Neonatal mortality is a pressing global epidemic that claims the lives of approximately 6,400 infants under one-month-old every day worldwide. Reducing the number of global neonatal deaths is possible through improvements in neonatal health care.
The prominence of neonatal mortality closely aligns with fiscal poverty and access to adequate health care. In 2019, BMC Pregnancy Childbirth published a study by Yousra A. Mohamoud and others revealing that in high-poverty nations, children are 38% more likely to die during their first month of life. Underfunded hospital systems in developing nations often lack the necessary personnel and resources to provide quality neonatal and maternal care. This leads to a higher number of home births without proper sanitation in low-income areas, along with difficulty acquiring crucial vaccinations for newborns.
Improvements in Neonatal Health Care: Chlorhexidine Gel
Few physicians could have anticipated that an ingredient in mouthwash would be a key player in improving neonatal health care, but oftentimes solutions present themselves in unexpected ways. Over the past decade, chlorhexidine, an antiseptic used in store-bought mouthwashes, has become a revolutionary agent in newborn health care.
In developed nations, it is typical to cut a baby’s umbilical cord and allow the stump to fall off without any special treatment. However, in developing nations, where birth conditions often lack proper sanitation, bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli can enter the stump and cause fatal infections.
In 2012, the United Nations released a report encouraging the use of chlorhexidine to clean newborns’ umbilical cords, claiming it could save nearly half a million children’s lives within 5 years. It sounded like a cut-and-dry solution to umbilical infections, yet, there was a catch; liquid chlorhexidine was not widely available in impoverished areas.
Responding to this challenge, scientists at GSK Pharmaceuticals formulated a chlorhexidine gel that could be easily applied and transported. The gel was designed to withstand the high temperatures of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and it has reached more than 30,000 newborns so far. A study that occurred in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan suggests that the use of chlorhexidine gel reduces neonatal mortality by an impressive 23%.
The Brilliance Lamp
Another common health threat that infants face is untreated jaundice. Every year, 6 million newborns suffer from jaundice, which is a build-up of bilirubin in the bloodstream, without receiving sufficient treatment.
Typically, jaundice is treated with specially-engineered phototherapy lamps, but in low-income areas, hospitals rely on expensive, inefficient and difficult-to-replace fluorescent lightbulbs. About 95% of global phototherapy technology in low-income health care systems fails to meet basic performance standards.
D-Rev, a California nonprofit focusing on medical innovation, noticed this gap in health care technology and began to formulate a solution called the Brilliance Jaundice Lamp.
The Brilliance Jaundice Lamp is a phototherapy machine that replaces traditional light bulbs with long-lasting LEDs. While a typical bulb can treat 50 babies, an LED bulb can treat 1,000, making it a cost-effective and low-maintenance model for health care systems.
As of 2020, health care workers have used the Brilliance Lamp to treat more than 500,000 babies and the lamp has saved 7,500 lives. D-Rev has distributed the lamp to developing countries and rural hospital systems worldwide and is currently dominating the Indian neonatal health market.
PeriGen AI Software
Low-income hospitals often struggle with low nurse-to-patient ratios, making it nearly impossible to continuously monitor infants for health issues. However, with PeriGen AI, overworked nurses have one less task on their plate.
PeriGen’s fetal monitoring technology scans infants’ vitals without interruption, transmitting data to PeriGen’s Houston, Texas headquarters for assessment and sending data back instantly, notifying doctors if there is any change in regularity. This allows a single remote command center to monitor multiple facilities in rural or understaffed hospitals.
Dziwenji Makombe, head nurse matron at the Area 25 Hospital in Malawi, shared, “Adopting the use of artificial intelligence to inform health care providers about the fetal condition has proven to be the best quality improvement strategy in preventing birth asphyxia and stillbirths in this setting.”
PeriGen’s groundbreaking use of artificial intelligence has allowed for detailed neonatal monitoring and timely treatment, saving countless lives. Thousands of health professionals across the world currently use it.
Improvements in Neonatal Health Care Through Scientific Ingenuity
From 1990 to 2020, the number of neonatal deaths across the globe decreased from 5 million to 2.4 million, with scientific innovation playing a massive role. Using chlorhexidine as a post-birth treatment, the Brilliance lamp and PeriGen’s AI are just a slim sampling of the creativity and dedication to change that is transforming the neonatal health care field.
– Elena Unger
Photo: Flickr
Vocational Education Training in India
Why is Vocational Education Training Important?
Many skills that individuals need to compete in the modern work industry are technical and vocational abilities. Vocational skills could be especially impactful in impoverished communities, offering a more affordable or cost-efficient path to education. Specifically, individuals do not need to attend college to obtain vocational skills. In fact, vocational training is quite accessible in most local settings. The accessibility and affordability make it especially important, as it could lead to a path of stable income for participants.
