The United Nations’ fight against poverty began as early as 1945. The U.N. General Assembly declared the years 1997 to 2006 as the First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty. The Second U.N. Decade for the Eradication of Poverty then ran from 2008 to 2017 and the Third U.N. Decade for the Eradication of Poverty began in 2018 with an end date of 2027. The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed by U.N. member states in September 2000, is a commitment from global leaders to “combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.” The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) formed part of this Declaration and set targets to reach by 2015.
Progress in Reducing Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The target of reducing global extreme poverty rates by 50% occurred “five years ahead of the 2015 deadline,” the U.N. website notes. Since 1990, more than 1 billion individuals rose out of extreme poverty. Close to 50% of people in underdeveloped countries in 1990 survived on less than $1.25 per day. In 2015, this rate declined to 14%.
Furthermore, since 1990, the percentage of undernourished individuals in developing regions has decreased by about 50%. However, the percentage of employed working-age people reduced from 62% in 1991 to 60% in 2015, with a particularly notable decline occurring during the global recession of 2008/2009.
Here are three significant programs and funds aiding in the United Nations’ fight against poverty.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
A pledge to “eradicate poverty everywhere, in all its forms and dimensions by 2030” is at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which came about in 2015 after the MDG deadline. The UNDP is the “U.N.’s global development network” that works across 170 nations and territories to help further the SDGs. Its work also centers around “democratic governance and peacebuilding” as well as “climate and disaster resilience.”
From 2019 to 2021, thanks to the UNDP, 71 million individuals in 36 nations obtained “access to essential services” and labor market policies safeguarded 1 million jobs globally, the UNDP website highlights.
About 81 nations adopted “policies based on COVID-19 socio-economic impact assessments” and “82 countries adopted more than 580 digital solutions for e-commerce and e-governance.” While “2.4 million rural households in 33 countries benefited from clean, affordable and sustainable energy,” about 3 million individuals across 29 nations “benefited from jobs and improved livelihoods in crisis or post-crisis settings,” the UNDP website notes.
UNICEF
In more than 190 nations and territories, UNICEF strives to protect children’s lives, uphold their rights and assist them in realizing their full potential from infancy through adolescence. Thanks to UNICEF, several million children by 1950 received “garments made of wool, leather and cotton” and more than 6 million received meals on a daily basis.
By 1973, UNICEF had assisted approximately 70 nations in reducing the number of deaths resulting from ingesting contaminated water. The Child Survival and Development Revolution, which UNICEF started in 1982, aimed to save more children by implementing four main strategies: tracking development, delivering immunizations, encouraging breastfeeding and providing oral rehydration therapy.
Compared to the end of World War II, life expectancy rates had climbed by more than 33% by 1993. A rise in school attendance coincided with a sharp decline in child mortality rates. The standard of living was also fast increasing; many households who had previously struggled to find clean water now had easy access. More recently, in 2012, polio saw eradication in India thanks to UNICEF’s global immunization program for the poor. Africa celebrated one year without any confirmed cases of polio on August 11, 2015.
World Food Programme (WFP)
The WFP is the largest humanitarian organization in the world, saving lives in dire situations and utilizing food aid to create a road to peace, stability and prosperity for those recovering from war, natural disasters and the effects of environmental changes.
The WFP collaborates with governments and humanitarian partners on the front lines, responding to an increasing number of disasters, such as droughts and floods, which can destroy crops, disrupt markets and demolish roads and bridges. The WFP also implements preventative measures that lessen the number of people in need of humanitarian aid. In 2021, 12.2 million individuals from 47 different nations benefited from climate risk management strategies, including 2.7 million in 14 nations who were insured against climate-related risks.
The WFP has shifted its emphasis in recent years from emergency interventions to tackling all types of malnutrition, including vitamin and mineral deficiencies, overweight and obesity. In 2021, 23.5 million people, a 36% increase from 2020, mostly children, pregnant and lactating females, benefited from WFP programs to treat or prevent malnutrition.
Smallholder farmers produce most of the world’s food yet also ironically suffer from hunger. In 2021, WFP and partners provided assistance to around 947,000 smallholder farmers in 44 countries. In 2021, WFP purchased 117,000 metric tons of food from smallholder farmers in 27 countries, valued at $51.9 million.
Looking Ahead in the United Nations’ Fight Against Poverty
Apart from these three programs, other U.N. initiatives also play a significant role in supporting the world’s most impoverished. For example, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, U.N. Women and U.N.-Habitat. The World Bank, the IMF, the WHO, the ILO, the FAO and other U.N. Specialized Agencies play a significant part in addressing emerging global issues. Overall, the United Nations has had a positive influence on the eradication of poverty worldwide.
