In March, El Salvador, a country that has been struggling to reinvent itself since its bitter 12-year civil war between Marxist rebels and the government ended in 1993, experienced the highest levels of gang-related deaths in over a decade.
According to the BBC, March was the deadliest month in El Salvadorian history since the end of the civil war — with over 11 percent of the population engaged in some form of gang-related activity. Much of this violence was, and continues to be, perpetrated by gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang, both of which have origins in Los Angeles, where they were founded by Central American immigrants. Following forced expulsion out of the United States and back to their home countries, these migrants then settled back into life in El Salvador — carving neighborhoods into various gang-controlled territories in the process.
In 2012, El Salvador’s main gangs signed a truce in an effort to end gang-sponsored violence, which initially saw a drop in gang-related death by 40 percent. Since then, however, gang activity has picked up again at an increasingly violent pace. Currently, El Salvador is on the path to becoming one of the deadliest peacetime countries in the world, with roughly 15 homicides occurring every day in the country of six million, according to PBS.
However, since March, there has been a slight decrease in the number of violent incidences. This is thanks to the efforts of private companies, which have begun to recruit former gang members as employees in an effort to help stall the surge of violence currently overtaking the country.
League Central America, for instance, is a private company that works stitching logos onto American University clothing, such as sweaters bound for Harvard and Brown. One out of ten employees at League Central America are former gang members, who mainly hail from the country’s most notorious gangs; the 18th Street Gang and Mara Salvatrucha.
According to one employee, who went by the name Jorge, “There are lots of former gang members who want to change their lives but [don’t] have a way out…because of the lack of work, the poverty.”
Company boss Rodrigo Bolanos, however, stated that companies can help improve the situation, saying, “In the process of suffocating the economy and the country the private companies need to take a position to look for a dignified way out.”
In light of this, private companies like League Central America are making important strides in starting to help the country battle against increasing rates of homicide, by helping former gang members find a way out of poverty by offering them entrance jobs with the chance of upwards mobility.
Jorge has stated that he is eternally grateful to the company for offering him a way out of the gangs and gang violence — and a new chance at life.
Jorge, who only recently started working at the company, is now the chief pattern cutter.
– Ana Powell
Sources: BBC 1, BBC 2, PBS
Photo: Flickr
Filipino Siblings Help Unlock Electricity and Escape Poverty
According to the World Bank, 1.1 billion people live without access to electricity. Many of them, including one out of every 50 households in the Philippines, rely on kerosene or battery-powered lamps for light. Kerosene lamps pose fire hazards, particularly in the Philippines, which the UN ranked the third most disaster-prone country in the world. Even further, for rural poor families, kerosene can be hard to come by, forcing people to walk many miles a day to purchase oil for their lamps.
This was an issue siblings Aisha and Raphael Mijeno knew they had to find a solution to. So they developed SALt, a lamp that provides a sustainable source of light and energy using saltwater and metal rods. With just one glass of water and two tablespoons of salt, the LED lamp, which is a Galvanic cell, can safely light a home for eight hours. Because it is composed entirely of a salt solution, it eliminates dangers and toxicity levels present in kerosene and battery-powered lamps.
The only maintenance the lamps require is changing the anode every six months. Because the Philippines is composed of over 7,000 islands and most residents live close to the sea, they can use ocean water rather than creating their own solution. In emergencies, the lamp can charge smart phones merely through the standard USB cable. This is an added safety measure that helps people get in touch with loved ones in an emergency or find access to food, water, safety supplies, or shelter.
Aisha Mijeno, an engineer at De La Salle University in Lipa and member of Greenpeace Philippines, says she will partner with NGOs to help distribute the lamps to poor families with no access to electricity. For poor families not represented by the NGOs, the lamps will be available for a price of $20. For general customers, the retail price will be slightly higher, and for each lamp sold an additional one will be given to a needy family.
