One of the Millennium Development Goals is to promote gender equality throughout the world. This is because it has been proven that empowering women often leads to the empowerment of communities. The education of women is key to progress, for a number of reasons.
An annual report by the NGO Save the Children has shed light on a disturbing reality. Through a measurement of life expectancy, education, use of contraception, wages and political power, the organization measured the best and worst places in the world to be a woman. Overall, the results are mostly unsurprising, but show the complexity of the problem of gender inequality. Much progress has been made, but much work is still left to do.
Unsurprisingly, this year Western Europe and Scandinavia top the list of best countries to live with the countries of Finland, Sweden and Norway, followed by Iceland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Australia. At the bottom of the list, the worst places to be a women include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Somalia, Niger, Chad, Afghanistan, Mali, Eritrea, Sierra Leone and Madagascar.
Though countries like India and South Africa have received significant media coverage for the levels of sexual violence their female populations suffer, they are surprisingly high up on the list. South Africa has an impressive 60% of its population using modern contraceptives and 41% of its government seats held by women. India is significantly less well off, but still beats countries such as Singapore and Korea, with an encouraging life expectancy rate and close to half the population on contraceptives.
What this shows is the multifaceted nature of discrimination; it is not manifested solely in sexual violence, but in a myriad of ways which -– though they may not be as visible -– can be similarly devastating to a women’s physical and mental well-being.
One thing that does stand out is that the link between poverty and gender discrimination is clear. The list correlates surprisingly well as a ranking of wealth as well as status. It is not exact; other factors such as culture and religion play a large role. But all of the top-ranking countries are developed and established, while all of the bottom-ranking ones have many citizens struggling to eke out an existence.
At times, some think of foreign aid as the solution to a given problem — food for hunger, relief for a disaster, supplies for education. But the truth is that foreign aid, successfully delivered, contributes to development which has far reaching implications. Encouraging the development of countries, no matter what way, opens opportunities for its citizens in far more than one area. If we are to fight gender discrimination, we must also fight poverty, one of its root causes.
– Farahnaz Mohammed
Source: Foodtank, The Independent
Photo: Visit Europe
The World’s Most Oppressed People: The Rohingya
The Rohingya people represent a small Muslim minority in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar. They are denied citizenship, forbidden from colleges, and have suffered mass killings and violence that the government has done nothing to halt. And recently, Myanmar passed a law restricting Rohingya childbirths, an action which may qualify as an act of genocide.
The Rohingya people have lived in Myanmar since the eighth century. However, their existence was wiped from official record in 1982 with the passage of a citizenship law. The law had the effect of making the Rohingya stateless peoples, illegal immigrants in their own country, with no rights or international recognition.
Rohingya people have experienced harsh violence and now will suffer an enforced two-child limit. The limitation is officially claimed as an effort to ease tensions between the Buddhist majority and Muslim minority, however the policy serves as a frightening indicator that genocide may not be far away. Genocide Watch has even gone so far as to issue a “Genocide Emergency Alert” for Myanmar, and the United Nations has also expressed similar concerns.
Genocide Watch breaks down genocides into eight distinct stages. In order, they are as follows: Classification, Symbolization, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization, Preparation, Extermination and Denial. Myanmar is quickly ticking stages off the list.
Rohingya people are regularly forced to live in ethnic enclaves with enforced curfews. They experience intense violence which the government has done little if anything to prevent. They are becoming increasingly isolated from resources and from the outside world. If nothing is done to stop these policies, the Rohingya may be removed entirely from their country. The international community must act now to hold the Burmese government responsible and stop the eradication of the Rohingya ethnic group before it is too late.
-Caitlin Zusy
Sources: UN Dispatch, News.com
Photo: News.com
Child Sponsorship Works
When people ask how to help the poor, child sponsorship often is suggested. Indeed, for a small amount of money each month, organizations allow individuals to sponsor a child and help to provide education, food, and clothing for them. In return, the sponsors get a picture of the child and quarterly or annual updates from the organization regarding their child. It has long seemed like an easy way to make an impact. The question many people ask, however, is does it really work? One development economist decided he was going to find out.
