Rural poverty in North Africa is similar to rural poverty in South Africa, though the national poverty line varies dramatically. According to Rural Poverty Portal, this includes the differences between 6% in Tunisia and 90% in Somalia. North-African economies are in dire straits.
Poverty-ridden people, they said, “constitute about one third of Tunisia’s poor population, and about three fourths of Somalia’s poor.” However, poverty in Northern Africa is still concentrated in rural areas.
This has deep causes such as the limited availability of “good arable land and water,” and “the impact of droughts and floods.” Conflict has similarly disrupted agriculture and thus intensified poverty, especially in Somalia and Sudan.
Algeria is a country in Northern Africa whose economy is dominated by the state, according to the CIA World Factbook.
“Hydrocarbons have long been the backbone of the economy,” the Factbook explains, “Accounting for roughly 60 percent of budget revenues, 30 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) and over 95 percent of export earnings.”
This hydrocarbon exportation has brought relative “macroeconomic stability, with foreign currency reserves approaching $200 billion.”
Despite Algeria’s relative stability, things such as transportation and a stable social infrastructure remain obstacles for Northern Africa. High rates of illiteracy, especially among women, also negatively affect the economy.
Rural Poverty Portal furthermore illustrated that the northern region of the continent has “weak local institutions, poor integration with the national economy, and the migration of rural youth to urban areas.”
However, the urban areas in Northern Africa hold the most political influence. “Government policies and investments in the region tend to favor urban areas over rural areas,” they said.
Just south of Algeria lies Niger, a land-locked, Sub-Saharan nation. Though it shares a border with Algeria, a relatively stable African country, it has a very low income – less than $250 USD gross national income per capita, according to the World Bank Development Indicators as of 2005.
Moreover, CIA World Factbook states that Niger qualified for “enhanced debt relief under the International Monetary Fund program for Highly Indebted Poor Countries.” This significantly reduced Niger’s debt and annual obligations, and freed up funds for “basic healthcare, primary education, HIV/AIDS prevention, rural infrastructure and other programs geared at poverty reduction.”
The Factbook said that food security remains a problem in Niger, and is enhanced by refugees from Mali.
Sixty-three percent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the most recent data which was gathered in 1993.
Northern Africa has a wide disparity between the very poor and the middle-class. Though some countries are more stable than others, education, food stability, access to clean water and social stability remain significant obstacles for the reduction of African poverty as a whole.
– Alycia Rock
Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, BBC, Rural Poverty Portal, Central Intelligence Agency
Photo: Reuters
Typhoon Haiyan: Addressing Mistakes and Oversights
Natural disasters occur every year. Their existence is virtually a law of nature and unfortunately, the loss of life is often a consequence of these devastating events. But despite the certainty in the occurrence of natural disasters, there are things that can be done to mitigate and minimize the effects of these storms. These preparation efforts, when properly implemented, can help substantially reduce the effects of natural disasters.
The Philippines sees about 20 tropical storms each year, which would lead most to believe that the country should have a sophisticated storm preparation plans considering the constant threat to its residents. However, over 10,000 lives were lost in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan. This high death toll indicates that there was likely much that could have been done to prevent the substantial loss of life caused by Typhoon Haiyan. Indeed, there were several things that should have been done differently in preparation for the storm.
1. Inaccurate Early Warning System
While Typhoon Haiyan may have been larger and stronger than most storms that typically hit the Philippines, the danger the storm presented could have been substantially decreased by the presence of a more accurate early warning system. According to University World News, the typhoon came in three hours earlier than warnings suggested and had a storm surge of six meters, which was unexpected. However, the slower development of typhoons, as compared to other rapidly forming natural disasters such as tsunamis, provides for much better preparation than what was provided during Typhoon Haiyan.
2. Underestimating the Storm’s Severity
While early estimates placed the storm surge at six meters, Typhoon Haiyan’s storm surge reached 55 feet, meaning the deadliest element of the typhoon was underestimated. So although hundreds of thousands of people evacuated, they apparently failed to evacuate far enough inland, likely relying on the underestimated storm surge.
