Latin America notes large numbers of extreme poverty across its population. In 2021, extreme poverty hit 86 million, under the pressures of COVID-19. This is a 5 million increase from 2020 — the Social Panorama of Latin America report highlights that this is a setback equivalent to 27 years. English learning in Latin America could help reduce poverty across the region by opening up more economic opportunities.
English Learning in Latin America
According to the English Proficiency Index, “Latin America is the region [with] the lowest levels of English” as of 2020. Low English proficiency rates stem from a “low quality of language teaching programs in public education and the difficulties in accessing alternative training” as a result of the scarcity of language training institutions and the expensive costs of such programs.
According to the index, some of the Latin American countries with the lowest rates of English proficiency are Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Mexico. In Mexico, less than 10% of schools have English as part of the education curriculum. Furthermore, in 2015, Latin America lagged 2.5 years behind Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations in schooling development.
The Importance of English Skills
According to the report “Work in Progress: English Teaching and Teachers in Latin America, “Many, if not most, English teachers in Latin America lack either the necessary English skills, the necessary pedagogical skills, or both, to be effective educators in the classroom.” Yet, most Latin American countries do not have programs in place to ensure English educators receive the training necessary for high-quality English education.
The Inter-American Dialogue highlights that one of the top “21st-century skills for most countries in [Latin America] is English language proficiency.” It says further, “English proficiency is increasingly necessary for business and international communication and, in that regard, linked with prospects for economic competitiveness and growth in the global economy.”
Learning English in Latin America offers many new opportunities, sources of revenue and securities. There are clear benefits to learning and speaking more than one language. In particular, English speaking skills open up a greater range of job opportunities. On top of this, English is commonly used as “a trade language or diplomatic language.” In fields such as tourism, science and computers, English is the dominant language.
Opportunities in and out of Latin America
Firstly, tourism is booming in Latin America, bringing significant income to the region. Considering the proximity of the United States and Canada to Mexico, it is no surprise that Mexico is a popular destination for tourists from these English-speaking countries.
In 2019 alone, 55 million U.S. citizens traveled to Latin America. Speaking English would likely enable locals in Latin America to do business more effectively in the tourism market. Locals could conduct tours in English or provide translation services.
English is growing as the language of choice for international business and trade, known as “business English.” As much as 80% of jobs offered in Latin America require proficiency in English. Considering only 20% of professionals in Latin America can speak English, a lack of English proficiency is concerning for labor markets. As international commerce expands, if Latin America wants to draw in more money and attain greater job security and revenue, it needs to promote greater education in English. This will persuade more multinational corporations to relocate to Latin America or hire individuals within Latin America.
Lastly, speaking English provides individuals with the opportunity to apply for jobs in countries that offer better wages and job security. The minimum wage in Mexico is 172 pesos for one day of work, which converts to around $8 a day.
The Positives of the Pandemic: Education, Policies and Technology
The restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a rise in education software that people across the world can access remotely. This expands people’s access to opportunities for English learning. With the added pressure on governments to provide online services for schooling, in Latin America, there are now 12 million adults accessing online education, UNESCO says.
Many Latin American countries are recognizing the importance of providing English language learning opportunities. Costa Rica has made English learning compulsory and launched an initiative in 2018 where teachers across the country enter into English learning courses.
Following the increased pressures of COVID-19, resulting in about a third of Latin America living below the extreme poverty line as of May 2021, English learning in Latin America appears to offer a window for many to access new opportunities in a wider job market with higher pay and more security. If Latin America continues to prioritize English learning, this skill could translate to economic growth across the region.
– Reuben Cochrane
Photo: Unsplash
5 Charities Operating in France
Many charities are organizations with the aim of helping and raising money for those in need. About 1.3 million of these operate today in France. These represent a budget of €113 billion, equivalent to 3.3% of the French GDP. Even if the right of association is a fundamental public freedom, its status has evolved. The last law of August 2021 aims to consolidate the respect for the principles of the French Republic: indivisible, secular, democratic and social. Here are five charities operating in France.
5 Charities Operating in France
Looking Ahead
These charities’ scope of engagement is very diverse. In France, the four main fields of activity are social, health, sport and culture. Many volunteers are involved in charities, which increases by 4.9% per year in France. Furthermore, the creation of organizations leads to an augmentation of wage employment. More than 1.8 million persons are full-time or part-time employees representing an increase of 2.4% between 2011 and 2017. In addition to these five charities operating in France, more and more charities should be able to emerge internationally, to continue helping people in need.
