Refugees are fleeing Sub-Saharan Africa’s poverty in search for job opportunities, political freedoms and basic human rights. The sad reality of this situation is many of these opportunities are few and far in-between, and their lives rarely improve above the dire situation they were leaving.
Eritrea is one of the nations many have been fleeing from. Isayais Aferwerki, the despotic dictator who’s ruled Eritrea since its 1994 independence from Ethiopia, is a main reason. The nation is home to rampant poverty, media repression and political oppression. Adult-aged males are regularly conscripted into military service with no definite end-date, and the President was quoted as saying the nation was not ready for free elections for at least another 20-30 years. The constitution has been suspended and Eritrea remains single-party state, with opposition political groups regularly rounded up and jailed.
Around 200,000 Eritreans have left the nation in search of freedom, but it has resulted in a human rights crisis. Eritreans regularly flee to Sudan, Egypt and Israel only to be subjected to discrimination, and in some cases, have fallen into human trafficking. Israel has prevented refugees from entering by building a fence, which has resulted in asylum seekers slowing “to a trickle” of their original amount.
Human Rights Watch published a report detailing the crisis in early February stating that “refugees are commonly kidnapped, and their families extorted to pay for their release.” Those who manage to avoid kidnapping are usually deported back. HRW has focused on the culpability of Egyptian and Sudanese officials in the kidnapping crisis. The allegation has been made that corrupt officials have been benefiting financially from the situation and are actively cooperating with kidnappers.
Physicians for Human Rights released a damning report on the conditions many Eritrean refugees face on the trek to asylum. The imprisonment rate of those interviewed was around 59%, while 52% claimed they were violently abused at some point on their way to the Sinai Peninsula. Slave camps are prevalent in Egypt. In El-Arish, there are camps reported throughout the area, populated with “slave traders” who “demand ransoms” for the release of African refugees.
The report detailed that many of these refugees were tricked through “promises of being led to Israel” but rather held against their will, while other’s detailed “severe abuse.” Twenty percent of those interviewed also described witnessing murders. Israel can be considered culpable in this situation. With the building of the fence, the average of 1,500 refugees gaining asylum each month decreased to only 25 entering “between January and April 2013.”
Israel has also mounted a political campaign to defend their actions, decrying the Eritrean refugees as a “threat to Israeli society.” The public response to these accusations helped allow the government to enact stricter immigration legislation, allowing for slave traders to flourish in the wake.
The Anti-Infiltration Law was passed in January of 2012 by the Israeli Legislature of Knesset, and allowed the Israeli Government to detain any people found crossing the border. The law even prevents many of these refugees from receiving a speedy trail, allowing the Israeli state to detain undocumented immigrants for “minimum of three years.” If a undocumented immigrant is from a state considered belligerent to Israel, such as Sudan, they can be “detained indefinitely.”
It was a crushing defeat for many Africans in search of a new life free of oppression. With no options, many still flee, but they may not find the salvation they are in search of.
– Joseph Abay
Sources: Turkish Weekly, US State Department, Haaretz, The Voice, Sudan Tribune, DW, Physicians for Human Rights, Haaretz
Rwanda and Microsoft Team Up to Improve Education
Microsoft and the Rwandan Ministry of Education are teaming up to bring a better learning experience to Rwandan children. Through its Partners in Learning Program, Microsoft hopes to increase information and communications technology (ICT) throughout the Rwandan school system. Both parties feel that improved ICT access will facilitate teaching and learning while also increasing the chances every child receives a quality education.
Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program seeks to improve the student and teacher experience through technology. The program has invested over $750 million throughout the world, helping 12 million educators in 134 countries. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 13 million students have received benefits due to Microsoft’s initiative.
On the other hand, Rwanda’s educational system is in desperate need of aid. Only 6% of primary schools and 18% of secondary schools are connected to the Internet. Additionally, the student-to-computer ratio in Rwandan secondary schools is a feeble 40-to-1. Without adequate resources, it is difficult for many of these children to receive the technological background that is needed to survive in the modern age.
Rwanda is a country with a tumultuous history.
It has experienced the worst genocide in modern history, when clashes in 1994 between the minority Tutsi population and the majority Hutus left up to a million Rwandans dead and eliminated approximately three-quarters of the Rwandan Tutsis. Since the tumultuous violence of the 1990s, Rwanda has been working to remake its image.
