5. Afghanistan (50.11 years)
For the Afghani people, the prospect of living a long life has been a luxury afforded to very few. On the heels centuries of war, internal strife, and natural disasters, Afghanistan has faced many humanitarian crises. Due to its continued state of insecurity, true development has been perpetually stunted. As reported by UNICEF, Afghanistan currently possesses “450,000 internally displaced persons, 5.7 million refugees and at least 250,000 people affected by natural hazards or disasters every year.” With 43% of houses lacking improved water sources, soaring rates of child malnutrition, and severely lacking sanitation and immunization practices, the cumulative effect is a shortened lifespan.
4. Swaziland (50.01 years)
This 6,704 sq mile country of Swaziland is bordered by South Africa and Mozambique. Due to HIV/AIDS, Swaziland has seen its average life expectancy actually drop over the passed 10 years. According to UNICEF, “Two-thirds of Swazis live in poverty, most of them in rural areas. Nearly 40% are HIV-positive, giving Swaziland the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world.” With 27% living under the minimum level of dietary energy consumption and 50% lacking adequate iodized salt requirements, the basic health of the citizenry continues to be a source of humanitarian concern.
3. Guinea-Bissau (49.50 years)
Similar to other sub-Saharan countries, Guinea-Bissau faces many health issues. Unlike Swaziland and South Africa, however, Guinea-Bissau only faces a 1.8% HIV/AIDS infection rate. The major health concern, however, is malaria. Without adequate supplies of mosquito nets and medication, the disease has proven to be increasingly deadly. Contributing to this issue, Guinea-Bissau has seen a major drop-off in medical personnel. With approximately only five doctors per 100,000 persons, getting medical attention is a luxury very few are afforded.
2. South Africa (49.48 years)
It may come as a surprise to many that South Africa holds such a high place on this list, as it developed rapidly since the end of apartheid in 1994. However, South Africa still faces a continuing humanitarian crisis. For South Africa, the main concerns are disease rather than hunger. For travelers visiting the country, the Center for Disease Control recommends the following immunizations: measles-mumps-rubella, diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus, chickenpox, flu shot, hepatitis A, typhoid, hepatitis B, malaria, and rabies. In addition,. According to the South African Government, the total number of persons living with HIV in South Africa increased from an estimated 4.21 million in 2001 to 5.38 million by 2011. An estimated 10.6% of the total population is HIV positive and 17.30% of adults between the ages of 15 and 49 are infected.
1. Chad (49.07 years)
Topping off this list, according to 2013 estimates, Chad has the lowest life expectancy rate of the 223 nations surveyed. Among the issues facing Chad, concerns are only exacerbated by the massive refugee influx from neighboring Sudan. According to UN statistics, “In 2012 Chad hosted some 288,700 refugees from Sudan, 56,700 from the Central African Republic (CAR), 90,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), 91,000 returned IDPs and 550 urban refugees and asylum-seekers.” With an estimated 2 million facing crippling malnutrition due to a volatile climate, compounded by poor health conditions in refugee camps, the overall health of Chad remains a dire humanitarian crisis.
– Thomas van der List
Sources: UNICEF, WHO, CDC, Statistics South Africa, UNHCR
Photo: The Guardian
UNICEF Delivers Aid to Central African Republic
In March of 2013 a crisis was declared in Central African Republic (CAR) after rebels seized power. The coup forced almost all humanitarian groups out of the country, leaving most of the country’s population without aid. Due to the crisis most of the citizens of CAR do not have access to basic medical services. The rebel coalition has ransacked schools, health clinics and hospitals. Many are afraid to leave their homes because of the violent rebel presence.
“The attacks have deprived an already vulnerable population – 4.4 million people spread across a country bigger than France – of access to even basic medical treatment,” said Doctors Without Borders in a recent report released about the crisis in CAR. “In a country which already had the second-lowest life expectancy in the world, at just 48 years, the people are now even more at risk.”
