Despite its modern framework, healthcare in New Caledonia has suffered in the wake of 2024 civil unrest. Since the protests, decreased stability, overcrowded hospitals and the loss of health system workers have exacerbated unequal access to care in the territory.
Disparities persist between rural, island and urban regions, as well as in wealthy and impoverished communities. Such reduced access to care can further strain economic stability and health status. Reduced access can mean delayed treatment, higher transportation costs, disrupted prescriptions and reduced ability to work.
Uneven Health System
The issue does not lie in an inferior healthcare network; in fact, New Caledonia maintains a multifaceted health system with both public and private hospitals, medical professionals and community health centers. The largest, most capable facility, the Koutio Médipôle hospital complex, opened in the capital, Nouméa, in 2016. This €280 million site features 450 rooms and 650 beds, with services ranging from rehabilitation to cancer and renal treatment.
For the roughly 180,000 residents who live outside of Nouméa, however, services are not as comprehensive. For instance, residents of island communities often rely on community clinics, where services are generally limited to first aid treatment. Residents in rural and island communities, including many Indigenous Kanak communities, face barriers such as longer travel distances, fewer specialized services, limited clinic capacity and greater dependence on transport to Nouméa for advanced care.
Keeping Health Services Open During Crisis
As public upheaval — resulting in 14 deaths, the departure of more than 10,000 residents and more than €2 billion in damages — sent shocks throughout New Caledonia in mid-2024, basic services, including healthcare, became harder to maintain. The unrest not only damaged businesses and infrastructure; it also disrupted the practical routes people use to reach care, from hospital access to staffing and emergency services.
Reports indicated that the riots cut off roads to the Koutio Médipôle hospital complex. Staff and patients became trapped, residents could not reach hospitals, and, in many cases, some people were afraid to access emergency services. One health worker described the staffing shortage as a crisis in capacity, explaining that medical teams faced demands beyond their available resources.
Throughout this unprecedented crisis, however, the New Caledonian government created a health facility status tracker identifying and updating which health services were open, closed or operating at reduced capacity to help people access care. By making facility status public, the tracker gave residents and health workers a practical tool for identifying where care remained available during the crisis.
Rebuilding the Health Workforce
During the revitalization of health infrastructure, staff shortages have been one of the clearest problems. In fact, Islands Business reported that the Koutio Médipôle hospital complex lost around 25% of its workforce after staff left or canceled postings. In turn, New Caledonia’s main hospital had to close 100 beds, effectively reducing patient capacity and disrupting patients needing regular care.
The government has made staffing a top priority. In early 2025, the New Caledonian government launched a call for volunteer health workers, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, midwives and dentists. As a result, the healthcare workforce has largely recovered, with nurse staffing reaching about 95% of previous levels and doctor staffing reaching just more than 90%. These gains have not fully solved the crisis, but they have helped restore staffing capacity, reopen care pathways and reduce the risk that health disruptions become deeper economic shocks for families.
Strengthening Long-Term Recovery
In revitalizing its healthcare system, the New Caledonian government’s proposed responses include strengthening primary care, expanding telemedicine, improving coordinated care and managing chronic disease more effectively. It has also prioritized reforming health financing and incentivizing employment in the field.
The government developed these steps through a collaborative process involving “professionals, institutions, social partners and representatives of civil society.” A June 2026 follow-up report confirmed that steps like strengthened telemedicine, digitalized care sheets and multi-year investment planning are already in place.
A partnership between New Caledonia’s government, the French State and Order of Malta France sent five health professionals — three nurses, a dentist and a doctor — to support health teams in the territory. The first three-month rotation began in February 2026 and focused on strengthening care in isolated areas and communities facing staffing shortages. Order of Malta France reported that it expected additional teams to continue the mission in later rotations, helping maintain continuity of care while local health services recover.
For rural and island communities, the priority is to make healthcare less dependent on travel to Nouméa. Strengthening local health infrastructure would help overcome existing geographic barriers to care, while expanding telehealth could better connect residents of the North Province and Loyalty Islands with essential health services.
Together, these efforts show how New Caledonia is rebuilding healthcare through emergency service tracking, workforce recruitment, mobile medical support, telemedicine and stronger rural access. For low-income and remote communities, these steps can help reduce the cost and difficulty of reaching care while making the health system more resilient after the unrest.
– Carter Scott Campbell
Carter is based in Salt Lake City, UT, USA and focuses on Good News and Technology for The Borgen Project.
Photo: Flickr
Rebuilding Healthcare in New Caledonia
Disparities persist between rural, island and urban regions, as well as in wealthy and impoverished communities. Such reduced access to care can further strain economic stability and health status. Reduced access can mean delayed treatment, higher transportation costs, disrupted prescriptions and reduced ability to work.