In fact, it has made substantial gains in bringing stability, and subsequently the country has experienced average growth of 7% to 8% since 2003.
Microsoft and Rwanda’s partnership goes along with the government’s desire to become a regional leader in information and communication technologies. It has taken steps, such as establishing a Specialized Economic Zone in Kigali, to attract further private investment in the area and help jump-start the economy.
Through increased investment, Rwandan hopes to build up its infrastructure and lower poverty.
Currently, 44.9% of its population, almost six million people, lives below the poverty line. Additionally, Rwanda suffers from energy shortages and a lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries. Through efforts such as the Partners in Learning program with Microsoft, Rwanda is making the correct moves to attract private investment and improve both its economic potential and the lives of its people.
– Martin Levy
Sources: IT News Africa, CIA Factbook
Orphanage Tourism
The number of orphanages in Cambodia has nearly doubled since 2007, yet the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that there are now fewer orphans in Cambodia than ever before. The reason for this discrepancy? Orphanage tourism.
Volunteering at a local orphanage has become a bucket-list item for many tourists and the preferred feel-good end to a trip full of festivals, massages, cooking classes, and guided tours. Regardless of skill-sets or language barriers, most orphanages throw open their doors to well-meaning travelers, but for a price.
UNICEF’s statistics show that of the estimated 12,000 children living in Cambodian orphanages today, only 28 percent have lost both their parents. Most of the children in these establishments are serving as — for lack of a kinder expression — tourist attractions.
The inflation of orphanages has come an explosive 250 percent increase of travelers into the country.
Parents who cannot afford to feed or educate their children have started sending them to one of the newly sprung-up orphanages in the hopes that they will find a better life through the pocket change of tourists. But while a few orphanages deliver on their promises to desperate parents that their children will be educated, most do not.
Tuk tuk drivers are often commissioned by orphanages to deliver optimistic tourists, and again by market vendors if the tourists are brought to them first to purchase school supplies.
Smart travelers are able to find the few genuine orphanages, but it takes determination, and a willingness to accept their own limitations; trained child workers and long-standing volunteers are almost always more qualified to care for orphans, and the quick turn-around time of visitors often just deepens a child’s feelings of abandonment.
It’s common for unwieldy volunteers to pamper their own conscience more than those they are aiming to help, because while this sometimes leads to a life of humanitarian work, most times it just leads to cool Facebook pictures. Travelers wishing to spend some of their vacation doing volunteer work must be careful to put their money in the hands of people with similar motives.
– Lydia Caswell
Sources: The Telegraph, Forbes
Photo: Mangine
Same-Sex Marriage Laws Around the World
Although recent gains have been made in advancing equality for same-sex couples, the majority of the world’s countries do not have any legislation permitting same-sex marriage. As of 2014, only 16 countries have laws allowing same-sex marriage. The majority of those countries are in Europe and South America, while the rest of the world struggles to gain ground for this meaningful right.
It is important to note, however, that legal recognition of gay couples varies from country to country and even within countries. Some countries provide full recognition of gay marriage, while other provide for limited civil union status, to even countries that criminalize same-sex marriage such as Uganda.
France legalized gay marriage after much effort and debate in May 2013, becoming the 14th country to do so. Despite more than 60% of France approving of same-sex marriage, the approval of same-sex marriage provoked acts of violence and protests that drew in hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country.
A prior law, the Pacte civile de Soldarité, allowed for civil unions between couples but did not provide the full benefits that marriage brings. Namely, the law did not confer similar treatment under the law for same-sex couples over inheritance issues and parenting rights.
The Netherlands was the first country to grant full legal recognition of same-sex marriage under the law when it passed a bill in 2001. One major difference between the treatment of same-sex couples and heterosexual couples lies in the birth of children. In the Netherlands, the biological father of the child is considered the father while their partner needs to adopt the child in order to obtain a co-parenting status.
In May 2013, a legal body in Brazil, the National Council of Justice, handed down a ruling effectively legalizing gay marriage. The ruling explicitly prohibited government officials from discriminating against same-sex couples by denying them the right to marry. Before this ruling, Brazil allowed for same-sex civil unions through its constitution, which permits “stable unions.” Stable unions gave many same-sex couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples, from the right to joint declaration of income tax, pension, property sharing, and inheritance.