UNICEF has just delivered its third shipment of aid to Central African Republic filled with life-saving humanitarian supplies. The shipment weighed the equivalent of six large truck-loads. The shipment includes medicines and health supplies to treat over 20,000 people, tarpaulins to provide emergency shelter for 1,000 families, 400 boxes of therapeutic milk to treat severely malnourished children, and health and nutrition equipment to benefit children and women most affected bot the violent crisis. The shipment is aimed to reach those in the interior of the country who have little access to humanitarian aid and are in the greatest need.
“This is the largest shipment of supplies we have received since the crisis began. These life-saving supplies will be delivered immediately to affected communities across the Central African Republic,” said UNICEF representative Souleymane Diabate. “This month, through the work of mobile teams, we re-established a presence in the interior of the country and the supplies will be used to ensure that the health and nutritional needs of the most vulnerable women and children are met.”
Since the crisis, UNICEF has managed to organize a humanitarian response that has impaced the lives of 223,000 people. These people now have access to basic health services and medicines thanks to UNICEF. They have also treated 10,035 children with severe acute malnutrition and seen improvement in the children’s health. UNICEF has also vaccinated 123,000 children against measles and hopes to vaccinate the rest of the country before the end of September.
UNICEF hopes to expand its emergency response initiative in CAR and has currently raised US$8 million from donations. They hope to raise US $24 million to scale-up efforts.
– Catherine Ulirch
Sources: UNICEF, AllAfrica
The Borgen Project Advocates for Foreign Aid
Today, The Borgen Project team paid a visit to Congressman McDermott’s district office in Seattle. They advocated for a stronger international affairs budget, passing the Food Aid Reform Act and the Electrify Africa Act, and other issues related to global poverty.
Laurie Goodman, a PR Intern, said, “This was my first time lobbying in a congressional office and it was a great experience. I definitely suggest that others to contact their local leaders.”
The Borgen Project encourages everyone to schedule a meeting with their local congressional offices and advocate for eradicating poverty.
– Abby Stewart
What Is Global Food Insecurity?
There really is no formula to defining global food insecurity. Still, many world health organizations use the term to point out deficiencies in global food security. To understand what something is, it sometimes helps to understand what it is not. This may just be the case with food insecurity. To understand food insecurity, that is, one must first define and understand food security and work backwards. If food security does not exist, then, by definition, you have food insecurity.
The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” This definition hinges on three qualifications: namely food availability, food access, and food use. Lacking one of these elements of food security, a population faces food insecurity, which can and does arise in an endless permutation of manners.
Global Food Insecurity: Failing Food Security Criteria
To establish food security, say, in a developing nation, food must first be available on a consistent basis. Some will argue that there is currently enough food in the world to feed everyone in the world. Nonetheless, people go hungry due to inconsistency in their daily intake of food. For example, one may go days without a meal. In this situation, a cornucopia of food, arriving two weeks later, does nothing to alleviate that person’s current hunger. As such, food security depends on food availability.
Second, the nation’s population must have access to the right kinds of food to sustain a healthy diet. Not only must a person have food available, that is, it must be the right kind of food. For example, a human cannot survive on rice alone. We need all different kinds of food to live healthy lives. The definition of healthy diet here also includes accommodations to particular dietary needs, such as avoiding certain foods or increasing intake of others.
Finally, food security requires appropriate use of food based on adequate knowledge of basic nutrition and care. In order to maintain a healthy diet, one must know how to eat the food that is available to him or her and portion that food out in a way that best serves the needs of his or her body. When USAID drops bags of food over Africa, for example, it will be helpful to also teach those receiving the aid how to ration the food. Basic sanitation and access to water are included in appropriate use to complete the qualifications of food security.
If even one of these three elements or qualifications is not met, it is easy to see how even a full plate of food, three times a day, may not be enough to maintain a healthy diet. Food security requires that the food is enough to satisfy the short, mid, and long-term needs of the human body and that the person consuming the food does so in an appropriate manner to maintain him or herself. Global food insecurity, or deficient food security from a worldwide perspective, exists in a world where even one person goes hungry.
