Sierra Leone has both one of the highest malnutrition rates and one of the highest child mortality rates. More than a third of children are chronically malnourished; in 2010, 22 percent were underweight, 44 percent were stunted, or had a low height for their age and eight percent were wasted, or had a low weight for their height.
The child mortality rate is 267 deaths per 1,000 children. Almost half of these premature deaths are caused by malnutrition.
The major influence in the high malnutrition rate is the lack of breastfeeding. Only eight percent of infants are breastfed. The rest are given insufficient substitutes, sometimes water.
Because of the conflict in Sierra Leone’s recent past, malnutrition has only recently come into focus as a concern. Even now, malnutrition is one of the most neglected areas of concern for the country. Despite Sierra Leone’s economic growth, the number of underweight children has increased 24 percent.
With such a high rate of malnutrition, many organizations are working to lessen the number of those malnourished.
One focus has been to vary diets, many of which consist mostly of rice. Farmer Field Schools were developed to increase agricultural productivity, but they have now been adapted to teach farmers how to raise more nutritious crops.
These Field Schools also connect farmers to markets where they can sell their crops.
Mother-to-mother support groups have also been set up. These target the community level by educating women to teach others. They also report instances of malnourishment that they see.
A total of 1,228 Peripheral Health Units are running in Sierra Leone, too. They serve around 5,000 people each by providing medical care and nutrition services.
The WFP, UNICEF and WHO have also started their own supplementary feeding programs and centers.
There are 63 WFP-organized supplementary feeding centers in western Sierra Leone, which have reached almost 50,000 children. They are funded by the government of Japan.
Children who are under 70 percent of a normal body weight are admitted.
The centers give children sugar, oil and a modified cereal that is enriched with micronutrients. The UNICEF centers provide high-protein biscuits, therapeutic milk and a complex of vitamins and minerals.
Parents also receive health and nutrition education from the centers. Many parents believe that milk and eggs are bad for children, and this education corrects these notions. They also teach parents how to provide supplemental feedings.
After they provide rations and education, the centers continue to monitor the progress of the children. They check to make sure children do not develop pneumonia or diarrhea, and they check to ensure that the child’s health improves.
Sierra Leone faces many struggles as they attempt to combat malnutrition. The constraints for aid range from low funds, to a lack of data for what is needed, to low governmental support.
Staff are often underqualified, and there is frequent turnover. The low numbers of personnel lead to less knowledge being passed to the people who need it, as information is diluted passing from person to person.
Mothers have low incentives to help their children because they are often blamed for their children’s poor health. They see it as shameful to admit their children are malnourished, so they do not seek help.
Many nutrition efforts have seen an added strain from the recent Ebola outbreak, as well. Sierra Leone has been upgraded to a Level Three food emergency, the highest threat level.
Despite these setbacks, Sierra Leone is working hard to increase the health of its population. The country is making progress, but there is still work to be done to decrease malnutrition in the country.
– Monica Roth
Sources: WFP, UNICEF, Reuters, New Internationalist
Photo: Sorenbosteendahl
Corruption Kills Millions, Steals Trillions
In a report released by ONE, an anti-poverty organization, it is estimated that corruption causes 3.6 million unnecessary deaths and costs poor countries $1 trillion each year.
Using three different methodologies to calculate the cost of corruption, all three measures indicated that the loss was either $1 trillion or $2 trillion.
In what is called a “trillion dollar scandal,” corrupt business practices, “anonymous shell companies, money laundering and illegal tax evasion” all serve to severely reduce the effectiveness of poverty relief efforts.
While extreme poverty has been reduced to half its original level over the past 20 years and has the potential to be completely eradicated by 2030, corruption is putting much of that progress at risk.
While corruption is damaging in almost all countries, it is especially dangerous in poorer and developing countries and mostly affects children. It is estimated that millions of deaths could be avoided if corruption was combated and recovered funds were reinvested in essential fields.
Furthermore, the money that is siphoned out of poor countries is not from international development aid, which has helped make a considerable improvement, but rather directly from businesses in these countries. The money is generated by domestic businesses and illegally extracted out of the country. The largest source of financial drain is the illegal manipulation of cross-border trade.