As of April 2023, India’s unemployment rate went up to 8.11%, which considering the country’s high population, results in many Indians having no jobs. With vocational education in India, there is a potential to reduce the unemployment rate. Moreover, more Indians could receive not just access to employment, but also skills that could increase their chance of remaining employed.
History of Vocational Education Training in India
In 1950, India established Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to provide vocational training at full capacity. After this establishment, more than 13,000 ITIs opened across the country. The Standing Committee on Labour noted that around 64% of trainees in ITIs were employed, which is significant as more than 40% of individuals enrolled in ITIs are below the poverty line. This was a significant leap of progress for India’s labor and employment rates.
STRIVE Program
The Skills Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement Operation (STRIVE) Program is a five-year government-aided organization that aims to improve the quality of vocational education training, according to the World Bank. Specifically, STRIVE aims to improve the quality of vocational education training that is provided in ITIs and other apprenticeships in India. The program intends to increase government support, improve teaching methods and expand apprenticeships nationwide. As of 2017, STRIVE has supported 300 ITIs and 100 industrial apprenticeships nationwide.
Impact of Vocational Training on Women
In India, 30% of the population lives in extreme poverty, with women and children being “the weakest members” of Indian society. This evident gender disparity combines old Indian tradition and female access to education. While the bias against women working and gaining education is gradually subsiding, there is still room to make education more accessible for women.
By emphasizing the importance and adequately funding vocational education training, the gender disparity could decrease significantly. Not only would this allow poverty rates to decrease, but it could also provide women with the basic skills they need to make a living. For example, vocational education training in India can teach women the skills to become receptionists, carpenters, cosmetologists, clothesmakers, cooks and other positions that can provide a steady income.
India’s labor force could experience increased productivity by significantly raising the rate of female employment, which currently stands at only 31%. Shockingly, more than 50 million women in India neither attend school nor participate in the workforce, as reported by the World Bank. Additionally, women constitute less than 9% of the enrollment in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Studies indicate that women are less inclined to pursue training due to concerns about family responsibilities.
Varthana’s Help
Steve Hardgrave and Brajesh Kumar Mishra founded Varthana in 2013. It is a private company that provides financial assistance to students interested in vocational education training in India. It specifically provides aid through loans. The National Skill Development Center (NDSC) partnered with Varthana to lessen the gap between low-income families and enrollment in education. While vocational training is rather accessible and does not require prior education, it can still be costly for many individuals. There are many that avoid vocational training because of financial obligations. With Varthana’s help, vocational education can be even more accessible with supplied funds and support.
Particularly, Varthana has funded approximately 4,500 private schools, providing education for more than 3 million students. Additionally, Varthana has partnered with more than 500 institutions helping fund 5,000 financially challenged students. Varthana made an inspiring and motivational goal to make education in India accessible to more than 10 million students by 2025.
Looking to the Future
In India, vocational education training holds immense potential to address unemployment and poverty rates, providing individuals with practical skills that can lead to stable employment. Initiatives like the STRIVE program and organizations like Varthana are actively working to improve the quality and accessibility of vocational training across the country, benefiting both men and women. By expanding vocational education opportunities and reducing financial barriers, India can empower its workforce and uplift communities, ultimately fostering economic growth and reducing inequality.
– Samsara Shrivastava
Photo: Unsplash
Inequality in Brazil threatens to prevent further poverty reduction
Extreme levels of inequality in Brazil stand in the way of further economic development, with the country’s richest six men owning as much wealth as the poorest 50% of the population. Furthermore, the World Bank estimates that up to 3.6 million people in Brazil could fall back below the poverty line in 2023, signaling the need for the government to focus on reducing the wealth gap to reduce the number of people living in poverty or at risk of falling below the poverty line in both the short and long term.
Reforming the Tax System
The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) recommends that Brazil’s government reforms the tax collection methods. Currently, Brazil collects a large amount of its taxes indirectly. If direct taxes collected a larger proportion of the country’s total taxes, including income taxes for individuals and businesses, it could reduce the proportionate burden of taxes on the poor and the government could instead raise a lot more money from the wealthy individuals and businesses. This money could then be more equally distributed throughout the country’s population via social spending targeting improving the lives of those living in poverty.
So far, there has been little progress in many aspects of the tax system, but in December 2022, there was a release of Provisional Measure No.1152. If approved, Provisional Measure No.1152 could change the rules on Transfer Pricing for corporations and also limit tax deductions available for spending on royalties such as patents and trademarks. Whilst this law will solely focus on changing how corporations pay their taxes, and may not directly impact individuals, it is a notable start and could be vital for reducing inequality in Brazil by making it more difficult for businesses to avoid paying taxes.
Ensuring Fair Access to Equal Education
According to the OECD, increasing the opportunities for and quality of early childhood education is another method for reducing inequality in Brazil. High-quality and consistent education from a young age is essential for increasing job opportunities for future generations. It also increases the likelihood of young adults obtaining higher-paid jobs which can break generational cycles of poverty. Removing barriers to disadvantaged students would enable equal access to education for all, as currently there is a large gap in grades between students who can pay to attend private schools compared to those who attend public schools.