– Olivia Roy Fritsch
Photo: Flickr
Powers and Pitfalls of Statistics on Poverty
Statistics is an essential piece of the policy-making puzzle. From polls to censuses to studies, data is one of politics’ few truths, an impartial measure of the approval or success of any action. In the fight against poverty, the positive results of a policy are often used to justify its implementation in another country, often with mixed results. Although statistics can be incredibly useful for suggesting and tracking anti-poverty efforts, these numbers on poverty carry a series of caveats and assumptions that one cannot overlook.
The Difficulties Behind Statistics
A clear example of this is an experiment run in 1987 by Sally Grantham-McGregor in Jamaica. Looking for a correlation between malnutrition, cognitive development and income, she found that supplementing the meals of malnourished children raised their income over 20 years by 25% compared to the average. Although seemingly indisputable from her evidence from Jamaica, her experiments saw dramatically less success when implemented on a larger scale in Colombia and Peru, with Grantham-McGregor saying that “there is no way to know what caused the impact.”
Much of this uncertainty has to do with the way researchers define terms and the way seemingly unimportant assumptions end up affecting results. A study from 1970 to 2000 focusing on the connection between economic growth and inequality across 26 U.S. states found no correlation, but the correlation between economic growth and inequality of opportunity was extremely strong. Another study by Patrizio Piraino in 2015 found that race-based inequality accounted for around 70% of inequality in South Africa, a figure that is not visible when using the traditional measure of income, GDP per capita, as representative of individuals in a society with a high degree of race-based inequality.
This problem is particularly prevalent in studies on low-income populations. Because questions regarding salary and living situation are sensitive, asking about these topics in questionnaires often yields incorrect data. Low-income groups tend to face underrepresentation in studies, meaning policies meant to alleviate poverty often work with a flawed understanding of the overall improvement objective.
Researchers also present another key difficulty in using statistics in the study of poverty. A study by Lyberg and Kasprzyk in 1991 found that interviewers stood as a large source of error when conducting studies. Language barriers as well as “socioeconomic and demographic characteristics” inhibit accurate responses and interpretations, increasing the margin of error in those studies.
The Benefits of Randomized Studies
However, data science is improving and researchers are beginning to apply the lessons of these studies to improve the accuracy of statistics on poverty. Randomization, or randomly choosing a group as a test for a particular policy, has become an increasingly popular method of policy analysis. A successful example of this process occurred in Indonesia where researchers wanted to test whether identification documents (IDs) carrying information on “program eligibility and entitlements” improved access to a social assistance program. Indeed, researchers found that these social assistance ID cards increased access to Raskin, Indonesia’s rice subsidy initiative that began in 2012. Leaning on the results of this research, the government of Indonesia decided to scale up the distribution of these IDs, reaching more than 15 million poor households in 2013.
Many academics in the field of poverty research remain opposed to randomized studies, but there is an increasingly vocal group advocating gradual implementation based on the past successes of randomization. Particularly in education research, experts have criticized the high costs, overly general results and unorthodoxy of randomization, but policy research has shown it can be effective on a large scale.
The PROGRESA Pilot Program
In Mexico, the social conditional cash transfer program PROGRESA, launched in 1997, is an example of a successful randomized evaluation that informed future policy. PROGRESA first began as a pilot program tested across 506 communities in Mexico. The evaluation showed promising outcomes for children from households receiving conditional cash transfers. As such, the Mexican government decided to implement PROGRESA on a wider scale. Other countries conducted similar randomized studies to evaluate the benefit of “PROGRESA-like programs on their populations before scaling up.” Poverty Action Lab indicates that by the year 2014, 52 nations “had implemented PROGRESA-like programs.”
Each statistical method comes with its own advantages and drawbacks, but researchers are increasingly aware of how to balance the usefulness of statistics with its limitations. By improving the quality of these statistics on poverty, statistics can become an essential part of the reduction in global poverty.
– Samuel Bowles
Photo: Flickr
International Efforts To Expand COVID-19 Vaccine Production In Africa
Low-income countries have faced extremely disproportionate rates of COVID-19 vaccinations in comparison to the world’s higher-income countries. “High-income or upper-middle-income countries” have received more than 87% of the world’s administered vaccines and low-income countries have received only 0.2%. Around the world, more than 700 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered. Reports have stated that 25% of the 700 million doses administered went “into the arms of Americans.” On the other hand, Africa has the lowest vaccination rate of any continent in the world. Only 11% of the entire African continent received doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and 5% received both doses. With a population of about 1.3 billion, the solution to the continent’s low vaccination rate might be through developing the capacity for COVID-19 vaccine production in Africa.