It seemed no one had ever been interested in finding the answer despite the fact that 9 million children are sponsored worldwide and more than $5 billion dollars per year is invested in child sponsorship programs. For organizations, obviously the stakes were high. If they allowed researchers to study the effectiveness of their programs, what would they do if they came back ineffective? After several years, one organization decided to allow themselves to be studied under one condition: anonymity.
The study initially looked at individuals in Uganda, studying 809 individuals including 188 who were sponsored as children. The results from the first study were any economist’s dream. The data clearly showed large and statistically significant impacts on the educational outcomes of sponsored children. It appeared the program was actually working! To solidify the results, the study was conducted in six other countries: Uganda, Guatemala, the Philippines, India, Kenya and Bolivia. Data was obtained on 10,144 individuals and the results were consistent with the first study. 27 to 40% more sponsored children complete secondary school and 50 to 80% more complete a college education. In addition to effects on education, the study found that sponsored children were also more likely to gain meaningful employment.
As a result of the study, the sponsorship organization removed the anonymity clause. Compassion International was the organization that allowed its program to be scrutinized; the results were clear that child sponsorship works. It helps lift kids and families out of poverty and provides them with hope. For more information about child sponsorship, visit Compassion International at www.compassion.com.
– Amanda Kloeppel
Sources: Christianity Today, Compassion International
Best and Worst Places to be Women
One of the Millennium Development Goals is to promote gender equality throughout the world. This is because it has been proven that empowering women often leads to the empowerment of communities. The education of women is key to progress, for a number of reasons.
An annual report by the NGO Save the Children has shed light on a disturbing reality. Through a measurement of life expectancy, education, use of contraception, wages and political power, the organization measured the best and worst places in the world to be a woman. Overall, the results are mostly unsurprising, but show the complexity of the problem of gender inequality. Much progress has been made, but much work is still left to do.
Unsurprisingly, this year Western Europe and Scandinavia top the list of best countries to live with the countries of Finland, Sweden and Norway, followed by Iceland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Australia. At the bottom of the list, the worst places to be a women include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Somalia, Niger, Chad, Afghanistan, Mali, Eritrea, Sierra Leone and Madagascar.
Though countries like India and South Africa have received significant media coverage for the levels of sexual violence their female populations suffer, they are surprisingly high up on the list. South Africa has an impressive 60% of its population using modern contraceptives and 41% of its government seats held by women. India is significantly less well off, but still beats countries such as Singapore and Korea, with an encouraging life expectancy rate and close to half the population on contraceptives.
What this shows is the multifaceted nature of discrimination; it is not manifested solely in sexual violence, but in a myriad of ways which -– though they may not be as visible -– can be similarly devastating to a women’s physical and mental well-being.
One thing that does stand out is that the link between poverty and gender discrimination is clear. The list correlates surprisingly well as a ranking of wealth as well as status. It is not exact; other factors such as culture and religion play a large role. But all of the top-ranking countries are developed and established, while all of the bottom-ranking ones have many citizens struggling to eke out an existence.
At times, some think of foreign aid as the solution to a given problem — food for hunger, relief for a disaster, supplies for education. But the truth is that foreign aid, successfully delivered, contributes to development which has far reaching implications. Encouraging the development of countries, no matter what way, opens opportunities for its citizens in far more than one area. If we are to fight gender discrimination, we must also fight poverty, one of its root causes.
– Farahnaz Mohammed
Source: Foodtank, The Independent
Photo: Visit Europe
USAID Distributes 12 Mil Mosquito Nets in Ghana
The Promoting Malaria Prevention and Treatment (ProMPT) Project in partnership with USAID and the Ghana Health Service has developed an innovative way to distribute mosquito nets in Ghana. The ProMPT project has delivered over 12 million mosquito nets to prevent the spread of malaria in Ghana. The four year project has given households training on how to use treated mosquito nets that are covered with insecticide to kills the mosquitoes. USAID was a major donor of the $20 million dollar project and support from the U.S. and Ghana governments was strong.