Additionally, many residents are believed to have had an inadequate understanding of the meaning of storm surge, which likely also contributed to the failure to evacuate farther inland. According to the secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Philippines, people were preparing for the usual wind and rain of a typhoon, a misunderstanding that turned out to be catastrophic. Government officials should learn from these mistakes and develop a better method of disseminating information on the effects of typhoons in a simple and easy-to-understand format.
3. Misplaced Focus of Government Officials
In addition to the inaccurate early warning system and residents’ failure to fully grasp the severity of the storm, there are also indications that government officials may have been distracted by a senate hearing which involved the corruption of government officials, which took much needed focus away from storm preparedness efforts. The hearing apparently involved the misappropriation of more than $228 million from tax and government funds by government officials.
This focus on politics is believed by some pundits to have contributed to the neglect of disaster risk reduction, such as evacuating people who lived on low-lying, urbanized, coastal areas of islands, areas which were considered to be under threat by several initial reports.
– Cavarrio Carter
Sources: University World News, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, International Business Times
United Nations Treaty Collection
To promote international progress and security, the United Nations creates a series of treaties among nations. The United Nations Treaty Collection (UNTC) is an online database providing full texts of United Nations Treaty Series, League of Nations Treaty Series and multilateral treaties filed by the Secretary-General of the U.N. (SGUN) and its latest status.
The database offers access to over 200,000 bilateral and multilateral treaties filed by the Secretariat. They are recorded in their authentic languages, along with translations into English and French. More than 550 major multilateral instruments cover a wide range of issues that catch global attention, such as human rights, disarmament, commodities, refugees, environment and crimes.
The UNTC offers multiple search criteria so that people can reach treaties by searching participants, subject terms, registration number, date of adoption or keywords.
Apart from treaties, the UNTC publishes information about annual treaty events organized by the Treaty Section of the U.N. The SGUN invites heads of states and governments to attend the event and identifies a series of treaties to be the focus of the event every September. The treaty events aim to advocate universal participation in the multilateral treaties deposited with the SGUN, raise global awareness of international challenges and encourage active engagement of member states in their resolution within the international legal framework.
Treaty training information is also available on the UNTC website. The U.N. hosts annual regional training seminars and workshops on treaty law and domestic implementation of treaty obligations in different countries. The U.N. currently offers member states technical assistance in connection with a range of legal matters. Such assistance includes providing advice, expertise, research, analysis and training.
– Liying Qian
Sources: Learn Stuff, United Nations Treaty Collection, Utrecht University Library
Photo: Wikipedia
Vaccine Logistics: Typhoon Haiyan
Mere weeks after the confirmation of the first ten cases of poliomyelitis in Syria, Mother Nature dealt the global health community another powerful blow in the form of Typhoon Haiyan.
Some areas of the Philippines are nearly 95 percent destroyed; Doctors Without Borders staff has described the aftermath as reminiscent of the Haitian earthquake of 2010. Hospitals have been ruined, so aid workers have set up temporary health centers to treat wounds and provide much-needed vaccines to locals and returning residents who chose to flee the oncoming storm.
The World Health Organization and the Philippine Department of Health have spearheaded a campaign to vaccinate children under five against measles or polio outbreaks and provide Vitamin A drops to boost immune system strength. All children under 15 years will then receive care if resources allow. Hard-hit areas are the campaign’s priority. Immediate needs include the set-up of immunization stations, volunteer deployment and acquisition of all necessary vaccines.
Philippine Secretary of Health Enrique Ona guarantees that since “system is shaken but not broken,” a re-launch of widespread vaccinations should not prove impossible.
Nonetheless, in some regions such as Guiuan (to the east of Samar island,) the “cold chain” required for vaccine delivery and preservation has not yet been implemented. This mechanism involves gas and generator powered refrigerators, cold boxes, ice packs and vaccine-cases for areas without power. In the words of Dr. Johan von Schreeb of Doctors Without Borders, the devastated islands “do not have time to wait.”