The Mijenos have won numerous entrepreneurial awards for their invention, including the Kotra Award at the Startup Nations Summit 2014 and Ideaspace Foundation Award 2014. Both awards will help Aisha and Raphael fund and advertise their lamps. Their innovations will not only bring light to those who need it most, it will also empower them to better their conditions and gain more opportunities.
Says Aisha, “This isn’t just a product. It’s a social movement.”
— Jenny Wheeler
Sources: Huffington Post, Salt
Photo: Treehugger
Inflation in Brazil Hits New High
As the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics loom, Brazil finds itself in the midst of an inflation crisis. At a staggering rate of 9.56 percent, inflation in the South American nation is higher than it has been in 12 years. Brazil has not seen such a level since November 2003. This stark increase highlights one of the main problems facing Latin America’s largest economy.
Although the rising cost of electricity has likely played a role in the increasing inflation rate, the main reason behind the economic slump is a lessening demand for Brazilian products. China plays a major role as one of the nation’s consumers, but the Asian giant is suffering an economic slowdown as well. Dwindling demand for commodities from the Chinese is a central cause of Brazil’s economic woes.
Extremely fast price increases and the depreciation of the Brazilian real versus the U.S. dollar have opened the door for the country’s central bank to raise interest rates substantially. To combat rising prices, the central bank has raised interest rates to 14.25 percent. This number is among the highest of major world economies. Officials at the bank hope that this raise will help the country reach a target inflation rate of 4.5 percent.
However, the outlook is bleak. Brazil’s economy is projected to shrink 1.5 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund. Current statistics show the Brazilian economy ranked seventh in the world.
Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, is actively trying to cut the country’s deficit. Rousseff supports several measures to both cut spending and raise taxes in hopes to get the country back on its feet. Facing fiscal setbacks and possible impeachment, however, Rousseff’s political influence is at a low point and her actions may be in vain.
Although high inflation in Brazil affects poor and rich alike, those living below the poverty line are being hit particularly hard. Long known as a nation with a shocking income gap, there is little sign that this discrepancy will improve in the near future. The poor find it difficult to strive in a prospering economy, let alone one that is dramatically faltering.
– Katie Pickle
Sources: BBC, Wall Street Journal
Photo: Flickr
Ice Cream and Poverty in Zimbabwe
New data from the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) has listed Zimbabwe as one of the poorest nations in the world.
While poverty in Zimbabwe has been an issue for quite some time, these new statistics help place it in a more concrete context. According to the data, 72 percent of the country’s population live below the poverty line, earning less than $1.25 daily.
As poverty in the country grows exponentially, President Robert Mugabe and First Lady Grace Mugabe have announced plans to place Alpha Omega, their personal brand of ice creams and chocolates, into local grocery stores.
Alpha Omega was conceived as a direct response to Nestle pulling its facilities from the country due to pressure from human rights activists. While Alpha Omega provides Zimbabwe with new means to produce its own food, it’s a small solution to a much larger problem.
The WFP spotlights several problem areas that are further contributing to Zimbabwe’s crippling poverty. According to the report 72 percent of the country are currently living below the poverty line, and 30 percent of the 72 percent are “food poor” or suffering from HIV and AIDS.
“In recent years, food production in Zimbabwe has been devastated by a number of factors including natural disasters andeconomic and political instability,” states the WFP report on Zimbabwe. “Food and nutrition security remains fragile and subject to natural and economic shocks in Zimbabwe, with chronic and persistent rates of undernourishment.”
– Alexander Jones
Sources: Mukori, Visser, WFP
Photo: Nehanda Radio
Online Portal Connects Farmers and Grain Buyers
In Nairobi, Kenya, an online platform has been launched to connect farmers to grain buyers. The Kenyan based IT firm Virtual City–in partnership with the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) and the Food Trade Eastern and Southern Africa Organization–developed this platform named G-Soko.
