Looking to gain some good karma? A Millennium development goal can address many issues ranging from health to HIV/AIDS. This list recommends one great way to support each of the latter four Millennium Development Goals. All charities listed have a score of 96 or higher on Charity Navigator. To see part one of this article, please click here.
Millennium Development Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Where to donate: Direct Relief
Women in low-income countries are at a startling disadvantage when it comes to maternal health. Worldwide, a woman dies from complications during pregnancy or childbirth every two minutes. Even more shocking is the fact that 90 percent of these women die from preventable conditions.
One of Direct Relief’s chief programs works to improve the health of mothers in impoverished countries. The organization’s health services train and equip midwives, provide emergency obstetric care and treat birth-related injuries.
Charity Navigator recently ranked Direct Relief at the top of its “10 of the Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of” list. When donating to Direct Relief, you can choose to either direct your gift specifically to their Maternal and Child Health programs or let the organization use the money where it is most needed.
Millennium Development Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
Where to donate: United Nations Foundation Nothing But Nets
Malaria, a disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes, kills over 600,000 people every year. In sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is the leading killer of children; one child dies from the disease every 60 seconds.
In 2006, Rick Reilly published an article in Sports Illustrated challenging his readers to donate to the fight against malaria. His column inspired the creation of Nothing But Nets, which in the past nine years has worked with hundreds of thousands of individuals to distribute bed nets throughout Africa. The organization has also partnered with some big names, including the World Health Organization, the National Basketball Association’s NBA Cares and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The idea behind Nothing But Nets is simple: when bed nets keep out mosquitoes, fewer people are infected with malaria. The insecticide-treated nets also kill mosquitoes, which helps slow the spread of the disease. This life-saving strategy is also relatively cheap; it costs only $10 to send a net to a family in sub-Saharan Africa.
Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Where to donate: Global Greengrants Fund
Want an organization that works to promote sustainability and social justice? Since 1993, Global Greengrants has provided worthy communities with grants to help them face environmental and social challenges. According to the organization’s website, “Global Greengrants believes local people know best how to address the environmental issues impacting their own lives.”
The Global Greengrants Fund supports over 5,300 projects in 163 countries. Before giving a grant, the organization’s team of Grant Advisors carefully reviews which projects will receive funding. Once chosen, grant recipients use the money to combat issues such as fresh water shortages, biodiversity loss and land rights violations. Women in Ghana, for example, used a Greengrant to prevent a mining company from destroying their freshwater spring. Community members in Indonesia used their Greengrant to keep palm-oil companies from illegally clear-cutting local rainforests.
Millennium Development Goal 8: Global Partnership for Development
What to donate: Your time!
Millennium Development Goal 8 is especially complex. It calls for fairer trade practices, better debt relief services, affordable access to pharmaceutical drugs and new technologies and increased aid for the world’s poorest countries. While all these targets may seem overwhelming, you can advocate to make your support for them heard.
Time can be just as valuable a donation as money. Call or email your Congressional representatives and ask them to support bills such as the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2015. The act would allow U.S. global food aid to reach over eight million more people while saving an estimated $440 million.
Another important bill to support is the Electrify Africa Act, which addresses the target of MDG 8 that calls for increased availability of technology in developing regions. The bill was passed by the House in 2014 but never made it through the Senate. Show your Congressional leaders that the Millenium Development Goal like this matter to you by making a 30-second phone call.
– Caitlin Harrison
To see part one of this article, please click here.
Sources: Direct Relief, Nothing But Nets, Global Greengrants Fund, The Borgen Project
Photo: Flickr
Charity for Every Millennium Development Goal
Looking to gain some good karma? A Millennium development goal can address many issues ranging from health to HIV/AIDS. This list recommends one great way to support each of the latter four Millennium Development Goals. All charities listed have a score of 96 or higher on Charity Navigator. To see part one of this article, please click here.
Millennium Development Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Where to donate: Direct Relief
Women in low-income countries are at a startling disadvantage when it comes to maternal health. Worldwide, a woman dies from complications during pregnancy or childbirth every two minutes. Even more shocking is the fact that 90 percent of these women die from preventable conditions.
One of Direct Relief’s chief programs works to improve the health of mothers in impoverished countries. The organization’s health services train and equip midwives, provide emergency obstetric care and treat birth-related injuries.
