1.76 billion tons of food is wasted globally each year. Food waste is caused by buying or preparing more food than necessary, and not cooking or eating food purchases at all.
To solve this problem and to alleviate world hunger, a group of Swedish master students created FoPo Food Powder. The product is created by turning cheap, nearly expired produce into powder form. By freeze-drying the food, pressure is lowered and water is removed, which results in longer-lasting nutrition in powder form.
Team members Kent Ngo, Gerald Marin, Vita Jarolimkova, Lizzie Cabisidan and Ada Balazy hope that their discovery can help end world hunger and minimize food waste.
The team has three objectives: reduce food waste by turning it into an innovative food product that can be used by people all over the world; extend shelf life while preserving all the nutritional properties and taste; give ugly and expiring food a chance.
“We are not into using a new product or new technology, but creating value out of the inefficiency of the food system,” Marian says.
So far, the powder comes in three flavors: banana, raspberry and mango. The powder retains 30-80% of its nutritional value and can be topped on yogurt and ice cream, baked into recipes, and blended into smoothies.
FoPo Food Powder also offers benefits for food producers and retailers. They can donate or sell their unsellable food, buy FoPo and incorporate it into their recipes, and sell FoPo for a source of good nutrition without additives.
Even further, FoPo offers hope for disaster relief, military and space needs, and providing nutrition to impoverished locations.
Since beginning their project in December 2014, the team has discovered that powdered food is becoming more accepted by consumers, and freeze-drying preserves nutritional value better than other techniques.
FoPo won the Ben & Jerry’s Join Our Core crowd-funding and placed runner-up for Thought For Food Summit, a challenge that helps students with projects to make the world a better place. Currently, FoPo is a finalist for MassChallenge, a community that helps early-stage entrepreneurs with their projects.
FoPo also receives support from both the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Philippines. They are currently launching a test run in natural disaster areas of the Philippines. Local farmers near the test sights will also be donating fruits such as pineapples and mangoes to the trial run.
The team continues to raise awareness and money about their product. With funds, they can find a manufacturer, acquire legal advice and perform further safety testing.
The team hopes to sell to grocery stores and online to big manufacturers in the near future. They also hope to create more flavors of FoPo, see more consumers interested in their product, and feed 9 billion people healthy and nutritious food produced from wasted food.
– Kelsey Parrotte
Sources: FoPo Food Powder, Mashable, Mother Jones
Photo: FoPo Food Powder
With Food Needs Set to Triple, African Farmers Need Investment
Recent progress in Africa’s agriculture sector faces a number of potential threats according to Dr. Agnes Kalibata, the president of Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Kalibata, formerly the Rwandan Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, cites global climate change as African agriculture’s biggest threat if it’s not met with increases in further investment.
Thanks to recent financing in the form of development aid, agriculture insurance and foreign direct investment (FDI), many African farmers have developed the means to overcome the formidable climatic and economic conditions that threaten food access for hundreds of millions of people. But Kalibata says that without sustained investment, Africa’s food needs, which are set to triple by 2050, could prove unattainable.
“[Climate change] is eroding the momentum we had gained in terms of getting farmers to use improved seeds and buy fertilizers,” said Kalibata. “If a farmer puts his small savings into seeds and fertilizers and loses the whole crop, that’s the end of his whole career … Farmers are getting less rain, it’s more irregular and it’s beginning to affect their production and undermine the investment they are making.”
In a policy paper presented at the development finance summit in Addis Ababa earlier this month, AGRA estimated that the value of African agricultural output could increase from $280 billion to $800 billion by 2030. In order for the sector that employs around two-thirds of Africa’s population to realize this possibility, potential investment needs to be substantially increased and diversified.
One such opportunity for American investment comes in the form of agriculture insurance, which people and countries are increasingly relying upon to withstand conditions out of their control, such as natural hazards and climate-related disasters. Because agriculture is a high-variable venture, particularly in the harsh environments of sub-Saharan Africa, farmers are often left without the means of recovering lost investments or repaying debts associated with past loans. Insurance coverage enables those farmers to participate in riskier but more lucrative activities, like diversified harvests or mechanization.