The Solution
The U.S. is one of many countries that has offered support for the vaccination effort in Africa. As of November 2021, the U.S. delivered more than 60 million vaccine doses to African countries. Despite outside help, the majority of Africa’s population still remains without their first dose. One source asserts that “a lack of manufacturing is one reason that only 11% of the continent’s people have been fully vaccinated.” So far, 99% of the vaccines distributed in Africa came from outside the continent. With such a low vaccination rate, Africa faces pressures to expand vaccine manufacturing at home. There were many international efforts to help address this challenge. Governments, international organizations and private companies are offering funds and other resources to support the development of COVID-19 vaccine production in Africa.
Funding From the US and Other Countries
In July 2021, The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) approved a $3.3 million grant to help develop “a vaccine production hub that will serve Senegal” and other West African countries. The money is a “technical assistance grant” to Fondation Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD), a Senegalese vaccine manufacturer, according to International Development Finance Corporation. The DFC would partner with USAID and “receive [additional] grant financing from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the French development agency, AFD and the European Investment Bank (EIB).” This grant intends to expand the vaccine production capacity of IPD and promote the development of a production hub in the West African region.
In June 2021, the U.S. government partnered with the French and German governments, investing $700 million in Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited, South Africa’s largest pharmaceutical company. This investment intends to support the South African company “produce up to 500 million doses” of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by 2022.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the opening of a technology-transfer hub in South Africa in June 2021. It established this hub to support “low- and middle-income countries… produce mRNA vaccines” by providing technical knowledge and other resources, such as “training and financial support.” The establishment of this hub directly aids African countries in obtaining the “necessary human capital” to produce vaccines at home. The technology-transfer hub “is located at Afrigen, Cape Town, South Africa” and the research being used will be shared with local manufacturers. In recent news, researchers at one local manufacturer, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, have succeeded in producing “very small quantities” of a COVID-19 vaccine “based on Moderna’s data.”
Intellectual Property (IP) Rights
Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines was able to produce its own version of the vaccine after the WHO “advised them to copy Moderna’s vaccine in part because the company… has said it will not enforce its COVID-19 patents during the pandemic.” In accordance with Moderna’s statement, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is reportedly discussing an agreement that would “waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments during the pandemic.” This waiver will be crucial to countries that “lack vaccine manufacturing and research” by providing them with the necessary tools to immunize a greater number of people.
India and South Africa initiated this agreement and it received support from more than 100 countries, including WHO and UNAIDS. If this waiver comes to fruition, it will allow low-income countries with low vaccination rates, like many regions in Africa, to potentially produce their own and distribute a much greater number of doses. As of May 2021, the U.S., Russia and China all issued their support for an intellectual property waiver on COVID-19 vaccines.
Large Pharmaceutical Firms Building Facilities in Africa
In addition, a few large pharmaceutical companies have agreed to build manufacturing plants in different areas of Africa. Companies such as BioNTech and Moderna have made recent strides to support COVID-19 vaccine production in Africa. The German company BioNTech worked with the U.S.-based company Pfizer to produce its mRNA vaccine, and it has announced plans to build vaccine production facilities in Rwanda and Senegal. In March 2022, Moderna signed an agreement with Kenya’s government. The plan is to build a vaccine manufacturing plant in the country, which is to be Moderna’s first plant in Africa. The biotech company also stated that its landmark goal is to “produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines a year” which will go specifically to the continent of Africa.
Investments from the African Development Bank (ADB)
To offer more support for COVID-19 vaccination production in Africa, the African Development Bank announced “plans to invest up to $3 billion to support the pharmaceutical industry over 10 years.” It stated that funds will go towards improving transportation and infrastructure, medicines regulation and pharmaceuticals manufacturing (which includes vaccines). Additionally, African Union member states made a commitment to producing 60% of “routinely used vaccines” at home within the next 20 years.
– Ashley Kim
Photo: Flickr
Eradicating Polio Through Polio Vaccination in Tajikistan
In recent years, vaccine misinformation has arisen rapidly, especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic; this has become a serious health concern. Polio vaccination in Tajikistan was successful for decades, but the country experienced a sudden outbreak in 2021. With the help of UNICEF, the country immediately responded to the crisis and introduced mass polio vaccination in Tajikistan which helped approximately 1.4 million children in the country. The community health centers and healthcare workers of the country played a major role in the success of this vaccination program. Their efforts provide a great model on how to combat vaccine misinformation through community and education.