The organization found that even recovering a small amount of the money lost to corruption could dramatically affect development. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a small amount of recovered funds could provide an education to an additional 10 million children each year; pay for an additional 500,000 primary school teachers; provide antiretroviral drugs for more 11 million people with HIV/AIDS and buy nearly 165 million vaccines.
The report stresses action that serves to end the secrecy that allows corruption to thrive. If specific policies were implemented that increased transparency and combated corruption in the four areas of “natural resource deals, the use of phantom firms, tax evasion and money laundering,” developing countries could considerably stem the financial drain.
Natural resources in particular can provide a vital source of funds that could greatly increase economic growth in many developing countries. Corruption concerning natural resources is particularly bad, with approximately 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa rich in natural resources but receiving few benefits from these reserves.
Specifically, One calls for mandatory reporting laws for the natural resource sectors and publish open data so citizens are able to track where travels from and to, ensuring that the funds are not lost to corruption.
Published in anticipation of the G20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia in November, the organization stresses the importance for the G20 nations to address the issue. Now that the cost of corruption has been defined in real terms, the fight against corruption can become more directed and effective.
— William Ying
Sources: ONE 1, ONE 2, ONE 3, BBC, The Guardian, ABC News, Yahoo News
Photo: Blogspot
Malnutrition in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone has both one of the highest malnutrition rates and one of the highest child mortality rates. More than a third of children are chronically malnourished; in 2010, 22 percent were underweight, 44 percent were stunted, or had a low height for their age and eight percent were wasted, or had a low weight for their height.
The child mortality rate is 267 deaths per 1,000 children. Almost half of these premature deaths are caused by malnutrition.
The major influence in the high malnutrition rate is the lack of breastfeeding. Only eight percent of infants are breastfed. The rest are given insufficient substitutes, sometimes water.
Because of the conflict in Sierra Leone’s recent past, malnutrition has only recently come into focus as a concern. Even now, malnutrition is one of the most neglected areas of concern for the country. Despite Sierra Leone’s economic growth, the number of underweight children has increased 24 percent.
With such a high rate of malnutrition, many organizations are working to lessen the number of those malnourished.
One focus has been to vary diets, many of which consist mostly of rice. Farmer Field Schools were developed to increase agricultural productivity, but they have now been adapted to teach farmers how to raise more nutritious crops.
These Field Schools also connect farmers to markets where they can sell their crops.
Mother-to-mother support groups have also been set up. These target the community level by educating women to teach others. They also report instances of malnourishment that they see.
A total of 1,228 Peripheral Health Units are running in Sierra Leone, too. They serve around 5,000 people each by providing medical care and nutrition services.
The WFP, UNICEF and WHO have also started their own supplementary feeding programs and centers.
There are 63 WFP-organized supplementary feeding centers in western Sierra Leone, which have reached almost 50,000 children. They are funded by the government of Japan.
Children who are under 70 percent of a normal body weight are admitted.
The centers give children sugar, oil and a modified cereal that is enriched with micronutrients. The UNICEF centers provide high-protein biscuits, therapeutic milk and a complex of vitamins and minerals.
Parents also receive health and nutrition education from the centers. Many parents believe that milk and eggs are bad for children, and this education corrects these notions. They also teach parents how to provide supplemental feedings.
After they provide rations and education, the centers continue to monitor the progress of the children. They check to make sure children do not develop pneumonia or diarrhea, and they check to ensure that the child’s health improves.
Sierra Leone faces many struggles as they attempt to combat malnutrition. The constraints for aid range from low funds, to a lack of data for what is needed, to low governmental support.
Staff are often underqualified, and there is frequent turnover. The low numbers of personnel lead to less knowledge being passed to the people who need it, as information is diluted passing from person to person.
Mothers have low incentives to help their children because they are often blamed for their children’s poor health. They see it as shameful to admit their children are malnourished, so they do not seek help.
Many nutrition efforts have seen an added strain from the recent Ebola outbreak, as well. Sierra Leone has been upgraded to a Level Three food emergency, the highest threat level.
Despite these setbacks, Sierra Leone is working hard to increase the health of its population. The country is making progress, but there is still work to be done to decrease malnutrition in the country.