Uneven Health System
The issue does not lie in an inferior healthcare network; in fact, New Caledonia maintains a multifaceted health system with both public and private hospitals, medical professionals and community health centers. The largest, most capable facility, the Koutio Médipôle hospital complex, opened in the capital, Nouméa, in 2016. This €280 million site features 450 rooms and 650 beds, with services ranging from rehabilitation to cancer and renal treatment.
For the roughly 180,000 residents who live outside of Nouméa, however, services are not as comprehensive. For instance, residents of island communities often rely on community clinics, where services are generally limited to first aid treatment. Residents in rural and island communities, including many Indigenous Kanak communities, face barriers such as longer travel distances, fewer specialized services, limited clinic capacity and greater dependence on transport to Nouméa for advanced care.
Keeping Health Services Open During Crisis
As public upheaval — resulting in 14 deaths, the departure of more than 10,000 residents and more than €2 billion in damages — sent shocks throughout New Caledonia in mid-2024, basic services, including healthcare, became harder to maintain. The unrest not only damaged businesses and infrastructure; it also disrupted the practical routes people use to reach care, from hospital access to staffing and emergency services.
Reports indicated that the riots cut off roads to the Koutio Médipôle hospital complex. Staff and patients became trapped, residents could not reach hospitals, and, in many cases, some people were afraid to access emergency services. One health worker described the staffing shortage as a crisis in capacity, explaining that medical teams faced demands beyond their available resources.
Throughout this unprecedented crisis, however, the New Caledonian government created a health facility status tracker identifying and updating which health services were open, closed or operating at reduced capacity to help people access care. By making facility status public, the tracker gave residents and health workers a practical tool for identifying where care remained available during the crisis.
Rebuilding the Health Workforce
During the revitalization of health infrastructure, staff shortages have been one of the clearest problems. In fact, Islands Business reported that the Koutio Médipôle hospital complex lost around 25% of its workforce after staff left or canceled postings. In turn, New Caledonia’s main hospital had to close 100 beds, effectively reducing patient capacity and disrupting patients needing regular care.
The government has made staffing a top priority. In early 2025, the New Caledonian government launched a call for volunteer health workers, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, midwives and dentists. As a result, the healthcare workforce has largely recovered, with nurse staffing reaching about 95% of previous levels and doctor staffing reaching just more than 90%. These gains have not fully solved the crisis, but they have helped restore staffing capacity, reopen care pathways and reduce the risk that health disruptions become deeper economic shocks for families.
Strengthening Long-Term Recovery
In revitalizing its healthcare system, the New Caledonian government’s proposed responses include strengthening primary care, expanding telemedicine, improving coordinated care and managing chronic disease more effectively. It has also prioritized reforming health financing and incentivizing employment in the field.
The government developed these steps through a collaborative process involving “professionals, institutions, social partners and representatives of civil society.” A June 2026 follow-up report confirmed that steps like strengthened telemedicine, digitalized care sheets and multi-year investment planning are already in place.
A partnership between New Caledonia’s government, the French State and Order of Malta France sent five health professionals — three nurses, a dentist and a doctor — to support health teams in the territory. The first three-month rotation began in February 2026 and focused on strengthening care in isolated areas and communities facing staffing shortages. Order of Malta France reported that it expected additional teams to continue the mission in later rotations, helping maintain continuity of care while local health services recover.
For rural and island communities, the priority is to make healthcare less dependent on travel to Nouméa. Strengthening local health infrastructure would help overcome existing geographic barriers to care, while expanding telehealth could better connect residents of the North Province and Loyalty Islands with essential health services.
Together, these efforts show how New Caledonia is rebuilding healthcare through emergency service tracking, workforce recruitment, mobile medical support, telemedicine and stronger rural access. For low-income and remote communities, these steps can help reduce the cost and difficulty of reaching care while making the health system more resilient after the unrest.
– Carter Scott Campbell
Photo: Flickr
Elderly Poverty in El Salvador after Bukele
However, many Salvadorans have faced economic challenges since Bukele’s presidency. A cab driver in San Salvador told The Borgen Project, “The majority of people do not agree with how the economy is,” attributing this to poor financial education. In a growing economy such as El Salvador’s, elderly people often struggle to find resources, and elderly poverty in El Salvador after Bukele is a complex issue.
El Salvador’s pension system allows many privileged elderly individuals to have more financial stability, and those with pensions experience fewer challenges. An elderly woman with a pension told The Borgen Project, “I do not go out much and I do not talk to anybody and I get money from my pension. There are no changes.” In December 2022, El Salvador’s congress approved pension system reforms to raise the minimum monthly pension and cap maximum payouts, though pension analysts have since described the reform’s long-term sustainability prospects as mixed, and for those who do not have this opportunity, a quickly changing economy can present real obstacles.