Investment in African agriculture comes with economic and moral implications that reach deeper than the immediacy of food insecurity. Access to reliable sources of food is essential for countries in the early stages of economic development and, once established, can empower people and countries to achieve previously unattainable levels of security and self-determination.
“Agriculture is everyone’s business: national independence depends on its development because it enables us to escape the scourge of food insecurity that undermines our sovereignty and fosters sedition,” writes The New Partnership for Africa’s Development CEO Ibrahim Assane Mayaki in the United Nations’ Africa outlook. “[It] is the sector offering the greatest potential for poverty and inequality reduction, as it provides sources of productivity from which the most disadvantaged people working in the sector should benefit.”
The Food for Peace Reform and Electrify Africa Acts introduced earlier this year mark a number of Congressmen’s sustained efforts to make African development a focus of U.S. foreign policy. But in order for Africa to meet its future agricultural needs, investors and donor organizations will need to take further steps to establish infrastructure, mechanization and resistance to climate-related challenges. Those investments in food security could help to deliver increased opportunities for the African and American economies alike.
– Zach VeShancey
Sources: The Guardian, AGRA, United Nations
Photo: Flickr
FoPo Food Powder and World Hunger
1.76 billion tons of food is wasted globally each year. Food waste is caused by buying or preparing more food than necessary, and not cooking or eating food purchases at all.
To solve this problem and to alleviate world hunger, a group of Swedish master students created FoPo Food Powder. The product is created by turning cheap, nearly expired produce into powder form. By freeze-drying the food, pressure is lowered and water is removed, which results in longer-lasting nutrition in powder form.
Team members Kent Ngo, Gerald Marin, Vita Jarolimkova, Lizzie Cabisidan and Ada Balazy hope that their discovery can help end world hunger and minimize food waste.
The team has three objectives: reduce food waste by turning it into an innovative food product that can be used by people all over the world; extend shelf life while preserving all the nutritional properties and taste; give ugly and expiring food a chance.
“We are not into using a new product or new technology, but creating value out of the inefficiency of the food system,” Marian says.
So far, the powder comes in three flavors: banana, raspberry and mango. The powder retains 30-80% of its nutritional value and can be topped on yogurt and ice cream, baked into recipes, and blended into smoothies.
FoPo Food Powder also offers benefits for food producers and retailers. They can donate or sell their unsellable food, buy FoPo and incorporate it into their recipes, and sell FoPo for a source of good nutrition without additives.
Even further, FoPo offers hope for disaster relief, military and space needs, and providing nutrition to impoverished locations.
Since beginning their project in December 2014, the team has discovered that powdered food is becoming more accepted by consumers, and freeze-drying preserves nutritional value better than other techniques.
FoPo won the Ben & Jerry’s Join Our Core crowd-funding and placed runner-up for Thought For Food Summit, a challenge that helps students with projects to make the world a better place. Currently, FoPo is a finalist for MassChallenge, a community that helps early-stage entrepreneurs with their projects.
FoPo also receives support from both the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Philippines. They are currently launching a test run in natural disaster areas of the Philippines. Local farmers near the test sights will also be donating fruits such as pineapples and mangoes to the trial run.
The team continues to raise awareness and money about their product. With funds, they can find a manufacturer, acquire legal advice and perform further safety testing.
The team hopes to sell to grocery stores and online to big manufacturers in the near future. They also hope to create more flavors of FoPo, see more consumers interested in their product, and feed 9 billion people healthy and nutritious food produced from wasted food.
– Kelsey Parrotte
Sources: FoPo Food Powder, Mashable, Mother Jones
Photo: FoPo Food Powder
Aid Worker Attacks Decline After Worst Year on Record
Newly released data for 2014 shows a drop in worldwide aid worker attacks.
The report was published by Humanitarian Outcomes, a research institution that specializes in the international humanitarian system. The team collected the data through public sources and partnerships with the United Nations and major NGOs.