– Monica Roth
Sources: WFP, UNICEF, Reuters, New Internationalist
Photo: Sorenbosteendahl
Helping Hand for Relief and Development in Action
Ninety percent of the Helping Hand for Relief and Development’s (HHRD) funds are spent on the programs and services it delivers. HHRD is a nonprofit based out of Detroit, Michigan and prides itself on being known as a group of “Muslims for Humanity.”
The organization responds to emergencies and disasters all over the world with a focus on those living in poverty. Apart from disaster relief programs, HHRD also works on long term projects including economic empowerment, livelihood, orphan and widow support and skills development.
Founded in 2005, the HHRD believes in the Islamic principle of helping those who are in need. The organization works to strengthen the human condition regardless of gender, religion or ethnicity. Their core values seek to recognize the innate worth of all people, ensure equity and justice, increase transparency and advocate mutual respect.
In the event of a natural disaster, HHRD provides food, clothing and medical relief to the troubled area. It does not simply come in to provide relief and then leave once the chaos of the disaster has been subdued. Following a catastrophe, the nonprofit supports physiotherapy and donates artificial limbs for victims in need. It rebuilds homes and schools in affected areas, as well.
It also sponsors rehabilitation centers, supports home construction and contributes to career programs. The organization has scholarships available for students in need. Apart from direct contributions, HHRD also raises awareness through campaigns such as its walk for tuberculosis.
Partnering with organizations ranging from small community support groups to international relief programs, HHRD is funded predominately by private donors. In addition, it receives funding from big names including the World Food Program and the World Health Organization. Corporations such as Microsoft serve as match partners, agreeing to match HHRD’s private donor gifts.
This nonprofit works all over the globe—particularly in areas considered under the poverty line, such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
With the current events surrounding ISIS and other terrorist organizations, the religion of Islam often gets unfairly labeled as a violent religion. HHRD’s mission and life-altering work is the perfect example to prove the negative stereotype wrong.
– Caroline Logan
Sources: HHRD, Charity Navigator
Photo: Helping-hand-online
The Benefits of the LifeStraw
In the United States, the LifeStraw is a popular tool for those interested in backpacking and hiking. But while these uses might be popular, it was never intended to be the primary function of the plastic device.
For those unaware, the LifeStraw is a plastic personal water filter designed by a company of the same name. The product allows an individual to take contaminated water and clean it. According to studies, the device removes a minimum of 99.9999 percent of waterborne bacteria and can fit into a pocket. Additionally, the LifeStraw contains no moving parts or batteries, which increases its longevity.
In addition to the regular LifeStraw, there is a LifeStraw Family. The latter is capable of filtering up to 18,000 liters of water, an amount that would be able to sustain a four-person family for three years. The individual product can filter 1,000 liters, and can sustain an individual for one year.
The LifeStraw was introduced and field-tested in 2005 as an on-the-ground relief for humanitarian crises. Feedback was positive and it is now available in the United States since it passed EPA standards for clean water. Shortly after the test period ended, the product was honored with the TIME magazine invention of the year award.
The LifeStraw is hailed as one of the most cost-effective and eco-friendly ways to bring water to the 884 million people who do not have access to a clean water supply, but is not meant to supplant other, more traditional humanitarian solutions.
One LifeStraw success story comes from an island nation of Kiribati, located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. Around one in 20 infants do not survive due to malnutrition that is often caused by dehydration. In a response to this, Carol Armstrong started the Island Rescue Project. While the campaign has traditional, large-scale methods of curbing this high death rate, it also encourages the use of low-tech simple solutions.
To no surprise, the LifeStraw is among the highest rated of these. Armstrong commented on the ability of the device to sustain an individual for up to a year. It was especially promising compared to the other solution—the “sodi method.” This method involves putting water into an empty plastic bottle and letting UV rays hit it. After seven hours, the water should be clean to drink. However, the water will only be clean for a few days and it will not clean the water to the standard that the LifeStraw does. But it’s a solution that anyone can do, and at virtually no cost.
– Andrew Rywak
Sources: ABC, Men’s Journal, Digital Journal, Hills News
Photo: Future of Cities
How Gandhi Utilized Advocacy
Martin Luther King Jr. once referred to Gandhi’s philosophy as “the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” Mahatma, or “Great Soul,” Gandhi was an advocate for human rights and is largely known for initiating the idea of nonviolent resistance.