Polio in Tajikistan
Polio, also referred to as poliomyelitis, typically impacts children under 5, and can spread either through people or contaminated water supplies. Since 1988, cases of polio globally have been reduced by 99.8% and the only countries that are still endemic are Pakistan and Afghanistan. Although there is no cure for the disease, effective vaccines for polio exist and are the primary way of fighting it.
Tajikistan, a country that had been free of polio for decades and was certified polio-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020, experienced a sudden emergence of the disease in 2021. That year, 34 children contracted polio and became paralyzed, while 26 more tested positive without developing paralysis. For diseases like polio, even one case could be an outbreak and thus, necessitates an immediate response. The type of polio detected in Tajikistan was the vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2).
Organized Response to the Crisis
Response to the polio outbreak was swift and effective. UNICEF coordinated with the Tajikistan government and provided 4.6 million doses of an oral polio vaccine and a mass immunization program began quickly. The Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population increased poliovirus surveillance, conducted a thorough risk assessment regarding the scale of outbreak and kind of vaccine response required and was quick in verifying the preparedness of the immunization program.
The first wave of polio vaccination in Tajikistan began in February 2021, with a second round beginning a few months later in June and lasting until September 2021. With both waves, an extensive program of social mobilization began to reach groups most at risk of infection such as internal migrants and unregistered children, according to WHO.
Community health centers played a critical role in the success of the immunization program by providing the necessary vaccine education to the population. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the centers thrived and helped to foster an organized response to the health crises.
Learning from Tajikistan
Since the immunization program began, 1.4 million children got their vaccine against polio, and Tajikistan once again became a polio-free zone in April 2022 according to WHO. Healthcare workers and community health centers played integral roles in the success of the immunization program by reaching the most vulnerable segments of the Tajik population. Moreover, the government of Tajikistan did its part by responding to the polio crisis in a timely manner. Tajikistan’s eradication of polio is an illustrious example of how governments and global organizations can work together to end polio.
– Umaima Munir
Photo: Flickr
The DOLE Graduation Program In the Philippines
Many developing countries suffered the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with the Philippines being one of them. The past few years left about 19.99 million Filipinos below the poverty line recorded in 2021. Not only did the pandemic affect families but projections also stated that the Philippines’ GDP would decrease by about 11.5% during the timeline of the pandemic. The DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) Graduation Program in the Philippines, whose purpose is to lead participants into self-sustainability and out of poverty has taken place and proved to be positive even among those latest struggles.
Needed Aide For the Philippines
The Philippines had initiatives and organizations set up even before the pandemic that was working on poverty reduction. UNICEF is one organization with several efforts already in place in the Philippines. For example, it teamed up with CERF (United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund) and Plan International to push the WASH initiative which helps with hygiene and healthier living conditions.
However, even with programs like that, there was still a need for assistance in other ways. Among hygiene health, resources and training for the Filipinos to learn how to manage their livelihoods themselves seemed like the next step.
DOLE Graduation Program
Fortunately, a pilot program called the Graduation program that BRAC started in 2002, was yielding positive results. More than 2 million households had graduated from the program and were out of extreme poverty as a result.
The purpose of the program is to give support and aid through various means like cash transfers. The program also helps find health resources and provides training or mentorship for financial management and long-term resiliency skills. Not just economically but also socially; the program has coached for the participants to learn how to navigate and gain resources through city links or their government.
This type of program is what the people of the Negros Occidental municipalities could benefit from. So, the DOLE had been partnering with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and BRAC UPGI (Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative) to instill this working program in their community. The goal was to help their people become self-stainable and work their way out of poverty like the others in the initial pilot program.
Graduation Initiative in the Philippines
The DOLE Graduation Program for the Philippines began in 2018, reaching about 1,800 participants. The fundamental goal was to put these beneficiaries on a path toward sustainability and have long-term effects even after it would end. According to the BRAC’s country brief, the program ended in September 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic had made many wonders if the program’s desired effects were able to sustain throughout and after it.
Adaptability
For the DOLE graduation pilot to survive during the epidemic they had to adapt. Coaching and peer meetings had to become remote or change in frequency or size. The program included many other measures to ensure safety for all those involved including digital monitoring, and strong communication between workers/participants. Workers also used PPE and participated in training on safety protocols like reporting symptoms and rescheduling meetings if needed or conducting them from a distance.
Through the hygiene training that was already being implemented, the participants were able to quickly handle the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively. There were even cases where participants with food assistance from the initiative were able to feed themselves and other neighbors too during the pandemic.