Elderly Economic Struggles Under Bukele
Extreme poverty in El Salvador reached 9.6% of the population in 2025, up from 5.5% five years earlier — the third consecutive year of increases, despite the safety the new government provides. Bukele’s interest in luxury creates issues for elderly people who are less mobile because many areas face gentrification in favor of increasing tourism in El Salvador. For those who live by selling goods at the market or by farming and who are not mobile over long distances, gentrification is a serious problem.
The goals of advancement and modernization displace many individuals in El Salvador, including those who have lived in certain areas for long periods of time. Centro Histórico in San Salvador, in particular, struggles with this. Elderly people in the area lose important resources in their communities, and moving can be difficult for disabled individuals, leading them to fall deeper into poverty. The loss of resources is a significant factor in elderly poverty in El Salvador after Bukele.
Healthcare System
El Salvador has a state-sponsored healthcare system that many elderly people use for care. Alfonso, an elderly man who sells fruit for a living, said that he receives care from the hospital and has gone multiple times to get medicine for his arthritis.
Healthcare in El Salvador is free under the Ministry of Health, which provides public services to approximately 70% of the population, primarily those without formal employment. Since Bukele’s presidency, healthcare, including geriatric care, has developed technology such as “Doctor SV,” a new mobile app that allows users to have 24/7 medical assistance. Elderly individuals in poverty in El Salvador who may not have private doctors can contact doctors through this system to seek support. “Doctor SV” remains a vital support system and effort to increase access and eliminate elderly poverty in El Salvador after Bukele.
Elderly Poverty and Extortion From Gangs
Street vending is a common source of income in El Salvador for people of all ages, but it is especially convenient for elderly individuals who need income and prefer more informal work.
However, gangs in El Salvador have historically targeted vulnerable people and forced them to pay taxes to use roads or allow their stores to stay open. Alfonso said that Bukele’s presidency improved his life “because we do not have to pay the daily rent,” which he clarified to be extortion from gangs. Police data showed a 54% reduction in extortion complaints in 2023 compared to the previous year, and the removal of the gang tax is a major improvement in elderly poverty in El Salvador after Bukele. Since Alfonso has arthritis and his children do not provide support, his vending business is the only way he can make money. This is the reality for many elderly individuals.
The reduction of extortion in El Salvador allows elderly individuals to sell goods without daily intimidation and, in doing so, prevents them from facing severe economic challenges. Victoria is an elderly woman who sells fruit in San Salvador, and she told The Borgen Project, “Before Nayib, they [the gangs] made me pay the tax and wanted to force me to leave my house, but now I feel safer selling my goods.”
Organizations That Are Helping
Conclusion
Elderly poverty in El Salvador after Bukele is an important issue, and the new government system has the potential to create more communal medical or food programs to provide care for elderly people and assistance to their families to specifically prevent and reduce poverty in the elderly population.
– Amber Mantiply
Photo: Unsplash
History of Refugee Programs in Albania
The Role of UNHCR
UNHCR partnered with the Ministry of Interior in Albania to improve the asylum system. It also promoted the inclusion of refugees and contributed to addressing the risk of statelessness. Their efforts included conducting a mapping exercise alongside Tirana Legal Aid Society and cooperating with several ministries, INSTAT, and municipalities to identify people at risk of statelessness. In just four months, 1,031 people at risk of statelessness were identified, 97% of whom were children. Relevant ministries, along with the Speaker of Parliament and several members of parliament (MPs), committed to a process of legislative and administrative reform required to end statelessness by 2024.
However, refugees in Albania still encounter challenges such as learning the language, searching for jobs, preparing for interviews, and acquiring new skills. Some refugees even have to beg on the streets for food as they are unable to secure employment, and the funding they receive from the Albanian government is insufficient to sustain them permanently.
Refugee and Migrant Services in Albania (RMSA)
The Refugee and Migrant Services in Albania (RMSA) is one of the current refugee programs in Albania. The Albanian government is not in charge of this program, and it operates independently. It provides psychological, social, legal, and medical services to refugees and asylum seekers in Albania.
UNHCR partnered with RMSA to help refugees find suitable jobs through a job coaching program. This program aims to support and motivate refugees in their job search and the practitioners helping them. It offers refugees all the information they need to get a job in Albania. Practitioners also provide in-person training to help enhance job searching skills.
Benefits for Refugees
Once a refugee enrolls in this program, they receive a “comprehensive guidance document” covering essential information on areas of the job market migrants need to navigate. This includes how to get work permits, write a resume, search for jobs, prepare for interviews, understand finances, and learn about local Albanian culture. Refugees complete personalized assessments to identify areas they excel in and areas needing improvement. They also receive coaching on performing essential tasks like writing a resume and improving interview skills.
