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
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
Rotating Credit and Savings Associations
Seeing as formal financial institutions are hard to come by for the world’s poor, many come together in order to form Rotating Credit and Savings Associations, or ROSCAs. This is an informal group where members implement a group savings system.
While somewhat informal, ROSCA memberships are very popular throughout the developing world. In 1986, estimates were made that ROSCA participation ranged from 50 to 95 percent of the adult population in rural areas in Liberia, Ivory Coast, Togo and Nigeria. Later studies showed no decrease in ROSCA numbers. High ROSCA membership has also been found in Cameroon, Nigeria, Bolivia, Ghana, Taiwan and Argentina.
Members of ROSCA meet up at given intervals, at which time they all give an agreed upon amount of money, with possibly differing amounts per person depending on the group. These meetings can be daily, weekly, monthly or following any set time period the group decides.
During each meeting, one of the members receives a large sum of money. This can be done on a rotating or lottery-type basis. Once each member has had their turn receiving the large sum of money, the ROSCA can disband or begin a new cycle.
Members hold each other accountable, as each payment is made in the presence of the entire group.
After the whole rotation is complete, usually, no member has gained any more money than given in the first place. Why do people decide to form ROSCAs rather than save the money on their own?
ROSCAs provide a savings system in which an individual can have a large sum of money out of their hands to save for a later date, making it easier to have self discipline and not spend the money during less desperate times. Married women have utilized ROSCAs in order to keep money safe from the rest of the household when others want immediate consumption.
When ROSCA participants were asked about their reasons for joining, many stated, “You can’t save alone” and that the system gave them “the strength to save” or a “forced commitment to saving,” which some participants felt they needed.
ROSCAs have also worked as insurance. If a member of a ROSCA goes through an unexpected expense, they may be able to take out the next large sum with the group’s support, making it possible for them to pull themselves back on their feet.
These ROSCAs have shown the power of community bonding and lending, and how even in remote areas of the world, where educational and financial opportunities are rare, people are able to come together and create a financial lending system to raise everyone up.
– Courtney Prentice
Sources: Investopedia, SSCNet, JSTOR, Systems of Exchange
Photo: Keetria
Somaliland Business Fund Promises Better Future
Somaliland is an autonomous region in the north of Somalia that gained independence in 1991. Since then, it has been struggling with high unemployment rates and poverty.
The Somaliland Business Fund provides grants to private sector individuals or companies that have innovative plans for development in agriculture, livestock, fisheries, manufacturing and green energy. It is part of a bigger development plan for Somaliland called the Somalia Private Sector Development Re-engagement Project. The $29 million project is funded by the World Bank State and Peacebuilding Fund.
Since 2012, the SBF has awarded 10.5 million dollars in grants and $10 million in matching funds. Dr. Isail Ali is one recipient of SBF’s matching fund grant. He left his position as an orthopedic surgeon in Somaliland’s capital and purchased land in the countryside. It had been Dr. Ali’s dream to lead a quiet life in the country as a camel farmer.
He won a matching grant of $49,000 because of his inventive techniques for water conservation and food production. In four short years, his original herd of seven camels had transformed into the Saafi Camel Milk Dairy. Dr. Ali now employs fifteen laborers to help during the busy seasons.
Dr. Ali’s story represents the way the fund is not only encouraging entrepreneurs from the private sector to provide for themselves, but to also provide jobs for others.
Qani Abdi Alin started Dheeman Tailoring and Fashions using money from the SBF. Her business has now become an $180,000 company, exporting designs to countries across Africa and the Middle East. She employs six tailors.
“Hard work and determination are especially important for women wanting to succeed in a man’s world,” Alin says, providing an example for other budding female entrepreneurs.
The homepage of the SBF website features the slogan “Building a Better Future.” Since Somaliland broke away from Somalia, the region has been struggling. Somali military dictator, Siad Barre, did not let the region go easily and tens of thousands of people were killed during the secession process.
Somaliland is not internationally recognized as a state, despite having its own government, police force and currency.
The SBF and its promise of a better future might be what the region needs, but only time will tell.
– Julianne O’Connor
Sources: BBC News, Somaliland Business Fund, The World Bank
Photo: BBC News
Radio Smuggling in North Korea
Media in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is tightly controlled. Television stations broadcast government-endorsed news and statements, documentaries affirming the god-like status of the Kim family and politically fueled dramas. Radio subscribers are treated daily to Kim Jong-Un’s schedule and criticism of policies that do not match the country’s own.