Results
The results of the DOLE Graduation pilot program and its adaptability have been positive for the participants. In the ADB assessment of the Graduation program households receiving the interventions along with government help, fared better during the COVID-19 pandemic than regular households. Other results from the assessment showed specific numbers, “The pilot project’s regular monitoring system found that, on average, 71% of households met each of the nine criteria under the four pillars of graduation—social protection, financial inclusion, livelihoods promotion and social empowerment.”
BRAC had also started its Rapid Diagnostic Assessment to monitor the participants even during the quarantine and mark down assistance or data. Through this, the pilot participants used the training and resources they received to find government assistance when necessary like the 96% who were able to go and find cash assistance from the government or two-thirds (67.15%) of participants able to keep up earnings and their occupation/livelihoods compared to a smaller amount in April (48.72%), according to BRAC’s bulletin.
The financial literacy training given displayed pilot participants withstanding the financial hardships during the pandemic. Seventy-five percent of the participants had savings to even use at this time compared to the 29% that originally reported in the beginning, according to the bulletin.
The Future
The Philippines DOLE Graduation pilot program has shown long-term impact and resilience during the COVID-pandemic for the Negro Occidental municipalities. This in turn has made the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), adopt the learnings of the pilot and instill the full Graduation program in other provinces of the Philippines, according to the country’s report. BRAC also has a worldwide goal to reach around 4.6 million more households by 2026.
– Marynette Holmes
Photo: Flickr
Global Gender Equality Progress
World Vision reports that 689 million people endured extreme poverty in 2021 and research shows that women make up a majority of the world’s impoverished. One trend that is common among countries with high poverty rates is a lack of gender equality. In some of these countries, women make less money than men, have limited access to education, or have fewer rights than men. Fortunately, in recent years, the world is noting global gender equality progress.
New Female Leaders Worldwide
In recent years, gender equality movements have reached government offices as countries around the world have made the progressive change of appointing women to leadership positions. In 2021, Albania appointed 12 out of its 17 total cabinet seats to women, a 70% majority. By giving the prime minister a new, primarily female cabinet, Albania could begin to go in a new direction that could further empower women in the nation. Albania ranks 25th out of 156 countries on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report of 2021.
Honduras also made a significant change to its government in January 2022 when Xiomara Castro became the first female president in the country’s history. Castro has already voiced her intentions to tackle social injustice and help women. This should be encouraging to the citizens of Honduras, particularly its women who have faced numerous challenges such as femicide and reproductive rights restrictions.
Like Castro, in December 2020, Maia Sandu became the first woman to hold the presidency in her country, Moldova. In Moldova, almost 27% of people lived in poverty in 2020 and gender inequality is prominent as women face high rates of gender-based violence and less than half of Moldovan women participate in the workforce. Despite the challenges that Sandu has faced due to gender biases, there is hope for the women of Moldova to reach equality through Sandu’s efforts.
New Female Leader of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
In 2021, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala became the first woman to lead the World Trade Organization (WTO) as director-general. She is also the first African to lead the organization. The WTO is focused on the “global rules of trade between nations.” Its goal is to help nations efficiently conduct trade with each other. Having Okonjo-Iweala as the WTO new leader could be promising in terms of reducing global poverty as Okonjo-Iweala is a “firm believer” in using trade to help raise countries out of poverty. Furthermore, being an African woman, Okonjo-Iweala has experienced the struggles of the African continent first-hand. Africa holds a large majority of the world’s poor, most of whom are women.
New Constitution in Chile Strengthens Equality
In 2021, Chile voted to elect an assembly made up of 155 citizens to construct the country’s newest constitution. This is the first constitution in the world that men and women wrote equally. Many believe that this will help women in Chile make significant progress toward equality.
The previous constitution had a number of flaws as it was drafted, primarily, by one person during a time when Augusto Pinochet ruled Chile with an iron fist. One of the main issues is that men had more rights than women. The new constitution heavily prioritizes gender parity in the country. With more people having input on their country’s laws, Chile can better address the issue of inequality.
Chile’s new constitution could create a new standard for gender equality movements around the world. Because the world’s impoverished mostly consist of women, improving gender equality could reduce that poverty. If more countries adapted governments to promote gender equality, more women worldwide would have the same rights as men. This could be a driving force behind eliminating inequality between men and women as well as eliminating poverty for both.
Continued global gender equality progress will ensure that more women rise out of poverty across the world.
– Tyshon Johnson
Photo: Unsplash
TODOC Provides Affordable Cochlear Implants
A South Korean tech startup is pioneering a more affordable cochlear implant through automated production. TODOC specializes in making these implants, which use surgically installed devices to help those with severe hearing loss improve their hearing by bypassing damaged portions of the ear. Without the devices, hearing-impaired people are more likely to experience lower economic status, poorer education and more, especially in parts of the world where resources dedicated to people with disabilities are scarce.
