The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 65 million people are displaced because of armed conflict and persecution. More than 21 million are classified as refugees, which means they are protected by international law and cannot be forced to return to places where their lives and freedom are at risk. The UNHCR is using biometric identification technology in an attempt to keep track of so many people.
The logic for protecting and helping refugees through global humanitarian networks seems simple. People who travel thousands of miles to escape dangerous conflicts should have a safe place to work, raise their children and live their lives in peace. Yet the global refugee crisis shows us that many nations continue to struggle to meet the needs of refugees at their borders and efficiently deliver social services.
For instance, consider the rapid increase of Syrian refugees in response to the country’s ongoing civil war. Amnesty International reports that, as of February 2016, more than half the nation’s population is displaced. Over 4.5 million refugees have poured into the neighboring countries of Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt. However, global resettlement efforts have only managed to successfully resettle 162,151 people, a mere 3.6% of the total refugee population.
While resettlement is the ultimate goal of refugee relief efforts, Syria’s neighbors lack the resources and capacity to do it all themselves. Until other nations agree to take in more refugees, one way to help refugees living in border camps is to register them with the UNHCR.
Once registered, refugees are eligible to receive social and medical assistance from various humanitarian organizations. Refugee status protects adults from refoulement (forced return to their war-torn place of origin) and protects children from military recruitment. Registration also helps keep families together and gives them opportunities to contact other friends and loved ones.
The UNHCR is working to deliver faster assistance to refugees by implementing a biometric identification registration system. Currently, refugee camps employ a combination of methods to register refugees, usually involving time-consuming paperwork and fingerprinting. Not only are paper records increasingly difficult to archive as the refugee population steadily climbs, but fingerprinting requires training. The UNHCR hopes biometric identification, designed in partnership with Accenture, will drastically expedite the registration process and help refugees receive faster care after making the life-threatening journey out of dangerous regions.
Biometrics refer to a set of measurements and analyses of physical characteristics to verify personal identity. In the context of refugee registration, biometrics refer to digitally stored fingerprints, iris data and facial images. Once collected, the data gets encoded into a personal ID, which refugees can use throughout UNHCR facilities. Many refugees are forced to leave home on a moment’s notice, without enough time to collect important personal documents. Biometric ID cards can provide them with a secure form of personal identification to use as they build a new life.
The Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) is designed to endure rugged field conditions like extreme heat, dust, humidity, power and connectivity outages. It’s relatively easy to operate, which is necessary in refugee camps where workers come and go on a regular basis and have varying levels of technological experience.
Accenture’s BIMS has already seen incredible success. The UNHCR piloted the technology at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi, where it rapidly enrolled and verified 17,000 of the camp’s refugees. Then, in Thailand, the BIMS added another 120,000 individuals to the international database of refugees.
The UNHCR has proved how an integrated database of biometric identification information can meet the growing demand for greater security and efficiency in the registration process. Once fully launched, the system can be used remotely or in high-risk areas to register refugees, verify their identity and improve the UNHCR’s ability to keep track of their needs.
– Jessica Levitan
Photo: Flickr
Millennium Villages Project: Empowerment for Africans
Bollywood printed silks garnished with sequins are exchanged at a West African shop in the Potou market. Shop owner Thiama Diaw is the president of Bokk Jamm, one of 25 women’s business associations in Potou. The village associations collectively pool their profits, so group members can obtain loans. Participants have used the money to cultivate hibiscus, invest in sustainable cookstoves, relinquish owed school fees or make home improvements. These women associations provide training sessions in farming techniques, nutrition and money management.
Throughout the Tibias Canal, members in Mali grow melons for their fund contribution. While Rwandan basket weavers used their loan share for roof replacement and school supplies for their children, a woman in Malawi ran a cassava bakery to pay for her loan cooperative share.
