According to a study made by the Mexican government agency, Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarollo Social (CONEVAL), there were 53.3 million people living in poor conditions in 2012.
This number equates to 45.4 percent of Mexico’s total population.
In Mexico, poverty is strictly linked to the decisions and actions that the government takes. According to a newspaper from Guadalajara, Jalisco, the secretaries of social development from the different Mexican states only invest between the four and five percent of their budget to social programs that do not just focus on poverty.
Education, health care, nutrition, shelter and clean water are some of the aspects that many organizations are working on to bring to the Mexican poor citizens:
1) VAMOS!
This is a non-profit organization based in Vermont that fights to offer education and job opportunities to the poor in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. The organization also offers basic human services to these people living in poor conditions.
2) Children International
This organization provides assistance to children and families that live in extreme poor conditions. Their mission is to bring real change to those living in poverty. This organization is based in Kansas, and operates in different countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Honduras and, of course, Mexico. Their agency in Mexico is located in Guadalajara, Jalisco.
3) Flying Samaritans
This is a non-profit organization, based in California, that operates free medical clinics in the state of Baja California, Mexico. The organization counts with different professionals such as nurses, dentists, physicians, pilots, and translators that offer their work at no charge to people in rural areas that have no access to medical care.
4) Project Amigo
This is an organization founded by California businessman Ted Rose based in Cofradia de Suchitlan, Colima. The organization focuses in providing marginalized, disadvantaged, poor children in the state of Colima, Mexico with education. Project Amigo has the belief that education is a powerful key that can benefit the children’s future. The organization provides scholarships, material support, health care and supports the children to continue studying even during a college level.
5) TECHO
Techo is a non-profit organization present in Latin America and the Caribbean that focuses on eliminating poverty. This organization is lead by young volunteers that promote community development by providing solutions to families living in slums, foster social awareness and action, and advocate politically in order to promote changes that could stop poverty from emerging.
All these organizations focus on overcoming poverty and creating a better life quality for Latinos and Mexicans that live in poor conditions and lack of access to some basic needs.
According to CONEVAL, in the years of 2010 and 2012 there was a decrease in the percentage and number of people that had an educational backwardness, lacked access to health services, quality and living spaces, basic housing services, and nutrition.
The results and efforts that these individual non-profit organizations have obtained, each with their own beliefs, missions, and methods, are a big contribution to the Mexican poor community, creating change and providing opportunities to the ones in need.
– Diana Fernanda Leon
Sources: CONEVAL, INFORMADOR.MX, VAMOS!, Children International, Flying Samaritans, Project Amigo, Techo
Photo: Flickr
5 Common Manifestations of Poverty
Global poverty is nothing new, but some of its causes might be commonly overlooked or forgotten. Though there are many reasons for the manifestation of poverty, there are five largely important causes that need more attention from those who can make a difference.
1. Inadequate education is a highly agreed upon cause of poverty, both in first world nations as well as poverty stricken developing countries. Commonly, education quality differs between urban and rural areas, as well as between wealthy neighborhoods and poorer parts of cities. According to Project Partner of China, rural children are more likely to attend deteriorating school facilities and face insufficient materials. Meanwhile, urban children typically have outstanding educational experiences that allow them to prosper throughout their lives. Without a proper education, the cycle of poverty often continues. Children born into poverty have a difficult time receiving an education that will support them throughout life and pull them out of poverty.
2. Healthcare access varies around the world, but in a majority of poverty stricken countries little to no healthcare is provided, especially to those in extreme poverty. Inverse care, where those better off have more access to healthcare but fewer needs for it, benefits the wealthy and worsens conditions for the poor. Global Issues reported that “2.2 million children died each year because they are not immunized” due to lack of healthcare.
