More and more countries around the world are opening their arms to welcome and embrace LGBT pride. Although not everyone in these countries are in complete agreement on LGBT rights, the presence of the LGBT community in mainstream media demonstrates increasing open-mindedness.
However, the opposite seems to be the case in Africa. 36 out of Africa’s 55 states outlaw homosexuality. Homosexuals in Nigeria are locked up for 14 years while their Ugandan counterparts face life sentences. Moreover, the Ugandan government expects its citizens to report suspected gay friends and family.
Incarceration is not the only injustice homosexual Africans face. In South Africa, where same-sex marriage is legal, homosexuals, especially lesbians, still face violence and “corrective” rape. By ostracizing homosexual individuals, communities deny rights to these individuals and inhibit their access to economic opportunities and basic health needs.
Homosexual individuals face difficulties finding jobs, whether they are searching for a willing employer or trying to start their own business. They are mocked, shunned and even assaulted. Due to these injustices, there are high poverty rates in the LGBT community where people suffer from hunger and insecurity.
Also, by denying a large part of health care access to homosexuals, the rate of HIV/AIDS continues to climb among the LGBT community, especially among men who have sex with other men. In South Africa, the rate of HIV/AIDS among gay men is as high as 38 percent. To avoid discrimination, these men avoid seeking medical care and avoid discussing their health issues with health care professionals. This delay in seeking treatment is detrimental and without proper care and education, infected individuals may spread the disease. The incidence of HIV/AIDS has a strong foothold in South Africa, with the overall prevalence being 17.8 percent.
The stringent African laws make it difficult for foreign intervention and reform. Foreign disapproval of Africa’s anti-LGBT legislation is a sensitive subject. When British Prime Minister David Cameron said that British aid should be conditional based on how Africa handled its human rights, there was an outcry that Britain was being colonially oppressive by introducing “western values.”
However, as Chimamanda Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, has stated, love and sexual intercourse are not divided as either “African” or “Western.” Love does not fall under any political jurisdiction.
There is also a moral question behind using humanitarian aid as a negotiating wager in order to press for LGBT rights in Africa. The humanitarian aid that countries withdraw in protest could be potential funding for African schools and hospitals. Also, the governments in Africa are unfazed by Western countries’ suspension of certain donations, since Africa can turn to China as an economic partner. This approach of coercing African governments has made very little headway.
Even if Africa were to yield their anti-LGBT legislation, it would be based on money. Western countries’ use of bargaining donations and aid to change deeply set morals in Africa is a superficial tactic.
Instead, foreign governments should help local African activist groups gain the attention of their governments. Aid and support from foreign relief agencies should be directed to these local humanitarian groups, to help them lobby their governments and bring social justice. It’s a fight for the people by the people, with international governments to back them up.
There is an LGBT Project in South Africa that aims to understand why unsafe sex occurs among LGBT individuals, so as to better help these individuals. The project also hopes to increase funding for other partner activist projects, and use advocacy campaigns to establish the needs of gay men as a priority in the National AIDS Council.
The Public Health Program’s Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP) is also working to advocate for LGBT health rights in Eastern and Southern Africa by looking into the needs of the LGBT community and collecting data and reports.
There are many advocacy groups and projects in Africa and around the world. Western governments should actively engage with these groups in order to understand how supporting these communities can drive social change.
– Carmen Tu
Sources: Bridging the Gaps, Huffington Post, Human Rights First, Open Society Foundaitons, Sida
Photo: Bridging the Gaps,
LGBT Health in Africa
More and more countries around the world are opening their arms to welcome and embrace LGBT pride. Although not everyone in these countries are in complete agreement on LGBT rights, the presence of the LGBT community in mainstream media demonstrates increasing open-mindedness.
However, the opposite seems to be the case in Africa. 36 out of Africa’s 55 states outlaw homosexuality. Homosexuals in Nigeria are locked up for 14 years while their Ugandan counterparts face life sentences. Moreover, the Ugandan government expects its citizens to report suspected gay friends and family.