Charity Navigator recently ranked Direct Relief at the top of its “10 of the Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of” list. When donating to Direct Relief, you can choose to either direct your gift specifically to their Maternal and Child Health programs or let the organization use the money where it is most needed.
Millennium Development Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
Where to donate: United Nations Foundation Nothing But Nets
Malaria, a disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes, kills over 600,000 people every year. In sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is the leading killer of children; one child dies from the disease every 60 seconds.
In 2006, Rick Reilly published an article in Sports Illustrated challenging his readers to donate to the fight against malaria. His column inspired the creation of Nothing But Nets, which in the past nine years has worked with hundreds of thousands of individuals to distribute bed nets throughout Africa. The organization has also partnered with some big names, including the World Health Organization, the National Basketball Association’s NBA Cares and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The idea behind Nothing But Nets is simple: when bed nets keep out mosquitoes, fewer people are infected with malaria. The insecticide-treated nets also kill mosquitoes, which helps slow the spread of the disease. This life-saving strategy is also relatively cheap; it costs only $10 to send a net to a family in sub-Saharan Africa.
Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Where to donate: Global Greengrants Fund
Want an organization that works to promote sustainability and social justice? Since 1993, Global Greengrants has provided worthy communities with grants to help them face environmental and social challenges. According to the organization’s website, “Global Greengrants believes local people know best how to address the environmental issues impacting their own lives.”
The Global Greengrants Fund supports over 5,300 projects in 163 countries. Before giving a grant, the organization’s team of Grant Advisors carefully reviews which projects will receive funding. Once chosen, grant recipients use the money to combat issues such as fresh water shortages, biodiversity loss and land rights violations. Women in Ghana, for example, used a Greengrant to prevent a mining company from destroying their freshwater spring. Community members in Indonesia used their Greengrant to keep palm-oil companies from illegally clear-cutting local rainforests.
Millennium Development Goal 8: Global Partnership for Development
What to donate: Your time!
Millennium Development Goal 8 is especially complex. It calls for fairer trade practices, better debt relief services, affordable access to pharmaceutical drugs and new technologies and increased aid for the world’s poorest countries. While all these targets may seem overwhelming, you can advocate to make your support for them heard.
Time can be just as valuable a donation as money. Call or email your Congressional representatives and ask them to support bills such as the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2015. The act would allow U.S. global food aid to reach over eight million more people while saving an estimated $440 million.
Another important bill to support is the Electrify Africa Act, which addresses the target of MDG 8 that calls for increased availability of technology in developing regions. The bill was passed by the House in 2014 but never made it through the Senate. Show your Congressional leaders that the Millenium Development Goal like this matter to you by making a 30-second phone call.
– Caitlin Harrison
To see part one of this article, please click here.
Sources: Direct Relief, Nothing But Nets, Global Greengrants Fund, The Borgen Project
Photo: Flickr
Photonic Fence Zapping Malaria, One Mosquito at a Time
A laser defense system from the scientists at Intellectual Ventures may prove to be an effective weapon against malaria-spreading mosquitoes.
The device is known as a “photonic fence” and works by monitoring a virtual field for disturbances caused by insects. Once an intruder is properly identified as a mosquito, it is targeted with a deadly laser. Within a fraction of a second, the device shears off the bug’s wing, leaving it dead or incapacitated.
Bees, butterflies and humans need not worry, however; the software powering the photonic fence is precise. It can determine not only the type of insect but also its gender and species. This accuracy is needed because only mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles carry malaria and only females bite people. The software analyzes insect size, wing movement pattern, airspeed and other characteristics to discern friend from foe.
Naturally, the idea is not without its skeptics. One concern is that rural areas often have unreliable power grids. The scientists at Intellectual Ventures hope to solve this problem with the use of solar cells. The laser itself doesn’t require much energy, as it targets the wings of a mosquito rather than its tough exoskeleton.
Intellectual Ventures sees the device as supplementing, rather than replacing current measures of control. These include habitat destruction, nets for homes and beds, as well as pesticides. Nonlethal uses of the photonic fence are also possible, such as monitoring mosquitoes or agricultural pests so that they can be treated with more traditional methods.
The company is currently field testing the device in a partnership with Lighting Science Group. Models are not yet for sale and the so-called mosquito laser will need to be produced cheaply in order to be effective.