As with most technology, radio usage is restricted. Most South Korean broadcasts are jammed so that North Koreans on the receiving end hear little more than ‘jet plane noise.’ All legal radios in North Korea are tuned to specific stations. They are checked and registered with police.
It is radios of the illegal variety that are beginning what some are referring to as a ‘quiet revolution.’ Smuggled in from China or homemade, they access a variety of independent programming. Providing potential listeners with real-time news is the purpose of groups like Radio Free Asia, Voice of America and Radio Free Chosun.
One such group, Free North Korea Radio (FNKR,) was founded by Kim Seong Min. Once a North Korean soldier, Min tuned into a South Korean station “out of curiosity.” The program he listened to debunked myths surrounding Kim Jong Il, particularly regarding the place of the Great Leader’s birth. The more he listened, the more he doubted what he had been taught. Min eventually made his escape to the south.
FNKR, which is based in Seoul, now broadcasts three hours per day. Staffers, most North Korean defectors, report on the outside world. In an effort to protect their families, almost everyone but Min uses a pseudonym.
Radio stations like FNKR reroute the information paths into North Korea. For over half a century, the North Korean government has chosen and embellished its facts in a tactful manner.
Radio distribution has been spurred on by the black markets that have supported North Koreans since the famine of the 1990s. By engaging in private enterprises, these citizens undermine the state distribution system, and consequently break North Korean law. Even so, an estimated 80 percent of North Koreans are involved in the black market today. In 2010, research group InterMedia conducted a study to see how much of the North had access to foreign media.
Radio remains the most effective means of communicating news to North Koreans. Curiosity, well-intentioned piracy and radios are breaking the government’s attempt at monopolizing the country’s media.
– Olivia Kostreva
Sources: ABC, BBC, The Guardian, InterMedia
Photo: The Guardian
Escaping Poverty through Slave-Like Marriages
Women from various Asian countries are being lured to Australia under the pretense of escaping poverty and living a happy married life; however, too often they are faced with exploitation and oppression.
These brides are living in slave-like marriages, where they are constantly abused. Some have reported being kept in isolation, denied basic rights, exploited for work, restricted to the home and denied money.
Immigration data shows that the women in these marriages are coming from China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam, among others. Many of these women agreed to these marriages to escape poverty and terrible living conditions experienced in their home countries.
Authorities have found it difficult to determine the exact number of women engaging in these relationships because victims are often kept in severe isolation and are punished if they attempt to seek help.
A large part of the problem lies in the fact that women are forbidden to report the crimes and are dependent on their perpetrators for survival. They face the possibility of deportation if their husbands claim they are illegal citizens.
The Walk Free Foundation published a global slavery index in October, which indicated that approximately 3,300 people are living in modern-day slavery in Australia.
Action is being taken to alleviate the problem. Tony Abbott, Australia’s Prime Minister, announced that the country would invest $94 million to fight domestic violence. This money will be focused on women from culturally diverse and indigenous backgrounds. Additionally, forced marriages have been deemed illegal, while forced labor laws were strengthened in 2013.
Jenny Stanger, a Salvation Army worker who works at a refuge for trafficked people in Sydney, said, “It’s an absolute deception on the part of the perpetrator.” She is working tirelessly to see laws passed that will provide these women with options in their situations. “They [the victims] are looking for a way out, so…the more doors we can open, the more likely someone is going to step through that door.”
– Hannah Cleveland
Sources: Malay Mail Online, The Guardian
Photo: The Guardian
The Practice of Eating Dogs
Around the world, people are becoming increasingly aware and disgusted by the market for dog meat. While some activists and international companies have deemed the practice as reflecting poorly on a country, it still seems entirely normal to some. Why do those in the United States consider eating dogs unnatural? How has the market for dog meat survived for so long long with the increasing opposition?
French actress and activist Brigitte Bardot discussed the more popular perspective during a Korean radio interview, where she stated: “Cows are grown to be eaten, dogs are not. I accept that many people eat beef, but a cultured country does not allow its people to eat dogs.”
Where the issue arises for most is the thought of eating an animal meant for companionship. While eating dog is taboo in the West, many countries raise dogs for the specific purpose of eating them. Therefore, the market for dog meat is just as natural as other livestock like pigs and cows.
In China, an annual dog meat festival, held each year in Yulin to celebrate the summer solstice, has attracted increasing negative attention. Those defending the practice asked protesters to explain why they ate beef in order to put it in perspective.
In Korean cities, dogs are raised as pets and are bought and sold for companionship. On the other hand, in the country’s rural areas, dogs are raised for their meat. The distinction does not come with breed but rather depends on where the dog is born.
