The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) calculates that 2.9 billion people have been affected by disasters between 2000 and 2012. According to UNISDR, 1.2 million were killed and $1.7 trillion in damages sustained. Natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies are a profoundly influential part of the global human experience.
Unfortunately, recovery from disaster can be just as costly, both to governments supplying aid and victims of the disasters themselves. In the aftermath of floods, earthquakes, conflict and other emergencies, access to basic items needed for survival is severely limited and expensive. NGO Field Ready understands this struggle.
“In a humanitarian disaster, simple items can mean the difference between life and death,” the organization’s website explains.
However, the site goes on to state, “A bucket, for instance, essential for health and hygiene, may only cost a few dollars in a capital city but supply chains and support costs mean that in reality this simple item is expensive and can take weeks or even months to arrive in the hands of disaster victims.”
The good news? 3D printing technology may just be the solution. Field Ready specializes in using the technology to meet the needs of disaster victims and provide humanitarian relief.
Following the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Field Ready worked with other relief organizations to print products like mosquito-net closures and tools for aid workers, TB patients, newborn babies and maternal care. The organization’s efforts established safer patient areas and workspaces, as well as reducing the risk of mosquito-borne disease.
During their first stint in Haiti, Field Ready’s members were especially struck by the shortage of maternal health equipment. Although nurses and doctors could sometimes improvise makeshift tools such as clamps for newborn children’s umbilical cords, Field Ready sought a better solution.
They were able to print clamps on 3D printing presses, reducing the risk of neonatal umbilical sepsis. Field Ready also trained Haitian staff to use 3D presses to ensure that they would have a permanent alternative to importing costly equipment from more developed areas at additional expense. Instead, health workers are now able to print parts and tools when needed.
Field Ready also printed a prototype for a prosthetic hand, assembled from only five parts, and proved the capacity for 3D presses to produce items needed to maintain and improve the printers themselves.
In total, Field Ready’s efforts in Haiti assisted a dozen aid workers and 60 medical patients. The organization has since set its sights on improving conditions in Nepal.
“In the coming weeks, an assessment will be carried out to determine how Field Ready can best contribute to medium and long-term recovery and reconstruction efforts,” the organization promised.
These efforts, they believe, will likely focus on repair and capacity building, with an eye to help the Nepalese spearhead their own recovery and development.
“Even in crisis situations, people need more than just ‘stuff’ […] they need the skills and knowledge that will empower them to look after themselves and those around them,” the organization asserts.
Field Ready seeks to give disaster victims that tool for empowerment through technology. Through training disaster survivors in developing areas, the organization is able to leave a lasting impact. Trainees learn skills they can use to generate income and continue to develop solutions to supply issues facing marginalized regions.
Field Ready has an eye to expand, with the goal of a worldwide network of 3D printing technicians and kit designers. Linked by the Internet, this network would have the potential to share designs and solutions instantaneously on a global scale.
– Emma-Claire LaSaine
Sources: Sci Dev Net, Field Ready, UNISDR, Relief Web
Photo: 3D
Kenyan-Educated Student Receives a BTEC Award
Last week, a Kenyan-educated student at Braeside High School, George Benson Lyimo, was given the award for “Outstanding BTEC International Student of the Year 2015” at the National BTEC Awards in London. Among more than 800 nominations, Lyimo received the award that recognizes top performers among more than one million students studying business and technology.
The school where Lyimo is educated originally struggled with providing a quality primary education for kids. According to UNICEF, enrollment levels for primary school rose nine years ago from 5.9 million children in school to 7.5 million in the time span of four years. The primary school completion rate also increased at this time from 62 percent to almost 80 percent.
To pursue a better education in Kenya, the award winner left his home in Tanzania in 2012 to earn a specialized diploma from the Pearson-owned Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC). He said that he feels lucky to have received a good education because some areas in Kenya and Tanzania are still developing their education systems.
“In the country I come from, not so many people are privileged and my hopes for the future are that I can go and make Tanzania a better place. I want to give back to the world. I want to make the world a better place,” Lyimo said.
The young student’s dreams may be well in his reach.