From 1990 to 2001, Sub-Saharan Africans who lived on less than $1 a day increased by 86 million. The poverty rate jumped from 45% to 46%. One-third of the region’s population is below the minimum nourishment level, making it the most undernourished area. Inhabitants are disease-stricken, living in a drought-prone climate that lacks proper irrigation and safe infrastructure.
The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) launched in 2004 as a holistic, science-based approach to global poverty and empowerment for Sub-Saharan Africans. The program has benefited more than 500,000 people. Their development efforts have received generous donations from actress Angelina Jolie and the U.N.’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Safe drinking water and firewood require people to travel every day for several miles. The Millennium Villages Project aims to reinvent empowerment for Sub-Saharan Africans through sustainable development of healthcare, education and employment. The project operates with limited aid support and integrates science and technology.
For example, their services have decreased malaria in villages by 72%, access to clean water has tripled and maize productivity has doubled. The budget allots $60 per person for services, according to MVP. “The project’s approach has potential, but little can be said for sure yet about its true impact,” Nature stated.
Researchers of Millennium Villages Project started measuring the villages’ success rate, who had access to full intervention services. They compared the results to villages who didn’t receive aid, but data collection challenges prevented statistically sound results.
While children are dying of malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa every 30 seconds and one in 16 women die during childbirth, the Millennium Villages Project teaches valuable skills to members. They stimulate empowerment for Sub-Saharan Africans, who learn alongside each other in improving their community’s infrastructure, health and economy.
– Rachel Williams
Photo: Flickr
Biometric Identification in Refugee Camps
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 65 million people are displaced because of armed conflict and persecution. More than 21 million are classified as refugees, which means they are protected by international law and cannot be forced to return to places where their lives and freedom are at risk. The UNHCR is using biometric identification technology in an attempt to keep track of so many people.
The logic for protecting and helping refugees through global humanitarian networks seems simple. People who travel thousands of miles to escape dangerous conflicts should have a safe place to work, raise their children and live their lives in peace. Yet the global refugee crisis shows us that many nations continue to struggle to meet the needs of refugees at their borders and efficiently deliver social services.
For instance, consider the rapid increase of Syrian refugees in response to the country’s ongoing civil war. Amnesty International reports that, as of February 2016, more than half the nation’s population is displaced. Over 4.5 million refugees have poured into the neighboring countries of Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt. However, global resettlement efforts have only managed to successfully resettle 162,151 people, a mere 3.6% of the total refugee population.
While resettlement is the ultimate goal of refugee relief efforts, Syria’s neighbors lack the resources and capacity to do it all themselves. Until other nations agree to take in more refugees, one way to help refugees living in border camps is to register them with the UNHCR.
Once registered, refugees are eligible to receive social and medical assistance from various humanitarian organizations. Refugee status protects adults from refoulement (forced return to their war-torn place of origin) and protects children from military recruitment. Registration also helps keep families together and gives them opportunities to contact other friends and loved ones.
The UNHCR is working to deliver faster assistance to refugees by implementing a biometric identification registration system. Currently, refugee camps employ a combination of methods to register refugees, usually involving time-consuming paperwork and fingerprinting. Not only are paper records increasingly difficult to archive as the refugee population steadily climbs, but fingerprinting requires training. The UNHCR hopes biometric identification, designed in partnership with Accenture, will drastically expedite the registration process and help refugees receive faster care after making the life-threatening journey out of dangerous regions.
Biometrics refer to a set of measurements and analyses of physical characteristics to verify personal identity. In the context of refugee registration, biometrics refer to digitally stored fingerprints, iris data and facial images. Once collected, the data gets encoded into a personal ID, which refugees can use throughout UNHCR facilities. Many refugees are forced to leave home on a moment’s notice, without enough time to collect important personal documents. Biometric ID cards can provide them with a secure form of personal identification to use as they build a new life.
The Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) is designed to endure rugged field conditions like extreme heat, dust, humidity, power and connectivity outages. It’s relatively easy to operate, which is necessary in refugee camps where workers come and go on a regular basis and have varying levels of technological experience.