There is a clear lack of investment in public schools from Brazil’s government, which is creating significant disparities in education levels between wealthier and poorer states; in 2015, 33% of young adults had received tertiary education in the Distrito Federal (DF), the capital state of Brazil, compared to just 8% of young adults in Maranhão, a poor state located in the northeast of the country, according to Social Protection.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the provision and quality of education in schools suffered significantly and inequalities between regions widened, the World Bank has delivered a loan of $250 million as part of the Recovering Learning Losses from the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil program. The main aim of the project is to address the increased school dropout rates as a result of the pandemic. And the strategy involves implementing precautionary measures and identifying students that are at high risk of dropping out. Improving educational resources in public schools is another key aim, which will help reduce the discrepancies in schooling between different regions of Brazil while ensuring that future disease outbreaks don’t disrupt education.
More Investment in Public Health Care
Despite a universal public health care system that is available to all legally living in Brazil, the lack of adequate funding has created long waiting times and difficulty with obtaining appropriate care in many cases. In turn, this causes inequalities in health care between those who can afford private health care and those who cannot. Providing the means for good health throughout the population represents a vital step in decreasing the higher prevalence of non-communicable diseases which are evident amongst the majority of Brazil’s population who cannot afford to pay for subsidiary private health insurance. A healthier population goes hand in hand with faster economic growth and a greater GDP per capita.
UNICEF’s 2022 Country Office Annual Report for Brazil highlighted some specific issues in health care amongst children and adolescents, with a clear trend in a reduction of routine vaccinations and an increase in the number of underweight children by more than 50% between March 2020 and November 2021. Additionally, a UNICEF survey revealed that approximately 50% of 7,700 participating adolescents and young people thought they required mental health support yet did not know how to access it.
Since these findings, the organization has launched the Papei campaign to encourage breastfeeding and nutritious diets for children, and over 2,500 professionals were newly trained on the importance of healthy eating. Additionally, UNICEF assisted the Immunization Society of Brazil to train more than 38,000 health professionals to increase the provision of vaccinations.
Prosperity for All
To achieve long-term and sustainable economic growth and development, ongoing trends suggest that Brazil has to overcome the current vast discrepancies which threaten to undo the progress made so far. As things stand, organizations such as the World Bank and UNICEF continue working hard to implement positive changes across the country and ensure the alleviation of inequality in Brazil.
– Hannah Naylor
Photo: Flickr
COVID-19’s Impact on Poverty in the Bahamas
With many Bahamians still experiencing heightened financial hardship and diminished access to vital necessities, the World Bank estimated that the country’s poverty rate could rise to more than 13%, returning the poverty rate to roughly what it was in 2013. Fortunately, the Government of the Bahamas has been working to mitigate the pandemic’s social and economic impacts and speed progress toward recovery.
Dwindling Tourism, Employment Rates and Incomes
Tourism accounts for about 50% of the Bahamas’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and about 70% of jobs in the country. With an estimated $7.9 billion of the country’s total losses for 2020-2023 occurring in the tourism sector, the sharp decline in tourism had a detrimental impact on employment and livelihoods, driving many families into poverty. For instance, between 2019 and 2020, the country’s unemployment rate rose from 10.7% to 25.6%. Additionally, “The fraction of households reporting earnings below the minimum wage more than doubled between January and April 2020,” according to the IDB. The IDB anticipated that “aggregated losses in wages of employees and workers” would “reach $2.4 billion for 2020-2023, or 4.9% of GDP per year on average.” This has coincided with an estimated loss of about 30,000 jobs or about 14.7% of the labor force.
The joint IDB-ECLAC report also highlights that COVID-19’s impact on poverty in the Bahamas has been particularly noticeable among rural and marginalized communities, exacerbating already-restricted access to health care, education and other vital services. Moreover, a lack of dependable internet connectivity and digital infrastructure has hampered remote learning and access to online employment opportunities.
Government Action
COVID-19’s impact on poverty in the Bahamas prompted government action. In 2020, the Government of the Bahamas partnered with local non-governmental organizations to address pandemic-induced hunger and establish the National Food Distribution Task Force. The emergency task force distributed food vouchers and packages to endangered households throughout the country, delivering critical assistance to more than 76,000 Bahamians in need by June 2020.
Social Protection Programs
The Bahamian government also introduced the Unemployment Assistance Program (UEA), which the National Insurance Board (NIB) of the Bahamas adopted in April 2020, to supply social protection for informal workers. The UEA provided targeted aid for three particularly vulnerable groups:
Members of these groups received weekly payments of BSD200, equivalent to about $200, for 13 weeks to alleviate income loss during the lockdown. In July 2020, the UEA was extended to also provide lost income subsidies for self-employed individuals in the tourism sector who were not able to work due to the decline in tourism.
