If you think back to your days as a kindergartner, you may remember the first time you learned the water cycle. Equipped with a blue crayon, you replicated what your teacher described in a simple picture: rain falls, people drink it, the water evaporates and the whole thing repeats. You learned that water is renewable.
But renewable does not mean unlimited, a fact constantly recognized by the 780 million people who lack access to clean drinking water.
Freshwater, the largest source of our drinking water, makes up only 2.5 percent of the planet’s water. Only 1 percent of freshwater is actually available, as most of it is frozen. This leaves 0.007 percent of the Earth’s water left for an ever-growing population that exceeds 7 billion. This is a water crisis.
“Why can’t we use ocean water?” one might ask. The answer is, well, we can.
Desalination, the removal of salt from saltwater, makes the use of ocean water possible. But breaking the strong bonds that salt forms with water molecules requires a lot of energy, and this energy is expensive.
As Peter Gleick, president of the environmental think-tank Pacific Institute, says, “It can cost from just under $1 to well over $2 to produce one cubic meter (264 gallons) of desalted water from the ocean.”
Considering that 99 percent of water-related illnesses occur in developing countries, desalination is simply an unrealistic option for most who suffer from the water crisis.
But what if there were some way to desalinate without such steep energy requirements?
A team of scientists believe they know how to do so.
Martin Bazant and Daosheng Deng of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a process that they believe will more efficiently and effectively desalinate water. They call it “shock electrodialysis.”
Today, the two cheapest methods of desalination are reverse osmosis and electrodialysis.
Reverse osmosis works by pumping water through a membrane that does not allow salts to pass. Although it requires less energy than older methods, it works too slowly.
Building on reverse osmosis, electrodialysis tried the opposite: pumping salts through an electrified membrane until only pure water is left. This process is significantly cheaper than reverse osmosis but is not without shortcomings. It fails to decontaminate water of dirt and bacteria without additional filtration methods.
Bazant and Deng say that shock electrodialysis can produce clean, bacteria-free drinking water in one step. How? They placed an additional filter made of porous glass near the electrified membrane. Based on Bazant and Deng’s observations, dirt particles and bacteria are unable to fit through the tiny pores in the glass material.
If it turns out that this MIT development can be produced at a low cost on a large scale, shock electrodialysis could provide millions of people with access to drinking water.
– Shehrose Mian
Sources: UNICEF, National Geographic, Scientific American, Technology Review
Photo: Technology Review
Every Woman Every Child
Every Woman Every Child is working to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015. Focusing on addressing the major challenges facing women and children all over the globe, Every Woman Every Child works to enhance financing, strengthen policy and improve service on the ground for women and children in need.
Launched by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit in 2010, the initiative would mean saving the lives of 16 million women and children, preventing 33 million unwanted pregnancies, ending growth stunting in 88 million children and protecting 120 million children from pneumonia.
Improving the health of women and children is critical to nearly every area of human development and progress. Research shows that the health of women and children is the foundation of creating healthy societies.
According to Women and Health Alliance International, every year half a million women die during pregnancy or because of problems during childbirth. While the mother’s death is horrible enough in itself, the structure of the entire family is damaged to a point of collapse.
Economies cannot grow and social stability cannot increase without first building up public health services. The Every Woman Every Child initiative recognizes that all factors have an important contribution to make in the movement, from the private sector to civil society.
At the 2010 launch more than $40 billion was pledged to the cause. However, more help is necessary to reach the 2015 goal. The secretary-general is asking the international community for additional commitments not just fiscally, but in the form of policy and human service delivery on the ground.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described his enthusiasm for the project, stating,“Every Woman Every Child. This focus is long overdue. With the launch of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, we have an opportunity to improve the health of hundreds of millions of women and children around the world, and in so doing to improve the lives of all people.”