Accenture’s BIMS has already seen incredible success. The UNHCR piloted the technology at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi, where it rapidly enrolled and verified 17,000 of the camp’s refugees. Then, in Thailand, the BIMS added another 120,000 individuals to the international database of refugees.
The UNHCR has proved how an integrated database of biometric identification information can meet the growing demand for greater security and efficiency in the registration process. Once fully launched, the system can be used remotely or in high-risk areas to register refugees, verify their identity and improve the UNHCR’s ability to keep track of their needs.
– Jessica Levitan
Photo: Flickr
How Conflict Affects Education in Cote D’Ivoire
Primary education in Cote D’Ivoire, from ages 6 to 11, has slowly improved over the past decade. In 2014, enrollment rates were at 96% for boys and 84% for girls, almost 20% higher than in 2006. This positive trend is good news, but secondary education enrollment is under 50% for both sexes. Schools suffer from a shortage of trained teachers, and, while primary education is free, students cannot always afford materials. Two civil conflicts in the twenty-first century introduced additional complications.
After measures to fragment and exclude northerners from politics, ethnic and religious tensions escalated. A civil war broke out from 2002 to 2004 between the government-controlled south and the north. In 2010, a second conflict exploded after the southern government blocked the northern winner from taking office. With international support, the winner Alassane Ouattara took office, but not before 3,000 deaths.
Ouattara was re-elected in 2015 without violence. While Cote D’Ivoire is more stabilized, tensions still lead to skirmishes. These conflicts caused the displacement of almost 400,000 people, a quarter of whom have left the country as refugees.
Educate a Child explains the vulnerable situation of these children, “They become increasingly at risk of forced labor, forced early marriage, domestic violence, sexual exploitation, and recruitment into armed groups.” Combined with areas unable to handle the influx of people, displaced children are often excluded from education. Non-displaced children can also fall victim to these factors. Education in Cote D’Ivoire has a significant gender gap: primary education enrollment is 10% lower and literacy rates are almost 20% lower for girls.
Thirty-five percent of girls marry before 18 and women having an average of five kids are factors blocking girls from continuing education. All children, especially from rural or poor families, can be recruited into labor or armed conflict. Lack of quality education and opportunities can make these appear to be the
only options.
Many of the education and periphery struggles are aggravated by a lack of compulsory education and quality schools. Literacy for 15 to 24-year-olds is shockingly low; last year, boys’ rates were at 60% while girls’ rates were only at 40%. Poor facilities and unqualified teachers do not provide adequate support for children, especially in extreme situations.
This problem has not gone unnoticed. UNICEF was extremely active during the conflicts to keep as many schools operational as possible. Educate a Child and their partners have created three projects to leap the hurdles. Bridging Tomorrow works to reintegrate out of school children, Building a Future targets areas most affected by conflict to rebuild infrastructure and Education First is training teachers and building schools in areas with high displacement and poverty.
There is much to be done for communities and education in Cote D’Ivoire. The recent stability is optimistic, but children must be protected and educated.
– Jeanette I. Burke
Photo: Flickr
Foreign Aid to Nepal: Managing Challenges
Nepal is a small landlocked country in the middle of Asia. It is a developing country with small savings and investments. The country relies heavily on foreign aid as one-third of the population lives under the absolute poverty line. For decades, this hindered a smooth path toward economic development due to multiple reasons.
The population in Nepal suffers from mass poverty and inequality. Poverty gap reduction is one of the biggest challenges for the Nepali government. In addition, infrastructure is underdeveloped. Many rural areas are not well integrated and connected with the capital, Kathmandu. The inability to provide services to inaccessible areas hinders development in Nepal. Furthermore, there is considerable unemployment — many youths have to work abroad.