Looking Ahead
While, as a result of COVID-19, the Bahamian tourism sector recorded losses of around 61.22% in 2021, this number is expected to drop to 1.35% by 2024. As the country’s economy continues to recover, the government’s efforts to alleviate COVID-19’s impact on poverty in the Bahamas remain significant. Looking ahead, there is equally hope for further investment in diversifying the country’s economy, building resilience and creating new sustainable livelihood opportunities.
– Nathaniel Scandore
Photo: Flickr
Improvements in Neonatal Health Care
Neonatal mortality is a pressing global epidemic that claims the lives of approximately 6,400 infants under one-month-old every day worldwide. Reducing the number of global neonatal deaths is possible through improvements in neonatal health care.
The prominence of neonatal mortality closely aligns with fiscal poverty and access to adequate health care. In 2019, BMC Pregnancy Childbirth published a study by Yousra A. Mohamoud and others revealing that in high-poverty nations, children are 38% more likely to die during their first month of life. Underfunded hospital systems in developing nations often lack the necessary personnel and resources to provide quality neonatal and maternal care. This leads to a higher number of home births without proper sanitation in low-income areas, along with difficulty acquiring crucial vaccinations for newborns.
Improvements in Neonatal Health Care: Chlorhexidine Gel
Few physicians could have anticipated that an ingredient in mouthwash would be a key player in improving neonatal health care, but oftentimes solutions present themselves in unexpected ways. Over the past decade, chlorhexidine, an antiseptic used in store-bought mouthwashes, has become a revolutionary agent in newborn health care.
In developed nations, it is typical to cut a baby’s umbilical cord and allow the stump to fall off without any special treatment. However, in developing nations, where birth conditions often lack proper sanitation, bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli can enter the stump and cause fatal infections.
In 2012, the United Nations released a report encouraging the use of chlorhexidine to clean newborns’ umbilical cords, claiming it could save nearly half a million children’s lives within 5 years. It sounded like a cut-and-dry solution to umbilical infections, yet, there was a catch; liquid chlorhexidine was not widely available in impoverished areas.
Responding to this challenge, scientists at GSK Pharmaceuticals formulated a chlorhexidine gel that could be easily applied and transported. The gel was designed to withstand the high temperatures of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and it has reached more than 30,000 newborns so far. A study that occurred in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan suggests that the use of chlorhexidine gel reduces neonatal mortality by an impressive 23%.
The Brilliance Lamp
Another common health threat that infants face is untreated jaundice. Every year, 6 million newborns suffer from jaundice, which is a build-up of bilirubin in the bloodstream, without receiving sufficient treatment.
Typically, jaundice is treated with specially-engineered phototherapy lamps, but in low-income areas, hospitals rely on expensive, inefficient and difficult-to-replace fluorescent lightbulbs. About 95% of global phototherapy technology in low-income health care systems fails to meet basic performance standards.
D-Rev, a California nonprofit focusing on medical innovation, noticed this gap in health care technology and began to formulate a solution called the Brilliance Jaundice Lamp.
The Brilliance Jaundice Lamp is a phototherapy machine that replaces traditional light bulbs with long-lasting LEDs. While a typical bulb can treat 50 babies, an LED bulb can treat 1,000, making it a cost-effective and low-maintenance model for health care systems.
As of 2020, health care workers have used the Brilliance Lamp to treat more than 500,000 babies and the lamp has saved 7,500 lives. D-Rev has distributed the lamp to developing countries and rural hospital systems worldwide and is currently dominating the Indian neonatal health market.
PeriGen AI Software
Low-income hospitals often struggle with low nurse-to-patient ratios, making it nearly impossible to continuously monitor infants for health issues. However, with PeriGen AI, overworked nurses have one less task on their plate.
PeriGen’s fetal monitoring technology scans infants’ vitals without interruption, transmitting data to PeriGen’s Houston, Texas headquarters for assessment and sending data back instantly, notifying doctors if there is any change in regularity. This allows a single remote command center to monitor multiple facilities in rural or understaffed hospitals.
Dziwenji Makombe, head nurse matron at the Area 25 Hospital in Malawi, shared, “Adopting the use of artificial intelligence to inform health care providers about the fetal condition has proven to be the best quality improvement strategy in preventing birth asphyxia and stillbirths in this setting.”
PeriGen’s groundbreaking use of artificial intelligence has allowed for detailed neonatal monitoring and timely treatment, saving countless lives. Thousands of health professionals across the world currently use it.
Improvements in Neonatal Health Care Through Scientific Ingenuity
From 1990 to 2020, the number of neonatal deaths across the globe decreased from 5 million to 2.4 million, with scientific innovation playing a massive role. Using chlorhexidine as a post-birth treatment, the Brilliance lamp and PeriGen’s AI are just a slim sampling of the creativity and dedication to change that is transforming the neonatal health care field.