This refrigeration conundrum arises with each civil conflict or natural disaster that leaves affected regions without power. Though the cold chain concept is effective and familiar to health care providers, current supply and logistics systems were designed thirty years ago, prior to the development of cold chain equipment. Project Optimize (a task force of the WHO and PATH) and UNICEF’s Cold Chain and Logistics Task Force have identified innovative funding for cold chain equipment as a key opportunity for improvement upon today’s vaccine systems.
In order to achieve the Project’s 2020 goals, cold chain equipment, efficiency and monitoring must improve. Health care managers must be able to access performance figures to make informed purchasing and allocation decisions given the limited time span and resources available in health care emergencies; in other words, the current Philippine situation. If local or national health departments allot too many or too few resources to any single immunization station, lives will be lost (due either to a vaccine shortage or to spoliation of vaccines that should have been administered in other areas). Striking this delicate balance requires widespread cooperation between the public and private sector.
Similarly, manufacturers of equipment must be kept abreast of product performance in the field. The implementation of a feedback loop between manufacturer and user would improve product packaging and design. The Project’s 2013 Action Plan suggests beginning with a redesign of cold boxes to maximize the “refrigerant-to-vaccine” ratio to hold more vaccines and insulate them more efficiently.
Improvements to vaccine logistics that reflect needs expressed explicitly by those on the front lines of vaccine campaigns will ensure that doctors such as von Schreeb have the tools to work their magic when disaster strikes.
– Casey Ernstes
Sources: Doctors Without Borders, PATH, The World Health Organization, The World Health Organization
Photo: BBC
Poverty in Kampala, Uganda
Uganda has been struggling for decades with issues of poverty and Kampala, its capital city, is no exception. The migration of residents from rural to urban areas has led to growing pockets of poverty in the capital since insufficient housing sends many to live on the streets. The poor of Kampala live in slums and nearly all citizens are unemployed. Most attain money by begging in the streets. With a population of 1,189,142 people in the city, access to clean and safe water is limited to 65 percent. The remaining 35 percent risk contamination and disease by getting water from highly contaminated sources.
Most of Uganda’s poor are the thousands of subsistence farmers who live in remote rural areas of the country. Lack of access to markets and technology has led several to abandon their villages and migrate to the city. Cities suck as Kampala present hope for those smallholder farmers who were unable to sustain their families. Kampala has been the destination for thousands and because of this, the city has been unable to provide for the masses of new residents. Inadequate sanitation in Kampala has increased incidences of waterborne diseases such as worm infestations and malaria. These issues drastically affect the economy of the residents throughout Kampala and increase the rate of poverty.
Research has shown that through implementation of a nationwide program that can help stabilize the situation of the poor, Uganda may be able to lower its poverty rates in the years to come. Uganda’s poverty level in 1992 was 56 percent and the goal to reduce it by half to 28 percent has already been achieved, since its current poverty level is 24.5 percent. Although the pace of poverty elimination in Kampala is slow, several programs such as the National Urban Policy (NUP) and the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) are being implemented to address the needs of thousands of rural and urban residents who are unable to produce a living.
– Maybelline Martez
Sources: Monitor, Observer
UN Economic and Social Council
On January 23, 1946, the first session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was held. Almost 68 years later, ECOSOC is still grappling with the world’s economic, social and environmental challenges. The broad categorization is daunting, especially since the Council and its subsidiary bodies are responsible for about 70 percent of the entire U.N. human and financial resources. The span of ECOSOC encompasses economic, social, cultural, educational and health concerns, according to the U.N. Charter. The Council’s subsidiary bodies demonstrate the diversity under ECOSOC’s umbrella of responsibility: U.N. Forum on Forests, Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Commission for Social Development, and the various regional commissions.
The U.N. General Assembly elects the 54 member-governments, with each region allocated a certain number of seats. The U.S.’ three year term began in 2012 and will end in 2015. The Colombian representative is currently President, with four Vice-Presidents from Albania, Austria, Pakistan and Sudan. The year 2013 has seen major reform efforts from the Council, aiming to make ECOSOC more effective, more issues-oriented, and more responsive. For example, the Commission on Sustainable Development held its final session in September after it was slated to be dismantled due to lack of progress in its sector. The chairperson acknowledged that though the Commission greatly influenced the 21st century environmental goals, it did not create the change sought out by the larger Council.