The Ghana Health Service has worked hard to educate citizens against malaria. The ProMPT project strengthened malaria prevention through door-to-door mosquito net distribution, increasing prevention efforts geared towards pregnant women, and improving malaria treatment in health care facilities. The project also utilized community volunteers to educate households on the proper way to hang a mosquito net.
USAID acknowledged the success of the project was only possible through the collaborative efforts of the USAID, the Ghana Health Service, and the government of Ghana. The holistic nature of the project and the inclusion of factors relating to prevention, education, and treatment led to a drastic reduction in malaria-caused deaths. Program officers encourage other organizations to adopt the collaborative model in other malaria prevention projects.
In Ghana, malaria is a major problem for the country’s overall health. Over 40% of outpatient illnesses and visits in health care facilities are contributed to malaria as well as a third of all admissions. The World Health Organization attributed around 14,000 annual childhood deaths in Ghana to malaria as well. The goal is to reduce the impact of malaria in Ghana by 75% by the year 2015.
The program worked to put at least one net in every dwelling place as well as educate health care workers on proper malaria management and prevention. Areas of focus were especially on women who are pregnant and health care facility management of malaria care. The program has so far trained 21,000 health care workers in over 2,000 health care facilities. The ProMPT project officially ended in March,but Ghana plans to continue the efforts began in the prevention of malaria.
– Amanda Kloeppel
Source: Science Codex
Photo: Ghana Health Nest
Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps works to save and improve lives in some of the most impoverished places on earth. Since it was founded in 1979, the NGO has worked in war-torn and poverty-ridden countries to turn crises into opportunities. 95% of their staff are local residents working in nations like Somalia, Afghanistan, the Congo and Iraq.
The countries in which Mercy Corps works have several things in common. Usually children’s lives are at risk, women’s education is ignored, and there is little chance for economic growth. The organization helps to provide and build food security and create educational and economic opportunities. Their method is to listen to the locals and prioritize urgent needs first. They look at long-term and innovative solutions that bring systemic change. Through taking responsible risks and thinking big, the organization is able to help large numbers of individuals.
Mercy Corps believes communities work best when they work for their own growth and change. They believe local markets provide sustainable recovery and good governance is the foundation to success. They focus their work on places in transition either from conflict, natural disasters, or political upheaval. They start with emergency relief and move to long-term goals to create communities that can withstand future shocks.
To get involved with Mercy Corps, check out their website at www.mercycorps.org. They have lots of opportunities from donating money to fundraising to attending events or visiting their office in Portland. They also have a list of open positions and offer internships for those interested in a longer or more permanent position.
It is evident that the organization is making a difference in some of the toughest places on earth. Lives are being saved and communities are being changed through the work Mercy Corps does.
– Amanda Kloeppel
Source: Mercy Corps
Spotlight on Plant With Purpose
Who would have known that planting a single tree could pull individuals and entire communities out of poverty? Plant With Purpose has utilized this simple and effective method since the Christian environmental non-profit organization was founded in 1984 by Tom Woolard. After volunteering with a relief agency in the Dominican Republic, Woolard realized that despite their efforts, the crisis of poverty was worsening. He saw that there was a clear connection between poverty and the environment that was not being addressed. Woolard further recognized that much of the world’s poor are rural poor. Many are farmers and therefore rely on the environment for survival. Deforestation across these poor regions has created land that does not provide for production like it used to, creating new hardships for the farmers.
Plant With Purpose focuses on planting trees because they believe it is one of the most effective components of sustainable rural development. Trees provide a means by which farmers can grow crops and in turn support themselves and their families. Trees also play a vital role in protecting our water supply because without trees, water sources vanish. In addition to planting trees, they create economic opportunities through micro-credit loans, micro-enterprise and the implementation of agriculture programs.
Plant with Purpose uses a three-part environmental, economic, and spiritual approach to sustainable development. Their mission for each community is to: 1) improve quality of life, 2) restore relationships between communities, the environment and God, and 3) make self-sufficiency possible.
Since its founding, Plant With Purpose has succeeded in planting 10,092,380 trees. They work in a total of 250 communities throughout Haiti, Mexico, the Dominican Republican, Tanzania, Burundi, and Thailand, and are exploring working in additional countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Guatemala. To determine where Plant with Purpose is most needed, a variety of measures are used including the rate and extent of deforestation, governmental corruption, and the percentage of people living on less than one dollar per day.