Foreign aid is generally a tool to support development. However, Nepal is more dependent on foreign aid for meeting basic needs for its citizens instead of stimulating development. Generally, aid effectiveness depends on how and where it is used. For instance, aid spent on food programs in a specific region could have a higher impact than other areas. Foreign aid to Nepal is critical to get the country out of its development trap. Overall, there is an improvement in the effectiveness measures. Moreover, there is a growing realization among civil society and development partners regarding the need for collective work. It is very important to continually evaluate and coordinate aid programs.
One of the main changes that could enhance aid effectiveness is fewer projects with larger initiatives, which would stimulate investment. The Nepali government could be selective in aid packages by prioritizing the causes that require the most attention.
A survey was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of foreign aid to Nepal. It will be submitted to the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation in Kenya from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1. The survey was carried out on indicators such as whether development partners have been providing assistance based on the country’s need, the extent to which development partners are following the national system and if development cooperation funding is covered by indicative forward spending plans.
In addition, the survey considers the percent of development cooperation funding scheduled for disbursement recorded in the annual budgets approved by the developing country’s legislature. Pursuant to the survey’s results, aid providers will discuss new ideas for the effective utilization of foreign aid.
– Noman Ahmed
Photo: Flickr
How Drone Use Has Evolved Into a Humanitarian Tool
While domestic drone use was nothing but a hobby a few years ago, it has now developed into a life-saving technology. Drones have become bigger and stronger as the technology has developed, capable of delivery services now, as seen with Amazon’s Prime Air. Most recently, drones have started delivering medical supplies.
Zipline International, a robotics company based in Silicon Valley, partnered with Rwanda’s government and commenced flying medicine to people. Drone use is especially useful in naturally isolated areas without accessible infrastructure as finding emergency health care can be impossible. However, the Zipline drones can reach those places with no problem.
Weighing 22 pounds, the drones can carry three pounds of medicine and fly 75 miles on a single charge. The company claims they can deliver the medicine in under 30 minutes, eliminating the need for refrigeration or insulation and readily helping those in emergency situations.
In underdeveloped nations like Rwanda, drone use may become one of the most important humanitarian tools, delivering essential medicine to isolated locations where malaria, AIDS and other diseases are still rampant. In the U.S., Zipline also plans to operate in remote communities in Nevada, Maryland and Washington. They are set to begin test runs with support from the White House.
Field Innovation Team, a disaster preparedness nonprofit, recently completed a successful test run in New Jersey, delivering medical supplies to a rural health clinic. The organization views drone use as vital to responding to natural disaster situations.
In past situations, like Hurricane Sandy and Typhoon Haiyan, drones delivered supplies to stranded communities and survivors. Drones may be essential in emergency aid situations. According to the African Development Bank this can be especially helpful in rural Africa, where only 34% of communities have road access.
Another area for drones to enter is food delivery. In impoverished nations, many go hungry, even without natural disasters. With the continued development of drones and proper regulation, the hundreds of millions of malnourished people may find another way to receive necessary aid on a more consistent basis.
Drones could deliver more than food — tools and seeds to aid in agricultural needs could be delivered, and even the internet could be provided. Facebook has plans to launch high-altitude drones that connect people in smaller cities or the outskirts of urban areas to the internet.
In places where hospitals and doctors are scarce, transportation infrastructure is nonexistent and where poverty is rampant, drone use can become the solution to both temporary and long-term problems. They can help in natural disasters, in pandemics and perennially underserved communities.
– Henry Gao
Photo: Flickr
Education in Morocco: Literacy Rates Continue to Make Strides
Education in Morocco has staggered slowly towards greater improvements in their learning infrastructure as illiteracy rates remain high. According to a 2015 statement by the National Agency for the Fight Against Illiteracy (ANLCA), approximately 10 million men and women are still illiterate.
Mounia Benchekroun, a Moroccan consultant in social and educational development stated in The Arab Weekly, “The figure of 10 million illiterate in Morocco should raise a national awareness that would require a much stronger national political engagement in order to fight this scourge.”