3. Disease goes hand in hand with healthcare, or lack thereof, and that makes it all the more obvious why healthcare is critical. Diseases quickly spread through areas that lack proper health education and offer little healthcare. As these diseases spread, it becomes more difficult for families to take care of themselves, much less thrive. According to Global Issues, “40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, [resulting in] 3 million deaths in 2004,” leaving 15 million children orphaned. Though HIV/AIDS causes an extremely high number of fatalities, there are 350-500 million cases of malaria each year, with 1 million of those ending fatally. Notably, 90 percent of deaths from malaria are found in Africa alone. While prevention is desirable, a cure is needed to truly make a lasting difference.
4. Dependency is possibly the most overlooked issue on this list. Dependency is often associated with laziness or the concept that those dependent cannot support themselves, but it goes much deeper than that. First-world countries have created a system that keeps poverty riddled countries from being able to provide for themselves. That, however, does not mean the system was intended to push third-world countries further into poverty. Rather, the truck loads of secondhand items that are continuously shipped into third-world countries have crippled their industries, and thus made them dependent on aid. By investing in these countries to help them rebuild an economy that can flourish, more developed countries will no longer be handing them momentary help, but making a lasting impact on their livelihood.
5. Ignorance and apathy, though two different notions, result in similar outcomes. Lacking the knowledge to care or to make a difference is a sad reality among many people in the world. Apathy, on the other hand, is not wanting to gain the knowledge to improve the lives of others. It is often easiest to live a life of ignorance, so many do. Occasionally donating to your local food drive or clothing shelter are great ways to start improving the lives of others, but going the distance to educate yourself and learning how to permanently aid those less fortunate will make a lasting difference. All of the manifestations of poverty cannot simply be numbered to five, but these causes play a large role in the sad reality. Gaining education over what needs to be done to help the human race is the perfect place to start and improve the conditions of those in need.
– Katherine Wyant
Sources: Community Empowerment Collective, Project Partner of China Global Issues
Photo: Steve McCurry
1 in 5 Children in France Living in Poverty
A new report by UNICEF France has revealed that over three million children in France live in poverty. In a span of four years, the number of children living under the poverty line increased by 440,000. Also touched on, was the high level of discrimination and human rights violation of poor migrant children. The report also addressed France’s failure to implement a strategy for children, and suggested 36 policy adjustments.
We often think of France as a sturdy, developed world power, but the widening gap between the rich and the poor, lack of policies aimed at children and widespread discrimination against migrants, show that developing countries aren’t the only places for progress to be made. In fact, many European countries face higher rates of child poverty and an estimated 1 in 3 children lives in poverty in both the United Kingdom and Spain.
These findings seem astonishing, especially for a country with the financial status and power as France, but it goes to show how important policies are. Without the proper policies in place, countries will not make progress. This new report and the investigation as a whole will provide a prime example for governments all over the world. Policy is what gives a country the power to grow. For example, we have seen poverty reduction programs go into developing countries with the good intentions of providing or creating capital only to see it stop there because of a lack of regulation or policies in place to continue growth, and to protect that growth.
The lack of policy aimed at French youth is alarming from any standpoint. The high rate of poverty among children suggests a lack of investment in youth, which will hurt France in the long term. With 3 million impoverished children, the outlook on the future working generation is not good. The rates of homelessness and school dropouts should be a serious wake up call for the French government. As more and more children fall below the poverty line, fewer children are enrolled in school, which translates directly to less economic and political participation in the future. The decreased participation will make for a less productive nation and France, as a whole will face a number of resulting problems needing urgent attention.
France has a reputation for discrimination against migrants and foreigners and this report as a part of a broader investigation and the changes the French government makes as a result should hopefully loosen some of those longstanding divisions. In order to succeed and grow as a nation, France desperately needs to become more progressive. There needs to be less marginalization and more positive policy aimed at children and at migrants to encourage them to succeed, which will in turn help France as a whole to grow.
– Emma Dowd
Sources: Eurostat, France 24, Newsweek, World Bulletin
Photo: FarsNews
Wasting Food in America
Each year, industrialized countries like the U.S. waste just about as much food as the total net amount of food that is produced in sub-Saharan Africa. That is 222 million tons wasted in comparison to 230 million produced.