Incarceration is not the only injustice homosexual Africans face. In South Africa, where same-sex marriage is legal, homosexuals, especially lesbians, still face violence and “corrective” rape. By ostracizing homosexual individuals, communities deny rights to these individuals and inhibit their access to economic opportunities and basic health needs.
Homosexual individuals face difficulties finding jobs, whether they are searching for a willing employer or trying to start their own business. They are mocked, shunned and even assaulted. Due to these injustices, there are high poverty rates in the LGBT community where people suffer from hunger and insecurity.
Also, by denying a large part of health care access to homosexuals, the rate of HIV/AIDS continues to climb among the LGBT community, especially among men who have sex with other men. In South Africa, the rate of HIV/AIDS among gay men is as high as 38 percent. To avoid discrimination, these men avoid seeking medical care and avoid discussing their health issues with health care professionals. This delay in seeking treatment is detrimental and without proper care and education, infected individuals may spread the disease. The incidence of HIV/AIDS has a strong foothold in South Africa, with the overall prevalence being 17.8 percent.
The stringent African laws make it difficult for foreign intervention and reform. Foreign disapproval of Africa’s anti-LGBT legislation is a sensitive subject. When British Prime Minister David Cameron said that British aid should be conditional based on how Africa handled its human rights, there was an outcry that Britain was being colonially oppressive by introducing “western values.”
However, as Chimamanda Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, has stated, love and sexual intercourse are not divided as either “African” or “Western.” Love does not fall under any political jurisdiction.
There is also a moral question behind using humanitarian aid as a negotiating wager in order to press for LGBT rights in Africa. The humanitarian aid that countries withdraw in protest could be potential funding for African schools and hospitals. Also, the governments in Africa are unfazed by Western countries’ suspension of certain donations, since Africa can turn to China as an economic partner. This approach of coercing African governments has made very little headway.
Even if Africa were to yield their anti-LGBT legislation, it would be based on money. Western countries’ use of bargaining donations and aid to change deeply set morals in Africa is a superficial tactic.
Instead, foreign governments should help local African activist groups gain the attention of their governments. Aid and support from foreign relief agencies should be directed to these local humanitarian groups, to help them lobby their governments and bring social justice. It’s a fight for the people by the people, with international governments to back them up.
There is an LGBT Project in South Africa that aims to understand why unsafe sex occurs among LGBT individuals, so as to better help these individuals. The project also hopes to increase funding for other partner activist projects, and use advocacy campaigns to establish the needs of gay men as a priority in the National AIDS Council.
The Public Health Program’s Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP) is also working to advocate for LGBT health rights in Eastern and Southern Africa by looking into the needs of the LGBT community and collecting data and reports.
There are many advocacy groups and projects in Africa and around the world. Western governments should actively engage with these groups in order to understand how supporting these communities can drive social change.
– Carmen Tu
Sources: Bridging the Gaps, Huffington Post, Human Rights First, Open Society Foundaitons, Sida
Photo: Bridging the Gaps,
Problems Along the Kurdistan Border
The recent turmoil taking place in Iraq has caused massive changes in the political, social and cultural landscape of the country. One interesting area that hasn’t been given very much attention is Kurdistan, located in the northernmost portion of the country.
The semi-autonomous region has remained very stable, which is particularly intriguing considering that the rest of the country is beginning to unravel. As a result, it has become a very desirable destination for Iraqi refugees suffering from the turmoil in their local communities; the number of Iraqis attempting to cross the Kurdistan border has grown.
When conflict first started to break out in Iraq, the Kurdistan borders were open for any Iraqi who needed shelter and security. In the immediate aftermath of ISIS taking Mosul, around 500,000 Iraqis made their way into Kurdistan. However, more recently the border has been significantly tightened as fewer and fewer people are able to cross into Kurdistan.