“As our focus shifts from the sustainable development of families to the sustainable development of entire villages, the community takes over and Plant With Purpose takes on more of an advisory role,” says Wollard. The greatest reward for Plant With Purpose is a community that doesn’t need them anymore.
– Alexandra Warlich
Source: Interaction
Photo: Stay Classy
Stem Cells 101 – Regenerative Medicine, to What Extent?
This article is intended to give a basic understanding of what stem cells are, and their potential use for improving human health.
1. What are stem cells ?
Stem cells “have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth.” Accordingly, they have the potential to regenerate tissue, thereby serving as a sort of “internal repair system” to replenish a damaged, diseased or aging tissue throughout life. This remarkable potential stems from an asymmetrical division process: “When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.”
2. What differentiates Stem Cells from other cells ?
Stem cells also have specific properties: they are not fully differentiated, and they can divide and renew themselves for long periods of time. Stem cells can be found in embryonic, fetal and adult tissues. Understanding the regulation mechanisms and processes underlying long-term self replication is critical to both basic and applied life sciences as it could lead to a true cure of degenerative diseases as opposed to merely managing their symptoms.
3. Different types of stem cells
Human embryonic stem cells are typically derived from unused 5-days-old embryos, given to science under informed consent after an in-vitro fertilization. By its very nature, this type of stem cell thus has the potential to differentiate into any of the cells of a human being. By contrast, fetal and adult stem cells have a limited spectrum of differentiation, for example, hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow typically differentiate into blood cell lineages only. Sometimes, the differentiation potential of stem cells is limited to very specific cellular lineages to ensure tissue renewal throughout life (e.g, skin progenitors).
4. Potential uses and obstacles
The therapeutic potential uses of stem cells -including progenitor cells- are tremendous, from curing genetic and/or degenerative diseases to curing cancer. For instance, fully controlling the processes of cellular differentiation might lead to replacement cells for regenerative medicine. Stem cells, and their progeny, could also be used to discover or test new drugs and therapies.
5. Still a long way to go…
Stem cell research is viewed as a pillar for medical innovation as it could provide realistic solutions to treat diseases and conditions for which there is no or very limited medical options today.
However many questions remain unsolved, from the potential rejection of embryonic stem cells if they are viewed as foreign cells by the patient’s immune system, to the potential damaged state of stem and progenitors cells extracted from a diseased or aging patient. Despite the fact that there is today no evidence that stem cells can actually be curative, the frenzy fueled by the myth of an “eternal life” has generated many parallel businesses, from the hundreds of companies throughout the world proposing to bank your own stem cells, to private clinics in countries with no or permissive legislation advertising treatments for desperate patients in need (stem cell tourism).
– Lauren Yeh
Sources: NIH
Photo:
Do War Crimes Affect the World’s Poor?
For hundreds of years, humans have been developing the modern-day laws of war to determine what is legal in the context of armed conflict. For the most part, such laws have been set to govern international armed conflict, such as the Geneva Conventions. Nonetheless, the Internet, traditional media sources, and social media connect us to daily atrocities, carried out under the guise of war that continue to violate international humanitarian law and prey on the extreme poor. As a result of violations that inhibit domestic and international aid, millions of people face hunger and disease in association with extreme poverty that goes unaddressed by international courts.
In 1945, when WWII was won by the Allied Forces, with 6 million dead in concentration camps, the responsible Nazi officers were tried for war crimes. All of the Allied nations, though not initially supporting the format of the trials themselves, backed the justice meted out by the Allied courts as a response. Some of the officers faced death, while others were sentenced to prison.
Today, the international body charged with bringing justice to war-torn nations, the International Criminal Court, fails to be recognized by the United States and many other influential countries that affect the global-political environment of the United Nations. Without having all countries as signatories, the ICC struggles to address atrocities being committed in some of the world’s poorest and most disenfranchised communities.