Humanitarian Outcomes has been tracking aid worker attacks and data since 1997. According to the group, more attacks occurred in 2013 than in any other year on record.
There were 190 major aid worker attacks in 2014, 74 less than in 2013. Still, an estimated 328 aid workers were affected last year with kidnappings, shootings and use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) – all common types of attack.
In an innovative, joint project, Humanitarian Outcomes and Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) created an interactive map that details all major aid worker attacks since 2000. The organizations state that their database is “the sole global open-source of this data.”
Some experts say that last year’s lower attack figures reflect the efforts that aid agencies have taken to improve security. Many agencies have stepped up their efforts to gain community support and use new technologies to keep workers safer.
Other experts believe that fewer aid worker attacks have occurred because international humanitarian groups are choosing to withdraw from volatile regions. As some organizations make the shift to “remote management,” which allows staff to oversee the agency from outside the conflict zone, they rely on local NGOs to deliver assistance. Analysts caution that these local groups are usually even less capable of providing security for their workers.
More than 3,000 aid workers have been attacked in the last 15 years. Of the 27 countries where these aid worker attacks took place, Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan have the highest rates of violence. Many aid agencies feel pressure to maintain a presence in areas of conflict, even as violence worsens
In early June 2015, armed gunmen stormed an Afghan compound of People in Need, a Czech NGO that has worked in Afghanistan since 2001. The attackers shot aid workers “execution-style,” killing nine. Some were shot dead as they slept.
Afghanistan is the most dangerous country in the world for aid workers; nearly a quarter of all aid worker attacks occur in the conflict-ridden country.
Aid worker attacks have also been startlingly high in many central African countries, including in the Central African Republic (CAR). The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in CAR recently denounced the country’s growing trend of violence against aid workers. The July 22, 2015 statement came just days after the driver of a U.N. food convoy was shot dead while traveling on a major supply route.
“Humanitarian access continues to be hampered by various constraints in the country, particularly violence against civilians and humanitarian workers,” stated coordinator Marc Vandenberghe.
Years of civil war and sectarian violence have displaced an estimated 450,000 people in CAR. Many internally displaced persons are in desperate need of the humanitarian assistance aid workers provide.
Vandenberghe called on all conflicting parties in the CAR to cease the attacks on aid workers: “Allow them to do their jobs and save lives safely in the whole country.”
– Caitlin Harrison
Sources: IRIN News 1, IRIN News 2, IRIN News 3, The Guardian, Humanitarian Outcomes, UN News Center, Aid Worker Security Database
Photo: Huffington Post
Protecting Displaced Mothers-to-Be
For mothers-to-be, few things are scarier than not knowing where they will have their baby. During wars and conflicts like those in Yemen, Sudan and Nigeria, people flee and become refugees. Some of those leaving are pregnant women. Despite being displaced persons, they still need the same care during their pregnancies and deliveries; however, many times refugee camps are unsanitary and have few medical staff with limited supplies. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and USAID work together to bring proper medical care to pregnant refugee women in Nigeria who have fled from Boko Haram.
The goal is to provide safe, clean, dignifying births to mothers. USAID sent UNFPA birth kits from Deluxe Childbirth Services to be handed out to mothers and potential mothers. This ensures that no matter where a woman ends up giving birth, she will have with her the items necessary for safe delivery. Included in the kit are a delivery mat, three infant diapers, antibacterial soap, methylated spirits, five pieces of gauze, cotton wool, an infant cord clamp, a scalpel and mucus extractor. USAID is also providing funding for training skilled delivery nurses in refugee camps and areas. Upon delivery, mothers receive baby packs with clothes and items that newborns need.
The goal of the packs is to provide the tools for doctors and nurses to deliver a baby in resource-limited areas as well as necessary sanitation items to prevent infection. Infections and lack of proper tools are the leading cause of maternal deaths in developing countries.
It is expected that there will be 60,000 births by displaced women in Nigeria alone this year. That means already limited resources will be taxed. The birth kits are a welcomed item in refugee camps because it means more women can have a safe and healthy delivery.