As a result of its extensive areas of focus, ECOSOC is one of the most important humanitarian bodies in the United Nations. One of the early acts by ECOSOC was to adopt the Commission on Human Rights’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an early stepping-stone in the path to equality. The current reforms mark an important return to an issue-centered approach that many hope will lead to greater progress in the subsidiary bodies’ foci.
– Katey Baker-Smith
Sources: UN News Centre, UNISDR
Malaria: The Enemy
What is Malaria?
Malaria is a life-threatening blood disease caused by a parasite known as plasmodium. This parasite is transmitted to human by the anopheles mosquito. An infected person of this disease shows signs of dizziness, loss of appetite, anemic, high fevers, dehydration and loss of body weight.
The History of Malaria: The word malaria comes from the 18th century Italian “mala” meaning “bad” and “aria” meaning “air”. Most likely the term was first used by Dr. Francisco Torti in Italy, where people thought the disease was caused by foul air in marshy areas. It was not until the 1880’s that scientists discovered that malaria was a parasitic disease.
The Socioeconomic Effect of Malaria: Malaria kills a child somewhere in the world every minute; it infects approximately 219 million people each year with an estimated 660,000 deaths mostly being children in Africa. Ninety percent of malaria death occurs in Africa. It is one of the most dreadful diseases reducing the populace on the large scale. The sickness also contributed greatly to anemia among children-a major cause of poor growth and development.
Malaria also has some serious economic impact in Africa, slowing economic growth and development and perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty. Malaria is truly a disease of poverty afflicting primarily the poor who tend to live in malaria-prone rural areas. Nevertheless, the rich cannot be left out with the infection of this sickness.
Prevention and Control: Malaria, many say, is no respecter of person. Irrespective of one’s social status, malaria can indeed infect many people. It is in this light that people must take precautionary measures to protect themselves, family and friends from this dreadful sickness. Those living in malaria prone regions like Ghana should make sure they follow certain precautions, some of which are as follows:
Get Involved in the Fight Against Malaria: It is high time all stakeholders globally, be it governments agencies, health institutions, policy makers, developmental agencies and individuals, get involved in the fight against Malaria. Government and other developmental agencies should formulate realistic policies, carry them out, monitor the progress of these implementations and evaluate their final outcomes.
These programs, in effect, when implemented, will help the fight against malaria and help improve the living conditions of the rural poor. Just as the adage goes, “brighten the corner where you are” the individual cannot be left out in the fight as well. Gutters or drains and the environment need to be free from the breeding of mosquitoes and as such, the onus also lies on us as individuals to practice personal and community hygiene. People should not wait for government agencies and other non-governmental organizations to help clean their environments; they must take responsibility of their actions and outcomes and ensure they genuinely support the fight against poverty through the prevention and control of malaria.
– William Annang
Sources: UNICEF, Medical News Today
Photo: The Guardian
Poverty, Poor Health and Access to Healthcare
It is an obvious fact that living in poverty makes one more vulnerable, less secure and more likely to need assistance. When combating poverty issues of health and accessibility to health care providers in a crucial factor in creating the stability that helps people leave poverty and with appropriate polices to prevent future poverty crisis.
In the United States, it is clear that many have fallen into poverty. The U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on poverty provides clear evidence that more Americans are struggling financially. Nearly 46 million people, which would be 14.6 percent of the population, are living in poverty. Of that, hundreds of thousands of these people were once counted among the middle class. Something beyond employment and GDP has effected security in the U.S. and made it difficult to not be impoverished.
When comparing the U.S. with other wealthy countries, the U.S. has one of the highest reported numbers of people living in poverty. Additionally, Americans also face a high risk of becoming poor. The disparity begs for answers.
When countries do not protect rights and basic securities it often leads to a poorly functioning economy and a poor standard of living. States that do not have affordable health care have high rates of poverty. High rates of economic growth or their level of wealth cannot circumvent the absence of human rights protections and the statistics reflect that.