– Karisma Maran
Photo: Flickr
Fighting Poverty with the Waste-to-Income Strategy in Nigeria
Scrapays
One popular waste-to-income strategy in Nigeria involves using technology to enable business agents to manage waste collection and disposal. The Scrapays startup aims to facilitate the recovery of recyclable waste in Nigeria using a decentralized ecosystem. Launched in 2019 by Tope Sulaimon, Boluwatife Arewa and Olumide Ogunleye, the company uses USSD, mobile app, web app and Internet of Things technology. The waste allocation starts with a waste producer placing a pickup order with a collector who has to weigh the items at the pickup point and pays the producer accordingly.
Typically, collectors are young and low-income individuals who carry out on-demand recovery tasks in a specific area. Next, the agents gather the waste from multiple collectors to dispose of them at the processing point. According to Arewa, Scrapays’ collectors’ network has grown by 25% monthly. Among the company agents, a commercial tricycle vendor makes around 1.3 million Nigerian nairas ($3,000) every six weeks from selling the vehicles’ packaging materials – cartons, plastic stretch wraps and light metals.
Mygbolat Waste Management
Another company that adopted a waste-to-income strategy in Nigeria is Mygbolat Waste Management. Established in 2021 by former banker Olatunji Olaribigbe, the company proposes to fight unemployment by addressing Nigeria’s trash crisis. More than 50 people currently work directly for Olaribigbe, as well as freelancers and contractors he pays on commission. He strives to expand the business to different locales to employ as many people as possible.
GIVO
GIVO (Garbage In Value Out), which Victor Boyle-Komolafe founded, is a tech company that enables other companies to assume circular business practices. Boyle-Komolafe’s goal is to eliminate plastic waste in Nigeria. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company started recycling plastic, producing 10,000 plastic face shields. Ten percent of the shields went to frontline workers in Nigeria, like doctors, nurses and teachers as well as people with poor health. In 2021, Boyle-Komolafe said that the company strives to recycle 150 million plastic bottles over the next five years.
Africa Creativity and Sustainability Hub
In Ibadan City, Umoke Olowokere is an artist and former teacher who runs a small organization dedicated to creating and innovating “new ways to reuse plastics, nylons, bottles, [tires], papers, dead plants, bamboo scrap fabrics, food wastes, old wood, and other wastes into functional interior and exterior products that are durable and cheaper.” To celebrate her 40th birthday in 2019, Olowokere donated outdoor play equipment to 40 schools in the city that their students helped make. The entrepreneur has also opened the Waste Museum with the goal of training individuals and organizations on sustainable ways of creating wealth through recycling and upcycling their waste.
The waste-to-income strategy in Nigeria is a revolutionary vision to address global challenges. Such companies are setting an example of how to tackle environmental issues while fighting against poverty.
– Caterina Rossi
Photo: Flickr
La Bonne Etoile: Helping Children in Vietnam
Services Offered
La Bonne Étoile is a nonprofit organization that began in March 2012. The charity “builds schools, rehabilitates social centers, finances training workshops, provides support for health professionals in orphanages, subsidizes medical equipment and participates in emergency food aid in pediatric hospitals.”
The Thuy An MOLISA Center is a rehabilitation and vocational training center where 240 children aged 6 to 18 live in Vietnam. These children are mostly orphans. This Center offers them medical care, physical rehabilitation, access to primary school and vocational training adapted to their disabilities. It is a unique center in northern Vietnam that provides comprehensive rehabilitation (physical and mental) and trains caregivers in others in the region.
In five years, from 2017 to 2021, La Belle Etoile helped this center in many ways such as financing a new professional training workshop in pyrography, a dance class and a course on the hygiene of life and everyday gestures for children with a more severe handicap.
Beyond Vietnam
In 2016, the organization decided to expand its efforts beyond the borders of Vietnam. The charity began its interventions in France with a project to help children in great distress by funding protected hearing rooms within the hospital. These rooms are a reassuring setting for children so they can tell their stories without having to move from one place to another. In this context, La Bonne Etoile worked with Le Rire Médecin to bring joy to children through comedy.
La Bonne Etoile also wanted to devote its energy to helping children in Africa. In 2019, the charity decided to fully finance the construction of a school for refugee children of the village of Visiki in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to provide them access to education and the opportunity to evolve in good conditions to prepare for their future. In early 2022, the charity also took charge of building a maternity ward in the Visiki hospital.
Final Thoughts
La Bonne Etoile continues its actions to help children in Vietnam and the world. In October 2022, the charity organized a month-long event for its 10th birthday, in which people could buy raffle tickets to win gorgeous gifts and experiences while helping children. La Bonne Etoile has helped 2,000 children and organized 20 actions. According to the charity, 11 projects are in progress.