Gandhi’s journey as an advocate began in South Africa. As a young legal adviser, he saw firsthand the damage caused by race-oriented laws and class-based oppression.
This is when Gandhi began to teach his philosophy of passive resistance. Gandhi’s organization of the Indian community in South Africa began widespread social change.
When Gandhi returned to India in 1915, he began working as an advocate for various local struggles concerning working conditions. Four years after his arrival home, British authorities passed the Rowlatt Acts, which allowed imprisonment without trial of any Indian accused of sedition.
Gandhi advocated through a national day of fasting and a refusal to work. He termed this as an act of Satyagraha, or love-force.
Gandhi eventually transformed the Indian National Congress into a large movement committed to nonviolent resistance in support of India’s independence, otherwise known as the non-cooperation movement.
As a consequence of his activism, he was arrested in March of 1922 and served two years for sedition.
Eight years later, in 1930, Gandhi organized 80 volunteers for a 200-mile march to the sea where the volunteers made salt out of seawater in protest of British Salt Laws. The movement eventually grew to 60,000 Indians who were all arrested and imprisoned for their defiance until Gandhi negotiated a truce with representative Lord Irwin.
After Irwin left office and his successor continued the oppressive measures taken against Indians, Gandhi began his movement once again and was immediately imprisoned. In prison, Gandhi began fasting in protest of a new Indian constitution, which was to include different representatives for the “untouchables” or members of India’s lowest level on the caste system.
His fasting gained international attention and was the precursor to the 1947 resolution, which made the discriminatory practice illegal. Britain left India that same year. Gandhi had won his country’s independence back, without the use of violence.
Gandhi’s approach to advocacy inspired many leaders, from Nelson Mandela to Martin Luther King Jr. The Dalai Lama, a follower of Gandhi, expressed, “As Mahatma Gandhi showed by his own example, nonviolence can be implemented not only in politics but also in day-to-day life. That was his great achievement. He showed that nonviolence should be active in helping others.”
– Christopher Kolezynski
Sources: Stanford University, New York Times, MSN News, The Borgen Project
Photo: Wikiphotos
Poverty Journalism: Questions for Journalists
It has been repeated often: journalists will have to fight for Millennium Development Goal (MDG) coverage. Despite poverty’s richness as a news topic, the degree of coverage is not yet adequate to keep governments and NGOs on track in their undertaking to reduce poverty.
Part of the problem also lies in how journalists are covering MDG issues, which include a wide range of topics—from education to corruption. To be sure, though, many journalists are doing great work, and in a 2013 report released by the International Press Institute, some of these journalists offered their advice for poverty journalism.
Here are three macro-level questions culled from that report that journalists can ask themselves as they write about poverty, regardless of the specific MDG issue being covered.
Are the Poor Being Heard?
Journalists are messengers. The poor everywhere have messages that they cannot bring to the world’s attention. They are like people stranded on an island, drawing futile S.O.S. appeals in the sand. Journalists can use their resources to serve as a link between the impoverished and those who can best assist them.
That isn’t to say that every poor individual has a distress signal to communicate. Success stories make great news and development groups will sometimes be able to put journalists in touch with people who can attest from personal experience to the benefit of a solution.
In particular, journalists should more often listen to and report the words of children, according to Jean Claude Louis, the former Haiti country director for Panos Caribbean. What a child might lack in context they can often make up for in their openness and their freedom from bias. Of course, an adult’s perspective can also be invaluable and journalists have no reason to favor one age group’s testimony over another’s.
It’s a truism of journalism: a human voice improves any story and a voice that is rarely heard can draw interest. In today’s media, the poor have voices that are rarely heard.
How Can an Issue Be Related to “Home”?
Journalists sometimes assume that a story covering, for example, an MDG related to HIV/AIDS in a foreign country will not appeal to their local readership.
However, local readerships are more globally representative than ever. Recognizing this fact, the Toronto Star began publishing a lengthy world news supplement every week, which provides ethnic populations in the community the news from home they crave.
If journalists use their dialogue with the impoverished to develop real-life stories, their local readerships will pay more attention than if they relied on statistics alone. People want to be able to contrast their experiences with the experiences of others abroad. For this reason, a story on gender inequality in Bangladesh could engage an audience in a developed country.
“Immediate contrast has impact,” said Mary Vallis, an editor at the Star.