— Caroline Logan
Sources: Every Woman Every Child, UN Foundation, WAHA
Photo: Peace and Security
Action Against Hunger
Founded in France in 1979 with a mission to affect humanitarian change by transforming the political landscape to prevent misfortune rather than merely responding to misfortune as it occurred, Action Against Hunger continues to be a major leader among humanitarian organizations. With more than 870 million people in the world still chronically undernourished, Action Against Hunger’s revolutionary approach to hunger is important now more than ever to eradicate hunger.
Action Against Hunger (which is also known as ACF, the initials for the organization’s name as it appears in French,) operates according to six central principles: direct access to victims, independence, neutrality, non-discrimination, professionalism and transparency. Their clear values have made them one of the most trusted nonprofit organizations in the last 30 years.
In those three decades, the organization has seen its fair share of hardship, serving communities in over 40 countries as they dealt with food insecurity, natural disaster, conflict situations and national emergencies. What is remarkable about Action Against Hunger, though, is that it does not simply seek to provide food to those who need it; Action Against Hunger also works to ensure the dignity of the communities and individuals it serves and to install sustainable solutions to hunger.
The organization also places high emphasis on children, and a large fraction of the 7 million people it serves per year are children. Approximately 1 million children die unnecessarily of malnourishment – Action for Hunger’s work has driven that number down within the last several years, but its continued work to bring every child adequate food and healthy, accessible water will drive that number even further south soon.
With over 5,000 staff in the field to help carry out this admirable mission, Action Against Hunger brings yet another important weapon to the table: a nuanced understanding of the cultures within which it is working. By interacting in the communities they serve, organization employees and volunteers gain a crucial understanding of which strategies will work where, making the organization extremely effective at what it does.
— Elise L. Riley
Sources: Action Contre la Faim, World Hunger, Action Against Hunger
Photo: Flickr
Why 30 Million African Kids Aren’t in School
According to two U.N. agencies, progress getting African kids to primary school has faltered. Around 30 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa have been kept from the classroom due t0 a combination of conflict and poverty, and international aid must be increased if the region hopes to get more kids a primary education.
In 1999, UNICEF reported 106 million kids were out of school globally, and since then the U.N. Millennium Development goals have made childhood education a priority. Since the implementation of this push by the U.N., the number of kids kept from the classroom dropped to 60 million.
However, “declining international aid since the global financial crisis and an increase in conflicts have hindered efforts,” says Yumiko Yokozeki, a regional education adviser for UNICEF in West and Central Africa.
Household surveys reveal that more than 23 million kids in West and Central Africa who should be in primary school are not. Surveys in eastern and southern Africa report 19 million kids lacking a primary education.
Schools are closing due to threats from violence and out of safety concerns for the children. In particularly conflict-ridden areas, like the Central African Republic, families are fleeing their homes in fear.
Dangerous episodes in schools, such as the hundred of Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram while taking exams, further discourage families from sending their children to get an education.
Conflict isn’t the only thing keeping children out of school. Poverty continues to be the driving force behind kids dropping out. Children who have to work to support their families and themselves are much less likely to attend school, because getting food on the table is a higher priority than getting an education.
Any progress made in countries like Mali and Burkina Faso is difficult to maintain. Military coups bring chaos and instability, and education programs are difficult to maintain as well. In order to keep children in school, governments must commit more money to education budgets. This money is used to pay teachers, purchase classroom materials and reduce the burden of fees on families. In addition to these monetary necessities, grassroots efforts are required to “convince parents that education is accessible and worth it.”
Although help from agencies like the U.N. spurred an increase in support for primary education, the fact remains that one out of every five kids in sub-Saharan Africa who should be in primary school is not. Without increased aid from foreign countries like the United States, this number could easily rise.
— Grace Flaherty
Sources: web.worldbank.org, nytimes.com, flickr.com
How To Find My Congressman
Since its founding in 2003, The Borgen Project has worked with congressional leaders across the country to draw more attention to the extreme poverty that unfortunately exists in our world. Working with these leaders can be challenging yet exciting, and one of the best parts of this organization is that everyone from all walks of life can contribute to this worthy cause by contacting their congressional leaders.