Lyimo received this award for his courage and dedication to his studies. The judges praised the student for leaving home to pursue business and technology and for ultimately performing very well in school. Lyimo earned top marks in his classes, receiving a triple-starred distinction. According to his teachers, he was quiet, but motivated in class.
“George was quite a shy character, but clearly had a determination and interest, particularly in technology,” Lyimo’s high school’s Executive Headteacher Andy Hill said.
He was creative and innovative as a business student, launching his own social network called Texeer.com. He aided the school’s IT department, although he had no previous computer training. Lyimo seems to have a knack for business computing.
Lyimo will put his talent to good use. The high school graduate will go on to student business and computing at Huddersfield University in the United Kingdom.
Not only did Lyimo excel in classes, but he also contributed to charitable organizations. He organized events to support children’s education in Kenya.
In conjunction with his business and technology diploma and his charity work, Lyimo feels that he has grown as a businessman and a person. “My BTEC has helped me understand so much about creating new things to solve new problems and meet the needs of current and future generations,” he said.
In response to all of his hard work, one of his classmates said this: “He’s an all-around amazing person, and I don’t think I know anyone who deserves this award more than he does.”
– Fallon Lineberger
Sources: Standard Digital News, UNICEF
Photo: FE Week
Where Should I Give My Money?
There are countless aid organizations, charities and foundations working to fix the world’s problems. From technology-based companies to loan providers, to construction companies, to sustainable agriculture, the options are truly endless.
If you are a donor who wants to make a difference, but you are overwhelmed by the volume of deserving organizations, here are some tips on how to choose the charity that’s right for you:
1. Decide what area of support interests you.
Do you want to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, heal the sick and injured or stabilize a suffering economy? There are many different categories of aid that each function for different purposes. Decide which type of aid you are most passionate about.
2. Ask yourself who you want to help.
Maybe you are more inclined to help refugees escaping violence than children needing surgery, or maybe you understand more about providing technology to darkened communities than rebuilding communities affected by natural disasters. Different groups of people are affected by different conflicts and issues. Once you narrow down the country and specific group of people you want to help the most, it becomes easier to choose which organization will fit your needs.
3. Do a background check on the organization or charity.
Donating money can be incredibly rewarding and beneficial, if you are donating to the right cause. Many false organizations exist that scam good-hearted donors, exploiting their lack of knowledge about the aid organization market to cheat them out of their hard-earned profits. Call the office and ask questions about where and how your money will be used. Research the organization and look at reviews from other donors.
4. Ask fellow donors where they donated.
Asking local community members or friends and family where they like to donate money is a good jumping-off point. This will help to get your own ideas flowing.
5. Work for the organization.
If you have enough free time to volunteer at one of the organization’s events or intern in its offices, you can get a first-hand, inside look into how the organization operates and exactly what is being done to reach its goals.
6. Decide how much money you want to spend.
Many people think that donations to charity must occur in lump sums, but there are many flexible program subscriptions that offer monthly payments. Decide which payment plan is right for you and what you can afford to give.
If you follow these steps and choose your charity wisely, your donations could drastically improve or even save the lives of people around the world.
– Hanna Darroll
Sources: Forbes, Charity Navigator
Photo: Zero Hedge
Field Ready Uses 3D Printing to Create Disaster Relief Supplies
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) calculates that 2.9 billion people have been affected by disasters between 2000 and 2012. According to UNISDR, 1.2 million were killed and $1.7 trillion in damages sustained. Natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies are a profoundly influential part of the global human experience.
Unfortunately, recovery from disaster can be just as costly, both to governments supplying aid and victims of the disasters themselves. In the aftermath of floods, earthquakes, conflict and other emergencies, access to basic items needed for survival is severely limited and expensive. NGO Field Ready understands this struggle.
“In a humanitarian disaster, simple items can mean the difference between life and death,” the organization’s website explains.
However, the site goes on to state, “A bucket, for instance, essential for health and hygiene, may only cost a few dollars in a capital city but supply chains and support costs mean that in reality this simple item is expensive and can take weeks or even months to arrive in the hands of disaster victims.”
The good news? 3D printing technology may just be the solution. Field Ready specializes in using the technology to meet the needs of disaster victims and provide humanitarian relief.