This online platform is designed to enable small farms in East Africa to sell their produce at favorable prices. As for millers, the G-Soko system is intended to guarantee the availability of quality stocks. These stocks are standardized and proven grading which reduces the need to carry out sampling to check quality, saving time and money for both parties.
The EAGC is partnering with the Secretariat to implement the East African Community (EAC) Food Security Action Plan, which is the EAC strategy to achieve food security in the region.
The executive director of EAGC, Gerald Masila, spoke at the launch of the platform. He “disclosed that G-Soko was part of a five-year trade enhancement and promotion programme in the region. [Because] linking rural food production zones in East Africa to urban consumption centres requires a well functioning regional market and that by adhering to the system, farmers in the region will, among others, be able to access credit while waiting for prices to increase through pledging the electronic warehouse receipt with the banks and agro-dealers.”
This aspect is especially beneficial to farmers because usually, once they are ready to sell a crop, they have to accept the going price that day. But with this platform, they are able to wait until prices are favorable and still access credit through their banks. Farmers are able to get more bank for their crop.
With this platform, farmers also benefit from reduced post-harvest losses through access to professional storage, cleaning and drying. Another plus is the improved prices offered through G-Soko, since many of them rely on farm-gate prices that deliver cash at lower prices.
G-Soko is an attractive platform to farmers because the “EAC continued support in automating agricultural crops trading systems and processes to reduce commercialisation cost and all related challenges and bridge the gap between farmers, traders, and consumers for increased food security in the region.”
The G-Soko is now operational in two of the EAC partner states, Uganda and Kenya. There are arrangements underway to extend the system to Tanzania and Rwanda before the Grains Farmers Summit in early October 2015.
The platform G-Soko is changing how farmers are able to sell their crops for the better. Not only are farmers able to sell their crops for the most favorable prices, but they have access to modern facilities for cleaning and storage.
This platform is making more money for local farmers rather than the large, commercialized farms. Not only is this platform helping local farmers, but it is also ensuring food security for the region.
– Kerri Szulak
Sources: African Research and Resource Forum, IT News Africa, Standard Digital
Photo: Flickr
Changes to US Food for Peace to Increase Sustainability
Sixty years after being put into effect, the Food for Peace program faces congressional reform that will lower costs and provide sustainable support for those living in conflict-ridden countries. Currently, law requires that food aid be grown in and shipped from the U.S. – a mandate that increases costs 25-50 percent more than they would be on the current market. Advocates for reform criticize the program for its inefficiency and helping American shipping and farming businesses profit from such programs.
Shipping firms, farms and some NGOs form an “iron triangle of special interests” that have benefited from international aid and attracted criticism from politicians in both parties. Between 2004 and 2013, 88 percent of USAID funding was used to harvest and ship food- a huge cost that decreased the amount of food the organization was able to provide by 64 percent.
A system designed this way is not only inefficient in properly allocating resources, but also counterproductive in affecting any kind of change in the countries that need it most. Daniel Maxwell, professor and research director at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, commented, “We need to support local agricultural producers and markets, or at a minimum, not undermine them.” Reformers advocate for changing the system to implement locally grown and shipped food resources rather than those from the U.S.
Senators Corker and Coons, who are cosponsoring the reform of the bill, have estimated that such changes could expand the program’s reach by 12 million people and free up $440 million through local, sustainable production. Providing support for local growers and shippers will strengthen local economies rather than keeping them reliant on international resources, empower and employ more people, and create a more sustainable rebuilding of communities.
Eric Munoz at Oxfam America says that a program created 60 years ago is not useful or appropriate for current times. Indeed, when 60 million people per year are in need of food aid, expansion of resources and lowering costs is more greatly needed than ever. Many farmers believe they have a right to profit from food aid programs and would suffer from reforms, but experts estimate such programs amount to only 1 percent of agribusiness profits.