According to various NGOs working along the border, checkpoints have been increasingly closed off to migrants, leaving thousands waiting for days on end in the blazing heat. This wait is made even worse by a severe lack of information and limited access to food, water and shelter.
One major checkpoint, Khazair, does have a transit camp that is open to those waiting to get into Kurdistan. It offers some modicum of shelter and safety, but very little comfort. A recent report from REACH has indicated that just under half of the refugees were at the camp because they had been refused entry into Kurdistan.
Despite these less than ideal circumstances along the Kurdish border, there’s an even deeper layer to the process of entering the area. Various rights groups have brought attention to different levels of access offered to people and families based on their religious affiliation and ethnicity. Kurds, Christians, and those who have sponsors inside Kurdistan are able to cross with relative ease.
In comparison, Sunni and Shia Arabs have been regularly stopped and/or sent to temporary holding sites. As one senior aid worker from an NGO who chose to remain anonymous said, “The blocking of entry to people along ethnic lines is an issue and it needs to be looked at.”
This problem is only exacerbated by the fact that the Kurdish Regional Government has no well-defined entry policy for their region. As Liene Viede, a public information officer for the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) explained: “There is no general and common access policy… According to the observations of our monitors, access policies applied at checkpoints are increasingly unpredictable.”
It remains to be seen how badly this discrimination is affecting the overall access to Kurdistan, or whether more complete or better defined regulations regarding border crossings are in the works. However, the lack of predictability and potential for conflict along ethnic lines is beginning to loom large in what is considered to be one of the most stable areas in the country.
– Andre Gobbo
Sources: IRIN 1, REACH, IRIN 2
Photo: The Guardian
UK Campaign Raises Awareness of Modern Slavery
“Slavery is closer than you think” is the slogan of a new campaign in the United Kingdom to raise awareness of slavery happening in the country. The Home Office has launched a two-month campaign that aims to encourage those experiencing modern-day slavery to come forward and seek help from the government, as well as to urge the public to report anyone suspected of enslaving others.
Modern slavery is a major problem in the U.K. The Human Trafficking Foundation estimates that around 20,000 people are living in slavery throughout the country. The three most common types of slavery are agricultural labor, sexual exploitation in a brothel and domestic servitude in another’s home.
Many cases of slavery have been reported lately. In November, three women were discovered in a house in south London after being held there for 30 years of domestic servitude. In another case, James and Josie Connors were convicted of manipulating and exploiting destitute men for their own financial gain in Bedfordshire.
The slogan encompasses the campaign’s main idea, which is that these examples of modern slavery are going on everywhere, like in average households and families.
A new national helpline, supported by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), has also been created to offer information for victims of slavery on how to get help, and to educate the general public on how to accurately report persecutors.
The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness for these previously unknown situations. Through various forms of advertising, the U.K. government hopes to see more victims seeking help and more people reporting the crimes.
Home Secretary Theresa May said, “The first step to stamping out modern slavery is acknowledging and confronting its existence. This campaign aims to bring this hidden crime out into the open and challenges us all to report it wherever we suspect it.”
– Hannah Cleveland
Sources: The Guardian, BBC
Photo: The Guardian
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
In an effort to increase gender equality in China, at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was created. The platform sought, and still seeks to enact serious change to 12 areas of daily life. According to U.N. Women, the commitment to change spans the following 12 categories:
1. Women and the Environment
2. Women in Power and Decision-Making
3. The Girl Child
4. Women and the Economy
5. Women and Poverty
6. Violence Against Women
7. Human Rights of Women
8. Education and Training of Women
9. Institutional Mechanisms of the Advancement of Women
10. Women and Health
11. Women and the Media
12. Media and Armed Conflict”
Since the conference and the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, there have been major steps toward the advancement of women’s rights. Laws protecting gender-based violence, in general, have become stricter and more women are now serving as political officials.