The U.S. Congress in Washington D.C. is made up of two institutions with a total of 535 members. The House of Representatives and the Senate each have distinct yet equal roles in the function of the federal government as they make laws based on the opinions of the voters.
Perhaps the best part of this legislative branch is that the representatives and senators of Congress are chosen by the people. When these members of Congress support or reject a bill or issue, they are giving voters a voice in the federal government. Congressional leaders really do care about the opinions of voters, which is why it is so important to find and contact your congressman.
When a call is made to a congressional leader concerning a specific bill or issue, a staffer creates a ‘Call Report’ based on all the calls received each week. These Call Reports are then sent to the leaders so they can learn about the public’s opinions. It usually only takes a mere seven to 10 people to call about a poverty-reduction bill a week to get that bill noticed by the congressman.
Although communicating with congressional leaders may seem a little daunting at first, it is important to remember that they are there to represent you in Congress. However, they can only fully represent you if they know about the issues that matter to you.
To find your three representatives in Congress, clink on the link below and enter your zip code. It really is that simple!
https://borgenproject.org/leaders/
We can all make a difference in the fight against global poverty, and it only takes 30 seconds of your time. The Borgen Project encourages everyone to find their congressman and make a quick call to bring about the change in the world that is so greatly needed.
— Meghan Orner
Sources: U.S. Capital Visitor Center, The Borgen Project
Photo: The Borgen Project
Hunger in Pakistan: Famine or Inadequate Policy?
Hunger in Pakistan has killed many people and affected the lives of many more, especially children. After a drought hit the Tharparkar district of Pakistan’s southern Sindh Province earlier this year, at least 132 young children died, many as a result of malnutrition.
The problem of hunger in Pakistan is not limited to Sindh Province, however. While Sindh certainly has the highest rates of malnutrition and least access to food, Pakistan’s National Nutrition Survey reported that 58 percent of all Pakistani households were food-insecure.
Malnutrition is also widespread; the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey found that 24 percent of Pakistani children under 5 exhibited “severely stunted growth.”
Why is hunger such a prevalent issue in Pakistan? Some of it has to do with past inflation of wheat prices in the late 2000s, as it was more difficult for people to afford domestic grain. Infrastructural difficulty, such as providing electricity to flour mills, also poses a problem.
Still, the largest factor causing food insecurity in Pakistan is the nation’s own government and its policies that hinder food production and distribution.
Take, for example, the deaths from the drought: the government did not work to distribute food until after the crisis. As the Pakistan Dalit Solidarity Network reports, “the government didn’t act until [it received] reports of children dying” last December, even though animals had been dying since October and rainfall was decreasing. Moreover, government-run hospitals and clinics in the region have been constantly understaffed, making it difficult to get medical care to those who needed it.
Other government policies affect all of Pakistan, not just Sindh. Under the Corporate Farming Ordinance, the Pakistani government leases large tracts of land to foreign investors looking to stockpile crops for their own countries. This takes valuable land away from local farmers while keeping the food away from Pakistani citizens that need it.
The government of Pakistan seems to prioritize profits over its people. During the inflation of wheat prices in 2008, the government increased its wheat exports, depriving many hungry people of food. Even today, much of the wheat that large corporate mills produce leaves the country.
In reality, Pakistan should be capable of providing its citizens with enough food to survive, and there should not be as much food insecurity as there is now. Arif Jabbar Khan, Oxfam’s Pakistan director, affirmed that “missing public policy action and persistent economic inequalities are the main causes of malnutrition,” not droughts or famine.
How can hunger and malnutrition be reduced in Pakistan? Foreign aid providers may be able to earmark funds for the redistribution of grain to poorer areas, and this aid could be cut if the government does not comply.
Nevertheless, political pressure to change food distribution policy must come from within Pakistan itself. The citizens of Pakistan must demand change and hold elected officials responsible for their actions in the polls if the system is to be fixed.