For policy changes that would so greatly impact those in need, lessening the profits of huge farming businesses in the U.S. seems trivial. Worrying about this profit loss is “an inappropriate way of viewing the rationale of providing emergency assistance and foreign assistance, particularly assistance that is meant to address food insecurity in complex crises like Syria or South Sudan,” says Munoz.
Corker and Coon’s reform bill will see congressional debate in September.
– Jenny Wheeler
Sources: IRIN 1, IRIN 2
Photo: Flickr
Mosquirix: New Malaria Vaccine Approved
Thanks to the efforts of GlaxoSmithKline and the generous support of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s first malaria vaccine has been approved by regulators at the European Medicine Agency. The drug is called Mosquirix, and although it is likely not the end-all solution to the widespread disease, it is a stepping stone in the right direction.
GSK worked with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to create the immunization, which is meant for use in tropical and subtropical areas where the illness is prevalent and largely uncontrolled. Called RTS,S in its experimental stages, Mosquirix is designed for children 6-17 months old whose immune systems are still developing.
Mosquirix works to prevent malaria by attacking Plasmodium falciparum parasites. These parasites multiply in the livers of people affected by malaria and head into the bloodstream where they cause more severe symptoms. This approach to preventing malaria is different than those of other vaccines, which seek to take down viruses and bacteria.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed over $200 million to the drug’s research and development, and GSK is optimistic that it will be effective in reducing incidences of malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa where cases of malaria caused by the parasite are most common. Of the nearly 600,000 deaths related to malaria in 2013, 90 percent of these occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa; 83 percent in children under the age of five in the same region.
Studies show that Mosquirix reduces malaria cases by only a third and that its protection decreases in the long term. However, experts agree that some results are better than no results. In conjunction with other protective measures like insecticide-treated bed-nets, Mosquirix may become an important part of the malaria fight.
The main road bump for Mosquirix? Distribution. The vaccine may exist, but to the young children in Africa who need it, it may as well be a fantasy.
The question is whether the distribution of the vaccination to areas where it is needed is worth the time and the money. The World Health Organization is skeptical of the feasibility of Mosquirix’s implementation and has not yet issued a recommendation for its use. Officials at the WHO are worried that financing for the vaccine may “draw away from scaling up bed nets, effective drugs and rapid diagnostic tests for malaria.”
There is a reason that most vaccines are not made against parasites – unlike bacteria or a virus, a parasite has a complicated life cycle that transports it around the body. Parasites like those that cause malaria can remain living in the body for years.
However, the news that it is possible for a malaria vaccine to be developed and approved is promising. Whether or not Mosquirix achieves outstanding success, discussion surrounding it is undoubtedly paving the way for future malaria-related drug research.
– Katie Pickle
Sources: NBC News, Tech Times
Photo: Press Herald
Google Street View Depicts Mongolia
Since its launch in 2007, Google Street View, an extension of Google Maps, has provided users with realistic views of locations they might like to visit. People can actually navigate entire countries without leaving their homes thanks to these technologies and the number of popular tourist destinations has greatly increased.
Google Street View actually used their Google Trekkers—15 fixed-focus lenses with 360-degree panoramic shots every three meters—to capture incredibly important aspects of Mongolian culture. Nadaam, also known as the Three Games of Men, was going on in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar on July 11-13 this year as the Google Trekkers made their way through. They were joined by CNN who covered the story.
Nadaam is a type of Mongolian Olympics composed of archery, wrestling and horse racing. The horse racing event is particularly interesting because jockeys are generally ages five to thirteen and are raised to ride horses even before they can walk. According to residents, the competition itself focuses more so on the skill of the horses and their compatibility with their riders rather than the rider’s command over the horses.
“So far, Google has captured breathtaking landscapes across five cities and six provinces including Ulaan Baatar, Darkhan, Khenti, Dornogovi, and Selenge,” and they’ve been mapping the area since Oct. 2014. Though falling copper prices and low investor confidence has placed Mongolia in financial difficulties, Google hopes to raise tourism profiles.