– Elena Unger
Photo: Flickr
How Morocco is Ending Learning Poverty
Within the past decade, the Moroccan government has begun working to improve the nation’s education system. Its goal is to minimize learning poverty by 2030. This looks to be a challenging feat, as Morocco consistently ranks among the worst countries for education.
In 2019, a World Bank study found that 66% of Moroccan 10-year-olds have trouble with simple reading comprehension. This is partially due to ineffective schooling methods. In 10 years of schooling, Moroccan students only complete approximately six years of effective learning. COVID-19 has pushed Morocco’s learning poverty to the edge, with educational progress decreasing to only five years.
Learning poverty leads children into a cycle of intergenerational poverty. Children with poor reading skills are more likely to fall behind in education and eventually drop out. This results in poverty, limited job opportunities and emotional strain.
In 2019, Morocco passed the Education Act to pursue education reforms to address the primary causes of the learning crisis. With the help of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank, Morocco comes a step closer to achieving its goal by 2030.
USAID’s Work with the Moroccan Ministry of Education
USAID is an organization leading “the U.S. Government’s international development and disaster assistance through partnerships and investments that save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance and help people emerge from humanitarian crises and progress beyond assistance.”
As early as 2015, USAID worked with the Moroccan Ministry of Education (MOE) to incorporate ways to improve reading instruction and language teaching in a national teaching preparation program. Together, the two organizations launched a five-year Higher Education Partnership to improve pre-service training for teachers in hopes of sustaining a large supply of well-qualified, highly-trained educators. The Reading for Success program develops and tests effective methods to increase students’ reading and comprehension skills.
In addition, USAID signed a memorandum of understanding that lays the groundwork to formally recognize Moroccan Sign Language as a real language. This aims to strengthen Deaf education in primary schools in order to make education even more accessible and inclusive.
The World Bank’s Moroccan Education Support Program
In 2019, the World Bank created the Moroccan Education Support Program by loaning $500 million to the nation’s 2015-2030 Educational Sector Vision initiative. The program’s goal is to better support Morocco’s efforts in improving the lives of children.
The first component of the plan is to create an environment for quality pre-primary education. This means providing educators with the necessary training, set standards and incentivizing early childhood education both regionally and provincially. Secondly, the initiative aims to enhance teacher training by upgrading teachers’ training and creating solid career paths to ensure that they are well-equipped to teach children positively. And lastly, it aims to have a better system set up to deal with educational and operational issues by strengthening sector professionals’ capabilities in leadership and management at the financial and human resource levels.
Looking Forward
So far, with the World Bank, the quality of early childhood education has seen some improvements. Also, the support for the primary and secondary teaching workforce has grown and schools have maintained higher operational capacity. In March 2023, the World Bank allocated an additional $250 million to the Program, which is to aid in alleviating pandemic-induced burdens as well as to achieve more ambitious results.
With these programs ongoing, the resulting achievements in the educational system could be of great benefit to Moroccan children and the future of Morocco. Overall, putting an end to learning poverty carries the potential to end the cycle of intergenerational poverty affecting many people in the country.
– Kenzie Nguyen
Photo: Flickr
Everything About Inequality And Poverty In South Africa
In 2020, the United Nations (U.N.) and the World Bank ranked South Africa as the most financially unequal country in the world. The following is a look into poverty in South Africa.
Apartheid
Apartheid is the leading factor behind the inequality and poverty in South Africa. This era saw the forced physical and social separation of all racial groups. Black South Africans could not live with or marry white people. They could also not attend the same schools, live in the same neighborhoods or even walk on the same side of the street.
White South Africans experienced better schools, safer homes and superior health care compared to other South Africans. Although Apartheid is no longer an official policy, the effects have left Black South Africans severely disadvantaged socially and economically. At the end of the era of segregation, white South Africans had more than 90% of land ownership in the entire country, leaving the rest of South Africans with little wealth and a direct route to extreme, cyclical poverty.
Even though no laws directly prevent the social or economic advancement of the poor, this type of poverty is difficult to overcome.
Regional Poverty
Extreme poverty in South Africa is mainly concentrated in the eastern and northern regions of the country. Eastern Cape is the poorest municipality in South Africa with a poverty rate of 12.7% and 878,000 impoverished people. However, many other municipalities in these regions experience poverty at rates as high as 11.5% and no lower than around 5%. These same areas have poverty numbers above 600,000 people.
Female-Led Households
Households that females lead experience higher and more severe rates of poverty. In fact, female-led households experience poverty at a rate almost 17% higher than male-headed households. Female-headed households tend to be farther below the poverty line than their male-headed counterparts, meaning that these households have less access to education, clean water and sanitation.