With such high costs of coverage and access, it is not surprising that the new census report also shows that 16.7 percent of Americans are without health insurance. The passage of the Affordable Care Act has brought this discussion of the value of human health to the forefront, and is the first major piece of anti-poverty legislation in decades.
The ACA mandates that quality healthcare must be provided to all Americans no matter what their income level is. In addition to accessible healthcare for those in need, the bill also reaffirms the belief that health care is a human right.
The health insecurity of the poor puts everyone at risk and the lack of care is trapping people in systemic poverty and risking lives that could otherwise be saved. When people live in extreme poverty they a more frequently and severely ill and face greater complications with more demands on an already over-burdened healthcare system.
Unless we can contain this spiral out of the cycle of poverty it will only continue. Job creation offers security through employment; however it cannot make a sick individual a healthy worker, and cannot always cover the high costs of health treatments and coverage.
The causes of poverty are varied and not always identified. Unless poverty is fought simultaneously from multiple points of vulnerability, it is not a winnable fight. With affordable accessible healthcare is provided along with increased social services, benefits and job creation, there are enough steps for individuals to finally leave poverty and find the security to participate economically and thrive.
– Nina Verfaillie
Feature Writer
Sources: Huffington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CNN
Photo: The Economist
Cambodian Garment Worker Clash Turns Deadly
One bystander was killed and 20 people were injured when police clashed with protesting garment workers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 12, 2013.
Workers at the SL Garment Processing Ltd. Factory, one of the largest in Cambodia and a supplier to many western brands including Gap and H&M, marched from the factory towards Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Phnom Pehn home to protest unfair wages and poor factory conditions. They were, however, blocked by police at Stung Meanchey bridge. Reports differ on which side started the violence, which escalated to more than 100 police officers firing tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition into the crowd, who were armed mainly with rocks and sticks. Police arrested 37 people, including seven monks, who were later released.
The march marked the three-month anniversary of 4,000 workers walking out of the SL factory to protest the presence of armed military police, which they viewed as an intimidation tactic meant to expel unions. Company shareholder Meas Sotha incited rage among workers with his claim that police were only there to protect the factory. SL 2 joined the strike, demanding raised salaries as well as a $3 per day lunch stipend and Sotha’s ousting.
Conditions in Cambodia’s more than 500 garment factories, though better than in some areas of the nation, are dismal. Wages are low—workers at SL, for example, make just $75 monthly—and factories are unsafe, with poor ventilation, recent collapses and regular fainting masses of malnourished workers. About 500,000 Cambodians work in garment and shoe factories, supporting the industry that accounts for 80% of the country’s exports. In 2012 alone, Cambodia exported $4.45 billion in products to the United States and Europe.
The protests erupted at a time of international attention on the garment industry following several deadly incidents at factories in Bangladesh, including a factory collapse at Rana Plaza that killed over 1,100 people in April. According to the New York Times, many multinational organizations are now looking to Cambodia as an alternative to factory locations in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, in Cambodia, strikes are frequent, though factory concessions are small and rare.
Workers at Alim Cambodia Co. Ltd. blocked a road in Phnom Phen on November 13, 2013 also protesting for higher wages. The demonstration was short-lived, breaking up due to rain when protestors became concerned they would get sick. The Alim protestors were demanding a $1 lunch stipend, and were angry that the factory was paying new workers $93 monthly to their $89.
The Cambodian government has made few efforts to back garment workers, and seems largely indifferent to workers’ rights. In fact, government-official-mediated talks about wages between unions and SL ended in a deadlock. Although the Cambodian People’s Party raised the monthly minimum wage from $61 to $75 earlier this year, reports by the local Community Legal Education Center and United Kingdom-based organization Labour Behind the Label found that a single garment worker needs at least $150 monthly to cover basic needs.
The United Nation’s International Labor Organization (ILO) released a report calling for the compliance of the Cambodian government and garment companies in improving workplace conditions in the garment industry, specifically concerning fire safety, child labor as well as worker safety and health. The ILO also announced in September it plans to continue the practice of “naming and shaming” factories that violate the law.