In 2006, South Africa became the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage when it passed the Civil Union Act. This approval had its roots in the 1997 constitution that was the first to recognize sexual orientation as a basic human right. Despite this progressive legislation, some say homophobia in South Africa continues to be rampant, with famous South African soccer star Eudy Simelane killed in a hate-crime due to her sexual orientation.
– Jeff Meyer
Sources: Council on Foreign Relations, The New York Times
Photo: Illinois Observer
Doctors Without Borders expelled from Myanmar
Doctors without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontiers, is one of the most respected aid organizations in the world. It was created in 1971 by a group of doctors who desired to have a more direct approach to aiding those in need. It has provided aid to many countries that desperately need it. Doctors without Borders won the Nobel Peace prize in 1999 for its work helping those in war torn countries around the world.
In accepting the award in 1999, former head of the organization Dr. James Orbinski said, “Silence has long been confused with neutrality, and has been presented as a necessary condition for humanitarian action. From its inception, MSF (Medecins Sans Frontiers) was created in opposition to this assumption.”
The situation in Myanmar for the Rohingya could not be more dire and the comments of Orbinski could not be more apt. The Muslim Rohingya are the minority in Myanmar and are one of the most persecuted groups in the world, according to the United Nations.
Doctors Without Borders was an integral part of ensuring that the Rohingya received basic medical care and the services that they desperately need. The situation is more complex however as the government of Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as a legitimate ethnic group and persecutes and block their basic human rights at every turn.
Doctors Without Borders has been providing aid to citizens in Myanmar for the last 22 years, according to CNN, and was the largest non-governmental organization in the Rakhine state where the Rohingya live. The group was banned by the Myanmar authority for allegedly showing a “bias” towards the Rohingya who are termed Bengali by the Myanmar government which views them as illegal aliens.
There is speculation by a number of sources that the ban originated because Doctors without Borders put out a statement regarding a massacre of 44 Rohingya by state security officials. The UN and Doctors Without Borders maintain that the Rohingya were targeted by security forces and a mob of local Buddhist.
Myanmar’s government maintains that just one police officer was killed and no other violence occurred.
Doctors Without Borders was operating medical clinics for basic needs as well as HIV/AIDS clinics that were providing treatment to over 30,000 people. The NGO was Myanmar’s largest supplier of HIV medicine and the lack of treatment for this many could and will have devastating consequences in the long term.
Representative Joe Crowley is an outspoken voice on Myanmar and recently tweeted, “It is the responsibility of the Burmese government to protect its civilians. This is deeply troubling.” The Rohingya need more outspoken representatives in international governments around the world if they are to continue to be under the thumb of Myanmar’s oppressive government.
– Arthur Fuller
Sources: ABC, CNN, Doctors Without Borders, Los Angeles Times, Fox
Photo: Apologetics Press
Famous, Rich and Hungry: BBC’s Latest Foray Into Poverty
The BBC is one of the more respected production companies in the world.
It produces such shows as Top Gear, which is an extremely popular show. It also produces a variety of news programs and also many sports programs as well. However, the BBC has, in the past few years, been straying from its normal programming and delving into the area of reality television and poverty. The BBC has aired Famous, Rich and Jobless, Famous, Rich and Homeless, and, most recently, Famous, Rich and Hungry.
The shows are designed to expose the lives of those who live on the fringes of England’s society and air them to the entire nation. In the latest show, Famous, Rich and Hungry, various celebrities in England are sent to live with poor families for a week in order to experience what food poverty really feels like. The show will have such celebrities as Rachel Johnson, the sister of the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
It will also have Teo Paphitis an extremely successful businessman who is estimated to be worth over 200 million British pounds (roughly $332.26 million.)
The show is produced by Love Productions, who was also behind the production of the other Famous and Rich series. The show’s executive producer, Richard McKerrow, spoke in an interview recently and said, “I am sure there will be the same media storm, because my God, there is a political bun fight about whether people in Britain are currently going hungry.”