In 2009, the amount of food wasted was equal to more than 50 percent of cereal crops produced globally, which is 2.3 billion tons of food.
The United States Department of Agriculture began its U.S. Food Waste Challenge in June of 2013. Along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, their goal was to acquire 1,000 supporters by 2020.
Some of the goals are to minimize food wasted in school meal programs, find ways to reuse food that is rejected from the market due to “un-sellability”, estimate the amount of food waste in the U.S. each year, and discover new technologies that decrease that amount.
The initiative is much needed, considering that the average American consumer throws away ten times the quantity of food that someone in Southeast Asia does. That number has grown by 50 percent since the 1970s.
On average, American wastes about 40 percent of all food. Waste takes place on farms, in grocery stores, in homes, and in landfills. That is equivalent to 20 pounds per person, $165 billion, and one fourth of all freshwater per year.
Studies show that if America reduced food waste by just 15 percent, the amount of food saved could feed more than 25 million people per year.
Fresh water is a precious resource all over the world, and 80 percent of it is used to produce food in the U.S. Food production also uses half of the country’s land and ten percent of the nation’s total energy budget.
Food that decays in landfills now makes up nearly 25 percent of total U.S. methane emissions.
Yolanda Soto is looking to dramatically reduce the amount of food wasted in America by saving 35-40 million pounds of produce every year. She does this by collecting food rejected at the U.S.- Mexican border and shipping it to needy families in the U.S. and Mexico.
More than 50 percent of food grown in Mexico and imported to the U.S. is inspected and rejected at the border near Nogales, Arizona. Each trailer carries about $70,000 worth of food.
Soto started Borderlands Food Bank in the 1990s after being shocked at how much edible produce is tossed despite the high percentage of people plagued by hunger.
The organization’s focus is “to provide fresh, nutritious produce to people in need, advocate for the hungry, and help eradicate malnutrition and hunger.”
Beginning with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, imported fruits and vegetables undergo inspection by around 40 different government agencies. Produce is taken out of commerce if it does not meet the USDA’s standards for quality and size.
“It’s perfectly good,” says Soto about the produce she redistributes, “but because it had some scarring, they couldn’t sell it. Who’s going to buy it?”
The truth is, American’s have this idea that in order to taste good, food has to look perfect. Anything less than perfect is rejected.
– Lillian Sickler
Sources: NPR, The Huffington Post Border Lands Food Bank National Resources Defense Council World Food Day U.S. Environmental Protection Agency USDA
Photo: Takepart
5 Organizations Fighting Poverty in Mexico
According to a study made by the Mexican government agency, Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarollo Social (CONEVAL), there were 53.3 million people living in poor conditions in 2012.
This number equates to 45.4 percent of Mexico’s total population.
In Mexico, poverty is strictly linked to the decisions and actions that the government takes. According to a newspaper from Guadalajara, Jalisco, the secretaries of social development from the different Mexican states only invest between the four and five percent of their budget to social programs that do not just focus on poverty.
Education, health care, nutrition, shelter and clean water are some of the aspects that many organizations are working on to bring to the Mexican poor citizens:
1) VAMOS!
This is a non-profit organization based in Vermont that fights to offer education and job opportunities to the poor in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. The organization also offers basic human services to these people living in poor conditions.
2) Children International
This organization provides assistance to children and families that live in extreme poor conditions. Their mission is to bring real change to those living in poverty. This organization is based in Kansas, and operates in different countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Honduras and, of course, Mexico. Their agency in Mexico is located in Guadalajara, Jalisco.
3) Flying Samaritans
This is a non-profit organization, based in California, that operates free medical clinics in the state of Baja California, Mexico. The organization counts with different professionals such as nurses, dentists, physicians, pilots, and translators that offer their work at no charge to people in rural areas that have no access to medical care.
4) Project Amigo
This is an organization founded by California businessman Ted Rose based in Cofradia de Suchitlan, Colima. The organization focuses in providing marginalized, disadvantaged, poor children in the state of Colima, Mexico with education. Project Amigo has the belief that education is a powerful key that can benefit the children’s future. The organization provides scholarships, material support, health care and supports the children to continue studying even during a college level.