– Olivia Roy Fritsch
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Maternal Mortality in Papua New Guinea
For many, the birth of a child is a cause for joy, but it is an experience that instills apprehension in many women in Papua New Guinea (commonly known as PNG). Their fear is understandable — UNICEF estimates that, annually, 580 women die during childbirth in the island nation, equalling one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Understanding the reasons behind these high rates of maternal mortality in Papua New Guinea is instrumental in implementing solutions to save the lives of new mothers.
4 Key Facts About Maternal Mortality in Papua New Guinea
Making a Difference
Send Hope Not Flowers is a charitable organization founded in Australia that “aims to help mothers to survive childbirth in the developing world.”
In 2015, it partnered with Living Child to send medical supplies and resources to training programs in villages in Papua New Guinea. Send Hope Not Flowers even secured a grant of $20,000 AUD to supply models for medical personnel in training to work on for a better understanding of how to deal with medical emergencies during childbirth.
The Highlands Foundation tackles maternal mortality in Papua New Guinea by sending volunteers, who include trained medical personnel, to travel to the country to assist staff in looking after patients, and in some cases, train new doctors, nurses and midwives.
The Foundation also provides kits to health workers to provide the necessary care to women during pregnancy and childbirth. These contain essential medical supplies, like thermometers and disposable gloves and masks, which birth attendants can easily transport to remote areas. Access to these supplies is potentially life-saving, especially in areas with no nearby health care facilities.
Looking Ahead
Maternal mortality in Papua New Guinea is a solvable problem. More detailed research paired with regular and accurate data collection will reveal key areas to focus on and more funding will provide rural areas with better tools and facilities to fight complications and, in some cases, prevent them altogether.
– Abbi Powell
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
4 Organizations Helping Cardboard Collectors in Asia
Youth with a Mission (YWAM)
YWAM (pronounced “WHY-wham”) is a global Christian family of ministries founded in 1960 working in more than 180 countries. Hong Kong’s YWAM chapter has launched “Shine Hong Kong,” which focuses on providing cardboard collectors with Shine Hong Kong Kits of helpful items including masks, hand sanitizer, food coupons and muscle balm. In addition to providing the collectors with the kits, the organization’s focus is for volunteers to interact with the collectors and show dignity and respect to a group of people who often go unnoticed.
Border Mission
Unlike YWAM, a global NGO, Border Mission is a small-scale organization. Founded by George Goh Ching Wah and Lysa Sumali, Border Mission operates in Singapore and in the Himilayas. Similar to YWAM, Border Mission strives to bring “hope to the unreached and forgotten.”
Border Mission observed that the cardboard collectors in Singapore, whom they call “urban recyclers,” struggle from receiving low prices for what they sell to recyclers. It views them as self-employed, hard-working seniors who deserve outside support. That’s why it launched its island-wide “Urban Recycler Project” in 2020. The NGO not only provides urban recyclers with better trolleys but also educates them on selling different types of recyclable materials. The organization also advocates for higher prices for the recyclers’ collections. Its 1,000 youth volunteers delivered 100 four-wheel trolleys and one tricycle trolley in 2021.
V Cycle
V Cycle, a local Hong Kong social enterprise, works with businesses and schools to teach them how to better reduce and recycle waste, particularly plastic bottles. In addition to helping the environment, the organization also attempts to reduce elderly poverty by helping cardboard collectors. It focuses on conducting care visits and creating job opportunities for cardboard collectors.
Visiting elderly cardboard collectors is a step for volunteers to gain the elderly’s trust and build relationships with them. During each visit, volunteers ask the elderly about their physical and mental health, as well as the difficulties that they encounter. That way, V Cycle can tailor solutions to each person’s needs.
To create employment opportunities, V Cycle invites the elderly to work at the organization’s waste plants to organize and process plastic bottles. This allows the elderly to work in a safe and secure environment.
Happy People Helping People (HPHP)
Like its name, Happy People Helping People (HPHP), this Singaporean NGO helps needy elderly; happily and enthusiastically. HPHP is helping cardboard collectors by offering them food and friendship. In turn, this addresses the physical and emotional needs of the elderly. Founded by Mohammad Nafiz Kamarudin in 2013, the organization began with Happy Sundays; during the first Sunday of each month, volunteers made meals for the cardboard collectors. Then the organization realized that the cardboard collectors needed more so they worked with food stalls to provide one hot meal a day. HPHP now provides free hot meals to cardboard collectors using an app, Secondmeal.
Invented by a HPHP staff member, the app allows the needy elderly to collect the meals of their choice at food stalls participating in the project by scanning the meal cards provided to them each month. HPHP then pays for amounts shown on the app system at the end of each month. According to the founder of HPHP, Mohammad Nafiz Kamarudin, the elderly collect over $10,000 worth of meals every month. With Secondmeal, the elderly receive help in a dignified way.