The average cochlear implant costs more than $20,000, putting it firmly out of reach for many in the developing world. At the same time, 80% of people that could benefit from having cochlear hearing live in the developing world.
With higher rates of hearing impairment and limited resources, TODOC’s more affordable cochlear implant poses a possible solution to an issue that is costing the world billions of dollars and pushing many into isolation and poverty.
How Deafness and Hearing Loss Contribute to Poverty
Hearing loss and deafness can create numerous barriers to success, especially when those living with them do not receive sufficient support. One study published in the journal Disability and Society showed that those in the United Kingdom living with hearing impairment on average had lower household incomes, greater difficulties making ends meet, struggled more with unexpected costs and had higher jobless rates than their unimpaired counterparts.
Compared to those living in the U.K., which boasted an impressive Human Development Index of 0.932 in 2018, people with hearing difficulties are even more likely to face disability-related consequences when living in developing countries. A 2005 study published in the BMJ posited that though children with hearing issues are just as likely to see a doctor, 80% did not receive a hearing aid. As a result, children with hearing impairments on average saw their education delayed until they were more than 10 years old, putting them at a considerable disadvantage to their unimpaired peers.
Barriers to Distributing Hearing Aids and Other Treatments
Throughout the developing world, similar situations are commonplace. One study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health demonstrated that the distribution of hearing aids to families living in proximity to Guatemala City, Guatemala significantly increased household incomes. Another study from BMC Health Services Research demonstrated that children living with disabilities in Sub-Saharan African countries faced numerous barriers, such as widespread poverty, cultural stigma and inadequate healthcare systems, to receiving diagnoses and treatments for their issues, which ultimately decreased their quality of life.
The economic consequences of unaddressed hearing impairment and the lack of affordable cochlear implants in the developing world has received wide documentation. The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that lower- and middle-income countries have contributed 57% of the $980 billion lost to healthcare costs, educational costs, loss of productivity and societal costs stemming from unaddressed hearing impairment. The number that WHO provided excluded the exorbitant amount of money spent on hearing aids.
TODOC’s Plans to Improve Hearing For the Poor
Kyou Sik Min, who has previously worked for Samsung Electronics’s healthcare technology division and at other cochlear implant companies, started TODOC with the mission of expanding the cochlear implant market globally. To further this point, Sik Min named the company after the Korean word for the sound made when someone pats another’s shoulder “to create a company that comforts people with hearing loss by ‘patting’ the shoulders of people in difficult situations.”
The company specifically focuses on creating high-quality, affordable cochlear implants for those who could not otherwise afford them. It also creates nerve stimulation and neuromodulation devices to help researchers and help with nerve pain. To reduce costs and increase output, TODOC has developed a system to manufacture its devices using automation.
Currently, TODOC does not list a price for any of its devices. There are also questions of if and/or how the company plans to address the issue of the costs and accessibility to the surgery required to implant the devices and the therapy typically required to use cochlear implants.
At the same time, the company lists numerous innovations and improvements attached to its SULLIVAN model of affordable cochlear implants. This includes brain-machine interfacing and what the company calls “superior Neural Interface Technology,” which both have the potential to streamline the device’s implementation and use.
Looking Ahead
The company was invited to the Consumer Electronic Show in January 2022 to show its first line of implants and further advertise its products. In 2021, Min’s pitch for making a more affordable cochlear implant won the company $500,000 in funding at the Entrepreneurial World Cup Finals. Investors have also provided the company with more than millions of dollars in funding, including $3.5 million from the South Korean government.
Overall, the investments demonstrate the international community’s confidence in TODOC’s ability to deliver on its promise to bring a solution to the developing world’s hearing problems and fight inequity within the cochlear implant industry.
– Ryan Morton
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Cote d’Ivoire
The breakout of COVID-19 in 2020 had dramatic consequences on the economy of Cote d’Ivoire. Closing public spaces, quarantines and curfews helped to limit the spread of COVID-19 but created a rise in unemployment. Consequently, there has been a significant impact on poverty in Cote d’Ivoire due to COVID-19.
The Increase in Extreme Poverty After the COVID-19 Outbreak
As a result of measures to counter COVID-19, 85% of the informal workers in the country lost their jobs. Furthermore, COVID-19 measures have destroyed more than 1.3 million jobs and 71.7% of the households have a lower income than before the health crisis.