High Rates of Unemployment
As of June 2023, unemployment in South Africa stood at 32.9%, one of the highest rates in the world. Nearly 5% of unemployed people qualify as time-related unemployed, meaning that they are available to and desire to work more hours than they currently do. In other words, many employed South Africans still feel, to a certain degree, unemployed. While one in three South Africans is unemployed and living off of federal grants, some employed individuals still require a higher income to truly survive.
This feeling of hopelessness and desire for more leads to a sense of poverty whether or not one technically qualifies as “impoverished.”
Below Average Health and Safety
South Africa is below average in terms of health and safety. More than one-quarter of people are unsatisfied with the quality of water. South Africa has massive amounts of air pollution and a life expectancy of 64 years old.
Unsafe communities exacerbate these factors. The country has a homicide rate of nearly 14% and more than 50% of people do not feel comfortable walking alone at night.
Overall, living conditions in South Africa range greatly from high-quality housing in wealthy neighborhoods to unsafe and impoverished communities that provide residents with little chance to escape cyclical poverty.
Future Outlook
Although some of these statistics seem daunting, there is good news. The South African government is proving its dedication to reducing poverty through huge amounts of spending on social grants. About 60% of federal spending goes toward social welfare programs that reach 16.6 million people every year. This welfare program includes old age grants for persons 60 years or older, who have a disability, veterans and different forms of child support, including foster child grants and care-dependency grants.
The social welfare program took off in the 1990s during the country’s early years of democracy as a temporary way to ease the inequality and pain caused by Apartheid. However, the program has become permanent and crucial to South African life. An estimated one-quarter of South Africans receive federal aid through this program, making it essential to maintaining a functioning economy and fighting poverty within South Africa.
Poverty in South Africa is more than a lack of sanitation, potable water and healthy food. Apartheid has created a rift in South Africa’s society. The nation is now characterized by unemployment, gender inequality and racism. However, continued government action, foreign aid and time may be enough to significantly reduce inequality and poverty in South Africa.
– Suzanne Ackley
Photo: Flickr
Leket Food Rescue Tackles Food Waste in Israel
The Hidden Potential in Israeli Food Waste
Every year in Israel, multiple billion pounds of food go to waste because of minor imperfections or overproduction issues. In 2021, a prominent Israeli NGO fighting food insecurity, Leket, reported that the nation wasted an estimated $6.1 billion on food, amounting to a significant 37% of the Israeli food production industry’s total worth.
This waste is not only a significant economic detriment to the nation but closes off a potential avenue for alleviating hunger in Israel. Of the 4 billion pounds of annual food waste, 2 billion pounds is suitable for human consumption. This compelling set of data inspired Leket to take action with a new food rescue program.
Leket’s Food Rescue Program Targets Food Waste in Israel
The success of Leket’s food rescue operation is contingent on an elaborate labyrinth of logistics. The organization must source excess food, transport it according to the Ministry of Health guidelines, store it and sort it as necessary and distribute it to those in need. To do so, Leket relies on more than two dozen refrigerated trucks operated and loaded by both staff members and volunteers.
Thousands of tons of food have been rescued across Israel through Leket’s program, brought to cold storage facilities and prepped for distribution with one of the organization’s 330 nonprofit partners. Other rescued items are stored overnight and reheated the following morning for hot lunch service.
A Look at the Program’s Benefits
“The food I receive from Leket Israel fills our stomachs, our hearts and our home,” stated Netanela, a single mother in Israel, in an interview with Leket.
Netanela is unable to provide adequate nutrition for herself or her son using her salary as a caregiver. For the past few months, she has been receiving rescued meals through Leket, allowing her and her son to have reliable, daily hot meals.
Julieta Radovitzki is another single mother who has benefited from Leket’s greater mission of reducing hunger in Israel. Radovitzki works at a factory in Haifa and lives with her daughter. For six months, she and her coworkers received nutrient-packed frozen soups as an extra meal to bring home.
“The soups from Leket Israel, which I take home, are nourishing and full of fresh ingredients and make me feel like I’m looked after,” Radovitzki. “It’s so clear that it comes from the heart. It makes me feel good that there are people who care about us.”
Leket’s Food Rescue by the Numbers
In 2021 alone, Leket rescued 40,758,000 lbs of fresh produce from domestic farms and storage houses. The organization also reported saving 1,710,000 prepared meals from “catering halls, hotels, hi-tech company cafeterias, events and Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police bases.”
The 330 nonprofit partnerships that Leket Israel works with for food distribution include low-income work institutions, homeless shelters, elderly homes, soup kitchens, domestic abuse centers, community organizations and after-school programs for at-risk youth. These NGOs serve meals to nearly 223,000 Israelis in need every week.
Continuing the Fight Against Hunger in Israel
Leket Israel’s food rescue has made remarkable strides forward in reducing national food insecurity. In doing so, the organization has helped protect Israel’s environmental resources, social welfare and economic potential.