5) TECHO
Techo is a non-profit organization present in Latin America and the Caribbean that focuses on eliminating poverty. This organization is lead by young volunteers that promote community development by providing solutions to families living in slums, foster social awareness and action, and advocate politically in order to promote changes that could stop poverty from emerging.
All these organizations focus on overcoming poverty and creating a better life quality for Latinos and Mexicans that live in poor conditions and lack of access to some basic needs.
According to CONEVAL, in the years of 2010 and 2012 there was a decrease in the percentage and number of people that had an educational backwardness, lacked access to health services, quality and living spaces, basic housing services, and nutrition.
The results and efforts that these individual non-profit organizations have obtained, each with their own beliefs, missions, and methods, are a big contribution to the Mexican poor community, creating change and providing opportunities to the ones in need.
– Diana Fernanda Leon
Sources: CONEVAL, INFORMADOR.MX, VAMOS!, Children International, Flying Samaritans, Project Amigo, Techo
Photo: Flickr
Can Social Business End Poverty?
Nonprofit organizations and philanthropists continue to look for innovative ideas that will bring the world closer to ending world poverty. Although donations and direct contributions provide immediate help to those suffering in developing countries, social businesses have become a popular way to help the poor. Introduced by Muhammad Yunus in 2006, social businesses provide individuals in poor countries with work, or focus on distributing food or clothing.
Social business is a cause-driven business that allows investors to receive the same amount of money they had initially invested. All other profits are reinvested into the business to cover any costs. “At the same time, it can achieve the social objective, such as, healthcare for the poor, housing for the poor, financial services for the poor, nutrition for malnourished children, providing safe drinking water, introducing renewable energy, etc. in a business way,” according to Yunus Centre.
Many companies have adopted social businesses to contribute to alleviating global poverty. Muhammad Yunus’ first business is Grameen Danone, a yogurt distributed in Bangladesh, that helps to prevent malnutrition for children. “The 10-year plan is to establish 50+ plants, create several hundred distribution jobs and self-degradable packaging,” says Yunus. Grameen has grown to develop technologies that help farmers grow crops more effectively.
Agricultural technologies include mrittikā, a soil testing software that helps farmers choose better fertilizer. Ankur is a similar software that focuses on seed selection. Healthcare software shumātā helps pregnant women follow up on personal care, and dolnā helps with vaccinations for children. These programs are examples of social businesses focused on helping the world’s poor in a new innovative way.
Other than Yunus’ programs, many companies are investing in social businesses to make a difference in the lives of the world’s poor. Popular social businesses include clothing lines based in developing countries that help to create jobs for people in rural areas. Hand Up Not Handouts is a company that works with artisans in Rwanda to create hand crafted jewelry, providing work for women to provide for their families.
As more social businesses grow, there are more opportunities available for people in developing countries. “Social businesses have created hopes for eliminating poverty from the world by generating employment,” according to the Daily Star. It is easy for organizations to donate money to the world’s poor; however, creating businesses creates jobs to provide dignity to those who may otherwise be hopeless.
– Kimberly Quitzon
Sources: Yunus, Social Business, The Daily Star
Photo: PhilStar
Solar Sister Brings Light to Rural Africa
At a time when only 24 percent of sub-Saharan Africa has access to electricity, the grassroots organization Solar Sister is taking a woman-centered approach to ending energy poverty in the region.
Solar Sister works at the community level to provide access to clean energy sources such as solar lanterns. By training and supporting women as they build their own businesses, the organization helps families in rural East Africa become more self-sufficient.
For $500, Solar Sister can provide a woman with a full lamp inventory, called a “business in a bag.” Using an Avon distribution model, the entrepreneur goes door to door, selling solar lights and other green technologies to neighbors and family members. She earns a commission on all products sold, which she can use to supplement her family’s income and expand her business.