— Ted Rappleye
Sources: The Guardian, South Asia Masala, Triple Bottom-Line
Photo: Tribune
Katra and India’s Women’s Rights Problem
Two 12 and 15-year-old girls were lynched last week in western Uttar Pradesh in India after being abducted, gang raped and hanged by their attackers. The Indian village, known as Katra in the Badaun district, is one of the world’s most impoverished areas.
Most of its citizens work as tillers or take up small, part-time jobs in order to make a living. With hardly any money, most cannot afford a functioning toilet, so they relieve themselves in nearby fields.
Yet this is exactly what would lead to the death of two young cousins after being abducted by three men in the fields of their village. Their attackers hanged the two girls on a tree in the village, which would be on display for the entire community.
Thought by medical experts to have been hanged alive, many are wondering how and why these gruesome attacks could have taken place in a day and age where feminism is, in most parts of the world, on the rise.
India has had a history of women’s rights problems for years. After the gang rape case of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi in 2012, in which four men were all found guilty and given the death penalty, India has been making a concerted effort to tighten their rules regarding violence against women.
Yet this has by no means actually prevented or improved cases of violence against women in the country; in most cases, police insensitivity has been proliferated by patriarchal attitudes of those in governmental power.
The Samajwadi Party is just one example of misogyny’s power in Indian politics. The senior Samajwadi Party leader, Ram Gopal Yadav, spoke of the most recent incident, stating, “[In] many places, when the relationship between girls and boys come out in the open, it is termed as rape.”
Two months ago, party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav claimed that “boys will be boys” and vehemently opposed the death penalty as punishment for acts of rape.
The three men responsible for the two teenage girls’ deaths in Katra have been arrested, and two policemen are being held on suspicion for trying to cover up the crimes.
This is not an uncommon occurrence: while a rape is reported every 21 minutes in India, law enforcement failure often results in crimes not being reported or investigated fully. Yet as the case rises in power, world officials are continuing to speak out against these acts of misogyny.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who stated that he was “appalled” by these recent acts, is just one of many to have spoken out. “We say no to the dismissive, destructive attitude of ‘boys will be boys,’” he said. As the government continues to crack down on these acts, many hope its citizens will listen.
— Nick Magnanti
Sources: The Diplomat, ODT, Scroll, Times of India 1, Times of India 2
Photo: The Story Exchange
Breakthrough Discovered in the Treatment of TB in Children
New findings in tuberculosis among children could mean that diagnosing the disease could be faster, cheaper and more effective for the millions of people infected by the disease each year.
Tuberculosis (TB) is the second largest killer due to a single infectious agent worldwide, only following HIV/AIDS, and is the leading killer of people with HIV. The ones most affected by the disease are low to middle-income countries, where upwards of 95 percent of TB deaths occur.
Developing countries where malnutrition and compromised immune systems affect the overwhelming majority see the most cases of TB. Even though all groups are at risk, children and young adults are at a greater risk of contracting the disease.
The disease is very difficult to diagnose in children — the early symptoms of TB are also present in dozens of other illnesses — and by the time a positive diagnosis is reached, the disease has already spread throughout the lungs, brain and other organs.
In 2012 alone, there were 530,000 cases of TB in children, and out of the children who were HIV-negative, 74,000 died of the disease because of late and improper diagnosis.
A better diagnosis is needed so that doctors can start treating TB earlier (in its early stages) for better chances of overcoming the disease and so children who show false positives for TB do not need to go through unnecessary treatment.
Health staff in several poor countries have been using a standard test for TB which has failed 93 percent of the time, showing false negatives, leaving thousands of infected children untreated.
Recently, after seven years of study and examining the blood of 2,800 children, an international team of researchers discovered that TB can be positively identified by examining 51 genes.
Over 80 percent of cases were discovered positive for TB by examining this specific gene signature. Researchers examined the blood samples to see which genes were activated or suppressed in samples testing positive.