Though great strides have been made in alleviating global hunger, the current level of food insecurity is unacceptable. Even in the United States, 1 out of 10 households were food insecure, hence the importance of food provision and education programs, like, local food banks. To learn more about food (in)security in the U.S., you can visit this site.
– Herman Watson
Sources: U.S. Food Aid and Security, World Health Organization, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization
Photo: Security and Sustainability Forum
WoundCure Chip Assesses Chronic Wounds
Dr. Manuela Martins-Green and PhD candidate Sandeep Dhall have started a project to develop a diagnostic tool called a “gene chip.” The chip would provide accurate diagnostic tests for chronic “non-healing” wounds. The gene chip can predict how a patient’s chronic wound should be treated in order to increase the chance of healing. If the WoundCure chip project is successful, it could potentially treat millions of people who are affected with bed sores, skin ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers and other related chronic wounds.
Martins-Green and Dhall say that chronic wounds affect an average of 6.5M people and cost roughly $25 billion a year in the U.S. The WoundCure chip data could steer doctors toward effective treatment plans so that wounds can heal properly. Many times, the solution to chronic wounds is to amputate the affected limbs. Open sores are also more prone to infection, which can potentially spread throughout the body.
The WoundCure chip data will be an excellent tool that will allow doctors to quickly determine which wounds require aggressive treatment. The chip will identify which genes have been altered, thus providing quick diagnosis and proper treatment. In an interview with Dr. Martins-Green, she goes more in detail about how the chip works. She explains that, “If the expression of the gene is elevated, it will show red. If it’s not regulated, it will show green. If you use the chip with a wound, the prediction is that the more red the more serious the wound will be.”
The researchers behind this innovative tool are hopeful that it will be a positive impact on tens of millions of people affected by chronic wounds. For the WoundCure chip to actually happen, Martins-Green and Dhall will need to reach their funding target for this project. Those interested in learning more and supporting their research can visit their crowd funding page.
– Daphne Jeon
Sources: Microryza, Motherboard
Photo: Motherboard
Top 5 Poverty Prevention Tactics
Global poverty can seem to many to be an insurmountable task. However, much progress has already been made to lift people out of poverty. According to The Global Citizen organization, global poverty has effected 1.3 billion individuals, a number which is actually 52% lower than statistics in the 1980s.
Development practitioners recognize that global poverty can be minimized by addressing other areas including reproductive health, HIV prevention, education, women’s empowerment, and gender equality. UNFPA states that poverty is a multidimensional issue that deprives people of education, resources, services, opportunities, and economic opportunities. UNFPA states that investments to address global poverty should “…[empower] individual women and men with education, equal opportunities and the means to determine the number, timing and spacing of their children – [which] could create the conditions to allow the poor to break out of the poverty trap.”
Reproductive health and HIV prevention can both act as poverty prevention tactics. Reproductive health education, family planning resources, and widely accessible contraception can decrease fertility rates by providing families with the knowledge and tools to space out pregnancies. Furthermore, improved healthcare can reduce population growth because families recognize that they do not need to have as many children to ensure that at least 2 of them survive to adulthood.
HIV prevention is also an important poverty prevention tool because helpful for when men and women know the dangers of HIV, they are able to use protection and are able to prevent the spread of the disease not only from partner to partner, but also from partners to undesired pregnancies and children. By learning how to protect oneself from HIV, individuals are able to prevent untimely deaths as well as preventing the disease to spread within a community, states The ONE organization. By lowering fertility rates through an education in reproductive health and by preventing the spread of HIV through an education in HIV prevention, communities will thrive due to a lower healthier population level.