– Katherine Hewitt
Sources: Premium Times, news24
Photo: Premium Times
Empowering Youth to End Poverty
We are always told that children are the future; that to have a successful future we must invest in them, giving them the opportunities and the education they need and deserve. The youth makes up 43% of the world’s population. This means there is a large potential force out there that can change the world. Of these youth, 90% live in the developing world. That means there is a huge importance to reach these youths. If given the proper tools, they could change poverty in their countries.
Ensuring that children in developing nations have access to education is crucial. By attending school, boys and girls learn skills that enable them to find professions besides agriculture and mothering, respectively. It gives them a sense of empowerment and self-esteem.
Government leaders and organizations have seen success in addressing policies and programs for the young populations of their countries. The key is to “create and support the enabling conditions under which young people can act on their own behalf, and on their own terms.”
The United Nations has implemented Youth Empowerment and Employment Programs across the developing world. The programs work to provide business development and career advice to youth. There are three goals that the programs hope to address. First, institutional and policy development to ensure that government policies passed help youth gain employment. Second, the programs empower youth by creating and working with existing youth councils and youth leadership positions. Lastly, the programs provide employment and job experience by providing internships and directing student graduates to jobs.
In Sierra Leone, the results of these programs have been positive and have expanded businesses. In one community, there have been 204 jobs created, 400 students (half being women) supported to create their own businesses, and 150 interns placed in 20 institutions. Both men and women had access to the resources and saw success as the numbers show that about half of the empowered youth were women.
In the end, giving the youth education and training provided them opportunities to flourish. They were able to use their skills and make better lives for themselves. They were able to find jobs, which means that they were not left in dire poverty. Empowering the youth not only helps them to feel successful, but it also helps the local community by growing the economy.
– Katherine Hewitt
Sources: OECD, UN, UNCSD 2012, UNDP
Photo: AANF
Arktek: Keeping Vaccines Cool
This is the challenge Bill Gates presented to Nathan Myhrvold. The result was a thermos model device that looks like a keg and can be easily transported on a motorcycle. Arktek, the Passive Vaccine Storage Device, uses regular ice water and no power, keeping vaccines at a temperature just above freezing for months.
Arktek has just one small battery for the display screen at the top, which has a built-in cell phone to send text messages to alert others if, for example, you are running low on ice. The device was tested in up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, where it can last 6 to 8 weeks. In a cooler area, it can last for months.
Well, how this is possible, you may ask?
Arktek uses super insulation, similar to what is used for cryogenic fluids, at very low temperatures and to protect spacecraft from extreme temperatures.
The device has already saved millions of lives. It was used in West Africa to transport the experimental Ebola vaccine during the recent outbreak. According to Bill Gates, the current vaccine-preventable disease to focus on is polio, which the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hopes to eradicate by 2018. Once polio is conquered, the next vaccine-preventable disease would be malaria.
The device is also practical in countries with reliable power, such as the United States, for the transportation of organs. Currently, organs are transported in hand-held coolers that do not last long very long. Myhrvold states the example that if the organs are not transported within a certain amount of time they will go bad in the current device used. That is when Arktek comes in handy, as a superior alternative method for transporting organs.
Arktek has received awards and recognition for its innovative technology. These include the 2014 Good Design Award in the Humanitarian Category from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design and the 2014 ViE Award for the best technological development.
Arktek is the result of Intellectual Ventures’ Global Good Program and Intellectual Ventures Lab. The innovative company is owned by Nathan Myhrvold, former Chief Information Officer at Microsoft. Intellectual Ventures has partnered with AUCMA, China’s largest refrigeration manufacturer, to help distribute these devices to remote areas. This is a partnership that will save millions of lives from vaccine-preventable diseases and potentially result in a healthier future for the world’s poor.
– Paula Acevedo
Sources: CNN Videos, Intellectual Ventures
Photo: Fast Company
Ban Ki-moon’s 15-Year Plan to End Global Poverty
This month, the United Nations Secretary-General unveiled a plan to eliminate extreme world poverty in just 15 years.