However, the poorest people of Cote d’Ivoire were the ones who suffered the most from the consequences of anti-COVID policies. In fact, 1.37 million households went under the poverty line and the poorest people lost on average more than 30% of their revenues, the UNDP reported.
According to the UNDP, extreme poverty in the country increased by four between 2019 and 2020 due to the COVID-19 consequences on the economy. Then, between 2020 and 2021, the share of the population living with less than $1.90 per day went from 18.3% to 20.2%. It shows how urgent it is to counter the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Cote d’Ivoire.
New Measures to Fight Against Extreme Poverty
The government developed policies and programs in 2020 to help the economy recover as well as to reduce as much as possible extreme poverty. As a matter of fact, the country’s budget increased from $14.8 billion in 2021 to $16 billion in order to increase the number of anti-poverty policies and strengthen the health sector.
Furthermore, as 93% of the labor force works in the informal sector, many policies have been implemented to support this critical economic sector and to avoid more poverty among the workers in this sector. Indeed, starting from March 2020, workers from the informal sector are benefiting from the same social security through the Social Regime for the Self-Employed (RSTI).
The Informal Sector Support Fund (FASI)
In addition to the RSTI, which Cote d’Ivoire adopted before the pandemic, the government launched the Informal Sector Support Fund (FASI) in May 2020 to financially support the companies and the workers of the informal sector which suffered heavily from the economic consequences of COVID-19. The implementation plan of the FASI has four phases. Between June and August 2020, the first phase aimed to identify potential beneficiaries and grant subsidies and loans. The second phase between September 2020 and February 2021 was about training and follow-up support for beneficiaries to avoid bankruptcy and the destruction of jobs following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Solidarity and Fight Against Poverty started its research on extreme poverty in October 2021. This research provided a better view of extreme poverty with detailed statistics and determinants of extreme poverty within all the regions of Cote d’Ivoire in the period following the COVID-19 crisis.
Conclusion of the Study
This study helped increase the efficiency of the National Register for poor and vulnerable households. Since the launching of its operational phase in 2019, the register is one of the most important policies the government implemented to tackle poverty in Cote d’Ivoire. Indeed, this unique database currently helps to examine the social needs that come from the consequences of COVID-19 on the economy and provide social programs to the ones who need them with high efficiency. This is because the database informs governments of exactly where and for what they need to send help.
The United Nations agencies, and especially the UNDP which provided $1.8 million to Cote d’Ivoire, are supporting on a daily basis the government of Cote d’Ivoire in their fight against COVID-19 consequences.
With such ambitious policies, the government is facing the impact of COVID-19 on the economy of Cote d’Ivoire, hoping to eradicate extreme poverty and allow an even brighter future for the country at the same time.
– Evan Da Costa Marques
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
English Learning in Latin America
English Learning in Latin America
According to the English Proficiency Index, “Latin America is the region [with] the lowest levels of English” as of 2020. Low English proficiency rates stem from a “low quality of language teaching programs in public education and the difficulties in accessing alternative training” as a result of the scarcity of language training institutions and the expensive costs of such programs.
According to the index, some of the Latin American countries with the lowest rates of English proficiency are Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Mexico. In Mexico, less than 10% of schools have English as part of the education curriculum. Furthermore, in 2015, Latin America lagged 2.5 years behind Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations in schooling development.
The Importance of English Skills
According to the report “Work in Progress: English Teaching and Teachers in Latin America, “Many, if not most, English teachers in Latin America lack either the necessary English skills, the necessary pedagogical skills, or both, to be effective educators in the classroom.” Yet, most Latin American countries do not have programs in place to ensure English educators receive the training necessary for high-quality English education.
The Inter-American Dialogue highlights that one of the top “21st-century skills for most countries in [Latin America] is English language proficiency.” It says further, “English proficiency is increasingly necessary for business and international communication and, in that regard, linked with prospects for economic competitiveness and growth in the global economy.”
Learning English in Latin America offers many new opportunities, sources of revenue and securities. There are clear benefits to learning and speaking more than one language. In particular, English speaking skills open up a greater range of job opportunities. On top of this, English is commonly used as “a trade language or diplomatic language.” In fields such as tourism, science and computers, English is the dominant language.
Opportunities in and out of Latin America
Firstly, tourism is booming in Latin America, bringing significant income to the region. Considering the proximity of the United States and Canada to Mexico, it is no surprise that Mexico is a popular destination for tourists from these English-speaking countries.
In 2019 alone, 55 million U.S. citizens traveled to Latin America. Speaking English would likely enable locals in Latin America to do business more effectively in the tourism market. Locals could conduct tours in English or provide translation services.