“At Khursgul Lake, the second-largest freshwater lake in Asia, the team trekked across its frozen surface on a horse-drawn sled, providing breathtaking views of Mongolia’s landscape.”
Including its projects in Mongolia, Google Street View has also managed to capture remote islands, the Pyramids of Giza and the Amazon Jungle.
– Anna Brailow
Sources: CNN, Sky
Photo: Discovery News
Needle-Free Alternatives to Syringes for Developing Countries
Vaccination is one of the most successful and potent methods of combating viral and infectious diseases today. In fact, the most effective method of prevention against many potentially epidemic diseases is vaccination.
The administration of vaccines is largely through injection of the vaccine intravenously or intramuscularly. The process of vaccination involves introducing into the body an innocuous form of the infection- certain cellular products of the disease-causing microbe or virus that is not capable of reproducing or spreading. This stimulates the production of antibodies against the particular infection the vaccine is targeting.
As successful as vaccination is, the method of delivery of the vaccine that is a syringe can have notoriously harmful implications. The traditional syringe uses a needle that is injected into the body and therefore comes in contact with the patient’s blood. This contact with blood can be very dangerous if proper precautions are not taken, as blood serum can transfer many viral diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
The proper usage of medical syringes includes their proper sterilization before injecting a patient, which is done by the manufacturing companies. To ensure that the needle is completely free of any microbial or viral agents, the syringe needs to be used right after packaging is removed. Moreover, used syringes should never be used on another individual.
These precautions are vital to ensuring the safety of patients being vaccinated and is standard medical procedure. However, in many developing countries, syringes are reused on other patients, especially where effective regulation is lacking. Illegal businesses have been found guilty of taking used syringes, ineffectively sterilizing them and reselling them for use. This misuse of syringe needles leads to approximately 1 million deaths per year. It is also one of the leading causes of HIV/AIDS, with 10 percent of cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States being the consequence of intravenous drug use with unclean syringes.
One of the solutions to these problems is obviously to enforce tighter regulations, ensuring contaminated syringes are disposed of properly so accessibility to those is reduced. Hospitals can enforce stricter sterilization policies. However, these policies are not very likely to be effective, especially in poorer countries who may lack resources for enforcing these regulations. Moreover, limiting the access to used syringes for drug users can be particularly problematic.
Another solution to this problem is to eliminate the needles in syringes altogether. Recently, needle-free syringes have become popular alternatives for syringes. The needle-free syringe, as the name suggests, does not use a needle to inject the vaccine into the bloodstream. Instead, it uses a high-pressure gradient to force vaccine liquid into the tissue. The vaccine is forced at high pressure through the skin through an orifice of the syringe, which in modern syringes has been made as small as the diameter of a human hair. This method also distributes the medication or vaccine better through the tissue, as the medicine penetrates through the skin into the surrounding tissue. The syringe never comes into contact directly with blood, so the risk of contamination is reduced. Also, the syringe is not suited for substance abuse, as those drugs are administered intravenously.
The needle-free syringes have been quite successful in their delivery of vaccines as well as their safety of usage. Different types of needle-free syringes have been developed for administering different types of drugs with increased efficiency. These syringes are more expensive than ordinary syringes, however. With increasing demand and development, it is probable the needle-free syringes would become as desirable in their cost as they are in their technique.
– Atifah Safi
Sources: Bioject, MIT, WHO
Photo: Path
Food Companies Leading the Fight Against World Hunger
One out of nine people in the world go to bed hungry according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The United Nations World Food Programme is dedicated to reducing global hunger by offering food aid to developing countries in need. WFP has provided food for more than 90 million people. WFP partners with and receives funding from a few well-known food companies.
Yum! brands started the World Hunger Relief campaign as the largest consumer outreach campaign on the hunger issue. It is the world’s largest restaurant company with more than 40,000 restaurants in 125 countries. It is leading in the fight against global hunger through the campaign, as well as through the mobilization of the 1.5 million employees as advocates for global hunger relief.