The third poverty prevention tactic is education. Education is a very important factor in preventing global poverty, for providing an education to young boys and girls will help prevent undesired child marriage as well as early teen pregnancies which can lead to maternal death. An education helps boys and girls obtain the proper knowledge to keep themselves safe, healthy, and helps to plant the seeds of inspiration. Once obtaining an education, these individuals can create sustaining businesses which produce and return economic gains into their communities. By providing an education, individuals are able to thrive and break through the barriers of global poverty by creating strong businesses which will help the economy thrive and will lead to a stable community environment.
The fourth and fifth poverty prevention tactics are women empowerment and gender equality. Women empowerment is a positive prevention tactic because women who are encouraged to attend school and receive an education are more likely to defeat child marriage, are able to marry latter in life, and are able to have less children which lowers population rates. Women who have an education are more likely to work after receiving an education, which boosts the economy and provides a sustainable household for a family. Gender equality offers similar benefits, for if women are able to obtain an education and receive equal pay in employment, both the man and women are able to create a sustainable home for their children. By providing a sustainable environment, the child is able to attend school and is able to receive employment opportunities, continuing this positive cycle.
Through these five poverty prevention tactics, developing countries are able to defeat global poverty and are able to create sustainable economies, healthy environments, and equal opportunities.
– Grace Beal
Sources: Global Citizen, UN FPA, ONE Campaign
Photo: Ambergris Today
3 Key Responsibilities to Fight Poverty
Poverty. Can you define this seven letter word? Many individuals can define it, and most would say that poverty is the state of being extremely poor. Yet, how many of these individuals would know the facts behind global poverty and would know what it took to prevent or fight against such a global epidemic? Many individuals are so focused on their own personal lives that they do not notice what lies beyond their own every day life. Yet, global poverty effects everyone and reducing this epidemic could benefit everyone as well.
A dollar and twenty five cents. This is the amount of money in which 1.3 billion individuals live off of every day and possibly even less than this amount, states The World Bank. This is a staggering amount of people living off of less than a dollar a day! Yet as The Global Citizen organization has stated “ In the last 30 years, the proportion of the world’s population that live below this line has halved-from 52% in 1980, to 25% today. That’s a decline from 1.9 billion people down to 1.3 billion people”. There is a notable difference seen today with this decline in global poverty, yet if individuals do not keep putting their efforts towards this cause, the percentage could once again rise to staggering levels.
So how can an individual make a difference, one may question. There are three key responsibilities to help fight against global poverty. The first is through charitable donations. A single individual can make a large difference on numerous lives through charitable donations, states Columbia University. By donating funds towards global poverty, The Millennium Promise explains, an individual can help numerous others obtain food, clean water and power, a healthy living environment, technology and the seeds for innovation, education, gender equality, the proper health care for women and their children, and finally can help plant the seeds for businesses and entrepreneurship to create future stability. These may seem easy to obtain, but without help from numerous donors, it would not be nearly impossible to accomplish these goals.
The second key responsibility to help prevent global poverty is to follow through on the government’s promise to help aid millions who are suffering from global poverty. By following through on their existing commitments to help aid these struggling individuals, it proves that there are individuals who care about fighting to eliminate global poverty, states The Borgen Project. There are many ways in which to contact your government leaders such as writing to your political leaders, organizing letter writing campaigns, writing to your local newspapers and magazines, by calling your political representatives stating your wish in that they support the fight against global poverty, and finally by joining existing networks such as The Borgen Project, The Millennium Campaign, or The Global Citizens Organization.
Finally the third key responsibility is education. By educating yourself on the subject of Global Poverty, you can also educate others. Educating the public may seen like a difficult task, yet it has proven to be a highly successful global poverty prevention tactic. By educating the public, you can help spread the word of prevention and can help lead the fight against global poverty. By educating others, you can help lead to numerous donations against the spread of global poverty, and can also help spread the word of prevention even further. When you educate an individual on this topic, another individual can continue to spread the word, and it leads to the creation of a chain reaction. By doing so, you can lead numerous individuals to make donations, contact their leaders, and to continue the chain of educating others on this crucial subject.