Katherine Lucey, founder of Solar Sister, says that energy access is necessary for economic growth. With light, people can continue to work after dark and increase their productivity; children can study for longer and do better in school. Those without electricity are therefore at a disadvantage, trapped in poverty.
For this reason, Solar Sister focuses its work in places like rural Uganda, where close to 95 percent of the population lacks access to electricity. In communities that are far from the electrical grid, people depend on kerosene lamps for light. Using kerosene is not only expensive, but also dangerous, since lamps can emit toxic fumes.
Before founding Solar Sister in 2009, Lucey worked for a nonprofit on large-scale solar power projects. When she realized that these projects were doing little to help those living in poverty, she decided to try a new approach.
“The technology that we were using – the solar panel, the PVC, etc., was very ‘techie,’” Lucey explains. “And we were in homes where there was no technology. So, the women didn’t have a comfort zone with the technology.”
Solar Sister’s products, on the other hand, are simple to use: the solar lanterns charge outside during the day, then provide light at night with the flip of a switch. The lights, which have 10-year lifespans, cost between $15 and $50. Compared to the price of kerosene, which costs around $2 a week, the light pays for itself in a matter of months.
The money a woman earns from selling these products provides her and her family with more economic freedom. Mityana, a Solar Sister entrepreneur from central Uganda, says “It makes me feel proud to see that I’m bringing an income to my family.” So far, the organization has partnered with over 1,000 women entrepreneurs to bring clean energy to more than 180,000 people in East Africa.
Lucey notes that in almost all cases, the women use their earnings to provide education for their children. She hopes that this new, educated generation will help lift rural communities out of poverty.
– Caitlin Harrison
Sources: CNN, CS Monitor, USAID, World Bank
Photo: World Bank
Mine Sniffing Rats, the Future of Detection?
An unlikely candidate to saving lives comes to mind when looking at the Gambian pouched rat. Almost blind, but with an extraordinarily strong sense of smell, these rats can detect the most minute odors that can lead to saving human lives.
With this unique sense of smell, these rats in rural Africa are being trained to detect land mines in Africa that are remnants of civil war. Being light enough to not trigger the mines, these rats can sweep over a minefield quicker and more effectively in two hours than the traditional 2-3 days through the human method of metal detectors.
Mine-laying became a common military practice in the late 1970s, and while thousands of mines may have been laid, very few were actually detonated during wars. In countries like Cambodia, mines that have been unaccounted for have have lead to 64,00 casualties since 1979, as well as 25,000 people living with amputations.
As land mines are a hidden threat, they pose a danger to unsuspecting passersby; children on their way to school, and men and women just doing their daily tasks, can all be susceptible to this realistic terror. This is why training the Gambian rats is so useful and important to these rural areas.
With this keen sense of smell, researchers have found that they can not only detect the minute smells of land mines, but can also detect diseases like tuberculosis faster and cheaper than with a laboratory microscope. The rats are able to do this by smelling the bacteria that lives within an infected person.
This amazing realization has saved thousands of dollars for developing countries as the World Health Organization’s current endorsed detection machinery, which costs $17,000 with each individual test requiring $17 for equipment.
Studies have recently suggested that the Gambian pouched rat can do even better. With its keen, sensitive sense of smell and ability to be trained, the future possibilities for the functionality of this amazing animal are astounding.
– Alysha Biemolt
Sources: NYTimes, NYTimes, Child Fund
Photo: Mirror
Humanitarian Aid and How to Help
With all that happens in today’s philanthropic world, definitions can get muddled. Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to promote human welfare, often after natural or man-made disasters. The World Health Organization defines it as “aid that seeks to save lives and alleviate suffering of a crisis affected population.”
In essence, humanitarian aid is humans helping other humans.
There are countless examples of humanitarian aid, from large organizations to small-scale philanthropy events that benefit a larger cause. One of the goals of the United Nations is to provide humanitarian aid.
An example of a large humanitarian aid organization is Doctors Without Borders. Every year, Doctors Without Borders provides emergency medical care to millions in crisis after a disaster. It has operated in over 70 countries around the world over crisis such as armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition and natural disasters. According to their website, every day over 30,000 people are helping others through Doctors Without Borders.