As the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is coming up on its 20th anniversary, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women is taking a closer look at how some of these changes are being implemented and working to enhance efforts where commitment appears to be lacking.
U.N. Women has discovered that “while today, equal number of boys and girls are receiving primary education in most of the world, few countries have achieved that target at all levels of education.” Moreover, the Millennium Development Goals Report found that worldwide, 126 million children and 781 million adults do not have basic reading and writing skills. Women make up over 60 percent of each statistic, indicating a problem in education distribution between the sexes and the need for greater dedication to the problems surrounding “the girl child.”
At this 20 year mark, in order to promote women’s rights in Beijing, it is crucial to reexamine the declaration and reignite the fire that sparked the dedication to enhancing women’s rights.
– Jordyn Horowitz
Sources: United Nations, UN Women, WNC
Photo: Reuters
DEC: Uniting Humanitarian Agencies
Far too often, disasters strike the areas of the world that are least capable of handling them. Have you ever wondered who coordinates the disaster relief when an earthquake upends a struggling country, or a monsoon floods precious farmland in a developing nation?
Some of the poorest regions ravaged by disasters, like the Haitian earthquake of 2010 or the Tsunami of 2004, have gotten back on their feet thanks to an umbrella organization called the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).
The DEC unites 13 humanitarian agencies to provide aid when the world’s poorest countries get hit by unforeseen tragedies.
Action Aid, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Plan U.K., Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision are 13 leading U.K. aid charities that work together, raising money for quick disaster relief deliveries.
The DEC has run 64 appeals and raised more than $1.8 billion dollars since it’s formation in 1963.
But not every disaster-ridden country receives aid from this conglomerate of humanitarian agencies.
According to the DEC, appeals are reserved for “major disasters and emergencies that cannot be dealt with by the usual coping mechanisms within affected countries and where DEC member agencies are in a position to respond quickly and effectively.”
A spokesperson for Oxfam explained, “We only intervene in countries where there is no infrastructure or resources and people would die if we didn’t go there.”
Because of their connections with major U.K. companies and broadcasters, DEC is able to keep costs low and deliver the greatest possible amount of aid. Less than 5 percent of appeal funding is spent on fundraising, monitoring and reporting back to donors, and up to 7 percent of funds received by member agencies are spent on response measures other than directly helping the survivors of the disaster.
An example of a particularly effective response by the DEC was in 2010 when the monsoon rains in Pakistan displaced 12 million people whose homes were swept away or destroyed. The DEC Pakistan Appeal raised more than $120 million and was able to send 60 percent of the funds to Pakistan in the form of temporary shelters, blankets, cooking utensils and food.
– Grace Flaherty
Sources: Express, DEC
Photo: DEC
Peace Corps Volunteers Out of Kenya
The United States Peace Corps has suspended activity in Kenya, pulling out over 50 volunteers across the country. This is the second time in the last decade Peace Corps volunteers have been evacuated from Kenya for safety reasons.
Tensions are high in the East African state, where a spike in grenade and gunfire assaults over the last couple years, including a mall attack leaving 67 dead last fall, has raised serious concerns by Peace Corps officials on behalf of their volunteers. After a recent security assessment failed to meet the organization’s standards, they felt it necessary to put efforts on hold for an undetermined amount of time until conditions improve.
The Peace Corps press director, Shira Kramer, told Devex that “volunteers’ safety and security are the Peace Corps’ top priorities” and they will reassess the situation “at an appropriate future date to determine if and when volunteers can return.”
The U.S. State Department heightened security measures earlier this year and removed various personnel as well, transferred a regional U.S. Agency for International Development office out of the country, and stationed armed Marines outside and on top of the embassy building.
The Associated Press spoke with three Peace Corps volunteers pulled out of Kenya who attested to the increased emphasis on security by the U.S. government organization. Eventually conditions reached a point where, despite any precautionary efforts, the safety of aid workers could not be guaranteed.