Morocco’s High Commissioner for Planning Ahmed Lahlimi also shared his analysis of illiteracy rates in 2014. Lahlimi stated it was more common for adults over 50-years-old to be illiterate, which is approximately 61.1%. In contrast, only 3.7% of children under 15-years-old face illiteracy. There is an evident gender gap as approximately 41.9% of women are illiterate compared to 22.1% of men.
Although the National Education and Training Charter (CNEF) lagged behind in its goal to reduce illiteracy to less than 20% by 2010 with complete eradication by 2015, this issue of high illiteracy rates is accompanied by good news. Literacy rates have made strides throughout the years for education in Morocco, increasing with the implementation of literacy programs by NGOs and with a new 2024 goal to eradicate illiteracy.
Lahlimi states that rates have dropped to 32% compared to 42% of the population 10 years prior. Moreover, Morocco has earned the Confucius Literacy Prize honorable mention for its improvements in literacy rates between 2004 and 2012. A continued emphasis on improving literacy rates for education in Morocco is significant in creating equality and advancing the health and development of the country as a whole.
The Global Education Monitoring Report states that educated mothers are less likely to die in childbirth by two-thirds and that child mortality would be reduced by a sixth. Literacy plays an important role in mortality rates through the ability to read. Literacy provides information to make well-informed decisions, such as utilizing a nurse at birth or understanding nutrition. In addition, according to Alfalit International, research has shown that illiteracy can limit an individual’s ability to understand and process information necessary to take care of oneself.
With the importance of literacy among Moroccan men and women, ANLCA calls on national and international powers “for a new impetus to-wards a literate Morocco.” New improvements for education in Morocco will come in addition to an eradication of illiteracy by 2024.
– Priscilla Son
Photo: Flickr
Poverty Eradication Through Education in China
A white paper released on Oct. 17 reveals China’s progress in poverty eradication as well as governmental measures taken to improve prosperity. According to this document, the main priority of poverty relief measures was the improvement and expansion of quality education in China between 2011 and 2015.
Over the past three decades, China has lifted more than 700 million citizens from poverty, accounting for 70% of the world’s total across that time. Through this experience, China has gained a wealth of knowledge in crafting and implementing development-oriented poverty relief policies. The white paper confirms that from 2011-2015 such measures placed particular emphasis on education.
The government enacted policies to promote compulsory education in China, bridge the education gap between rural and urban areas, grant living subsidies to students and improve education infrastructure in poor and rural regions. These measures were supported by the government’s investment of 189.84 billion yuan ($28.17 billion), and an additional 14 million yuan earmarked for living quarters for teachers in rural areas. In less-developed central China, the efforts resulted in a 30% increase in children enrolled in kindergarten.
As a supplement to the education measures, the government enacted a nutrition improvement program for students receiving compulsory education. In order to promote sustainable nutrition improvement, the program helped popularize nutritional knowledge among parents and students. In 2015 alone, the government invested 500 million yuan toward nutrition improvement for students and families, benefiting 2.11 million children in 341 Chinese counties.
China’s commitment to and success with poverty reduction demonstrates a commitment to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (U.N. MDG) of eradicating extreme poverty. The U.N. MDG report shows that the proportion of Chinese living in extreme poverty fell from 61% in 1990 to 30%, and again down to 4.2% in 2015.
The Chinese government has made it a top priority to complete poverty eradication by 2020. By addressing needed changes to the education system, the government presents a commitment towards sustainable poverty eradication. Funding education in China will help ensure the prosperity of future generations, and China’s efforts provide a promising model for global poverty reduction.
– McKenna Lux
Photo: Flickr
Zero Hunger in Bhutan
Bhutan, a small agricultural country in the eastern Himalayas between India and China, has come a long way in its war on poverty as the country has halved its poverty rates — from 23.4 percent to 12.04 percent in five years.
The launching of a five-year program in 1961 and the establishment of a national airline in 1983 spurred economic development, ensured equitability and environmental sustainability for the country; however, research on the health and nutritional status of Bhutanese children is lacking.