On a smaller scale, humanitarian aid can be found locally. A local fundraiser for a cause, such as a charity walk to raise money, can support a humanitarian aid organization. For example, nearly 1,000 GoFundMe campaigns were made to raise money after the earthquake in Nepal, raising a total of over $5 million.
There are plenty of ways to get involved in humanitarian aid! Keep it simple and think locally. How can your community help others in need? Here are 5 easy ideas for you to try:
1. Organize a dinner with your friends and ask each person to donate a little to the charity of your choice.
2. Attend a charity walk or ride. You’ll get some exercise while raising money and awareness for a greater cause.
3. Clean out your closet and donate your old clothes.
4. Join an organization like Habitat for Humanity and help build a home for those who have lost their own.
5. Help out at a local food pantry. Make a difference right in your own neighborhood.
Before getting involved with the humanitarian aid of your choice, make sure to do your homework. Understand the issue–the problem at hand, the potential solutions, the dilemmas–before launching yourself into the organization. That way you will understand the complexity of the problem and be able to get a lot out of your experience.
– Hannah Resnick
Sources: GoFundMe, World Health Organization
Photo: Flickr
Hangzhou: The Defilement of a Paradise
Hangzhou is widely regarded as the poster child for the Chinese economic model. The city is growing at nine percent annually and is six times larger than it was in 2000, thanks to the break-neck speed at which its industries are diversifying and expanding. Residents enjoy a GDP per capita of 9,300 dollars, the ninth highest of all cities in China. But the frenzied rate of development has also precipitated rain on Hangzhou’s parade – the rain being showers of coal dust.
On March 10, 2013, residents woke up to a film of black powder that coated their homes and roads. The trees and flowers of the nearby Bashan National Forest Park were not spared either. Paradoxically, Hangzhou is a city whose name translates to “heaven of the earth.” It is legendary for its natural beauty; an ancient saying declares, “just as there is paradise in heaven, there are Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth.” In 2009, the city was voted the “National Garden City” and given the “China Habitat Environmental Prize.”
However, authorities were not able provide an explanation, much less a solution, for the shower of coal dust that came down on Hangzhou. It was an incident that both literally and figuratively besmirched the city and pointed to a larger nation-wide problem. China burns 3.5 billion tons of coal each year, largely for energy purposes, which generates 60 percent of the nitric oxide, 40 percent of the carbon dioxide and 25 percent of the dust pollutants in China’s notorious pollution.
Many residents of Hangzhou have refused to turn a blind eye to the environmental strains caused by the city’s rapid development. In May of 2014, people in Hangzhou demonstrated against a proposed garbage incinerator they believed would contaminate the air with toxic dioxin and mercury. More than 20,000 signatures were gathered from concerned residents who called for the project to be halted.
The authorities demanded calm, claiming that the incinerator was necessary given that the rapid expansion of the city had led to mounting levels of residential waste. After facing months of continued criticism, they promised that the project would not go ahead if public resistance remained high. At the same time, however, they arrested dozens of protesters. But even if authorities did pledge a shutdown, they could easily withdraw it. In 2011, a paraxylene plant that had sparked multiple protests in the city of Dalian was later quietly reopened in 2012, one year later.
The Chinese government is taking some steps to address the environmental problem in Hangzhou. It promised to build a coal-free zone by 2017, and assured Hangzhou’s residents that they would be able to enjoy more than 300 days of second-grade or better air quality by then. The government established the aptly named Project Blue Sky, Project Green Water, Project Greenness and Project Quietness.
While not being entirely inert, the rate at which progress is being made to ensure clean air might not be fast enough to keep up with the city’s rate of growth. In spite of implementing a metro system in 2012 and other public transportation initiatives that were aimed at decreasing people’s dependence on automobiles, CO2 emissions due to transportation are projected to increase by 59.6 percent by 2020. As long as the city develops at its current rate, demand for cars and other forms of motorization will continue to surge.