Yum! brands’ World Hunger Relief campaign has raised $100 million for WFP since 2007 with the help of global spokesperson Christina Aguilera. Yum! brands include Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnSf2xj6URs
PepsiCo is another partner of WFP. The company is more well known for its food and beverages than for the philanthropic PepsiCo Foundation. PepsiCo Foundation has donated $3.5 million to WFP to produce a food product made of chickpeas to help treat malnutrition in Ethiopia.
Unilever partners with WFP to make people more aware of global hunger through fundraising and campaigns as well as educational plans. They have targeted their consumer base in 13 countries in their campaigns against global hunger. Unilever has also assisted WFP in identifying what are the nutritional needs of the children to better help them.
Kellogg’s, though not a partner with WFP, does important work to fight global hunger. Kellogg’s donates over $20 million per year in food products for disaster relief and hunger. The company also has an initiative called “Breakfast for Better Days.” The initiative is focused on alleviating hunger specifically in South Africa, pledging to feed 25,000 children every school day in 2015. The company will dedicate one billion servings of Kellogg’s snacks and cereal for global poverty alleviation by 2016 and has donated nearly eight million breakfasts to FoodBank South Africa already.
An increase in awareness of global hunger has also increased the number of food companies coming on board to bring global hunger relief.
– Iona Brannon
Sources: World Food Programme 1, World Food Programme 2, Hunger to Hope, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Kellogg
Photo: Flickr
How El Salvador is Tackling Poverty-Related Gang Violence
In March, El Salvador, a country that has been struggling to reinvent itself since its bitter 12-year civil war between Marxist rebels and the government ended in 1993, experienced the highest levels of gang-related deaths in over a decade.
According to the BBC, March was the deadliest month in El Salvadorian history since the end of the civil war — with over 11 percent of the population engaged in some form of gang-related activity. Much of this violence was, and continues to be, perpetrated by gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang, both of which have origins in Los Angeles, where they were founded by Central American immigrants. Following forced expulsion out of the United States and back to their home countries, these migrants then settled back into life in El Salvador — carving neighborhoods into various gang-controlled territories in the process.
In 2012, El Salvador’s main gangs signed a truce in an effort to end gang-sponsored violence, which initially saw a drop in gang-related death by 40 percent. Since then, however, gang activity has picked up again at an increasingly violent pace. Currently, El Salvador is on the path to becoming one of the deadliest peacetime countries in the world, with roughly 15 homicides occurring every day in the country of six million, according to PBS.
However, since March, there has been a slight decrease in the number of violent incidences. This is thanks to the efforts of private companies, which have begun to recruit former gang members as employees in an effort to help stall the surge of violence currently overtaking the country.
League Central America, for instance, is a private company that works stitching logos onto American University clothing, such as sweaters bound for Harvard and Brown. One out of ten employees at League Central America are former gang members, who mainly hail from the country’s most notorious gangs; the 18th Street Gang and Mara Salvatrucha.
According to one employee, who went by the name Jorge, “There are lots of former gang members who want to change their lives but [don’t] have a way out…because of the lack of work, the poverty.”
Company boss Rodrigo Bolanos, however, stated that companies can help improve the situation, saying, “In the process of suffocating the economy and the country the private companies need to take a position to look for a dignified way out.”
In light of this, private companies like League Central America are making important strides in starting to help the country battle against increasing rates of homicide, by helping former gang members find a way out of poverty by offering them entrance jobs with the chance of upwards mobility.
Jorge has stated that he is eternally grateful to the company for offering him a way out of the gangs and gang violence — and a new chance at life.
Jorge, who only recently started working at the company, is now the chief pattern cutter.
– Ana Powell
Sources: BBC 1, BBC 2, PBS
Photo: Flickr