Overall, by making donations to global poverty prevention organizations, contacting your political leaders, and by educating others, you are helping to end poverty. By taking on these three key responsibilities, an individual has started their own personal fight against global poverty and has joined in the movement with numerous others to end this global epidemic.
– Grace Beal
Sources: World Bank, Global Citizen, Columbia University, The Borgen Project
Photo: The Guardian
What is AME-SADA?
The African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency, or AME-SADA, is a part of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). The organization provides humanitarian relief and supports development within Africa. Their primary goal is to improve the overall quality of life for those living in Africa, as well as those living in the Caribbean.
AME-SADA was created nearly 30 years ago by a few committed people within the African Methodist Episcopal Church, including Bishop Frederick C. James, Reverend Lonnie Johnson, Dr. Joseph McKinney, Bishop John Hurst Adams, and Bishop Donald G. K. Ming.
AME-SADA’s mission is, “Helping People Help Themselves.” This means that, rather than giving people food or shelter, they would rather provide them with sustainable practices so they can support themselves. It goes along with the famous saying, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.”
AME-SADA focuses on programs of education, health, and micro-credit, although they also provide emergency humanitarian aid in both Africa and Haiti. AME-SADA is supported by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, governments, foreign institutions and agencies, and their donors who wish to create a better world.
AME-SADA is currently working on a project to provide health care and other services to those living in Haiti, particularly in the western part of the country. As of now, they have provided healthcare for over 400,000 people. One healthcare program they have is to address child and maternal health by providing pre and post-natal care for women between the ages of 15 and 49. The program gives aid through newborn care, vaccinations to children under the age of 5, diarrhea treatment, nutritional aid to malnourished children, family planning, upper respiratory infection treatment, counseling to new families, and more. Currently, AME-SADA supports nine outpatient clinics, which provide services such as HIV and STD education, as well as treatment and counseling. Over 150,000 people benefit from this each year.
Two other programs are SADA-KREDI and a school health program. The SADA-KREDI program supports economic opportunities for those living in both rural and urban areas. It gives micro-loans to 2,500 people in order to stimulate growth in the economy and allow people to prosper on their own. In addition, the school health program helps 30,000 children at an elementary school level in the poorest neighborhoods of Haiti. It provides healthcare to children whose families cannot afford it.
Overall, those programs only represent part of what AME-SADA does. They support and fund many other programs in South Africa and Haiti in order to help the locals prosper and flourish. They promote sustainability in their programs, especially in the micro-loan programs to allow entrepreneurs in Haiti and South Africa to have a chance to implement their business plans, and create a source of income to support their family, and to stimulate the community.
– Corina Balsamo
Sources: AME-SADA, AME-CHURCH, Our Health Ministry
Photo: Digitation
MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
This is the third in a series of posts discussing the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. These are set of 8 interconnected goals agreed upon by most countries around the world based on a shared commitment to improving the political, social, and economic lives of all people. They are to be achieved by 2015 and, two years out from this deadline, it is important to celebrate all the progress we have made and to recognize the work we have left.
The third of the MDGs is to promote gender equality and embolden women. Education is the primary mode of empowerment, so the UN’s stated goal is to eliminate the gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 and in all levels of education by 2015. The gender disparity in education is judged by statistics such as the ratio of girls to boys in all levels of education, literacy in women as compared to men, women working outside the agricultural sector, and female governmental leaders worldwide.
The gender gap in primary school has decreased substantially in recent years. In 1999, there were 16 million more girls than boys out of primary school. Over the next ten years, this number dropped dramatically to just 4 million. However, this still leaves significantly more educated boys than girls, a phenomenon that perpetuates gender inequality later in life.
According to the World Bank, equal percentages of girls and boys complete primary school in Latin America and East Asia. However, in all other developing regions, this ideal has not yet been achieved.