There is a plethora of evidence from both scientific and scholarly sources that there is indeed a crises occurring in Europe. The situation in Europe right now calls for a united effort to pass laws and bills that aid in both the economic recovery and aid of getting Europe citizens out from the ever present shadow of poverty.
The austerity measure that are being used by many European counties at the moment in order to lift their economies out from the rubble. The BBC has an opportunity as one of the world’s largest television producers and acclaimed sources of information really to aid those in need.
The BBC should focus on producing quality television that can educate, enrich, and inform its viewers rather than sensationalizing someone’s misfortune by showcasing it as a spectacle to the world. The poor need informed and educated people fighting for them, rather than having their lives made a mockery of.
– Arthur Fuller
Sources: The Guardian TV-Radio Blog, The Guardian Media, The Guardian, Daily Mail
Photo: Daily Mail
Brutal Poverty in Sierra Leone
Poverty in Sierra Leone is alive and well. Freetown, the capital and largest city in Sierra Leone, was founded in 1787. It was known as the “Province of Freedom” because it was a British crown colony and the principal base for the suppression of the slave trade. The Maroons were the original settlers, consisting of 1,200 newly freed slaves from Nova Scotia. In 1800, a rebellion of Jamaican slaves escaped and moved to Freetown.
The British Empire’s abolition of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was mostly due to the efforts of William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharpe and Lord Mansfield. They founded a naval base in Freetown in order to patrol against the illegal slave ships that still existed, fining every British ship found with a slave onboard.
Sierra Leone was officially named a crown colony in 1808. In 1833 British Parliament passed the Emancipation Act, which abolished slavery. As a result, over 50,000 freed slaves settled in Freetown by 1855. Their descendants, known as the Krios, now live in a multi-ethnic country. Krio is a widely spoken language throughout the country that some ethnic groups speak, though English is the official language.
Since Sierra Leone gained independence from the British in 1961, the country has experienced many economic, political and social challenges. A rebel group called the Revolutionary United Front plotted to overthrow the Joseph Momoh Government, causing a devastating civil war from 1991 to 2002.
The extreme brutality of this conflict caused over two million people to be displaced and resulted in more than 50,000 casualties. The war ended as a result of a U.N. peacekeeping and British military intervention. The country has made tremendous advancements in establishing a good government and keeping peace and security since the war ended.
Three years after the war ended, Sierra Leone was considered the poorest country in the world. Today, it is ranked at 177 out of 184 countries on the Human Development Index. This minor improvement is partly due to the assistance of international donors. Officials say Sierra Leone is on its way toward securing macroeconomic stability through democratization and stabilization, but large populations of youth who are former combatants are still unemployed, threatening the peace and stability of the country.
More than 60 percent of Sierra Leone’s population presently lives in poverty. Many people are living under the poverty line at less than $1.25 per day. The literacy rate is only 41 percent and 70 percent of young people in Sierra Leone are unemployed or underemployed as a result. The poorest people live in the Northern and Southern provinces of the country and consist mostly of landless people, particularly women in rural households.
The civil war and social unrest of previous years caused a severe economic decline that virtually destroyed the physical and social infrastructure of the country, leading to widespread poverty. Sierra Leone’s development depends on consolidating peace, democracy and increasing its economic growth.
– Kenneth W. Kliesner
Sources: Global Finance, UNDP, Rural Poverty Portal
Photo: Justinsandefur.org
Electrify Africa Act
U.S. Congress is introducing concrete legislation that if passed will help bring energy security to over 500 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. The House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced the Electrify Africa Act of 2013 with the stated goal of forming a “strategic approach to support affordable, reliable electricity in sub-Saharan Africa to unlock the potential for economic growth, job creation, improved health and education, and poverty reduction.” It has garnered sponsors from both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Currently, 68 percent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity. An additional 10% that have electricity still burn wood, shrubs or cow manure to cook their food. This includes people in 30 African countries and comes at an average cost of 2-5% of GDP growth per year. The Electrify Africa Act would make it official U.S. policy to encourage energy capacity gains of 20,000 megawatts by 2020. This would grant first time electricity access to 50 million people.
The Electrify Africa Act also comes as a response to increased Chinese investment in Africa. China has become the single largest director in the area and has drawn attention for providing $2 billion in aid to African energy projects while also supporting Chinese companies in the region.
