lack gender-specific toilets. These two statistics alone highlight why education for girls is an issue; young women all over the world are dropping out of school and missing educational opportunities due to sanitation options.
According to Sameer Pathak, a senior manager of communications for Coca-Cola India and the head of Support My Schools, “Lack of functional sanitation leads to accelerated dropout of girls. When girls enter puberty, it becomes an affront to their dignity to defecate in public. And one in five will drop out.”
This problem should be easy to fix; however, very few consider access to water and proper sanitation integral when addressing the low levels of education in the poorest parts of the world. Access to water or a proper toilet in schools can be the game-changing factor for a girl looking to complete even the most basic educational levels.
Girls who attend schools without water and sanitation facilities can miss up to 40 days of class due to menstruation in a single academic year. Forty days of missed school leaves them at a total disadvantage and hinders their ability to achieve their full potential scholastically and beyond.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear in his Aug. 14, 2014, Independence Day address that all schools must have separate facilities for girls within the year.
Clean water, private toilets and good hygiene in schools constitute the greatest opportunity to bring about change and transformation for young girls and their right to a proper education.
Education for girls should not be hindered by toilets. “The most important impact of this is to actually bring the community together, to educate the public and teach the communities,” said Pathak.
– Keaton McCalla
Photo: Flickr
Opportunities for Economic Growth in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu
There is great potential for economic growth in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu according to a thorough analysis from the islands’ new representative. The representative, Guido Rurangwa, is overseeing nine different projects across the two countries that will be equal to $164.47 million or more as time goes on and relationships deepen.
The projects in both countries will cover a variety of issues such as youth employment and training, renewable energy, disaster resilience, climate and more. An example of this is the Infrastructure Reconstruction and Improvement Project in Vanuatu. The project, which was approved on June 17, 2016 and will last until April 30, 2022, aims to reconstruct and improve certain areas of Vanuatu hit especially hard by Cyclone Pam. This assistance will provide immediate responses to emergencies.
A key project in the Solomon Islands is the Rural Development Program II, which has been in place since Nov. 21, 2014. This project’s goal is to improve basic infrastructure to rural areas in an attempt to establish links between small-scale farmers and markets. The project will also help rebuild production quality after flash floods that hurt numerous farms in April 2014. The project will close on Feb. 28, 2020.
Rurangwa’s analysis is extremely trusted because of his long history with the World Bank and years of experience in the field. Rurangwa joined the World Bank in May 2001 as an economist in the Macroeconomic and Fiscal Department. Since then, he has advanced to numerous other ranks and positions, such as senior economist for Rwanda, his home nation, and senior country economist for Egypt.
This new information proves to be good news for the Solomon Islands based on the history of their economy. A majority of the population of the Solomon Islands live in small, rural villages, engaging in agriculture to sustain themselves and cash economy. The country’s economy almost collapsed in 2000, when the country suffered from a coup due to civil unrest. Even a large number of secondary schools provide agricultural training to students.
Vanuatu’s economy shares similar characteristics with the Solomon Islands’ economy. Also based mostly on subsistence farming, Vanuatu’s main exports include kava, cocoa and more, which are traded with many European nations and countries like Australia and New Zealand. The country does boast a bit more success than the Solomon Islands with tourism and offshore financial services.
The World Bank may also be a contributing factor to the economic growth in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. With 13 active World Bank projects in the Solomon Islands and 10 active projects in Vanuatu, both countries possess a future filled with opportunity and growth.
– Ashley Morefield
Photo: Flickr