The significant gender gap in youth literacy rates has been shrinking in recent years. However, girls are still considerably less likely to graduate from primary school with basic literacy skills than boys. This is a concerning trend that often leads to the disempowerment of women, and perpetuation of a discriminating patriarchal societal structure.
In many countries, women have less access to stable jobs, education, economic assets, and governmental participation. They may not be allowed to work outside the home, forcing them to rely on men for their family’s income. And even when they do enter the job market, they tend to hold lower-paying positions with less job security and benefits. This represents an unacceptable inequity that must be addressed seriously. Not only does it devalue women’s work, it also means that men tend to have more influence on how the family’s money is spend, consistently minimizing women’s authority. Through extensive work toward MDG 3, women’s role in the workplace is improving, with 40% of wage-earning jobs in the non-agricultural sector held by women as of 2011.
The number of women in government is also on the rise, thanks in part to quota systems that require a certain percentage of leaders to be female. Worldwide, just over 20% of parliament members were female as of January 2013. While this still reflects a heavy bias towards men, it also represents incredible progress. In 1995, women held a meager 10% of parliamentary seats. This percentage has been steadily increasing, and progress will continue to be made if girls’ education is made an international priority.
The education of girls affects every facet of society as children grow into adults. While we have made significant progress towards gender equality, we clearly have work to do when girls do not graduate with the same basic skills that boys do and are not consistently presented with the same opportunities in the workplace and government. Educated girls become educated women that are empowered in their personal, social, political, and work lives. They demand to be treated respectfully, and are not constrained by their gender. They are strong women that can be leaders just as well as they can be wives. They are the women this world needs.
– Katie Fullerton
Sources: UN, UNDP, World Bank, UN Stats
Sources: The Guardian
Five Countries with the Lowest Life Expectancy
5. Afghanistan (50.11 years)
For the Afghani people, the prospect of living a long life has been a luxury afforded to very few. On the heels centuries of war, internal strife, and natural disasters, Afghanistan has faced many humanitarian crises. Due to its continued state of insecurity, true development has been perpetually stunted. As reported by UNICEF, Afghanistan currently possesses “450,000 internally displaced persons, 5.7 million refugees and at least 250,000 people affected by natural hazards or disasters every year.” With 43% of houses lacking improved water sources, soaring rates of child malnutrition, and severely lacking sanitation and immunization practices, the cumulative effect is a shortened lifespan.
4. Swaziland (50.01 years)
This 6,704 sq mile country of Swaziland is bordered by South Africa and Mozambique. Due to HIV/AIDS, Swaziland has seen its average life expectancy actually drop over the passed 10 years. According to UNICEF, “Two-thirds of Swazis live in poverty, most of them in rural areas. Nearly 40% are HIV-positive, giving Swaziland the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world.” With 27% living under the minimum level of dietary energy consumption and 50% lacking adequate iodized salt requirements, the basic health of the citizenry continues to be a source of humanitarian concern.
3. Guinea-Bissau (49.50 years)
Similar to other sub-Saharan countries, Guinea-Bissau faces many health issues. Unlike Swaziland and South Africa, however, Guinea-Bissau only faces a 1.8% HIV/AIDS infection rate. The major health concern, however, is malaria. Without adequate supplies of mosquito nets and medication, the disease has proven to be increasingly deadly. Contributing to this issue, Guinea-Bissau has seen a major drop-off in medical personnel. With approximately only five doctors per 100,000 persons, getting medical attention is a luxury very few are afforded.
2. South Africa (49.48 years)
It may come as a surprise to many that South Africa holds such a high place on this list, as it developed rapidly since the end of apartheid in 1994. However, South Africa still faces a continuing humanitarian crisis. For South Africa, the main concerns are disease rather than hunger. For travelers visiting the country, the Center for Disease Control recommends the following immunizations: measles-mumps-rubella, diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus, chickenpox, flu shot, hepatitis A, typhoid, hepatitis B, malaria, and rabies. In addition,. According to the South African Government, the total number of persons living with HIV in South Africa increased from an estimated 4.21 million in 2001 to 5.38 million by 2011. An estimated 10.6% of the total population is HIV positive and 17.30% of adults between the ages of 15 and 49 are infected.