There are also groups of people who do not have the option to eat what Americans consider traditional livestock. In India, cows are sacred and are thus off limits for being farmed and eaten. For Muslims and Jews, eating pig is forbidden.
Jonathan Safran Foer, a novelist and vegetarian, writes in his book Eating Animals, that euthanizing pets “amounts to millions of pounds of meat now being thrown away every year.”
He adds: “The simple disposal of these euthanized dogs is an enormous ecological and economic problem. It would be demented to yank pets from homes. But eating those strays, those runaways, those not-quite-cute-enough-to-take and not-quite well-behaved-enough-to-keep dogs would be like killing a flock of birds with one stone and eating it, too.”
There is still the unarguable fault in the dog meat industry, which is the current treatment of dogs before they are killed and the method of killing. Governments of nations who practice dog-eating are working on legalizing, licensing and regulating the industry so the methods become more humane.
Even this point has been argued by pro-dog meat people. While some facilities are inhumane in the treatment and killing of the dogs, there are plenty of slaughterhouses in the U.S. with horrid treatment and killing methods for the animals kept there.
If the process is legalized and regulated, dog meat can be added as an option for anyone to eat, and for those who have few options to begin with, this can make a difference.
However, even if eating dog becomes widespread and safe, will it be accepted? It is still considered a strange and barbaric idea in some cultures, but if the practice achieves universal acceptance, then it may make the process safe and widespread enough to feed more mouths than previously thought possible.
– Courtney Prentice
Sources: Slate, CNN 1, CNN 2, CNN 3, Wall Street Journal
Photo: CNN
10 Facts About the Haiti Earthquake
Haiti was thoroughly unprepared when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit on January 12, 2010. The earthquake devastated the island, leaving millions homeless. Below are the 10 most important facts about the Haiti earthquake.
Top Haiti Earthquake Facts
1. Haiti Pre-Earthquake
Even before the earthquake, Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the world. Haiti ranked 145 out of 169 countries in the UN Human Development Index. Over 70 percent of the population was living under the poverty line.
2. Human Toll
Death toll estimates vary anywhere from 220,000 to 316,000. Over one million people were initially displaced, and about 500,000 remain homeless today.
3. Damaged Infrastructure
Despite being built upon a major fault line, Haiti had no building codes and therefore no way to ensure buildings are safe from earthquakes. As a result, Haiti’s infrastructure was demolished. Nearly 300,000 homes were badly damaged or destroyed. The earthquake struck near the capital city of Port-au-Prince, destroying many of the most important government buildings, hospitals and roads.
4. Effect on Children
Over 4,000 schools were damaged or destroyed, amounting to about a quarter of the island’s schools.
5. Cholera
Unrelated to the earthquake and significantly exacerbating the problem, a cholera outbreak occurred in Haiti in October 2010. As of June 2013, 8,173 people have died from cholera in Haiti with 664,282 cases total.
6. Foreigners Caught in the Quake
Ninety-six UN peacekeepers died in the earthquake, along with 122 American citizens.
7. International Response
The international community proved to be remarkably empathetic towards the crisis in Haiti. From 2010 to 2012, international donors raised an eye-popping $6.43 billion for Haitian reconstruction. In addition, USAID contributed $450 million in aid to Haiti.
8. Reconstruction Effort
So far, aid organizations have rebuilt about 21,000 houses and made 100,000 temporary shelters. Fifty percent of the rubble has been removed and 650 schools have been repaired. In addition, the American Red Cross has provided 369,000 people with clean water, 2.4 million with health and hygiene education and three million with cholera treatment and prevention.
9. Obstacles to Reconstruction
The road to reconstruction has been bumpy. Issues with transparency and oversight have made it difficult to track where the reconstruction funds have gone. Seventy-five percent of all foreign aid has gone directly to NGOs that spent the money inefficiently and with few results. Experts say that it will be another 10 years before “serious results” can finally be seen.
10. The Future of Haiti
Only half of the money that international governments promised has been paid. In addition, half the money that American donors raised has yet to be spent, and the American Red Cross still has $150 million left to use on “long-term projects.”
Though many of these facts about the Haiti earthquake make the situation seem dismal, there is hope that the reconstruction effort can right this ship. Though it will be many years before Haiti is finally on calm seas again, long-term plans have been set in motion to ensure that Haitian reconstruction is going forward as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
– Sam Hillestad
Sources: CNN, DEC, Geography, Huffington Post, Miami Herald