English is growing as the language of choice for international business and trade, known as “business English.” As much as 80% of jobs offered in Latin America require proficiency in English. Considering only 20% of professionals in Latin America can speak English, a lack of English proficiency is concerning for labor markets. As international commerce expands, if Latin America wants to draw in more money and attain greater job security and revenue, it needs to promote greater education in English. This will persuade more multinational corporations to relocate to Latin America or hire individuals within Latin America.
Lastly, speaking English provides individuals with the opportunity to apply for jobs in countries that offer better wages and job security. The minimum wage in Mexico is 172 pesos for one day of work, which converts to around $8 a day.
The Positives of the Pandemic: Education, Policies and Technology
The restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a rise in education software that people across the world can access remotely. This expands people’s access to opportunities for English learning. With the added pressure on governments to provide online services for schooling, in Latin America, there are now 12 million adults accessing online education, UNESCO says.
Many Latin American countries are recognizing the importance of providing English language learning opportunities. Costa Rica has made English learning compulsory and launched an initiative in 2018 where teachers across the country enter into English learning courses.
Following the increased pressures of COVID-19, resulting in about a third of Latin America living below the extreme poverty line as of May 2021, English learning in Latin America appears to offer a window for many to access new opportunities in a wider job market with higher pay and more security. If Latin America continues to prioritize English learning, this skill could translate to economic growth across the region.
– Reuben Cochrane
Photo: Unsplash
Zero-Emission Goals Affect Australian Capital Residents
Zero-Emission Goals
As of January 1, 2020, Canberra became the first non-European city to be powered completely by renewable electricity. The ZEV Strategy is the next step toward one of the capital government’s zero-emission goals to be carbon neutral by 2045. The ACT Greenhouse Gas Inventory for 2020-21 reported that the transport sector contributed the most emissions, making up to 63.5% of all carbon emissions in the territory.
Last month, Canberra announced its plan to become the first city in the ACT to ban the purchase of new fossil fuel vehicles by 2035. The purchase ban includes motorcycles and small trucks. Within the next eight years, the goal is to have 80-90% of compact vehicle sales be zero-emission.
Resident Reactions
Despite the initiative’s good intentions, some are concerned about how the zero-emission strategy will affect Canberra’s low-income residents. “[It’s] one of the main concerns for most people,” 22-year-old Alysha Muhamad Khairuldin told The Borgen Project. The part-time technical expert depends heavily on her car to get to work as public transportation is limited in the city’s suburbs. “[I’m] not sure how this will affect me personally but hopefully, when they do decide to proceed with this plan, they will make good changes including making it affordable.”
Another Canberra resident, 21-year-old Callum Stewart-Thomson, divides his time between attending classes and working two jobs. “I’m not super comfortable [with my current financial situation] and would prefer not to have to stress about money so much,” he told The Borgen Project. Like Khairuldin, he also depends on driving as his main mode of transportation. “I chose petrol because it was the cheapest option, I can’t afford any other options,” he said.
The National Roads and Motorists’ Association reports that full battery electric vehicles can start at $47,500 in addition to on-road costs in Australia. Financing concerns include registration, stamp duty and electric vehicle charging rates. Other worries include having a shorter travel range, longer “fueling” time and lack of charging stations.
Following Suit
Australia isn’t the only country aiming to decrease motor vehicle carbon emissions. Within the next 20 years, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Denmark and parts of the U.S. will restrict the sale of new gas-fueled vehicles. Some cities have also begun introducing electric public transportation. It is predicted that by 2025, electric vehicle sales will triple to around 20.6 million.
Canberra’s ZEV Strategy includes expanding the current charging network. At least 180 new charging stations will be accessible within the next three years, with 70 to be completed this fiscal year. The ACT government also announced that all new multi-unit commercial and residential buildings will be required to include charging stations. The government is offering a $2,000 incentive for the installation.
Going Green for Less
There are further incentives to make ZEVs more affordable. The current registration system is weight-based, making heavier electric vehicles more expensive to register. The new registration system will be emissions-based. Until June 30, 2024, all electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles registered in the territory will receive two years of free registration. The same vehicles will also be eligible for an exemption from stamp duty, a document and transaction tax.
The Sustainable Household Scheme, running until 2026, is offering up to $15,000 in zero-interest, 10-year loans. Those who are eligible may use this loan for energy-efficient improvements, including ZEVs, charging infrastructure, installation costs and more. The loan may be used to cover the costs of one or more approved products up to the maximum amount of $15,000.
– Aishah French
Photo: Unsplash