The bill requires the current Administration to develop a comprehensive multi-year strategy to meet its energy goals. After three years, the president must present progress to Congress. The plan would include lobbying of organizations such as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the World Bank and the African Development Bank to increase electricity related investment. Additionally, USAID will be encouraged to use loan guarantees and grants to support various energy projects.
Email your congressional representative to show your support for this life-changing piece of legislation today. Urging your representative to act is an effective way to have your opinion heard and make an impact in the fight against global poverty. Congressional staffers will keep track of all the calls, emails and letters that enter their office in support of legislation and report the data in a weekly report to your representative.
Securing commitments from Congress to attack poverty in the form of concrete legislation is an enormous step in helping millions of people. With properly directed aid electrical deficiencies’ in sub-Saharan Africa will cease to exist. The region will take off economically and over 500 million people can enjoy a more prosperous and secure life. The Electrify Africa Act will provide an effective step in eradicating poverty and empowering countless people.
– Martin Levy
Sources: House Foreign Affairs Committee, The Borgen Project, Forbes
Photo: Economist
Eritrean Refugees Abused in the Middle East
Refugees are fleeing Sub-Saharan Africa’s poverty in search for job opportunities, political freedoms and basic human rights. The sad reality of this situation is many of these opportunities are few and far in-between, and their lives rarely improve above the dire situation they were leaving.
Eritrea is one of the nations many have been fleeing from. Isayais Aferwerki, the despotic dictator who’s ruled Eritrea since its 1994 independence from Ethiopia, is a main reason. The nation is home to rampant poverty, media repression and political oppression. Adult-aged males are regularly conscripted into military service with no definite end-date, and the President was quoted as saying the nation was not ready for free elections for at least another 20-30 years. The constitution has been suspended and Eritrea remains single-party state, with opposition political groups regularly rounded up and jailed.
Around 200,000 Eritreans have left the nation in search of freedom, but it has resulted in a human rights crisis. Eritreans regularly flee to Sudan, Egypt and Israel only to be subjected to discrimination, and in some cases, have fallen into human trafficking. Israel has prevented refugees from entering by building a fence, which has resulted in asylum seekers slowing “to a trickle” of their original amount.
Human Rights Watch published a report detailing the crisis in early February stating that “refugees are commonly kidnapped, and their families extorted to pay for their release.” Those who manage to avoid kidnapping are usually deported back. HRW has focused on the culpability of Egyptian and Sudanese officials in the kidnapping crisis. The allegation has been made that corrupt officials have been benefiting financially from the situation and are actively cooperating with kidnappers.
Physicians for Human Rights released a damning report on the conditions many Eritrean refugees face on the trek to asylum. The imprisonment rate of those interviewed was around 59%, while 52% claimed they were violently abused at some point on their way to the Sinai Peninsula. Slave camps are prevalent in Egypt. In El-Arish, there are camps reported throughout the area, populated with “slave traders” who “demand ransoms” for the release of African refugees.
The report detailed that many of these refugees were tricked through “promises of being led to Israel” but rather held against their will, while other’s detailed “severe abuse.” Twenty percent of those interviewed also described witnessing murders. Israel can be considered culpable in this situation. With the building of the fence, the average of 1,500 refugees gaining asylum each month decreased to only 25 entering “between January and April 2013.”
Israel has also mounted a political campaign to defend their actions, decrying the Eritrean refugees as a “threat to Israeli society.” The public response to these accusations helped allow the government to enact stricter immigration legislation, allowing for slave traders to flourish in the wake.
The Anti-Infiltration Law was passed in January of 2012 by the Israeli Legislature of Knesset, and allowed the Israeli Government to detain any people found crossing the border. The law even prevents many of these refugees from receiving a speedy trail, allowing the Israeli state to detain undocumented immigrants for “minimum of three years.” If a undocumented immigrant is from a state considered belligerent to Israel, such as Sudan, they can be “detained indefinitely.”
It was a crushing defeat for many Africans in search of a new life free of oppression. With no options, many still flee, but they may not find the salvation they are in search of.
– Joseph Abay
Sources: Turkish Weekly, US State Department, Haaretz, The Voice, Sudan Tribune, DW, Physicians for Human Rights, Haaretz
Will E-Cigarettes Tackle China’s Tobacco Monopoly?