South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon plans to meet the goals set forth by the United Nations in poverty, education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, the environment, disease and global partnership by 2030 with the help of many of contributors.
Ki-moon’s plans were introduced at a summit on finance development in Ethiopia’s capital, Addias Abba. The Sustainable Development Goals created by the United Nations will be funded by 100 individual countries in an effort to eliminate global poverty on one accord. This summit was a chance to introduce “a new era of cooperation and global partnership.”
Ki-moon not only encouraged people and countries to invest in bettering people’s future by contributing money towards the cause but also to end corruption in governments in developing countries.
So often, “corruption, smuggling, and inadequate management of valuable natural resources deprive countries” leaving the United Nations to pick up the pieces. Ki-moon proposes “stronger and more inclusive international tax cooperation is fundamental to combat tax avoidance, tax havens and enhance a country’s ability to manage its own economy.”
Not only did Ki-moon urge other countries to invest in the cause, but he also urged private donors because of their large contribution to the global economy.
Perhaps another reason Ki-moon urged civilian investment is because of the large amount of money it will take to make this ambitious project a reality for millions of people.
The goal set forth is going to take trillions of dollars. While this seems like a hefty price tag, it can be accomplished with thoughtful investments from financially stable nations and individuals.
Critics of the plan are urging Ki-moon to provide money and tools for poor countries so that they can maintain their position above poverty. Instead of just giving money to governments, reasonable stipulations can be attached: explicitly designating the money to help those strapped in extreme poverty.
U.N. official Amina Mohammed said “There’s nothing revolutionary about this,” she adds. “It can be done.”
– Erin Logan
Sources: The Guardian 1, The Guardian 2, The New American, GPB
Photo: The Guardian
Mind Over (or at Least on Par with) Matter for HIV Patients
HIV-positive individuals face enormous challenges, in terms of both size and quantity, and the psychosocial aspect of their plight is often underestimated.
Living with the stigma of being someone who is “infected” can interfere with opportunities, relationships and one’s overall position in society. Many individuals living with the diagnosis face issues ranging from anxiety to suicidal thoughts, from personality disorders to substance abuse.
Feeling the reality of mortality, along with the sudden ostracism from the community that a person once belonged to due to the stigmatized nature of HIV, is enough to bring up these issues for anyone.
While the war against the physical symptoms and spread of the diseases is in full force, the psychological issues faced by sufferers are just as important to address.
While these “side effects” are not always taken into consideration as a priority, the World Health Organization itself “recommends that attention to the psychosocial needs of people with AIDS should be an integral part of HIV care,” according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study. Globally, there are many cases where it is being done with great effectiveness.
Microcredit programs provide small loans to people who, due to their life-threatening diseases and discrimination (despite legislation seeking to prevent it), are hard-pressed to receive them from other places. In the case of the Positive Partnership Program in Thailand, loans are provided for partnerships between one HIV-positive and one HIV-negative person.
Infected individuals who received loans through this program reported feeling a greater sense of self-efficacy, increased acceptance in the community and an overall improved outlook on life. HIV-negative individuals who participated in the program reported an increased understanding of HIV and decreased levels of anxiety, fear and discomfort toward HIV-positive individuals.
Programs like this one are exemplary in the move toward integrating HIV-positive individuals into the rest of society. This is on top of the opportunity they offer them to reach and prove their full mental and economic potential, as, in the study’s period of 2004-2006, 91% of the loans given were repaid on time.
Projects similar to this one include a study of a cognitive-behavioral-group program for HIV-positive men in Hong Kong, and another done in rural Uganda using interpersonal psychotherapy. Both of these studies showed that psychosocially-based programs were effective in reducing symptoms of depression and increasing overall mental health.
In truth, the efforts of groups that work to reduce stigma and increase quality of life are incalculably important. As lecturer in ethics and HIV prevention Bridget Haire says, “showing the nation how people living with HIV are a vibrant, vital and productive part of our community cannot be overestimated.”