1. Chad (49.07 years)
Topping off this list, according to 2013 estimates, Chad has the lowest life expectancy rate of the 223 nations surveyed. Among the issues facing Chad, concerns are only exacerbated by the massive refugee influx from neighboring Sudan. According to UN statistics, “In 2012 Chad hosted some 288,700 refugees from Sudan, 56,700 from the Central African Republic (CAR), 90,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), 91,000 returned IDPs and 550 urban refugees and asylum-seekers.” With an estimated 2 million facing crippling malnutrition due to a volatile climate, compounded by poor health conditions in refugee camps, the overall health of Chad remains a dire humanitarian crisis.
– Thomas van der List
Sources: UNICEF, WHO, CDC, Statistics South Africa, UNHCR
Photo: The Guardian
How Does the Community Care Fund Fight Poverty?
Community Care Fund in Hong Kong has decided to increase their poverty giveaways by helping those who are inadequately housed. They will be giving away more cash subsidies than ever before that will end up helping many people. Community Care Fund is a relatively new organization that was created in 2011. The organization is overseen by an “Executive Committee,” and there are four subcommittees that represent the topics and issues that the organization deals with each day – education, home affairs, medical issues, and welfare. The Community Care Fund works closely with the government’s Commission on Poverty (or the CoP). The Chinese government officially announced the creation of the CoP in the end of 2012. Since then, the Community Care fund and the Commission on Poverty have worked closely in their projects in order to do as much for the country as possible.
The Commission on Poverty has the primary objective of reducing poverty in Hong Kong, and for setting a poverty line for the city. Although poverty is the main goal, this is done in several ways – for instance, by supporting the underprivileged, stimulating social mobility, and promoting employment and education for all. The Commission works with the government, of course, and also works with NGOs, other businesses, and the community. The community at large is supported through the Societal Engagement Task force, which are also a part of the Commission. Attention will be paid to those with disabilities, minorities, and single parents. According to the Commission, they use the Community Care Fund in order to give relief immediately to those who are in dire need. They have also supported a Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund.
The Community Care Fund was created under the Secretary for Home Affairs Incorporation Ordinance to help those with economic difficulties, especially the underprivileged that are not a part of the social safety net or who are facing special circumstances. Some of the examples of their subsidies are the following: Provision of Special Subsidy to Persons with Severe Physical Disabilities, Special Care Subsidy for the Severely Disabled, Subsidy for Elders who are on the Waiting List of Integrated Home Care Services, Training Subsidy for Children who are on the Waiting List of Subvented Pre-school, and so on and so forth. Basically, the Community Care Fund gives cash to those who are in desperate need and cannot get it in any other way.
Recently, the Community Care Fund has announced they will be adding another subsidy to help those who are “inadequately housed.” Primarily this will expand a previous subsidy that had only helped those living in subsidized housing – around 150,000 more people will qualify for the cash subsidies and have a good chance of being helped, and drawn out of poverty. This expanded subsidy was only one of four schemes that were announced by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the chairwoman of the Commission on Poverty (which, as mentioned before, works with the Community Care Fund in regards to immediate relief). Those living in premises deemed inadequate, such as squatter housing, will receive lump sums based on family sizes – thus far, 26,000 families have been helped by the subsidies.
Overall, just giving money to those in need is not the only or even best solution to reduce poverty, but it is definitely a start. The Community Care Fund allows immediate relief, and the Commission on Poverty keeps those families from falling back into poverty with other programs and initiatives. Basically, the Community Care Fund does as much as it can, and helps those who were previously “missed” by the system. Perhaps these two programs are helping contribute to the overall reduction of poverty in China.
– Corina Balsamo
Sources: SCMP, Community Care Fund, SWD
Photo: Amusing Planet