The device couldn’t come at a better time. Over three billion people—more than half the world’s population—are at risk of malaria worldwide. An estimated 584,000 people died of malaria in 2013, out of 198 million cases. Although the disease is present in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, most deaths due to malaria occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Young children are particularly vulnerable to the disease; it is estimated a child dies of malaria every minute.
Its widespread economic effects worsen malaria’s human devastation. Several studies have demonstrated a relationship between malaria and poverty, and many of the world’s poorest countries have high rates of the disease. Refugees and transient people are at heightened risk of malarial infection, as they may not have developed any immunity.
– Kevin Mclaughlin
Sources: Intellectual Ventures, NCBI, WHO
Photo: Intellectual Ventures Lab
This Generation’s Billionaires Start as Technopreneurs
Bill Gates has an annual income higher than that of many countries. If he were a country, he would be the sixty-fifth richest in the world. He has an estimated net worth of $77.8 billion and is widely considered to be the wealthiest individual in the world. All that from selling computers and software.
In 2011, President Barack Obama called for an “all hands on deck” approach to innovation, encouraging government officials, academics and philanthropists to “spark … creativity and imagination.”
This is an important priority of America’s domestically and abroad. Partnership for Growth, a bilateral effort to promote inclusive economic growth, has enabled USAID to place a new emphasis on innovation and education, most notably in the Philippines, which recently played host to the Global Entrepreneurship Symposium and Workshop, a summit designed to help young Filipino inventors hone their ideas, connect with possible investors and launch their businesses.
Aid professionals are hopeful that an emphasis on launching small tech startups will drive long-lasting growth in countries like the Philippines, which have an undersized middle class.
“Entrepreneurship is the fastest way to move wealth in society. Education gives people the tools to innovate and build businesses,” says Dado Banatao, a Filipino-American engineer and entrepreneur who now runs the Philippine Development Foundation and works with young inventors. “Entrepreneurship leads to the creation of jobs and redistribution of wealth, and puts the Philippines on the global economic map.”
In the United States, two-thirds of jobs are generated by small and medium-scale businesses. These small businesses are at the heart of a middle class, the sweet spot between struggling to survive and living to excess. Most developing countries lack a robust middle class. Instead of small and medium-scale businesses, developing countries like the Philippines have offices for mega-corporations like McDonalds, and nameless micro-enterprises like street food vendors or family-run convenience shops.
Even if a technopreneur does not strike it rich, she or he could still run her or his venture like a small or medium business. More businesses mean more jobs, which is an improvement for everyone. With this growing push for innovation and empowerment, it would not be a stretch to predict that the next generation of billionaires will be making their first millions as the founders of tech companies in developing countries.
– Marina Middleton
Sources: USAID, Brookings Institution, Universiti Kuala Lumpur
Photo: Flickr
Poverty in Ahmedabad, India
With a population of around 8 million, the city of Ahmedabad is the largest in India’s western region of Gujarat. While India has long held a reputation for being one of the world’s least developed countries, it has steadily been shifting and is now one of the fastest growing developing countries. Poverty in India is starting to disappear; industry is thriving, literacy rates are increasing and the world community is beginning to see it as a real front-runner. There is no better example of this new shift in development than Ahmedabad.
Census information gathered in 2001 showed a literacy rate of around 79 percent. The next census, gathered in 2011, revealed a great increase, showing that around 85 percent of the population was literate. The first step in decreasing poverty is increasing education. For many years, India has faced issues with its large impoverished communities not allowing their children to attend school because they needed them to work in order to support the family. Now, with increased aid from various NGO’s and family structure organizations, Ahmedabad’s youth have been, for the most part, educated at least to an 8th grade level. This six percent gain is not the only leap that Ahmedabad has made.
When one imagines India, they might picture crowded streets, pollution, over-population, grand temples and the Taj Mahal, which would all suffice to describe it. However, recent census information has shown a 1.55 percent decrease in birthrates. While to some this may seem sad, it is quite the opposite. Many poor families will have upwards of 8 children in an attempt to have as many people working in order to support the family. Often, women are overwhelmed by the pressure to have kids, and with no safe methods of birth control available, many have more than ten in their lifetimes. While supporting 10 kids is hard enough, this amount of children can also be very detrimental to a woman’s health. Many women to die during childbirth. In the past few years, many women’s health organizations have gone to the slums of India to introduce birth control packs and condoms to the people. This decrease in birthrate is also accompanied by a 6 percent decrease in death rates of women during childbirth, as the amount of institutionalized deliveries has increased by 13 percent. While this may seem small, it marks a big change for the city of Ahmedabad and India as a whole.