Looking Forward: Helping Cardboard Collectors in Asia
It is common for impoverished elderly to become cardboard collectors in Hong Kong and Singapore. To address the issue, the four organizations helping cardboard collectors do so by making life easier for them in different ways. For instance, while YWAM distributes Shine Hong Kong care kits to the elderly, HPHP offers hot meals for them. Border Mission provides them with better trolleys and V Cycle volunteers conduct care visits. Nonetheless, each of these organizations shares the same belief and aim: cardboard collectors in Asia are a disadvantaged and neglected group that more able people can help.
– Mimosa Ngai
Photo: Flickr
Positives from Brazil’s Election
On October 30, 2022, Brazil’s presidential race between incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and ‘Lula’ da Silva came to a close, with Lula narrowly edging out a victory with 50.9% of the vote. As news agencies, foreign leaders and millions of people all over Brazil accepted the results of Brazil’s election, one figure remained notably silent: President Bolsonaro. Though he did not expressly concede, Bolsonaro half-heartedly signaled that the transition process could begin. Prior to the election result, Bolsonaro made baseless claims of electoral fraud, stirring up unrest among his supporters. However, Brazil still expects a smooth presidential transition.
Post-Election Protests
Soon after the election, pro-Bolsonaro supporters began protesting against the election results and demanded military intervention. Protesters then blocked Brazil’s major highways with barricades, with some policemen encouraging the blockades. Breaking his silence on the Tuesday after the election, President Bolsonaro “tacitly backed the protestors,” saying the “current popular movements are the fruit of indignation and a feeling of injustice about how the electoral process played out,” the Guardian reports.
In Paranagua, a commercially critical city in Brazil’s south, the port authority said vehicles transporting grain exports could not access the port due to protester blockades. Other blockades of trade routes across the nation also impacted the transportation of agricultural exports such as soybean, corn, fertilizer and meat. This has ignited concerns for Brazil’s fragile economy.
In a relieving turn of events for Brazil’s democracy and economy, officials and everyday citizens have helped to restore order following the elections. Brazil’s highway police cleared more than 600 of the barricades within three days of the election, easing fears of shortages across the country. Local soccer fans, some inspired to defend their democracy and others wanting to get to their games, also played an important part in clearing roads.
Fragility in Brazil
Brazil’s stability is of paramount importance as the world economy threatens to enter a recession. Although world inflation could rise substantially through 2022, inflation in Brazil started to ease in August 2022. Food and supply shortages could significantly raise the price of everyday goods, sending the country’s economy into a tailspin. According to the World Bank, 28.4% of Brazil’s population lived in poverty in 2021 and a political struggle with economic damage could exacerbate poverty levels in the country.
A New Presidency Brings Hope
President Bolsonaro’s successor, Luis Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva, promised to prioritize poverty during his previous four years in office. During his presidency from 2003 to 2010, Lula created one of the most successful conditional cash transfer programs in modern history, Bolsa Familia. By making welfare conditional on health checkups and children’s school attendance, the program reduced extreme poverty by about 25%. This made Lula immensely popular among Brazil’s poor, with most of his support coming from the two poorest regions in Brazil: the north and northeast.
Although President Bolsonaro kept a modified version of Bolsa Familia under the name Auxilio Brasil, his efforts have seen significantly less success. In 2019, Bolsonaro reduced the number of program beneficiaries, precisely when impoverished citizens needed aid the most, during the COVID-19 pandemic. President-elect Lula put this issue at the forefront of his campaign and victory speech, promising an end to hunger and an increase in the minimum wage.
Looking Ahead
Brazil’s Defense Ministry also published its own report on November 9, 2022, which “did not point to the existence of any fraud or inconsistency in the electronic voting machines and 2022 electoral process.” The report did, however, bring to the forefront shortcomings in the electoral process and outlined suggestions to strengthen it.
The end of Brazil’s election drama comes as a comforting conclusion for the country, especially given the many issues it still has to contend with. Still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, a prolonged political struggle would stretch the economy to the limit while exacerbating tensions that the election has laid bare. Despite the temporary scare, the rapid response of Brazil’s institutions and people to the protests reassures outside observers of the country’s commitment to democracy. Due to his past successes, President Lula’s reign brings hope of reduced hunger, lower inequality and decreased poverty.
– Samuel Bowles
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
FEMA Assistance for Puerto Rico After Hurricane Fiona
On Oct. 20, 2022, President Joe Biden increased FEMA assistance for Puerto Rico to accelerate recovery efforts after Hurricane Fiona. This amendment builds upon Biden’s major disaster declaration on Sep. 21, 2022, which authorized the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to lead recovery efforts in Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities. While the original declaration on Sep. 21 set the federal funding for emergency protective services at 75%, President Biden increased the share to 100%. The 100% share, which previously covered emergency costs for the first 30 days after Hurricane Fiona, will be extended to 60 days under the Oct. 20 amendment. These funds will go toward “debris removal and emergency protective measures” as well as “direct federal assistance” to aid in recovery efforts, according to The White House.