Following the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Field Ready worked with other relief organizations to print products like mosquito-net closures and tools for aid workers, TB patients, newborn babies and maternal care. The organization’s efforts established safer patient areas and workspaces, as well as reducing the risk of mosquito-borne disease.
During their first stint in Haiti, Field Ready’s members were especially struck by the shortage of maternal health equipment. Although nurses and doctors could sometimes improvise makeshift tools such as clamps for newborn children’s umbilical cords, Field Ready sought a better solution.
They were able to print clamps on 3D printing presses, reducing the risk of neonatal umbilical sepsis. Field Ready also trained Haitian staff to use 3D presses to ensure that they would have a permanent alternative to importing costly equipment from more developed areas at additional expense. Instead, health workers are now able to print parts and tools when needed.
Field Ready also printed a prototype for a prosthetic hand, assembled from only five parts, and proved the capacity for 3D presses to produce items needed to maintain and improve the printers themselves.
In total, Field Ready’s efforts in Haiti assisted a dozen aid workers and 60 medical patients. The organization has since set its sights on improving conditions in Nepal.
“In the coming weeks, an assessment will be carried out to determine how Field Ready can best contribute to medium and long-term recovery and reconstruction efforts,” the organization promised.
These efforts, they believe, will likely focus on repair and capacity building, with an eye to help the Nepalese spearhead their own recovery and development.
“Even in crisis situations, people need more than just ‘stuff’ […] they need the skills and knowledge that will empower them to look after themselves and those around them,” the organization asserts.
Field Ready seeks to give disaster victims that tool for empowerment through technology. Through training disaster survivors in developing areas, the organization is able to leave a lasting impact. Trainees learn skills they can use to generate income and continue to develop solutions to supply issues facing marginalized regions.
Field Ready has an eye to expand, with the goal of a worldwide network of 3D printing technicians and kit designers. Linked by the Internet, this network would have the potential to share designs and solutions instantaneously on a global scale.
– Emma-Claire LaSaine
Sources: Sci Dev Net, Field Ready, UNISDR, Relief Web
Photo: 3D
Improving Global Surgery Addresses Development Needs
According to the World Health Organization, 5.8 million people die each year as a result of injuries. This is 32 percent more than the number of fatalities that result from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDs combined.
The most common life-threatening issues include road traffic, homicide and suicide. The World Health Organization also states that “injuries are a leading killer of youth.” Unfortunately, less attention has been directed toward surgical services in the developing world. A study in the Lancet Global Health Journal analyzed the factors that have contributed to this unmet need.
Key factors include:
Despite these difficulties, there are networks committed to advancing the priority of global surgery. One promising solution is to link these efforts with other global health goals.
Basic surgical care could avert 1.5 million deaths per year. A few surgical diseases include blindness, fractures and appendicitis. While we may place less of an emphasis on these health issues, in comparison to HIV/AIDS for example, they still place significant burdens on the quality and productivity of life in developing communities.
It is important for the above factors to be addressed with existing organizations that have the structure and ability to bring attention to this goal. With adequate healthcare, communities in developing countries are more likely to develop in a sustainable and equitable manner.
– Iliana Lang
Sources: World Health Organization, The Lancet
Photo: Unsplash
Fighting the Dengue Fever Outbreak in Malaysia
Malaysia is overwhelmed with its never before seen dengue fever outbreak. According to the Health Ministry, there have been more than 40,000 cases and 201 deaths so far. The deaths have increased from 215 in 2014 total, 92 in 2013, and 35 in 2012.
In six months, deaths increased 100 percent from last year between January and June 6, with 144 deaths compared to 72 last year. From the 21st week to the 22nd week, the numbers of cases increased by 8 percent.
Dengue fever is spread by the female Aedes mosquito, which can lay up to 400 eggs per week and needs very little water to breed. The mosquito typically bites in the morning or at dusk with initial symptoms feeling like the flu.
Those infected realize it’s dengue from the exhaustion, fever and joint pains they get. In the worst-case scenario, victims develop hemorrhagic fever, which can lead to death.