As India continues to grow, poverty rates in Ahmedabad are decreasing. Occupying a large strip of the coastline, Gujarat is one of the best areas for businesses seeking to work overseas to take root. The business models in Gujarat and Ahmedabad have been described by UNICEF as “being a highly effective growth and private sector-driven model. In fact, the average growth rate of GDP in Gujarat over the past two decades has been higher than the national average, and more balanced than the other high growth-rate states.” This positive increase in GDP is primarily due to the agricultural and business sectors.
For now it looks like poverty is out and development is in for the great city of Ahmedabad, and this is a trend that the global community hopes to see a lot more of in the future.
— Sumita Tellakat
Sources: UNICEF India, Journal of Health Population and Nutrition, Ahmedabad Census 2011
Photo: Flickr
What’s ‘Musicogenic’ Got to Do with It?
Musicogenic epilepsy is defined as a rare neurological disorder retaining seizures that are triggered by the onsets of different sounds layered in musical pieces.
Initially considered “reflex epilepsy” that stemmed from the right temporal lobe according to a 1989 study, it would be later proven in further research that the disorder stemmed from multiple temporal lobe foci, alongside holding ties with certain emotional reactions and additionally breaking loose from categorization as a “reflex” disorder.
As early as 1937, researcher MacDonald Critchley recorded three cases that attained a then unknown phenomenon that would become the ‘musicogenic’ disorder. Critchley noted that the disorder was “too rare,” but did assure that the seizures could not occur without the inclusion of music, also adding that certain types of music contributed to the cause.
Take note of Mariah Carey’s 1993 up-tempo classic, “Dreamlover,” for example.
The angelic recording would live up to its critical title as an “infectious tune,” when in 1998, a Japanese native woman alleged that three minutes into the piece triggered a seizure episode, resulting in a lengthy hospital visit accompanied by a series of medical tests. It would then be found that certain elements—allegedly the sound of the production’s bells—would play a role in the attack.
What soon followed was not only an alleged lawsuit launched against Ms. Carey’s recording label, but also a more redefined look into the mysteries concerning the neurological disorder.
In 2003, during infantile epileptic testing, the 6-month-old subject’s right-sided focal seizures were triggered by loud music performed by The Beatles. Researchers formulated that personal musicality and sensory response served as potential results for the causes of the attacks.
However, in a recent study conducted in 2014, it was reinstated that emotion served as a driving response when testing the playback of Russian music to a 32-year-old epileptic-sufferer. Further findings indicated that the dysregulation process of “musically-induced emotions” played a role in musicogenic seizures, rather than the musical stimulus itself.
More results from the testing theorized that the newfound discovery of cognitive dysregulation could hold potential links to other forms of epilepsy, such as reading epilepsy.
Though it is still a developing mystery, several forms of epilepsy still account as a large suffering and mortality rate in impoverished settings; two-times the amount when compared to high-income settings.
In lower-income regions, where high mortality rates are often associated with the lack of treatment in epilepsy, medical supplies to aid epileptic-sufferers have been scarce. This results in the growth of risk factors.
As developments continue to be designated, inexpensive interventions are at the forefront of ultimate factors in minimizing epileptic rates. Other solutions presented include risk factor prevention, improved access to biomedical treatment and continuous supply of high-quality antiepileptic drugs.
Medical analysts are determined and confident that progressive testing and newly discovered results will yield the musicogenic disorder into the right direction for the betterment of studying, and moreover, for the potential solution to accompanying epilepsy cases in poverty-stricken areas.
– Jeff Varner
Sources: NCBI 1, The Lancet, NCBI 2, Editors Choice Archive, NCBI 3, Brain, NCBI 4, NCBI 5
Photo: Wikipedia
Afghanistan’s Rule of Law and Future Can Flourish
Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous and impoverished nations in the world. What can be done to help to turn it around?
One of the biggest problems Afghanistan faces is its history of a weak rule of law. The rule of law has to do with the strength of legal institutions, as well as laws themselves. It also applies to how laws are carried out—equally or unequally.
When the rule of law is strong, it provides a basis for a society’s economic development, security, infrastructure and an accountable government. A strong rule of law also improves public health, alleviates poverty and improves education.