Ongoing Recovery Efforts After Hurricane Fiona
From Sep. 17 to Sep. 21, Hurricane Fiona destroyed homes and businesses across Puerto Rico, resulting in multiple fatalities. Puerto Rico’s Department of Health notes more than a dozen confirmed deaths related to Hurricane Fiona, from causes such as head trauma and drowning. When Hurricane Fiona reached Puerto Rico, many residents were still trying to recover from Hurricane Maria, which caused severe damage to the island just five years earlier.
Although the storm came to an end, more than 100,000 residents struggled without power even two weeks after the storm hit. LUMA Energy, the company in charge of Puerto Rico’s grid, restored power to 91% of its customers but faced difficulty reaching more remote areas. NPR reported that “nearly a third of customers in the western region of the island” had no electricity access as of Oct. 2.
The storm also destroyed bridges and vital transportation roads, preventing many emergency services from reaching more isolated regions. While government officials and local groups have successfully reached many of these areas, transportation concerns remain for the elderly, people with disabilities and people with preexisting health conditions.
FEMA’s Emergency Protective Services
FEMA has been working closely with the government of Puerto Rico to boost recovery efforts. In a Sep. 25 FEMA press release, Puerto Rico’s Governor Pedro Pierluisi stated: “We are committed to ensuring our people have access to essential services. We will continue working collaboratively with all our mayors so that full disaster assistance reaches the 78 municipalities.”
According to a FEMA report on Oct. 11, FEMA teams have registered more than 3,700 residents for FEMA’s Disaster Survivor Assistance (DSA). DSA crews have “referred more than 2,600 individuals to voluntary agencies” to assist with medical care and transport, evacuation and shelter, home restoration and other relief services.
Because FEMA requests that survivors communicate their needs primarily through email, phone or the mobile app, FEMA aimed to provide internet connection and power in more isolated regions. For example, FEMA installed mobile satellite systems in mountainous regions to establish Wi-Fi hotspots. Once connected with FEMA, survivors can register for “federal disaster assistance.” After survivors apply for assistance, FEMA inspectors schedule an appointment to assess the damage.
Learning From the Past
FEMA’s efforts have already made a considerable impact on survivors of Hurricane Fiona. However, Puerto Rico has experienced difficulties initiating recovery projects through Public Assistance funds provided by FEMA. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that, in January 2021, FEMA pledged $23.8 billion through Public Assistance funds to help Puerto Rico recover from the effects of previous hurricanes and earthquakes as well as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the GAO reports that “because Public Assistance is a reimbursement program, Puerto Rico must provide the initial funding for projects and seek reimbursement afterward.” However, Puerto Rico’s financial difficulties posed barriers to accessing funding to begin the obligated recovery projects. As such, by May 2021, Puerto Rico had only spent $4.7 billion of the $23.8 billion. Additionally, Puerto Rico “only spent $158 million for long-term rebuilding projects, such as rebuilding schools, the power grid, water systems and other damaged infrastructure,” the GAO said.
The GAO recommends that FEMA identifies potential barriers to Puerto Rico’s recovery and takes action to address these risks as recovery efforts in Puerto Rico continue. With this feedback, FEMA can strengthen the recovery response in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona. With Biden’s new funding plan, FEMA will be able to expand its territorial and local efforts on a larger scale.
– Anna Lee
Photo: Flickr
Poverty and Type II Diabetes in the UK
Type II diabetes in the U.K. is a prevalent issue. Type II diabetes, also known as “adult diabetes,” is when the body fails to regulate and use sugar. Sugar (glucose), is what the human body uses as fuel and thus, failure to properly utilize sugar results in a stream of health complications. One condition, for example, is when there is an accumulation of too much sugar in the blood resulting in circulatory, nervous and immune system disorders.
With type II diabetes, one’s pancreas does not produce an adequate amount of insulin. Insulin is a hormone that regulates sugar in cells. Along with low amounts of insulin production, the cells in type II diabetes patients typically do not respond well to insulin and thus, take in less sugar.
Man previously believed that type II diabetes was an adult-onset disease. Today, however, it is increasingly common in children with obesity. The causes of type II diabetes are often associated with lifestyle factors, making it largely preventable. Apart from lifestyle factors, there are also social determinants that if addressed, can help reduce the likelihood of disease. The U.K., like many other nations around the world, is trying to cope with the increases in type II diabetes in both adults and children. Here is some information about type II diabetes in the United Kingdom.