“Some volunteers weren’t very pleased with the level of security they provided, but I’m not sure what they were expecting. We don’t have security guards to protect us, and it’s Kenya, so sometimes bad things happen regardless of any preventative measures,” said volunteer Nick Shcuetz.
“They taught us to be smart about our surroundings and to trust the hairs on the back of our necks to sense whether it was a safe situation or not. And some things like bombings or grenade attacks, you just can’t prepare for other than leaving the country,” he added.
The U.S. was in quiet talks for a while about suspending Peace Corps activity in Kenya. The tipping point was, perhaps, the fatal gunshot to a German tourist on a Kenyan beach just days before the official announcement to withdraw. The Peace Corps volunteers pulled out of Kenya thought the decision was reasonable as well.
The Peace Corps’ ability was able to accurately assess the state of security in Kenya and evacuate its members at what seems like the appropriate point in time. The decision is reinforced by the testimonies of the field workers removed from their stations who, for the most part, felt safe up until just before their removal.
The volunteers and officials recognize that the situation is not victimless, however. The Peace Corps assisted in education, health and community and economic development including HIV/AIDS treatment and counseling for numerous Kenyans. Those who depended on the organization’s services will suffer most until conditions stabilize and any developmental progress boosted by the U.S. will stagnate in the meantime as well.
“Kenya is spearheading the growth and trends of so many sectors in East Africa,” said volunteer Travis Axe. “It is a shame to see such a wonderful program be cut from a country that has so much potential.”
– Edward Heinrich
Sources: Daily Mail, Devex, The Star
Photo: Daily Mail
Climate Change and Pathogen Ranges
The effects of climate change are numerous: ocean levels are rising, meteorological events are becoming stronger and increasingly unpredictable and the incidence of heat-related illness is increasing across the world. Yet experts are just beginning to understand one effect of a changing climate: the capacity for pathogens to migrate around the globe and infect populations that have previously never been in contact with these microorganisms.
Combined, these effects have the potential to cause extreme poverty. Loss of property and life resulting from rising sea levels and strong storms deprive people of both wealth and other resources.
However, the global health conundrum that is changing pathogen ranges is also a poverty issue in its own right. Poor human health places burdens on individuals and their family members that may cause them to lose employment opportunities and large sums of money. Being ill is no easy fortune, but the impoverishment that often accompanies illness can be worse yet.
As warming weather drives animals toward more hospitable environments, pathogens too are expanding their ranges and at the same time, are finding hosts they’ve never met. While it’s working out well for these pathogens, humans, other animals and plants aren’t faring too well.
A species of sea otters in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska has become ill from a virus that originated in the northern Atlantic Ocean; science writer Chris Solomon suggests that due to declining sea ice levels, “disease is finding new lanes of travel.”
It makes sense – pathogens are highly dependent on temperature for survival, and many bacteria and viruses thrive in the type of warm, wet environments that are becoming more and more prevalent as the climate changes. Not only do rising sea levels give pathogens access to a wider range of space (and accordingly, hosts) but also as animals move around seeking cooler climates, they take pathogens and parasites along with them, allowing them to infect entirely new populations.
What does this mean for humans? Well, the effects of expanding pathogen ranges are manifold. First, like Alaska’s sea otters, humans may soon fall prey to microorganisms not previously seen in their parts of the world. Prevention and treatment of illnesses caused by unfamiliar pathogens will be difficult and costly.
Inevitably, some humans – though it is impossible now to estimate just how many – will die.
Since human health is directly related to poverty outcomes, the expanding pathogen ranges means expanded poverty “ranges;” if more people fall ill due to pathogens, more people will experience poverty.
Secondly, and this is an effect that agricultural communities are already beginning to observe, new pathogens will infect crops and jeopardize the livelihood of the peoples who depend on the harvest for either food or for employment.