Because the ICC depends on participation from countries hosting alleged criminals to assert jurisdiction over the criminals within that host country’s borders, a lack of participation effectively cripples the ability of the Court to perform its duties in upholding international humanitarian law. In some cases, domestic courts are left to deliver justice, which, in the context of Syria, becomes all but impossible, seeing as the target of charges is the country’s president.
Because the poorest communities are often targeted by the perpetrators of war crimes, such as leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army Jospeh Kony, it may be all the more necessary that international courts acquire jurisdiction over these otherwise ungoverned warlords. The most impoverished are often the first casualties of war and feel the effects of a diminished food supply, lacking sanitation, and inadequate first aid facilities. Refugees of war in Africa and Asia are particularly vulnerable in the face of natural disasters and the long-term effects of climate change.
– Herman Watson
Source: USHMM, International Criminal Court, WarChild UK
Photo: Save the Children
What was Different about the Decade of Extremes?
The debate over global warming has been a heated one over the past decade, but it is clearer now more than ever that our climate is changing. The UN has released a report, The Global Climate 2001-2010, A Decade of Extremes, which reports the unprecedented climate extremes experienced in the past decade. The report states that more national temperature records were broken during this period than ever before. This decade was the warmest for both hemispheres and both land and ocean temperatures were at the highest since measurements began in 1850. This heating of the ocean has caused the melting of Artic sea ice and ice sheets.
“Rising concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are changing out climate, with far reaching implications for our environment and our oceans, which are absorbing both carbon dioxide and heat,” said Michel Jarraud, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
In the past decade our world has experience extreme floods, droughts, and tropical cyclones. 370,000 people have died as a result of these climate extremes. Tropical cyclones, such as Hurricane Katrina, were responsible for the death of 170,000 people and affecting over 250 million; the damage caused by these cyclones is estimated around $380 billion. Floods were the most frequently experienced climate extreme of the past decade; Eastern Europe, India, Africa, Australia, and Pakistan were severely impacted by flooding. Droughts were the most detrimental climate extreme because of their long-lasting nature. Regions most affected by long-term droughts were Australia, East Africa, and the Amazon Basin.
This report was released as the first session of the Intergovernmental Board on Climate Change Services began. The Intergovernmental Board on Climate Change Services oversees the Global Framework for Climate Services which is attempting to improve and expand science-based climate research to help society cope with climate change.
“We are already seeing the effects of climate change and so we need to take action through the use of scientifically-based climate services to cushion the impact on our environment, our economies and our societies,” said Mr. Jarraud.
– Catherine Ulrich
Sources: UN News, The Guardian
Sources: Political Blindspot
IKEA Designs Better Homes for Refugees
IKEA has teamed up with the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, to improve living conditions for refugees. The Swedish company is developing a program that will build modular shelters for displaced people throughout the world.
Like IKEA’s furniture, each shelter is produced in a ready-to-assemble format. The shelters are made of durable materials and can be constructed in four hours. They are expected to be low-cost and to last longer than current refugee tents, which are only made to withstand six months of use. The IKEA shelters are designed to be more durable than the tents, with a guaranteed life of three years, and to provide better protection for the refugees. UNHCR states that on average, refugees live in their shelters for 12 years.
Each IKEA shelter will come with a solar panel to produce electricity. IKEA hopes that the electricity will make tasks like sewing and cooking easier and will allow children to do homework at night. The shelters will also have specially-made walls constructed with materials that can “deflect heat during the day and retain it at night.”
UNHCR states that 26 shelters have already arrived in Ethiopia. The next nations expected to receive the IKEA shelters will be Iraq and Lebanon in efforts to help create more durable living situations for refugees from the civil war in Syria.
Each IKEA shelter currently costs $8,000, however UNHCR hopes that each unit cost will be reduced to $1,000 in the future. Each refugee tent costs $500, meaning the IKEA shelters will be twice as expensive, but are guaranteed to last six times as long.
While IKEA is helping to fulfill the housing needs in refugee camps, UNHCR is bringing health care, education, and job training to those in need. Together, IKEA and UNHCR are looking to help the 35.8 million refugees throughout the world who strive for a better future.
– Jordan Kline
Sources: IKEA Foundation, Public Radio International, News 24
Photo: FC