Type II Diabetes in the United Kingdom
Diabetes U.K., a British-based healthcare research charity, has predicted that if changes do not occur to combat the increase in diabetes, 5.5 million people in the U.K. will have the disease by 2030. Currently, 90% of people suffering from diabetes in the U.K. have type II diabetes. Along with this, 13.6 million people are currently at risk of developing type II diabetes in the U.K.
The Relationship Between Type II Diabetes and Social Determinants of Health
Diabetes is a chronic disease that requires extensive, careful monitoring. This monitoring can be extra difficult for people who are facing social disparities such as food insecurity, unemployment, access to transportation and health care and economic worries. The impact of the uptick in diabetes cases, especially type II diabetes, is one that society members share equally. People experiencing poverty or economic insecurity are two and a half times more likely to be diagnosed with type II diabetes than the average earning person and two times as likely to face serious health complications. One can attribute this phenomenon to the “social gradient.” Under this idea, the less money someone has, the more likely they are to become ill and experience poorer health outcomes, thus a social gradient develops.
Those who are more advantaged may have access to prevention resources such as blood sugar monitoring, exercise programs and nutritious foods. They may be able to seek healthcare more regularly and develop regimes to help prevent or control their diagnosis. Among people in the U.K. suffering from diabetes, 28% report difficulties in obtaining medication or equipment in order to self-manage their condition. With this, there is around a 19-year life expectancy gap between the wealthiest and poorest people suffering from diabetes in the U.K.
Along with income impacting the likelihood of developing diabetes and more specifically type II diabetes in the U.K., race is another social factor. For people living in the U.K., the risk for diabetes increases for white people when they turn 40, however, if they are black African, African-Caribbean or South Asian, the risk increases starting at 25 years old. For people who identify as Black African, African-Caribbean or South Asian, the risk of developing type II diabetes is two to four times more likely than those who are white in the U.K.
How the UK is Addressing Type II Diabetes
The U.K. government is working to reduce the number of diabetes cases in the nation. The government has developed the NHS Diabetes Programme to help combat the influx in cases, particularly with type II diabetes. This program aims to identify individuals who are at risk for the disease. Along with this, the program will offer support resources to help reduce the risk of receiving a type II diabetes diagnosis.
Apart from the government, a collective group of more than 180 organizations called the Inequality Health Alliance is working to end health inequalities, especially those that impact the likelihood of getting type II diabetes in the U.K.
Photo: Flickr
The United Nations’ Fight Against Poverty
The United Nations’ fight against poverty began as early as 1945. The U.N. General Assembly declared the years 1997 to 2006 as the First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty. The Second U.N. Decade for the Eradication of Poverty then ran from 2008 to 2017 and the Third U.N. Decade for the Eradication of Poverty began in 2018 with an end date of 2027. The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed by U.N. member states in September 2000, is a commitment from global leaders to “combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.” The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) formed part of this Declaration and set targets to reach by 2015.
Progress in Reducing Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The target of reducing global extreme poverty rates by 50% occurred “five years ahead of the 2015 deadline,” the U.N. website notes. Since 1990, more than 1 billion individuals rose out of extreme poverty. Close to 50% of people in underdeveloped countries in 1990 survived on less than $1.25 per day. In 2015, this rate declined to 14%.
Furthermore, since 1990, the percentage of undernourished individuals in developing regions has decreased by about 50%. However, the percentage of employed working-age people reduced from 62% in 1991 to 60% in 2015, with a particularly notable decline occurring during the global recession of 2008/2009.
Here are three significant programs and funds aiding in the United Nations’ fight against poverty.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
A pledge to “eradicate poverty everywhere, in all its forms and dimensions by 2030” is at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which came about in 2015 after the MDG deadline. The UNDP is the “U.N.’s global development network” that works across 170 nations and territories to help further the SDGs. Its work also centers around “democratic governance and peacebuilding” as well as “climate and disaster resilience.”
From 2019 to 2021, thanks to the UNDP, 71 million individuals in 36 nations obtained “access to essential services” and labor market policies safeguarded 1 million jobs globally, the UNDP website highlights.
About 81 nations adopted “policies based on COVID-19 socio-economic impact assessments” and “82 countries adopted more than 580 digital solutions for e-commerce and e-governance.” While “2.4 million rural households in 33 countries benefited from clean, affordable and sustainable energy,” about 3 million individuals across 29 nations “benefited from jobs and improved livelihoods in crisis or post-crisis settings,” the UNDP website notes.
UNICEF
In more than 190 nations and territories, UNICEF strives to protect children’s lives, uphold their rights and assist them in realizing their full potential from infancy through adolescence. Thanks to UNICEF, several million children by 1950 received “garments made of wool, leather and cotton” and more than 6 million received meals on a daily basis.