Weak rule of law leads to crime, corruption and the unequal application of laws across a society. Afghanistan has struggled with all these things, and improving and solidifying the rule of law is important to secure its future. For a country to flourish, a strong rule of law is needed.
It is a generally accepted idea, that for some, education is a pathway out of poverty. However, without a strong rule of law, which limits the Taliban preventing girls from going to school or corruption from impacting learner’s education, this pathway is fraught with difficulties. Corruption is a massive problem in Afghanistan—the country ranked last for the absence of corruption in the World Justice Project’s 2014 Rule of Law Index.
Sadly, the problem runs deeper than merely educating Afghan girls and boys with hopes that they will escape poverty. For Afghanistan to improve its rule of law and therefore it’s future, it’s legal education system must continue to be developed.
Because of Afghanistan’s five constitutions since 1964 along with Soviet occupation and the Taliban government, the country’s legal system been decimated and fallen behind the rest of the world. The legal education system has failed to produce a capable body of legal experts, instead a group of jurists who have made their best effort in recent times but are woefully unprepared.
Since U.S. military intervention and the fall of the Taliban in 2001, much has been done to try and improve both the university and legal education systems in the county. Strengthening these institutions can lead to fewer instances of land disputes—the main cause of conflict in Afghanistan. They are common because both informal and formal devices used to resolve the conflicts are fragile and weak.
Land disputes are also a perfect example of a weak rule of law because they illustrate an instance where a law says one thing, but in practice, it is not relevant, enforced or practical. The current land ownership law states the need for documents proving ownership of land, however, only 20 percent of land actually has these documents.
The U.S. State Department has played a role in developing the legal system in Afghanistan by bringing young lawyers to the U.S. to study, who have then gone back to their home country to set up legal practices. This is a good step, but improvement in the rule of law via more development of the legal education system in Afghanistan itself could go even further to improve its future as a safer, less impoverished country.
– Greg Baker
Sources: The Hague Institute for Global Justice, The New York Times, United States Institute for Peace, The World Justice Project, U.S. Department of State
Photo: Clarksville Online
Malaria on its Way Out; Good News to Come
Malaria is spread through mosquitoes that carry the disease. In the United States, the swamps and marshes that housed malaria-carrying mosquitoes were destroyed to eradicate the disease, a trick that worked well. However, this is not a tactic that will work worldwide, especially in hot and humid places where the majority of the landscape is marshland.
In places like these, a promising solution has been created: long-lasting, insecticide-treated nets (LLINs). An insecticide-treated net is a bed net that has been treated with safe, residual insecticide to kill and repel the infected mosquitoes while also physically blocking them out. LLINs are designed to remain effective for multiple years without needing to retreat.
Malaria kills about 660,000 people a year, most being children. LLINs are cost-effective in production and distribution and are considered to be one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives. The process of distribution is simple and thorough: survey the people to determine the need for the nets, deliver the LLINs, and then promote their use.
In the 2012 World Malaria Report that looked at 17 sub-Saharan African countries determined that 68-84 percent of people that owned the nets were using them, an increase since 2010. Along with this increase came fewer malaria-related deaths; however, the exact figures collected were fairly unreliable.
However, with a long-term solution at hand, scientists can focus on eradicating the disease entirely. In the Southern U.S. and Europe, where malaria has been eradicated, a big factor in defeating the disease was a change in human behavior, a shift in land use, and in housing. Scientists believe that more research is needed to understand the factors affecting transmission before the disease will be fully eradicated.
There is a long way to go before malaria is gone for good, but the long-lasting, insecticide-treated nets have proven to be successful in the lives of individuals. They are cost-effective and well-used. Eradication of malaria is within the foreseeable future.
– Hannah Resnick
Sources: Give Well, TDR
Photo: Fast Coexist
Five Companies Dedicated to Helping the World’s Poor
TOMS Shoes has a wonderful business plan: for every one pair of shoes that is purchased, one pair of shoes is given to a person in need. But they are not the only company that is dedicated to helping people out of poverty through their business plan.
The five businesses listed below are not a comprehensive list of dedicated companies by any means, but they are committed to using their products and platform to help those in poverty around the world with the most basic needs, specifically water, health and education.