A substantial amount of work needs to be done to target malnutrition and hunger in Bhutan, especially among young and school-aged children.
UNICEF Regional Goodwill Ambassador and Bollywood actor Aamir Khan notes, “While Bhutan has made amazing progress in areas of health and nutrition, there’s still work to be done and every child is yet to be reached.”
Moreover, according to a report by BMC Pediatrics, 47.7 percent of young children at the age of six to 59 months are stunted, 34.9 percent of preschool children are facing malnutrition and 10.4 percent are underweight.
These rates of stunting require significant attention in Bhutan’s efforts in alleviating poverty, as malnutrition at an early age can lead to many functional consequences including poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages and loss of productivity. These consequences also affect and slow down the development of the nation’s economic infrastructure in the future.
As a member of the U.N., Bhutan has agreed to the Sustainable Development Goals in which Goal Two strives to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” By 2030, there are hopes that there will be zero malnutrition and hunger in Bhutan.
Moreover, the World Food Program (WFP) is working to combat child malnutrition by encouraging school enrollment and attendance through a development project called “Improving Rural Children’s Access to Basic Education with a Focus on Primary Education.”
The WFP provides school meals to children to combat child malnutrition and encourage school enrollment and attendance, supporting the country’s development plan to reduce poverty. This initiative will also help relieve the financial burden on poor rural parents.
WFP Bhutan encourages teaching various methods to students to break the inter-generational cycle of malnutrition. This is accomplished by training teachers at the College of Natural Resources (CNR) for agriculture and nutrition coupled with the School Agriculture Program (SAP).
Piet Vochten, the head of WFP in Bhutan explained, “We want to educate every child on agriculture and nutrition so that they are able to grow into healthy adults who will have healthy and well-nourished children to break the inter-generational cycle of hunger and poverty.”
Although Bhutan has made drastic improvements in its poverty rates over the last few decades, malnutrition and hunger in Bhutan must be addressed in order to secure the progression and growth of the economy.
– Priscilla Son
Photo: Flickr
Village Care: Empowering African Villages to Fight Poverty
David Glenwinkel worked with humanitarian aid and charitable associations and realized something was wrong in the system. He wondered how it was possible that billions of dollars in aid sent to Africa could have little impact on the African villages it was supposed to help.
With this in mind, Glenwinkel took a revolutionary approach to helping the needy and poor African villages to fight poverty. He founded Village Care International in 2008, offering hand-ups, not hand-outs, to empower struggling African communities. He hoped his unorthodox programs would help poor communities utilize their own resources without depending on failing aid programs.
“We believe only Africa can solve their problems by using the resources they have on hand,” said Glenwinkel. “We do that by equipping communities and their leaders with principles and practices that empower vulnerable populations to thrive.”
The core program at Village Care International is Outcomes Practices and Open Space (OPOS). In seminar forms, it is presented to any targeted community in one to three days. All OPOS seminars are run by trained African facilitators, with every villager invited to participate.
The program first recognizes the underlying causes of African poverty and struggles including colonial, cultural and historical factors, along with failures in direct aid and outside support.
The facilitator then guides villagers to set up a series of goals or outcomes for their community to fight poverty, using their own language and localized definitions. After everyone agrees on their goals, the facilitator leads villagers to discuss things that must be done to achieve the outcomes.
At the end, every participant shares with the group about what he or she can contribute to the community and what they can do as a group for the community.
In this program, the facilitator equips local communities and their leaders with principles and practices that empower vulnerable populations to thrive. In the past eight years, Village Care has seen its OPOS program take hold in 800 villages across 10 countries — through initiatives such as improving sanitation to boosting fish-farming techniques to fight hunger.
Increasingly, the program is spread and shared from village to village via word of mouth, helping countless families repair their villages while working to take advantage of the resources at hand to build a better future.