It was found that TB could be distinguished from other diseases in 51 of the 30,000 genes that make up the human genome. A “risk score” was developed from the examination of this gene signature, and when tested, over 80 percent of the samples were accurately diagnosed positive for TB. Tests that were found negative ruled out TB as a diagnosis with just as much accuracy.
“Childhood TB is a major problem in African hospitals. An accurate test for childhood TB would be an enormous breakthrough, enabling earlier diagnosis, reducing long hospital admissions for investigation of TB suspects, and limiting the number of children treated inappropriately,” said head researcher Brian Eley. Eley is part of the University of Cape Town and lead the clinical study in South Africa.
Early, accurate diagnosis of TB would lead to reducing deaths related to TB in children. The discovery of what these 51 key genes demonstrate in relation to TB will help lead the way to a significant global decrease in the disease that currently affects millions.
— Jerilynn Haddow
Sources: WHO, IRIN Africa, Wellcome
Photo: Blogspot
NGO Under Investigation for Violating Anti-Homosexuality Act
LGBT rights seem to have a place in the politics of almost every nation in the world these days. The topic is one of the most polarizing as well. Some countries are spearheading the movement with full inclusiveness for LGBT citizens. Others, like the United States, seem to be floating somewhere in the middle. And then there are the countries pushing hard in the opposite direction, such as Russia.
However, when it comes to anti-gay legislation, the government of Uganda is in a league of its own. In February of this year, lawmakers in Uganda essentially made it illegal to be gay by passing the Anti-Homosexuality Act. The bill makes the promotion of homosexuality, in every general sense, punishable. The price to pay for the ultimate offense – actually being gay – is a life sentence.
The legislation also extends for interacting with LGBT people. Failure to report homosexual suspicion to the government will earn time behind bars. Even knowingly housing or renting an apartment to a gay person could warrant up to five years in prison.
In recent history, societies across the world have met very significant ethical milestones that make Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act seem absurd. Doesn’t the Ugandan government, or any government for that matter, have more pressing issues than bedroom behavior that need attention? Would the Ugandan government actually spend the time and energy to enforce the law?
Apparently so.
The Refugee Law Project, a Uganda-based nongovernmental organization, recently came under investigation by the government over allegations of “promoting homosexuality and lesbianism.” Whether or not the NGO actually violated the Anti-Homosexuality Act is still being disputed as the investigation takes place.
The RLP operates at the School of Law of Makerere University in Uganda. Its aim is to enhance the mental health and psychosocial well-being of refugees and displaced people. The organization also explicitly states its intention to enforce sexuality and gender rights for those in need, which may have been a cause for government scrutiny.
The Refugee Law Project has taken to social media to inform the public that its operations are still running despite some interference. The organization has halted its one-on-one work with refugees at the moment, however. Some say that this inherently threatens the Refugee Law Project’s ability to accomplish its mission.
The standing of the Anti-Homosexuality Act in Uganda is debated on ethical grounds for human rights, but it has also been criticized as a scapegoat tool to target groups and individuals critical of President Yoweri Museveni’s regime. Regardless, the legislation takes significant time and energy to enact and reinforce – time and energy that could be better spent helping groups in need rather than ostracizing people further.
— Edward Heinrich
Sources: Advocate, BBC, Refugee Law Project
Photo: Al Jazeera American
Rape as a Weapon of War
Rape and sexual violence are used as weapons of war because they are inexpensive and have longer lasting effects than guns or other weapons. UNICEF has noted that sexual violence “erodes the fabric of a community in a way that few weapons can.” Sexual violence and rape not only have negative, long-term impacts on women, but also their children, their families and their communities.
The effects are far reaching. Women suffer both psychologically and physically, as well as socially and economically.
When women are victims of sexual violence, they often suffer physically from persistent pain, fistula and infertility. Women can also contract HIV or other STDs, that put them at a severely disadvantaged position for the rest of their lives. In instances where women are injured so severely that they are unable to work, they suffer economically as well.