In the words of Israeli Chief Economist Chen Herzog, “The cost of food waste comes out of the consumers’ pocket and greatly impacts the cost of living in Israel, causing an 11% rise in food prices. Developing a plan to rescue and distribute surplus food is imperative.”
Leket Israel’s program may be only one part of Herzog’s proposed national plan, but it is making a lot of notable progress.
– Elena Unger
Photo: Pixabay
The Ongoing UK Strikes Indicate Greater Aid Needs Abroad
Record Strike Action in Over 30 Years
Strikes seem to have almost become part of normal life in the U.K., with sectors engaging in industrial action ranging from public transportation to education, post services and health care. February’s strike of ambulance staff, nurses and physiotherapists marked the National Health Service’s most dramatic strike since its beginning 75 years ago. Yet, there is still no lasting solution in sight. Insufficient pay is the biggest reason for those taking part in strikes, as public-sector wages have not kept up with record-high inflation, which makes disposable income much tighter for those who work for government-controlled entities.
A Global Crisis
The ongoing cost of living crisis in the U.K., including sharp increases in the price of energy bills and food now at a 45-year high, is causing a lot of unrest within the country, but these problems are not unique to the developed world. If communities in one of the world’s wealthiest countries are struggling, it points to the harshness of the situation for those in low-and-middle-income countries. Inflation has been surging abroad also and is more likely to have devastating effects on communities that were struggling to attain basic life necessities before the price hikes. The U.N. estimated in the summer of 2022 that the increase in costs of food and energy will plunge an additional 71 million people into poverty, with forecasts suggesting that Sub-Saharan Africa and the Balkans could be two of the worst-affected regions.
The Bleak Situation Abroad
In 2022, strikes in developing countries’ health sectors were also widespread, including in Zimbabwe, where the government passed a controversial bill limiting workers’ ability to strike in 2023. Poor pay and working conditions were the underlying reasons for the strikes, with similar situations in Asian countries such as Sri Lanka where poverty levels continue to increase.
Why Maintaining Aid Is Essential
Delivering aid helps reduce political insecurity and the chance of conflict, which benefits all countries. Improving health standards abroad is also crucial for preventing the rise of global epidemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also the potential for new markets to open in countries assisted by aid in the future. This is another economic opportunity for developed countries like the U.K. Finally, there is the opportunity to gain more soft power, or global political influence, through the maintenance of foreign aid. Improving existing friendships and partnerships can potentially result in positive outcomes for the countries involved. And developed countries working with less-developed nations in economically challenging times could be crucial for geo-political relations.
Looking Ahead
In the face of ongoing strikes and rising living costs, the need for aid becomes evident not only within the U.K. but also in low-and-middle-income countries facing similar challenges. Reports suggest that providing foreign aid is essential for reducing political insecurity, preventing global epidemics and fostering economic opportunities for both developed and developing nations. It also presents an opportunity to strengthen global partnerships and promote positive geo-political relations in economically challenging times.
– Hannah Naylor
Photo: Unsplash
Improving Housing in Liberia
The Issues at Hand
Liberia’s history has been tumultuous, with a series of civil wars throughout the 1990s and early 2000s that left the country economically devastated. Around 50.9% of the total population in Liberia lived under the poverty line as of 2016, with many urban areas suffering from overcrowding. This problem has continuously affected the state of housing in Liberia for years.
Inadequate infrastructure and a lack of proper services play a big part in exacerbating many of the existing issues. A severe lack of sanitation and water services has contributed to several health and safety issues over the years. Many houses don’t have proper access to water or sewage, and those that do are damaged or lack maintenance. The Ebola crisis in 2014 spread rapidly through major urban areas such as Monrovia and proved a major health risk. COVID-19 followed this in 2020, where 70.6% of COVID-19 cases in Liberia were in Montserrado County as of August that year.
The common building materials also contribute to poor conditions. Some of the common resources in extensive use throughout urban areas for housing are concrete, cement and zinc for roofing. All of these are time-consuming to make, contribute to pollution levels and in the case of zinc, can heat up the inner spaces of houses. Many of these housing materials are also put together in a ramshackle way, leaving many houses in danger of damage.
Making the Housing Sector Better
Despite the many issues Liberia faces, there are entities willing to make efforts to improve the housing situation in Liberia for all. The Liberia National Housing Authority (NHA) is one of the leading forces pushing for progress in this regard. The NHA has signed memorandums with groups like Habitat for Humanity International to improve housing policies and build more homes to alleviate overcrowding. The NHA reached another recent agreement to construct 5,000 housing units in 2019 to alleviate the problem.
Other groups are investing in building up the housing market, particularly through improving Liberia’s infrastructure. UNICEF, with its focus on improving the lives and rights of children, works to provide sanitation for the country. The organization does this by strengthening WASH institutions, supporting surveillance of water quality and borehole maintenance. USAID also works to improve water sanitation, taking such actions as fixing and expanding three water treatment plants across Liberia.