There is growing concern that the virus is changing and becoming more deadly with changes in symptoms and repeat infections. The deputy director general of Health at the Ministry says, “There’s always a chance virus may change.” He does find it strange that the new symptoms are liver failure, meningitis and brain infection.
There is currently no cure for dengue. The most that can be done to treat it is the platelet count with a saline drip.
The disease is common in many Asian countries and costs the economy about $2 billion annually, excluding the cost of fogging and other methods used to kill the Aedes mosquito.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue cases have increased 30-fold in the last half century, and half of the world population is at risk.
Citizens are combatting the disease with leaflets and insecticide. Citizens like Kau Siew Yoon, a retired librarian, are volunteering with their local anti-dengue squad.
At the government level, workers are sent out to spray fog around the neighborhoods affected and doctors are given rapid detection kits as soon as a doctor reports a case to the Health Ministry.
Doctor Lam Sait Kit, who has been studying dengue for 40 years, doesn’t think fog is very effective, and believes vaccines could prevent outbreaks. Given that WHO is aiming to decrease dengue by 25 percent and its mortality by at least half by 2020, many companies are looking to develop a vaccine.
The most progress has been made by the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Pasteur, which finished its third phase of clinical trials for a vaccine it has been working on for more than 20 years.
The trials were done on thousands of children in Asia and South America, and the vaccine shows protection against all four types of fever with varying results. Those ages 9-16 showed an 80 percent reduction in hospitalization and a 93 percent reduction in the disease becoming more severe.
Malaysia is working with WHO in analyzing the vaccine data. Baptiste De Clarens, GM for Sanofi-Pasteur in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, believes a vaccine isn’t the only solution, with a need for vector control and public awareness.
Given the alarming numbers of this outbreak, the focus needs to be on reducing the current cases and finding solutions that prevent the disease, such as an educational campaign to fight against it.
– Paula Acevedo
Sources: IRIN, The Malaysian Insider
Photo: Flickr
Gavi Rebuilds Immunization Services in Ebola Regions
The first stage is underway in Gavi’s plans to rebuild immunization services wrecked by the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. These revived programs will ensure that hundreds of thousands of children who missed out, or are at risk of missing out, will now receive their vaccinations.
Because the Ebola outbreak destroyed the immunization services, Gavi will have a coordinated approach to ensure that these countries are stronger and more resilient to infectious diseases. Gavi is doubling their long-term support for their health systems until 2020.
Rumors in African countries have negatively impacted immunization services. These rumors have falsely claimed that childhood vaccines, such as those protecting against measles and pneumonia, are linked to Ebola. This has caused parents to refuse to have their children vaccinated. These rumors have caused a major setback for immunization services, leaving hundreds of thousands of children at risk.
Ebola has taken the lives of many healthcare workers in these three countries, and even forced some workers to abandon their posts as the crisis took hold. As the countries try to return to normal life, there is a lack of healthcare workers to provide vaccinations.
With this plan in place, Gavi will provide funds for civil society organizations to work with communities to hold meetings and brief village chiefs and religious leaders about the importance of immunizing children. Gavi is also focused on ensuring that there are enough trained healthcare providers to administer the vaccines to the children.
Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, states, “As the initial Ebola epidemic recedes, we now face a race against time to prevent outbreaks of other dangerous diseases, by ensuring that children receive the vaccines the need to protect them. Rebuilding trust amongst parents and carers is critical, as is ensuring that they are provided with the services they need to protect their children.”
The package from Gavi will total $12.5 million and work to trace children who missed out on immunization and ensure they are enrolled in catch-up programs. There will be a nationwide drive to recruit new vaccinators and provide them with training.
A measles immunization campaign will also be held. It is estimated that because of the Ebola outbreak, as many as one million children were not vaccinated against measles.
But Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is not alone in rebuilding immunization programs. Since the beginning of 2015, UNICEF and WHO has supported the countries to undertake immunization campaigns to tackle outbreaks of childhood diseases, such as measles and meningitis.
With the support from Gavi, the training of healthcare workers will ensure that childhood immunization will continue after the Ebola crisis. By reestablishing trust in the parents, children will once again be protected against preventable diseases.