Psychological effects can emerge years later and have a long lasting impact including depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), low self esteem and suicidal thoughts.
During conflict, women are at risk for being victims of sexual violence, and in post-conflict societies, women are at risk of the social impacts resulting from being raped or experiencing sexual violence. Using rape as a weapon of war causes long lasting impact on the lives of the victims.
Due to the stigma of rape, women are often forced from their families or divorced by their husbands. This can be extremely problematic in societies where a woman’s economic security depends on marriage. When women are isolated, they are often forced into a life of poverty.
In instances where women become pregnant after being raped, they are isolated from their communities for birthing an “enemy child.” This is detrimental to a woman’s well-being in a multitude of ways, as they are cut from communities that once helped support them. The mental impact is equally severe, while it is even further enhanced by the economic impact of having to raise a child.
On the other hand, societies where a woman’s value is dependent on her ability to have children, infertility as a result of being raped or a victim of sexual violence can seriously affect a woman’s social standing and perceived worth.
Sexual violence and rape as weapons of war damage entire families and communities whether women stay within them or are outcast. As women are isolated, communities are broken. If they stay, men are affected as they feel they have failed in their role as “protector.” The physical, mental, social and economic impacts felt by women, men and children can last decades and even multiple generations.
— Kim Tierney
Sources: Harvard, The International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict, ODI
Photo: Woodmark
Chemists Develop Solution to Water Crisis
If you think back to your days as a kindergartner, you may remember the first time you learned the water cycle. Equipped with a blue crayon, you replicated what your teacher described in a simple picture: rain falls, people drink it, the water evaporates and the whole thing repeats. You learned that water is renewable.
But renewable does not mean unlimited, a fact constantly recognized by the 780 million people who lack access to clean drinking water.
Freshwater, the largest source of our drinking water, makes up only 2.5 percent of the planet’s water. Only 1 percent of freshwater is actually available, as most of it is frozen. This leaves 0.007 percent of the Earth’s water left for an ever-growing population that exceeds 7 billion. This is a water crisis.
“Why can’t we use ocean water?” one might ask. The answer is, well, we can.
Desalination, the removal of salt from saltwater, makes the use of ocean water possible. But breaking the strong bonds that salt forms with water molecules requires a lot of energy, and this energy is expensive.
As Peter Gleick, president of the environmental think-tank Pacific Institute, says, “It can cost from just under $1 to well over $2 to produce one cubic meter (264 gallons) of desalted water from the ocean.”
Considering that 99 percent of water-related illnesses occur in developing countries, desalination is simply an unrealistic option for most who suffer from the water crisis.
But what if there were some way to desalinate without such steep energy requirements?
A team of scientists believe they know how to do so.
Martin Bazant and Daosheng Deng of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a process that they believe will more efficiently and effectively desalinate water. They call it “shock electrodialysis.”
Today, the two cheapest methods of desalination are reverse osmosis and electrodialysis.
Reverse osmosis works by pumping water through a membrane that does not allow salts to pass. Although it requires less energy than older methods, it works too slowly.
Building on reverse osmosis, electrodialysis tried the opposite: pumping salts through an electrified membrane until only pure water is left. This process is significantly cheaper than reverse osmosis but is not without shortcomings. It fails to decontaminate water of dirt and bacteria without additional filtration methods.
Bazant and Deng say that shock electrodialysis can produce clean, bacteria-free drinking water in one step. How? They placed an additional filter made of porous glass near the electrified membrane. Based on Bazant and Deng’s observations, dirt particles and bacteria are unable to fit through the tiny pores in the glass material.
If it turns out that this MIT development can be produced at a low cost on a large scale, shock electrodialysis could provide millions of people with access to drinking water.
– Shehrose Mian
Sources: UNICEF, National Geographic, Scientific American, Technology Review
Photo: Technology Review