According to a study from the Universities of Exeter and Oxford, crop threats include pests and pathogens spreading toward the poles at a rate of 3.2 kilometers per year. A fungus that infects yeast harvests has already wreaked havoc in Brazil, threatening farmers there with impoverishment.
It’s difficult to fathom that such tiny organisms could have such large effects, but pathogens have the potential to cause a lot of harm, in terms of both illness and poverty. Despite that their migration is one of the least publicized effects of climate change; however, it is one of which humans should be wary.
– Elise L. Riley
Sources: NPR, NASA
Photo: Phys.org
10 Facts About Global Development
Here are 10 facts about global development you may not be aware of:
1. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die every day from poverty.
2. Water and sanitation problems affect more than half of the world’s population. In developing countries, 1.2 billion people do not have access to clean water, and 1.4 million children die every year from a lack of access to safe drinking water and appropriate sanitation.
3. Infectious diseases are still a significant killer in poor countries around the world. It is estimated that 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Every year, around 500 million cases of malaria are reported and 1 million end fatally. Malaria is most prevalent in Africa, where 90 percent of malaria deaths occur and 80 percent of child victims worldwide live.
4. About 28 percent of children living in developing countries are considered underweight or stunted. Due to the current situations, the Millennium Development Goals‘ target of decreasing the number of underweight children by 50 percent will be missed by 30 million children. The main regions that are struggling with malnourishment are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
5. School enrollment rates around the world continue to be low. About 115 million children of primary school age are not enrolled, and more than 226 million children do not attend secondary school.
6. Child marriage is a serious problem around the world; approximately 39,000 girls become child brides every day. Ending child marriage is likely to be a priority in the post-2015 goals.
7. Deaths of children under the age of five have decreased significantly over the past 25 years, but high rates still exist in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. According to data from the U.N., India alone accounts for 22 percent of all under-five aged deaths.
8. Approximately 842 million people around the world suffer from chronic hunger. Hunger kills more people annually than malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined.
9. Numbers from 2011 indicate that more than 19 million children around the world have not been vaccinated.
10. New research has shown that at least 20 percent of aid money is never delivered to developing countries. In 2011, $100 billion was pledged as official development aid, but at least $22 billion was never transferred to those countries.
– Hannah Cleveland
Sources: Global Issues, Impatient Optimists, USAID, DoSomething.org, Global Issues
Photo: FungGLobalInstitute
Education in Cote d’Ivoire
Education in Cote d’Ivoire is present and plentiful for those who can afford it. While there are free public schools available to Ivoirians, families are still required to pay for books, uniforms and supplies.
Additionally, over two-thirds of native Ivoirians work in agriculture, and children are often needed as part of the work force. The unfortunate reality is that most students who receive a proper education in Cote d’Ivoire are not natives of the country.
Zeina Jebeile, a current student at Boston University who grew up in Cote d’Ivoire but was not born there, says that the private school education she received was comparable to the education received by her friends in the United States. “We learned a lot of similar things, it was just in a different language,” Zeina explained. She continued to clarify that public schools are only available to those born in the Ivory Coast, and people like her who were born in other countries must attend expensive private schools.
Due to the French colonization of Cote d’Ivoire the vast majority of schools run on the French system and have the exact same curriculum as high schools in France. While being a native of the Ivory Coast holds the benefit of free primary education, students have a much higher chance of attending university if they graduate from one of the French, American or Lebanese private schools.
Due to the high cost of schooling, “not everybody gets access to education, and it’s sad because a lot of them are really interested in doing so,” Zeina explained. “Education is about $7,000 a year for high school, which is kind of ridiculous, but that’s what you get for the ‘French Prestige.’” In order to combat this, small tutoring centers have popped up throughout the country. The centers operate on a volunteer basis, with classes usually taught by Americans and Europeans travelling abroad to teach languages.
Language is a problem within the private schools as well. Zeina, who attended a French school, said that there is little emphasis placed on learning English. “You have the option between German, Italian and Spanish…. And the English is very, very basic. In the last year of high school they literally teach you things like ‘my dog’s name is Bobo.’”