– Kerri Szulak
Sources: Gavi Alliance 1, Gavi Alliance 2
Photo: Gavi Alliance
Teen Creates Mobile Learning Centers
Technology has helped create a learning landscape that expands the access of education to citizens living in rural villages and children living in poverty. Enrollment numbers are rising, but children are not learning enough when they enter school. Some children are not able to attend school or drop out because their families face financial challenges that keep them from learning and sometimes have to join the workforce.
Mobile phones help increase literacy rates in developing countries by providing access to reading materials. There are 123 million youth who cannot read or write and most of them do not have any access to books. Schools in Sub-Saharan Africa lack the resources to have textbooks for their students.
UNESCO found that many parents read stories to their children from mobile phones and that it helps empower women as they read six times more than men on their mobile devices.
Liza Villanueva, an Anaheim resident, had another idea for mobile learning: a mobile learning bus that travels between cities.
She created an international foundation to help children in rural villages without access to education in the Philippines through a Girl Scout Project. Her community service requirement through the Girl Scout’s Gold Award created an opportunity for Villanueva to invest her time in helping children. Therefore, the iDream Express was created in the Philippines with the support of local churches volunteering to keep the program running to provide access to education in the Philippines.
Villanueva, who is getting ready for her freshman year in college, travels to the Philippines to visit her family. She found out many of the children on the street were not attending school and developed the learning center to provide access to education for these children.
The organization is only a year old, but Villanueva says that there are about 30 children who show up at the different locations for education from the iDream Express. One challenge is that many children wander from city to city because of their living conditions on the street, which makes it hard to keep track of who is showing up to fulfill educational needs.
“I feel that every country is in need of mobile learning centers because education is not accessible, provided for, or enforced everywhere,” says Villanueva. “I plan to expand iDream Express globally, but next in line are Mexico and India.”
The Philippines ranks 80th in the world in access to basic knowledge. 88.2 percent of people are enrolled in primary school, and 75.8 percent are enrolled in upper secondary education. There are still six million young people who are not enrolled in school in the Philippines.
To help Villanueva expand education in the Philippines and around the world, you can donate to the cause on the iDream Express Crowdrise page.
– Donald Gering
Sources: GSMA, The Guardian, OC Register, Social Progress Imperative, UNESCO
Photo: YASC
Surprises in the Social Progress Index Rankings
The gross domestic product (GDP) has become the primary way to evaluate how countries are doing. However, the Social Progress Index, launched in 2014 by the Social Progress Imperative, aims to provide a more comprehensive picture.
By only looking at the monetary value of goods and services produced within a country, it is easy for data to be skewed or not reflect the full picture. The GDP could be easily skewed by income inequality; consequently, developing countries with high levels of corruption or income equality would be seen as doing better than they actually are.
Purchases made on the black market and payments for cars and appliances besides original down payments are not included, even though this money is used for goods and services. Furthermore, goods produced but not necessarily sold are counted into the GDP, even if the products are sitting in a company warehouse.
The Social Progress Index looks at twelve different components within three different categories: Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Well-Being and Opportunity. In comparison with the GDP rankings, there are a few rankings that shouldn’t be a surprise: Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are the top three; all of the Scandinavian countries are in the top ten.
However, there are countries that, based on GDP, one might expect to be more highly ranked. The United States is sixteenth, China doesn’t break the top seventy and no Middle Eastern oil-producing country is ranked above 35.
Countries many consider to be more developing, such as Panama, Colombia and Malaysia, are in the top fifty countries. Ghana is ranked significantly higher than Nigeria, although they have similar GDPs.
To better understand these rankings, the Social Progress Index also includes scorecards for each country and categorizes elements of the data as either relative strengths or weaknesses.
China, for example, has many relative weaknesses in factors contributing to opportunity, including perceived criminality, political freedoms, average years women spend in school and private property rights. For the United States, freedom over life choices, maternal and child mortality rates and community safety net were among the relative weaknesses.
The Social Progress Index Rankings have much to offer organizations at all levels with regards to information and comparison building. This information can be used to help shape policy, guide partnerships and raise awareness on what can be improved in different countries.