Others, like business and technology writer Iain Marlow, point out that all audiences are global audiences in today’s world. One cannot understand domestic events without understanding the foreign impact on those events.
Will This Story Help Hold Organizations Accountable?
The 2012 MDG Progress Report affirmed that the first MDG target has been met: extreme poverty fell from 47 to 24 percent. All the same, significant progress is still needed in areas such as sustainability, sanitation and malnourishment. People need to be reminded that governments have pledged to remedy these ills in order to oblige them to do so.
As a result, reporters need to situate stories on development themes in the larger MDG picture.
For example, journalism in Latin America and the Caribbean has increasingly covered topics such as gender inequality and environmental sustainability, focusing on local impacts. This sort of coverage has highlighted the relevance of such issues to local populations, but it has not captured their scope.
A broader knowledge of the larger forces driving inequalities and disparities best directs one’s efforts to reduce those problems. However, it can also overwhelm an audience, making problems seem too massive to change.
The solution to this conundrum is to periodically relate the issues to the MDG commitments. Governments can solve massive problems and people can hold their governments accountable.
Unfortunately, it seems that not every MDG will be met by 2015, but governments are already collaborating and developing a new set of post-2015 goals. Journalists will continue to play an integral role in helping the world achieve the new goals, but they need to fight for the type of coverage that will inform global audiences and help to keep governments and NGOs on track.
– Ryan Yanke
Sources: United Nations 1, United Nations 2, Global Investigative Journalism Network, International Press Institute
Photo: Hongkiat
Uganda Criminalizes HIV Transmission
This August, Uganda passed a landmark HIV bill which criminalizes HIV transmission. Experts say that with this law, the dreams of an “AIDS-free generation” have evaporated. With threats of fines and jail times, many HIV positive people will be dissuaded from taking proactive measures for their health.
According to the new bill, HIV sufferers cannot be legally charged with a crime if they didn’t knowingly infect someone with HIV. Thus, many people are now refusing to get tested as a loophole around the law.
Despite the United States, a large funder of HIV programs in Uganda, publicly denouncing the bill since its conception, the Ugandan president has still signed it into law. Even with these multinational efforts from the U.S. and elsewhere, the HIV infection rate has been steadily increasing in the past several years. The overall HIV positive rate is approximately 6.5 percent of the population, but higher among certain at-risk groups.
Among those specifically targeted by the bill are sexual assault survivors and pregnant women who are required to undergo routine blood testing for HIV. Pregnant women with HIV have been the victims of forced sterilization in the past, and the lack of privacy concerns are causing fears that these cases will increase.
While there are measures directly targeting women in this bill, the effects on both men and women are troublesome. Experts warn of the slippery slope of discrimination that this bill will cause. HIV/AIDS is already highly stigmatized in Uganda and this bill is thought likely to worsen the stigmas, shame and misconceptions surrounding the disease.
Many global health advocates view this bill as a setback for the HIV awareness community in Uganda. With a steady increase in the past few years of HIV positive rates, this law is projected to exacerbate the problem.
– Kristin Ronzi
Sources: Africa Science News, Human Rights Watch
Photo: Devex
UNHCR Aids Western Libya
Over the past few weeks, what started as a confrontation between militias in Libya, has slowly escalated to a point that concerns various countries: that Libya will deteriorate and become a full-fledged failed state. As a result, for the first time, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has sent aid to those in Western Libya.
The UNHCR has estimated that their supplies will reach around 12,000 people who have been internally displaced since the conflict reignited a few weeks ago. Members of the UNHCR aid Western Libya with vital supplies like blankets, sleeping bags and various medical equipment. The majority of the aid has been dropped off at Zawiya, which is offering shelter to the refugees and is located about 45 kilometers to the east of Tripoli.
Saado Quol, the acting chief of mission in Libya for the UNHCR, said that “This weekend’s operation is crucial and, we hope, paves the way for other humanitarian aid to reach affected populations who are stranded and in dire need of assistance.”
The current conflict was recently reignited about a month ago, starting with small-scale fighting and combat between a couple militias over control of the Tripoli airport. Since then, fighting has increased exponentially to the surrounding areas, causing an international response and certain nations pulling their diplomats from the country. It has also caused disruption in the supplies of food, water and food to civilians. The Red Cross and Red Crescent have estimated that at least two million people are at risk of food shortages.