Three Avocados
Three Avocados donates their profits to help provide clean water in Uganda and education initiatives in Nicaragua. The organization grows coffee bean in both countries. The Three Avocados website reports over 20,000 people in Uganda have been impacted by the company’s involvement in providing clean water. Consumers are able to buy sustainable coffee beans while helping people who need clean water and better education.
World Crafts
World Crafts operates in several countries around the globe empowering the artisans through fair trade initiatives. A number of the artisans are women who produce their goods as a means to raise their family out of poverty, such as the Miao women of China. Through embroidering beautiful designs onto various bags and such, the women are given the chance to raise their economic status and send their children to secondary school.
Hand in Hand
Hand in Hand creates artisan soaps that have a one to one donation ratio, which means that buying one bar of soap allows the company to donate one bar of soap and a month of clean water to people in Haiti. Clean water and proper hygiene through the use of the soap will, in part, help cut down on diseases in the area. The company is also committed to sustainable and environmentally safe ingredients for their soaps.
Ornaments 4 Orphans
Ornaments 4 Orphans operates on several levels. First, ornaments are created in areas stricken with poverty to boost the economy, and second, the proceeds from selling the ornaments are used to help children in need. Orphans in areas of poverty are prone to illness, sexual exploitation and lack of education. By using the proceeds to help orphans, the children are given a chance to create a brighter future than they might have had otherwise.
Starbucks and Oprah Chai
Starbucks offers a drink called the Oprah Chai. A portion of the money earned whenever a drink is purchased will go directly to Oprah Winfrey’s charity, the Leadership Academy Foundation. The foundation pledges to bring education opportunities, especially opportunities for higher education, to girls in South Africa.
While buying from these companies will directly help individuals in need, more can and should be done. Purchasing these products, as well as items from other responsible companies, will help raise awareness for the efforts needed to help people out of poverty. Consider using birthdays, graduations and other holiday events to make an impact in someone else’s life.
The list above barely touches the scope of companies that are doing good on the global scale. For even more ideas, check out Shop With Meaning to find other companies dedicated to helping those in poverty around the world.
– Megan Ivy
Sources: Three Avocados, WorldCrafts, Hand in Hand Soap, Ornaments 4 Orphans, Starbucks, ShopWithMeaning
Photo: Style Quotidien
Malnutrition in Burundi
Burundi was rated the world’s leading nation affected by hunger, according to the 2014 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a score calculated annually by the International Food Policy Research Institute. Plagued with political turmoil and prone to natural disasters, Burundi has seen rates of malnutrition increase in recent years. Despite global strides in combating malnutrition in recent history, Burundi is one of only four nations that has seen an increase in GHI from 1990 to 2014, indicating a worsening situation in the country. With 67.3 percent of the overall population undernourished, it is one of two countries with a hunger situation labeled “extremely alarming” in the study.
As the vast majority of Burundi’s population relies on agriculture, many of the country’s inhabitants combat food insecurity and malnutrition due to climate hazards, limited land access and limited crop diversity. Despite a constantly growing population, food production has stagnated at pre-1993 levels, according to the World Food Programme. Additionally, due to the rising costs of food — the price of beans increased by nearly 50 percent in recent years — the average household now spends over 70 percent of its income on food. While the nation’s government has programs in place to assist in the fight against malnutrition, it is growing increasingly costly for the country to deal with the worsening problem.
Common causes of malnutrition in the country include kwashiorkor and marasmus, both of which can stunt development and can be life-threatening if not treated. Although women and young children are most at risk for diseases caused by malnutrition, many men are also affected.
Additionally, many children and women suffer from a lack of micronutrients in their diets. In the first two years of life, it is especially crucial for children to get sufficient amounts of micronutrients such as iron, Vitamin A, iodine and zinc. Such nutrients are critical for physical growth and intellectual development.
Anemia is one of the biggest deficiency problems currently faced in Burundi, with 56 percent of children under the age of 5, and 47 percent of pregnant women anemic, according to the World Bank. Additionally, nearly half of the population as a whole is at risk for insufficient zinc intake, and a quarter of the country’s children under 5 and 12 percent of women are Vitamin A deficient. Although the effects of these deficiencies are less dire in the short term, they contribute to life-threatening illnesses and issues.
In order to address the problems of malnutrition in Burundi, the World Bank recommends extensive vitamin A supplementation and deworming in children under 5-years-old and increased iron supplementation for pregnant women. While about 96 percent of households are already consuming iodized salt, the World Bank recommends “universal salt iodization” in order to control iodine deficiency and avoid IQ loss in young children. Working to increase market and infrastructure development to promote dietary diversity can also combat issues with malnourishment.