Despite her classmates’ limited knowledge of the English language, a diploma from a French private school almost certainly leads to an acceptance into a French University, as well as easier access to a French visa. Those who graduate from Ivoirian Schools must either be the very top of their class or come from wealthy families if they wish to continue their education in college. “The system is very limiting for most people who live in the Ivory Coast,” Zeina admitted. “At the end of the day if you don’t have money you don’t really get access to education.”
The Ivory Coast has a population of 15 million, approximately one third of which are non-Ivoirians. Out of the 128,318 students enrolled in high school, 42 percent attend private school. In addition to high poverty rates among Ivoirians and the necessity for child labor, there are other factors which can prevent children from receiving the best education possible.
Cote d’Ivoire has suffered through two civil wars in the past 15 years. Political conflict instigated outbreaks of violence in 2002, leading to a five-year civil war that killed and displaced thousands. Just three years after the call for peace, violence broke out once again leading to a second civil war that lasted from 2010-2011. The physical and emotional damage inflicted upon residents of the Ivory Coast during these wars contribute to days of school missed.
–Taylor Lovett
Sources: Interview with Zeina, Our Africa, University of Szeged, Kuno Library
Photo: Unocha
10 Facts about Hunger in Asia
Hunger is a serious global issue that affects millions in developing countries, and hunger in Asia is particularly devastating. According to the World Food Programme, there are 842 million people suffering from hunger across the world, and 98 percent of that total amount lives in developing areas within Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
As the largest and most populous continent, Asia is home to approximately 4.427 billion people. Unfortunately, a large amount of that population suffers from hunger.
Top Facts about Hunger in Asia
1. Asia has the largest number of hungry people, with more than 500 million suffering.
2. About 62.4 percent of global hunger exists in both Asia and the South Pacific.
3. More than 20 percent of Asian children are underweight, meaning they are too thin for their age, and more than 70 percent of malnourished children live in Asia.
4. The lack of essential vitamins and minerals in one’s diet is a leading cause of hunger and malnutrition. Both Asia and Africa are iodine deficient areas. Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) greatly impact the mental and cognitive development of children, and if pregnant women do not receive the proper amount of iodine, there is a greater chance the pregnancy will result in abortion, stillbirth and congenital abnormalities.
5. About 75 percent of all those suffering from hunger live in rural areas, and a large majority of them live in the villages of Asia and Africa.
6. Out of the 553 million malnourished people living in Asia, six out of ten live in South Asia and eight out of ten are malnourished children living in those areas.
7. The poor and hungry in Asia face difficulties as the demand for food increases while water and land resources decrease, causing food prices to rise. If these food prices did not rise during the 2000s, approximately 112 million people in Asia could have escaped poverty.
However, there is some good news and socio-economic progress in Asia:
8. The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI) score for South Asia decreased by 34 percent when compared to the 1990 score.
9. Although 553 million people are still hungry in Asia, this represents a 30 percent decrease from the previous 739 million hungry people. Malnourishment has also decreased from 23.7 to 13.9 percent.
10. The U.N. launched the Zero Hunger Challenge on April 29, 2013, which has led governments, scientists, businesses, civil societies, farmers and consumers to work together to end poverty and hunger in Asia and the Pacific. To achieve this goal, the Zero Hunger Challenge outlined five objectives: ensure everyone always has access to nutritious foods, end childhood stunting, develop sustainable food systems, increase the productivity and income of small farmers and prevent the loss and wasting of food.
As these facts reveal, too many people across the world still suffer from hunger. Like in any other country, hunger in Asia affects the development of entire societies and communities.
– Meghan Orner
Sources: World Food Programme, International Food Policy Research Institute, Asian Development Bank 1, Asian Development Bank 2, Hunger Notes, UN News Centre
Photo: WSJ