By 1973, UNICEF had assisted approximately 70 nations in reducing the number of deaths resulting from ingesting contaminated water. The Child Survival and Development Revolution, which UNICEF started in 1982, aimed to save more children by implementing four main strategies: tracking development, delivering immunizations, encouraging breastfeeding and providing oral rehydration therapy.
Compared to the end of World War II, life expectancy rates had climbed by more than 33% by 1993. A rise in school attendance coincided with a sharp decline in child mortality rates. The standard of living was also fast increasing; many households who had previously struggled to find clean water now had easy access. More recently, in 2012, polio saw eradication in India thanks to UNICEF’s global immunization program for the poor. Africa celebrated one year without any confirmed cases of polio on August 11, 2015.
World Food Programme (WFP)
The WFP is the largest humanitarian organization in the world, saving lives in dire situations and utilizing food aid to create a road to peace, stability and prosperity for those recovering from war, natural disasters and the effects of environmental changes.
The WFP collaborates with governments and humanitarian partners on the front lines, responding to an increasing number of disasters, such as droughts and floods, which can destroy crops, disrupt markets and demolish roads and bridges. The WFP also implements preventative measures that lessen the number of people in need of humanitarian aid. In 2021, 12.2 million individuals from 47 different nations benefited from climate risk management strategies, including 2.7 million in 14 nations who were insured against climate-related risks.
The WFP has shifted its emphasis in recent years from emergency interventions to tackling all types of malnutrition, including vitamin and mineral deficiencies, overweight and obesity. In 2021, 23.5 million people, a 36% increase from 2020, mostly children, pregnant and lactating females, benefited from WFP programs to treat or prevent malnutrition.
Smallholder farmers produce most of the world’s food yet also ironically suffer from hunger. In 2021, WFP and partners provided assistance to around 947,000 smallholder farmers in 44 countries. In 2021, WFP purchased 117,000 metric tons of food from smallholder farmers in 27 countries, valued at $51.9 million.
Looking Ahead in the United Nations’ Fight Against Poverty
Apart from these three programs, other U.N. initiatives also play a significant role in supporting the world’s most impoverished. For example, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, U.N. Women and U.N.-Habitat. The World Bank, the IMF, the WHO, the ILO, the FAO and other U.N. Specialized Agencies play a significant part in addressing emerging global issues. Overall, the United Nations has had a positive influence on the eradication of poverty worldwide.
– Karisma Maran
Photo: Flickr
Recruitment of Colombian Children into Armed Gangs
Statistics on the recruitment of Colombian children into armed gangs show cause for concern. According to Reuters, armed gangs in Colombia forcibly recruited 313 Colombian children and adolescents between 2018 and 2020. Furthermore, armed gangs forcibly recruited more than 7,400 Colombians under the age of 18 between 1985 and 2020 and as many as 16,000 children lost their lives during Colombia’s conflict. Illegal armed gangs usually recruit children to increase their member numbers and help gangs in “competition for territorial control.” Examples of the largest illegal armed gangs are the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) — far-left guerrilla groups that fought in the Colombian conflict beginning in 1964.
Methods of Recruitment
Gangs often prey on impoverished children by “offering money, drugs, alcohol, clothes, motorcycles or weapons.” The lack of government presence and aid is another facet that makes children in certain communities in Colombia more vulnerable, leaving them “with few alternatives.” Furthermore, the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated poverty in Colombia, which rose from a figure of 35.7% in 2019 to 42.5% in 2020.
A report by Reuters established that in 2020 “between 18.9 million and 23.9 million Colombians lived on less than $91 a month” while “15 million missed one meal a day” and others stood on the brink of starvation. This augmented the ease by which gangs were able to recruit children as gangs could “boost their social contol” in impoverished communities, InSight Crime said.
School closures at the onset of the pandemic meant that many rural children who did not have access to internet and technological devices could not continue learning. “The free time and lack of supervision provided them with ample opportunities to carry out assignments for armed groups,” according to InSight Crime.
Amid the pandemic, higher poverty rates and dwindling alternatives to gang recruitment left children more susceptible to gangs than before. Reports suggest that gangs use these children “in different stages of the drug trafficking business” as well as for purposes of sexual exploitation by employing threats and violence and promising better living conditions.
Colombian courts do not express leniency for individuals recruited as children once these individuals reach 18. Courts treat child soldiers who reach adulthood as perpetrators instead of victims of the gang recruitment system.
Efforts to Address the Issue
In the past, programs to prevent the recruitment of Colombian children into Armed Gangs have suffered from underfunding and a lack of support.