In 2013, China released 29 percent of the world’s CO2, or 10.3 billion tons. It was the largest emission from any single country. The U.S. released the second highest amount of CO2, accounting for 15 percent of global emissions with 5.3 billion tons. There is cause for hope, however, with the carbon reduction deal President Barack Obama and President Xi Jingping signed last November. China agreed to cap emissions and increase its use of zero-emission energy sources by 20 percent by 2030. But even with this initiative, it seems that Hangzhou will continue to suffer increasing environmental degradation for at least the next fifteen years.
– Radhika Singh
Sources: China Briefing, Chicago Policy Review, NYTimes, The Epoch Times, Xinhua, IKPMG, Hangzhou Weekly, Hangzhou Government, Hangzhou Government, UN Habitat, The Guardian, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European Commission
Photo: Fortune
The Impact of Malnutrition in Guinea-Bissau
According to the World Food Programme, almost 15,000 children living in Guinea-Bissau are plagued by acute malnutrition. As of 2013, a mere seven percent of the country’s population is food-secure. Rural communities suffer especially—as many as 93 percent of Guinea-Bissau’s rural population is living with food insecurity and the consequential threat of malnutrition.
So, what is malnutrition, and what impact does it actually have? According to the World Health Organization, malnutrition is “a deficiency of nutrition” caused by factors related to poor diet and disease. Malnutrition hinders physical development, leading to stunted growth and underweight children.
Malnutrition also negatively impacts brain anatomy, physiology and biochemistry, potentially leading to irreversible brain damage. Additionally, an analysis of child mortality data from 10 countries, including Guinea-Bissau, found that due to “the vicious cycle between malnutrition and infection,” children who suffer growth restriction due to malnutrition are more likely to become ill and have a higher rate of severe illness, leading in turn, to further developmental stunting.
The World Factbook, a publication by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, identifies Guinea-Bissau as having the fifth greatest death rate out of 225 countries. Life expectancy at birth, a mere 49.87 years, is also the third shortest, ranking above only South Africa and Chad.
With 18 percent of children less than five years of age underweight and the high risk of disease, Guinea-Bissau is certainly impacted by that “vicious cycle” of malnutrition and illness.
The same analysis that notes this cycle also observes the importance of the “context of poverty” that malnutrition and its ill effects occur within. This poverty, the authors assert, “leads to diminished access to health care, exposure to contaminated environments, poor child care practices, and food insecurity that ultimately affects patterns of intake and illness.”
Poverty rates in Guinea-Bissau have increased notably over the past few years. Now, 75 percent of the country’s population experiences poverty.
Several contributing factors, including socio-political fluctuations and the declining market value of cashews, the country’s primary cash crop, have caused the increased poverty and subsequent malnutrition in Guinea-Bissau. The country’s economy is predominately supported by agriculture with more than 80 percent of the labor force employed in farming. This portion of the population is also the most vulnerable when it comes to food-insecurity.
Experts estimate that in order to end world hunger, alleviating food-insecurity in places like Guinea-Bissau, $30 billion per year is needed over the course of a decade. While it seems like a staggering sum, when compared to U.S. military spending, $30 billion is a drop in the foreign policy bucket.
The U.S. Department of Defense base budget for 2015 is $495.6 billion, nearly 17 times the $30 billion needed to alleviate world hunger. However, the U.S. spends less than one percent of its foreign policy budget on international aid.
An increased contribution to the fight against global poverty and hunger need not be drastic. In fact, by fulfilling their 1970 promise to give 0.7 percent of gross national income as official international development aid, the U.S. and other wealthy member countries of The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development could end global poverty.
This foreign aid investment would help people struggling with food insecurity in places like Guinea-Bissau, preventing malnutrition and all its ill effects.
– Emma-Claire LaSaine
Sources: World Food Programme, MDGIF, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, CIA, Nutrition Reviews, WHO, Los Angeles Times, U.S. Department of Defense, OECD
Photo: World Food Progamme