Regardless, the Social Progress Imperative’s Social Progress Index, like other indices such as the OECD Better Life Index, raises important questions as to what individuals consider developed versus developing.
Looking at the Social Progress Index and the GDP, the differences between the more holistic Social Progress Index and the money-focused GDP are vast, thus supporting previous research and theories that place well-being at an individual or community level at equal or greater value to economic output.
Priscilla McCelvey
Sources: Quora, Social Progress Imperative, TED
Photo: Pixabay
Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security Conference
More than 1,400 participants gathered in Nairobi, Kenya for the second annual Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security Conference. This year’s theme is “Re-imagining Africa’s Food Security Now and into the Future under a Changing Climate,” and the conference included round tables, discussions and plenary sessions that explored how to sustainably use African soils.
The overarching idea behind the conference was to generate discussion and propose solutions to Africa’s food crisis by focusing on using the resources at hand and capitalizing on existing adaptations in the food production chain that may aid food producers in the face of impending climate change.
The conference did not just focus on food production, however, but also addressed the labor behind food production, including supporting the expansion of local agricultural businesses and employment for women and youth in Africa.
Building on the thematic discussions throughout the conference, attendees had the opportunity to discuss how to maximize policy framework and develop an action plan to ensure not only food security, but livelihood security as well.
Organized in collaboration with a number of United Nations agencies, the conference took place July 30 and 31, 2015, at the U.N. Complex in Nairobi, Kenya.
– Gina Lehner
Sources: International Policy Digest, 2nd Africa Food Security Conference
Photo: EBASouthE
Global Peace Index Offers Critical Poverty Insights
The Institute for Economics and Peace, or IEP—a think tank with offices in New York, Mexico City and Sydney—has released the ninth edition of their Global Peace Index. The Index makes use of 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators in an effort to illustrate the levels of peace around the world, highlight trends and inform policymakers.
Safety and security in society, the extent of domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarization are the three facets that the IEP uses to gauge where global peace stands.
IEP views peace as a prerequisite to solving the major issues facing humanity. “It is a cross-cutting facilitator of progress, making it easier for individuals to produce, businesses to sell, entrepreneurs and scientists to innovate and governments to effectively regulate.”
Therefore, they study what makes societies peaceful in order to contribute to the debate on meeting the challenges facing a 21st century world.
They have identified eight pillars that are hallmarks of peaceful societies. A sound business environment, good relations with neighbors, high levels of human capital, acceptance of the rights of others, low levels of corruption, good governance, free flow of information and an equitable distribution of resources all help to establish peaceful societies. These pillars have complex interactions and “are both interdependent and mutually reinforcing, such that improvements in one factor would tend to strengthen others and vice versa.”
So, how is the world doing? The overall trend since the first edition, in 2008, has been a downward one. Although external conflict has significantly dropped, refugees and internally displaced persons, internal conflict, terrorism and violent demonstrations have more than taken up the slack, setting the stage for a less peaceful world.
Since last year, 81 countries have become more peaceful while 78 states have slipped. European countries continued their peaceful trajectory, while peace levels in the Middle East and North Africa have deteriorated significantly. The United States ranks 94 behind 21 African nations, and Iceland is the most peaceful country.
What is more shocking is that, by IEP calculations, violence cost the world $14.3 trillion in 2014, or 13.4 percent of global GDP. This cost has increased by 15.3 percent since 2008.
If the world was able to decrease violence by a meager 10 percent, enough money would be freed up to decuple (multiply by 10) the current level of official development assistance. This is important because IEP has also identified how closely aligned the Sustainable Development Goals are with the eight pillars of peace, implying that an increase in official development assistance would further reduce violence, putting into motion a virtuous cycle.
Although the idea that peace is beneficial for societies does not offer a radical new insight, IEP and their reports help quantify and illustrate just what type of violence is happening where, and why that may be.
For instance, IEP has found that high income inequality is associated with an increase in violence in urban environments, and that murder rates and urbanization are inversely correlated. These findings lay out a roadmap for policymakers to properly respond to and develop interventions that can help make the world a safer place.
– John Wachter
Sources: Vision of Humanity 1, Vision of Humanity 2
Photo: Visionofhumanity