– Sarah Morrison
Sources: The New York Times, NPR, The Cambodia Daily: Garment Worker Clash, The Cambodia Daily: Protest, AlJazeera, AlJazeera America
North-African Economies
Rural poverty in North Africa is similar to rural poverty in South Africa, though the national poverty line varies dramatically. According to Rural Poverty Portal, this includes the differences between 6% in Tunisia and 90% in Somalia. North-African economies are in dire straits.
Poverty-ridden people, they said, “constitute about one third of Tunisia’s poor population, and about three fourths of Somalia’s poor.” However, poverty in Northern Africa is still concentrated in rural areas.
This has deep causes such as the limited availability of “good arable land and water,” and “the impact of droughts and floods.” Conflict has similarly disrupted agriculture and thus intensified poverty, especially in Somalia and Sudan.
Algeria is a country in Northern Africa whose economy is dominated by the state, according to the CIA World Factbook.
“Hydrocarbons have long been the backbone of the economy,” the Factbook explains, “Accounting for roughly 60 percent of budget revenues, 30 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) and over 95 percent of export earnings.”
This hydrocarbon exportation has brought relative “macroeconomic stability, with foreign currency reserves approaching $200 billion.”
Despite Algeria’s relative stability, things such as transportation and a stable social infrastructure remain obstacles for Northern Africa. High rates of illiteracy, especially among women, also negatively affect the economy.
Rural Poverty Portal furthermore illustrated that the northern region of the continent has “weak local institutions, poor integration with the national economy, and the migration of rural youth to urban areas.”
However, the urban areas in Northern Africa hold the most political influence. “Government policies and investments in the region tend to favor urban areas over rural areas,” they said.
Just south of Algeria lies Niger, a land-locked, Sub-Saharan nation. Though it shares a border with Algeria, a relatively stable African country, it has a very low income – less than $250 USD gross national income per capita, according to the World Bank Development Indicators as of 2005.
Moreover, CIA World Factbook states that Niger qualified for “enhanced debt relief under the International Monetary Fund program for Highly Indebted Poor Countries.” This significantly reduced Niger’s debt and annual obligations, and freed up funds for “basic healthcare, primary education, HIV/AIDS prevention, rural infrastructure and other programs geared at poverty reduction.”
The Factbook said that food security remains a problem in Niger, and is enhanced by refugees from Mali.
Sixty-three percent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the most recent data which was gathered in 1993.
Northern Africa has a wide disparity between the very poor and the middle-class. Though some countries are more stable than others, education, food stability, access to clean water and social stability remain significant obstacles for the reduction of African poverty as a whole.
– Alycia Rock
Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, BBC, Rural Poverty Portal, Central Intelligence Agency
Photo: Reuters
Cancer Cases at All Time High
According to the World Health Organization, Cancer cases are soaring each year. Data indicates an upward trend from 12.7 million cases in 2008 to 14 million in 2012. Cancer related deaths have also increased from 7.6 million to 8.3 million since 2008. With these growing rates, there is a desperate need for advances in diagnosis and detection of cancer.
An IARC report has shown a connection between increased smoking, obesity and cancer rates. This report also predicts a rise in cancer cases to 19.3 million by 2025. Several types of cancer kill every year but the most common cancer affecting thousands of women worldwide and is a leading cause of deaths in developing countries is attributed to breast cancer.
Developed countries do not have the clinical advances required to stop the disease at an early stage. Several people living below the poverty level don’t even know they have breast cancer since clinics are scarce. The Word Health Organization has also claimed this urgency for treatment of breast cancer in developing countries as thousands die from late detection. In 2012, around 522,000 women from around the globe died of this disease. Lung cancer is also among the top most common cancers worldwide, about 13% of total cancer cases. The large amount of lung cancer rates has been linked to both increased smoking from adults and young adults alike. Longer lifespans also contributes to these spiking rates according to the BBC.
Several health leaders from IARC believe that these growing cancer rates can be changed through preemptive action seen before with cervical cancer and access to the HPV vaccination. They hope that national programs for screening can produce similar excellent results and by giving easy access to treatment or detection centers, several will be able to beat other forms of cancer.
– Maybelline Martez
Sources: BBC, NY Daily News, Global Post
Photo: Giphy.com