The Barça Foundation, in partnership with Gran Tierra and the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, is collaborating to prevent “the recruitment of young people in border states of the country.” The Barça Foundation runs the program “Sport for peace,” which focuses on “generating opportunities for inclusion through sport for children and young people living in socially conflictive environments.” In Bogota, these collaborative partnerships have positively impacted more than 2,000 youths.
Children Change Colombia is an NGO that works with other local organizations, such as Fundación CRAN and Tiempo de Juego, to improve the safety of communities and “keep children off the streets” to reduce the risk of violence and recruitment into armed gangs. The CRAN organization annually “provides foster homes and psychosocial support to 50 children formerly associated with illegal armed groups.” CRAN also provides information to local organizations on how to safeguard about 300 children annually in rural areas as these areas are where the recruitment of Colombian children into armed gangs is most prevalent.
While the recruitment of Colombian children into armed gangs is a cause of concern, NGOs are hard at work to help prevent this. Providing children with more compelling alternatives to joining gangs and working to reduce overall poverty are the most important ways that the government of Colombia and aid organizations can help.
– Priya Maiti
Photo: Flickr
Al-Shabaab’s Terror Reign In Somalia
Al-Shabaab is an insurgent and militant group based mainly in Somalia. It has close relations with Al-Qaeda. For more than a decade now, al-Shabaab and the Somali government have been fighting in the Somali Civil War. Al-Shabaab’s terror reign in Somalia needs to end by combatting the economic instability and poverty that allow it to continue.
Al-Shabaab’s Origin
Al-Shabaab emerged in 2006 as a splinter group of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that had taken control of Mogadishu and de facto control of Somalia from the Somalia government. In response, the Somali government backed an Ethiopian invasion that defeated the ICU. The Somali people’s resentment of the Ethiopian invasion and the ICU defeat led to an opening for al-Shabaab and its terror reign in Somalia.
By 2008, al-Shabaab took control of southern Somalia and gained dominance by seizing multiple territories throughout the country. In 2012, al-Shabaab officially aligned itself with Al-Qaeda and became Al-Qaeda’s representative in East Africa.
Poverty Leads to Recruitment and Abduction
A lack of economic stability drives terrorism in Somalia. Al-Shabaab capitalizes on the fact that poverty, unfortunately, aids the recruitment of militant groups. Since about 67% of Somali youth are unemployed, many young men join militant and insurgent groups like al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab provides a monthly salary that exceeds the average Somali per capita annual income of $400. Teenagers that are 14 years old and younger are al-Shabaab recruits. In fact, 70% of al-Shabaab’s recruits are under the age of 24 and the median age for recruits is 17.
In addition to this, children between the ages of nine to 15 have been forcibly recruited into al-Shabaab. Since 2017, al-Shabaab has abducted children, predominantly from pastoral and rural areas, to be frontline fighters. Al-Shabaab also forced Islamic teachers and elders in Somalia to recruit children from school and arm them with military-grade weapons.
Famine and Drought Displacement Led to Al-Shabaab’s Recruitment
The Somali government’s lack of response to famine and drought has also allowed al-Shabaab to exploit poverty in Somalia. In May 2022, the United Nations Refugee Agency reported that the 2.97 million Somalis displaced due to drought, violence and food shortages led to extreme overcrowding in refugee camps. Refugee camps are often used as hunting and recruiting grounds for terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab since they are remote and far away from authorities like police officers.
Support from the United States and the International Rescue Committee (IRC)
After President Trump withdrew all military support from Somalia, in May 2022, President Biden redeployed special forces into the country to help assist the Somali government in its war against al-Shabaab. He also approved a Pentagon request to target specific al-Shabaab leaders as part of the counterterrorism strategy.
In addition to the renewed United States support in the fight against Al-Shabaab’s reign of terror, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one organization that is currently helping Somalis get back on their feet economically from the effects of war, drought and food shortages. Since 1981, Somalia’s been receiving aid from the IRC which supports 280,000 Somalis annually.
Since drought is a huge issue, the IRC launched the Building Resilient Communities in Somalia to help educate families about disaster preparedness and financial resilience. These IRC programs mainly target female-led households so that females can learn how to build financial resilience during catastrophes, especially droughts. More than 1,400 Somali families received emergency cash for basic needs from the IRC. The organization has also provided business start-up grants and entrepreneurship training.
Looking Ahead
If Somalia cannot resolve its economic instability, al-Shabaab probably cannot be successfully defeated. Severe poverty is one of the primary reasons why so many young men join al-Shabaab. Joining an insurgent group should never have to be in any child’s future. Children in Somalia deserve better. They deserve a stronger and safer future where al-Shabaab no longer exists and economic instability is no longer a problem for their nation. The support from the U.S. and the IRC should help put Somalia in a better position to combat both poverty and al-Shabaab’s terror reign.
– Yonina Anglin
Photo: Flickr