Perhaps even more poignant are the words spoken by one of the participants in the Thai Positive Partnership Program: “Life is much improved. My social life is back. I may have HIV, but I am still a human being. I have my self-esteem, and my honor.”
– Em Dieckman
Sources: UNAIDS, NCBI, The Conversation
Photo: Flickr
Roughly One-Third of Californian Residents Live in Poverty
An article published by the Sacramento Bee reported that about one-third of all Californian residents live at or below the U.S. poverty line. An immediate answer to this staggering statistic is the high cost of living one experiences as a Californian resident. A study by the United Ways of California “identified housing costs as the major factor in poverty, with struggling families spending over half of their incomes for shelter, with rents of two-bedroom housing units ranging from $584 a month in Modoc County to $1,905 in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.” In the simplest of terms, California isn’t cheap.
The percentage of Californians in poverty is composed of various demographics. For example, a little over 50% of all Latino families and 40% of African-American families reside under the poverty line, compared to 20% of all white families. Poverty levels spike within urban areas, with inner-city Los Angeles accounting for an astonishing 80% of all Californian residents in poverty.
At times, Californians are crippled with unrealistic housing costs. An article by AlJazeera America explored the alarming costs of owning property in California. An excerpt from the article reads, “In some California counties, the ‘real cost of living’ can exceed the federal poverty level by 300 percent. In San Diego County, for example, the household budget for two adults with one infant and one school-age child is $57,759 or 248 percent above the federal poverty line.” People in California spend more than half of their income just trying to pay their rent.
Times are vastly different in California now than they ever have been. Gone is the image of the original “Golden State.” The West Coast now offers a cruel glimpse into global poverty right here in our United States.
– Diego Catala
Sources: Sacbee, Al Jazeera
Photo: The Huffington Post
Number of Low-Income Countries Has Been Halved Since 1994
The World Bank evaluates a country’s gross national income per capita to assess their economic performance. The GNI per capita is calculated by dividing a country’s gross national income by its mid-year population. Low-income countries are defined by a GNI per capita under $1,045 per year, while this number falls between $1,045 and $12,746 for middle-income countries. High-income countries have a GNI per capita of $12,746 or higher. These group thresholds, defined in 1989, are adjusted for inflation each year, but they do not necessarily mean that all economies in a given group are developing in the same fashion.
Recent data from The World Bank shows that the number of low-income countries has decreased by about 50% since 1994, from 64 countries to 31. In 1994, 3.1 billion people lived in low-income countries, but that number has since fallen by 80% to 613 million.
These countries have “graduated” from low-income to middle-income through different processes. Countries such as Indonesia and Mongolia have increased growth by discovering or exploiting energy and metal resources, and investing in other natural energy resources. Several European and Central Asian countries, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, experienced recessions in the 1990s, but recent rebounds in growth have brought them over the middle-income threshold. Countries like India and Vietnam have experienced structural, political and economic reforms, while nations such as Pakistan are slowly becoming more peaceful. Other countries have benefitted from debt relief. Overall, these “graduated” countries are now experiencing faster and more stable economic growth.
Currently, all low-income countries except for Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti and Nepal are located in Africa. Most have agricultural economies, with agriculture accounting for about 25% of their GDPs, and may struggle with changing climate conditions. Many rely on remittances for promoting consumption and investment. Some lack the necessary healthcare services, which lowers the quality of life and impedes economic growth.
Growth in low-income countries will depend on improvements in public financial management and increased investments in infrastructure. Another important area is education, which opens up opportunities for advancement and is the key to upward mobility for many.
For countries to move up to the middle-income threshold, they will need to improve security and political conditions. Countries currently struggling with conflicts will need to focus on peace-building initiatives. Others will need to invest in fighting disease and improving public healthcare. Currently, the outlook for low-income countries is rather positive, with an expected increase in economic growth after 2015, and in coming years, more and more countries will graduate to middle-income status.
– Jane Harkness
Sources: Global Economic Perspectives, The Guardian, The World Bank 1, The World Bank 2, The World Bank 3
Photo: The Guardian