The flight of diplomats and foreign assistance has only worsened the situation. This recent batch of aid is a step in the right direction of helping, but other nations need to increase, not decrease, their presence if they desire a safe and lasting conclusion to the instability in the country.
– Andre Gobbo
Sources: UNHCR, The Borgen Project, Foreign Policy, NY Times
Photo: UNHCR
The Much Needed Release of Child Soldiers
Since 2013, various countries have taken steps to end child soldiering in order to meet international human rights standards.
In accordance with these standards, the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar Armed Forces, has released 176 child soldiers since signing a joint action plan to end the recruiting of children for military service.
Earlier this year, Yemen signed an action plan with the United Nations to end recruitment of child soldiers and by doing so, “formalized its commitment to protect its future generations,” says Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
Similarly, UNICEF and partners arranged for the release of over 1,000 children from military service in the Central African Republic after the country made headlines earlier this year for having over 6,000 children involved in armed conflict.
It is estimated that there are 300,000 child soldiers in the world today, and 40 percent of armed forces around the world use children to fight in their battles. Although the thought of a child soldier is foreign to Americans and citizens of developed countries, it is all too familiar to those of undeveloped nations. Child Soldiers International has reported that since January 2011, the use of child soldiers has been found in 19 different countries.
Children are taken by militias to fight because children are far more malleable than adults. They are also less costly due to the fact that they are given fewer resources and smaller weapons – although they are more likely to be seen on the front lines. Because of this, children are more likely to die in battle than adult soldiers.
Children who survive have lasting psychological effects, which include PTSD and stunted mental development. When there is failure to integrate back into society, there’s a likely chance these once child soldiers will return to battle because it’s all they’ve known.
If the children are released from duty with the help of UNICEF, like in the Central African Republic, they meet with social workers, are taken to a transition center where they can receive an education or learn a vocational skill and are given help in locating their families.
Upon the release of the child soldiers, UNICEF Representative in the Central African Republic Souleymane Diabaté said, “Every single child we spoke to said they wanted to leave the armed group and return to school. We cannot fail them.”
– Kori Withers
Sources: Child Soldiers International, Child Soldiers International: FAQ, Forbes, United States Institute of Peace, UN News Centre, UNICEF Press Centre 1, UNICEF Press Centre 2, UNICEF Connect
Photo: UN
History of Advocacy 101
John Wilkes, a man from England born in the 18th century, is credited as the forefather of modern advocacy. Wilkes was critical of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years War and was imprisoned for libel shortly thereafter, although he was later acquitted. After Wilkes’ act of defiance, a pro-abolition movement arose in England, effectively ending slavery in England.
The beginning of the 19th century was relatively quiet, but in the middle of the century, a philosopher coined the term social movement. The term was only used to describe relatively smaller events at the time.
Around the turn of the century, advocacy began to make progress. The socialist movement and the labor movement were the most popular, and were soon to be the model of contemporary advocacy. Out of these movements, the communist and democratic parties were born.
Following World War I, there was a renewed push for activism. This period led to a new classification of groups—the new social movements. The post-industrial economy gave way to a large number of groups, including women’s rights, gay rights, civil rights, the peace movement and the environmentalist movement. These movements stayed fairly static in terms of organization. More groups, such as the anti-nuclear movement, joined toward the middle of the century.
With the advent of the television, advocacy began to see incredible progression, which only foreshadowed the contemporary movement. The 1960s, in particular, were heavily influential, as civil rights took center stage.
The next step occurred around the 1990s. This period marked the era of global social activism, spurred on by the rise of the Internet. E-mail replaced postal mail and e-bulletin boards replaced traditional ones. The transition from analog to digital communication proved to be more effective in gathering support and more effective in increasing awareness. Groups that once couldn’t afford traditional publishing began to use the web as a platform for their activism.
Beyond Internet activism is the rise of social media and the role it plays in the history of advocacy. Popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter have begun to be utilized as platforms for advocacy. Sites like these allow people to connect and interact in ways that were previously impossible.
– Andrew Rywak
Sources: University of Michigan, Mashable, Academia.edu, The Borgen Project
Photo: GuardianLV