U.N. Habitat has pushed for the use of better building materials to construct housing in Liberia. One primary focus is on pushing for the use of local building materials, including using more natural, mud-based resources as building materials and developing a self-sustaining industry for local materials. An emphasis on Liberia’s National Urban Policy (NUP) goals also points to ongoing research into providing affordable local building materials.
A Future of Improved Living
Significant improvements in housing conditions in Liberia are still a long-term endeavor, with several issues to be addressed along the way. Nonetheless, the collaborative efforts of multiple organizations are gradually propelling Liberia toward progress. Through continued dedication and concerted actions, the housing situation in Liberia can be steadily enhanced, ultimately positively impacting the lives of numerous individuals for years to come.
– Kenneth Berends
Photo: Flickr
Combating HIV/AIDS in Malawi
Malawi aims to have 95% of people living with HIV aware of their status by 2025. Despite the reduction in AIDS-related deaths, the country still has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates among adults aged 15 to 49.
With 13 million people living below the poverty line out of a population of 21 million, STD-related health care is often unaffordable for those facing financial hardships. Moreover, disparities in health care resources contribute to the lack of a rapid HIV/AIDS response, with rural areas having limited access to treatment compared to urban areas.
Prioritizing Testing and Treatments
According to 2017 data, out of the 1 million individuals who live with HIV/AIDS in Malawi, 90% receive antiretroviral therapy. However, a 2020 study revealed that antiretroviral therapy failure and drug resistance are common among those undergoing HIV treatment.
A 2020 observational study led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of Malawi College of Medicine and the University of Cambridge found that antiretroviral therapy failure and drug resistance are common among those receiving HIV treatment.
Recent research published in the Lancet found more than 80% of patients have resistance to two or more HIV antiretroviral drugs and 95% of patients have undetectable HIV loads as of 2020. The study also revealed that patients with resistance to multiple HIV drugs were 70% more likely to experience a clinical death within two months of checking into the hospital compared to those without drug resistance.
With one-third of patients failing to receive therapy fast enough, timely diagnosis and switching patients to alternative antiretroviral therapies have contributed to better patient outcomes in Malawi.
Barriers to HIV/AIDS
Despite significant reductions in HIV infections, individuals living below the poverty line in Malawi continue to face the greatest impact. Malawi is one of the poorest countries across the globe.
As one of the poorest countries globally, Malawi’s higher HIV prevalence may be attributed to inconsistent detection rates stemming from differences in surveillance and registration centers. This marked difference may also be related to Socioeconomic factors, such as poverty and limited emphasis on screening programs and public health services such as the NHS, which contribute to health inequalities.
The unequal distribution of health care resources exacerbates the challenges in combating HIV/AIDS in Malawi. Urban areas, where individuals are more likely to afford private health care systems, have better access to resources compared to rural areas, resulting in lower treatment rates for the latter.
However, barriers to HIV-related health care extend beyond poverty and finances. Stigma and prejudice surrounding HIV deter individuals from seeking care and concerns about confidentiality at testing sites further discourage communities from accessing services.
Gay men in Malawi experience a disproportionate impact from HIV/AIDS. The Ministry of Health estimated that 35% of men in Malawi had not been tested for HIV/AIDS in 2017. Addressing this disparity requires additional support and funding for home testing initiatives.
Progression in Malawi
Awareness surrounding sexual health and faster screening techniques has improved the health of Malawians with HIV/AIDS over the last two decades. Antiretroviral therapy coverage has significantly increased, with an estimated 91% of those living with HIV receiving treatment in 2021 compared to only 43% in 2012. There were 78,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2005 compared to 13,000 in 2020, a decline of around 83%. Overall, increased funding and implementation support has resulted in a marked improvement in HIV in Malawi from previous years.
Helping the Cause
While Malawi’s government has continued to provide treatments and support for HIV/AIDS, an organization founded in 1972 named Action Aid helps those from marginalized groups across rural and urban communities in Africa. Action Aid works alongside local communities, governments and institutions for people living with HIV/AIDS.
The organization advocates for improved access to HIV/AIDS-related health care, including antiretroviral drugs and good nutrition. Through partnerships with local communities, governments and institutions, Action Aid advocates for improved access to HIV/AIDS-related health care, including antiretroviral drugs and good nutrition. Collaborations with organizations like the Makerere Women’s Development Association (MWDA) and the Kuluhiro (Hope) support group ensure psychosocial therapy, counseling and access to antiretroviral treatments, as well as economic opportunities through farm projects.
What is Next?
An Oxford Academic report suggests that continued foreign aid is essential for widespread testing and comprehensive HIV/AIDS programs, as 99% of HIV funding comes from international financial support. Foreign aid plays a crucial role in sustaining and expanding efforts in combating HIV/AIDS in Malawi.
– Rupinder Kaur
Photo: Rawpixel