Education and counseling services can also serve to improve feeding habits for children under five years old. While Burundi sees a lack of gender equality in most sects of life, women are still seen to have a strong maternal role in the family. UNICEF found that children of mothers with at least a primary level of education have 94 percent of fewer risks of growth stunting from malnutrition than children of mothers with no education. The study showed that mothers with some level of education had been proactive in managing malnutrition than other mothers, recognizing the importance of good breastfeeding habits, clean living and staggering pregnancies.
Since 2005, the Ministry of Health has emphasized building community-based infrastructure to screen for and treat acute malnutrition. Many organizations are also working with the Burundi government to increase education programs for mothers in order to deal with the country’s chronic malnutrition. In 2012, Burundi signed on to the Scaling up Nutrition initiative, which works with the United Nations, civil society, donors, businesses and researchers to work with communities on this issue. The initiative involves an interdisciplinary approach to combating malnutrition. Burundi’s approach, as established through the initiative, involves working to protect maternity leave, create legislation on the marketing of breast milk substitute, establish national directives on food, diversify and increase its food production, and increase nutrition education. The established goal in 2012 was to reduce malnutrition rates by 10 percent by 2016. No information has been released by Scaling up Nutrition or by the Burundian government on the progress of this goal.
– Arin Kerstein
Sources: International Food Policy Research Institute, International Food Policy Research Institute, Iwacu-Burundi, Scaling Up Nutrition, World Bank, Wolrd Food Programme, UNICEF
Photo: The Guardian
Solar-Powered iShack Lights Up South Africa
In 2012, South Africa’s subsidized housing program had built about 2.8 million houses since 1994. As impressive as that is, the country still faced a backlog of nearly 2 million homes. Facing these numbers, the government decided to shift its focus from providing new-made homes for every household to improving current living conditions. Approximately 1.2 million households, or 3 million people, are still living in informal homes today. These shacks have no electricity or running water. Many are uninsulated and poorly ventilated, creating unhealthy environments for those inside.
Mark Swilling decided to address this problem back in 2011. Swilling, the academic head of the Sustainability Institute in Stellenbosch, asked his students, “‘What can be done while people are waiting?’ We wanted to orientate [our research] towards what the average shack dweller could do while they are waiting for the state.”
His question led to the solar-powered iShack. The shiny metal walls of these ‘improved shacks’ stand out in shantytowns where wooden pallets and corroded sheets of zinc are the building norm. The shacks also feature insulation made of recycled plastic products, a layer of insulating bricks around the bases of the walls, windows designed to improve airflow, and a coat of fire-retardant paint.
The most popular feature by far, however, is the solar electricity. The shacks are equipped with a photovoltaic panel on the roof that powers a porch light and interior lights, as well as an electrical outlet that makes it possible for residents to charge their cell phones.
Damian Conway, manager and director of the Sustainability Institute Innovation Lab, the main team behind the implantation of the iShack, says that part of their research methodology was paying close attention to what they community really wanted. “Electricity is the number one thing that most people in Enkanini say they need,” Conway says. “The needs are all there: sanitation, water … but the main thing is energy.”
The iShack has been warmly received. Nosango Plaatjie, a mother of three living in one of the iShack prototypes, commented that the ability to keep her phone charged and her lights on has made a huge difference to her family.
“The solar [lights] are better,” Plaatije said. “Now we don’t need to go to sleep early anymore because now we have lights. My daughter must do her homework now, she doesn’t have any more excuses. And I like the light outside because we can see what is going on, I feel safer.”
The iShack model of incremental improvements to already-existing settlements has a lot of people excited. In 2013, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supplied the organization with a grant that would allow the project to roll out across the informal settlement of Enkanini.
With much success and steadily rising support from the local community, other groups are beginning to take notice. Slum Dwellers International, a global nonprofit that serves the urban poor, is watching iShack with an eye toward implementing the project across many countries in Africa.
The secretariat-coordinator Joel Bolnick gave the impression of hopeful patience when he said, “Our intention is to give the institute some time to develop the model. They’re almost there now.”
– Marina Middleton
Sources: Mashable, The Guardian iShack Project CNN Live Science Mail & Guardian
Photo: Street News Service