Since 1982, the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC) has grown to be the world’s largest tobacco company, contributing almost 10 percent of total tax revenue to the central government. The state-backed monopoly has remained stubborn to reform in the wake of the roughly one million smoking-related deaths the country sees each year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently released a statement saying that China needs to take a firmer stance against its giant tobacco industry if it hopes to reduce these numbers.
China has the world’s largest tobacco consumer base, home to more than 300 million smokers. In 2012, the CNTC had an annual net income of $18.6 billion, in contrast to the American-owned company, Phillip Morris International, with an annual net income of $8.57 billion.
So how do we tackle a multi-billion dollar monopoly?
The biggest problem is that the government itself is in the business. This creates a strong conflict of interest, which is proving difficult in weeding out the destructive habit.
In recent months, China has adopted several anti-tobacco measures, including banning government officials from smoking in public areas and banning smoking in schools. However, the tobacco monopoly has managed to continuously oppose reforms such as raising cigarette prices and using stronger health warnings on cigarette packs.
It seems that all hope is not lost.
A pair of tobacco industry manufacturers from southern China launched a joint venture on February 25 aimed at tackling the tobacco monopoly once and for all.
The collaboration between FirstUnion Technology, the world’s largest e-cigarette producer, and Jinjia, China’s biggest maker of cigarette packaging products, is an entrepreneurial match made in heaven. Both companies have achieved massive success in the southern city of Shenzhen and hope to rise among the ranks by manufacturing China’s first mass-market e-cigarettes.
E-cigarettes first entered the Chinese market in 2004 and have since been exported to major markets worldwide.
Their significance?
They have become the new alternative for tobacco smokers who want to avoid inhaling smoke. Also known as electronic cigarettes, or vaporizer cigarettes, they emit doses of vaporized nicotine, or non-nicotine vaporized solution, that is inhaled. E-cigarettes have been found to have comparable rates of success in helping smokers quit as nicotine patches.
Overall, this is good news for China, but bad news for the tobacco monopoly.
The partnership between the two Chinese companies is receiving a start-up investment of just over $16 million, but they might need support from the central government if they hope to succeed.
– Mollie O’Brien
Sources: The Street, Medical News Today
Photo: Carbonated
Early Childhood Obesity Rate Falls in U.S.
Obesity in the U.S. is at epidemic proportions. The U.S. had the highest obesity rate in the world for several years and only recently bequeathed the rank to Mexico. According to several reports, the first drops in obesity in over 30 years have begun to occur in several cities across the U.S. The percentages are small, but the fact that they are occurring at all is big deal because that means that the stagnation the U.S. has endured while fighting this disease may actually be able to reverse itself.
Researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a National Health and Nutrition Examination survey in 2011 and 2012 that examined the diets and eating habits of over 9,000 children ages 2 years old to 19 years old and adults 20 years of age and over. The study found that rates of childhood obesity have dropped 43 percent for children between the ages of 2 years old and 5 years old since 2003.
The news of obesity declining in early childhood is grand news indeed, however the study also found that other age groups obesity levels are on the rise. The study found that nearly 32 percent of those in the study ages 2 years old and 19 years of age were either obese or overweight. The staggering statistic is that 68 percent of U.S. adults are in the overweight or obese category, with 35 percent of them being obese and nearly 7 percent of those being extremely obese.
The nation’s attention has been on obesity for some time, and with the First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Lets Move” initiatives, many food companies are beginning to change the labeling on their foods to accurately reflect their content. Schools across America are also making changes to their cafeteria food line ups as well, taking deep friers out have been a help as well as eliminating soda vending machines from schools. This has been somewhat of a contentious issue as schools who have soda machines have usually paired up with soft drink companies and are receiving compensation in kind.
The decline of early childhood obesity in the U.S. means that a disease which cause so many other illnesses like heart attacks and strokes may also decline. The U.S. is a leader and pioneer in the world, but if future generations are going forward with a variety of maladies due to obesity, then how will the U.S. lead and be a governing force in the years and decades to come?
– Arthur Fuller
Sources: New York Times, CBS News, MSNBC, BBC
Photo: Pinimg