– Yvie Yao
Photo: Flickr
A Look at Three of the Top Diseases in Bangladesh
Bangladesh, a dense country of more than 160 million on India’s eastern border, has seen remarkable development in recent decades. A growing economy and enormous improvements in maternal health and food security have raised the quality of life for millions of Bangladeshis. Now, less than a third of the quickly urbanizing population lives under the poverty line, down from more than half. Bangladesh aims to have officially become a middle-income country by 2021.
Thousands of Bangladeshis, however, still suffer and die from easily preventable diseases every year. While the nation’s expenditure on health increased significantly in the past two decades, it still comprises only 3.7 percent of the national GDP. Improving public health is the biggest focus of international aid in Bangladesh, accounting for roughly 43 percent of all assistance committed to helping the country. The following are some of the top diseases in Bangladesh and what the government and international organizations are doing to fight them.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that can be deadly, especially for young children, if improperly treated. According to USAID, Bangladesh has one of the highest infection rates in the world. The World Health Organization reported that tuberculosis is the leading cause of death in the country. In 2012, nearly 70 thousand Bangladeshis died from tuberculosis.
The Bangladeshi government and international aid organizations have labored to bring the tuberculosis rate down and save more patients, and they have seen tangible success. In the early 1990s, Bangladesh’s government established the National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP) with the support of USAID, and today, 99 percent of people living in Bangladesh have access to effective detection and treatment services. USAID is continuing to provide funding for technology, infrastructure and drugs to control tuberculosis in Bangladesh, as well as prevent, detect and combat drug-resistant strains of the infection.
Bangladesh has yet to provide much of its population with access to quality sewage and water infrastructure. Only 16 percent of Bangladeshis living in rural areas have access to up-to-par latrines. As a result, millions of Bangladeshis are at risk for waterborne diseases, including hepatitis A and E and a wide variety of serious bacterial infections like typhoid and leptospirosis.
Low water quality makes diarrheal diseases especially serious in Bangladesh. In fact, diarrhea is the seventh single biggest killer of children under 5 years of age in the country. According to Water.org, a nonprofit aiming to expand access to clean water globally, 100,000 children die from diarrheal diseases annually.
Heavy rain is normal in Bangladesh and frequent floods exacerbate waterborne diseases by overflowing dirty water supplies into clean reservoirs and residential areas. Sixteen provinces in Bangladesh have suffered from severe flooding this summer, and local news is reporting thousands of new cases of waterborne diseases, with scores of deaths.
The government and aid organizations are working to prevent the top diseases in Bangladesh primarily by widening access to clean water. UNICEF is working with the government to improve water infrastructure and also educate Bangladeshis about how to keep their water clean and avoid disease. Further, organizations like Water.org are providing grants and loans for sanitation projects across the country.
Neonatal sepsis refers to bacterial blood infections in newborn babies, and it is the fourth biggest cause of death for children under 5 years of age in Bangladesh. According to UNICEF, such infections are the leading cause of mortality for newborn babies in Bangladesh; 80,000 of whom die less than a month after birth each year. Many common bacteria can cause neonatal sepsis. While infections are serious, they are easy to treat as long as they are detected early, and preventing neonatal sepsis can be as simple as providing mothers with clean environments for giving birth.
Despite its struggle with neonatal sepsis, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in maternal and neonatal health in the past 20 years and remains determined to improve obstetric care across the country. The nation has already achieved its millennium goals for maternal and child health and reduced child and maternal mortality by 60 percent since 1990. Bangladesh continues to upgrade obstetric health facilities and make them more accessible to citizens living in under-served regions.
A brief look at some of the top diseases in Bangladesh provides clear lessons about poverty and health. Simple and cheap improvements for health systems — things like basic antibiotics, proper latrines and clean places to give birth — can save millions of lives in developing countries.
Bangladesh still struggles with deadly diseases, but with determination, the country has already climbed beyond many of its goals and continues to promote public health and fight against preventable illnesses.
– Charlie Tomb
Photo: Flickr