The Increase in Immigration
The rate of foreign immigration in Albania has substantially increased over the years. In 2020, the total number of foreigners in Albania was around 13,600, but by 2024, it had reached around 21,940. In 2023, the refugee coaching program received its first graduates.
Overall, refugee programs in Albania have improved over the years as they have developed new initiatives to help refugees and asylum seekers find jobs and integrate into Albanian society. These efforts include tackling statelessness and offering free courses to help secure employment and thrive socially. There has also been a rise in immigration in recent years in the region.
– Bianca Burdulea
Photo: Flickr
PAHO Venezuela: Combatting Poor Health Conditions
Earthquake Impacts
On June 24, 2026, northern Venezuela experienced two back-to-back earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, respectively. The second quake was Venezuela’s most powerful in more than a century. The disaster most affected those living in poverty in the Caracas and La Guaira areas due to the existing financial crisis in the country. La Guaira, in particular, is home to the largest population of Venezuelans of African descent, who have long been among the most marginalized socioeconomic groups in the country. An estimated 712,223 people were exposed to the highest seismic intensity. This earthquake also strained the healthcare system, prompting acting President Delcy Rodríguez to declare a state of emergency in late June. Venezuela has struggled with economic inequality since the early 2000s, with more than 7.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and more than 50% of the population living in poverty as of 2022.
PAHO in Venezuela
Since the earthquake, more than 16,000 people have been injured, with three hospitals reporting structural damage as access to health services has faltered and approximately 17,300 people have lost their homes, according to PAHO’s public health situation analysis. In response, PAHO collaborated with the Ministry of People’s Power for Health to mobilize medical supplies, including emergency medical kits and medication for diseases; as of late August 2026, PAHO had delivered a cumulative 40 metric tons of medicines, medical supplies, and essential equipment to Venezuela. The organization shipped many of these supplies from its strategic reserve in Panama, where it keeps essential health items stocked for emergencies across the region.
As a highly impacted area, distribution focused on La Guaira with hospitals prioritized based on needs stemming from the emergency. As a main center for trauma and neurosurgery, Hospital Dr. Miguel Pérez Carreño was one of the hospitals prioritized by PAHO to treat patients with complex injuries. PAHO provided materials for trauma surgery, sterilization, anesthesia and more, helping the hospital manage increased demand due to the earthquake.
For many in La Guaira, displacement remains a significant health threat, with more than 10,000 people in temporary camps as of July. In response, PAHO has supported technological development to strengthen epidemiological data collection and analysis to address the ongoing need for disease prevention and treatment, mental health care, and other everyday health needs beyond initial injury care.
PAHO Impact
The work of PAHO work in Venezuela has been critical for addressing the ongoing health crisis and meeting its priorities to expand essential health services, improve water and sanitation, and prevent disease outbreaks. The organization has launched an appeal for nearly $24 million to support health interventions through the end of the year for the most vulnerable populations, such as those in La Guaira. As hospitals operate beyond capacity and shortages continue, PAHO’s efforts are crucial for preventing displaced populations and those in poverty from facing severe impacts due to future emergencies and ongoing health challenges.
– Niamh Werner
Photo: Flickr
Time Poverty in Kenya: The Invisible Burden of Unpaid Care
In 2023, women in Sub-Saharan Africa spent 16.6% of their day on unpaid care and domestic work, compared to 5.9% for men, nearly three times as much. Responsibilities such as water and firewood collection, caregiving, cleaning and cooking necessitate hours that women could spend more productively elsewhere. For example, a lack of basic household water and sanitation costs the global economy an estimated $260 billion in unrealized productivity.
This is what many scholars call time poverty: a state in which an individual has little to no discretionary time after spending hours on survival tasks and domestic labor. Eliminating time poverty in Kenya is not just about saving hours; it is about who those hours belong to once they are saved, and whether that person is finally free to spend them on education, wage work, rest or civic life.
Oxfam Canada’s “Time to Care” Project
In 2023, Oxfam Canada launched Time to Care (TTC), a six-year initiative headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Oxfam Canada partnered with the Center for Domestic Training and Development and Youth Alive Kenya to operate across Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu and Nakuru counties. By improving the conditions of paid and unpaid work, the program aims to directly benefit nearly 6,000 people, with more than two million people reached indirectly. These numbers include small-scale farmers and women-led households.
Poverty also varies drastically across Kenya. In 2022, the national poverty headcount rate was 39.8%, while Turkana County recorded an overall poverty rate of 82.7%. This figure was just 16.5% in Nairobi City and 19.9% in Kiambu. These disparities are important for understanding Time to Care because the project operates across counties where economic circumstances differ considerably. A simple national poverty figure can obscure the changing conditions of time poverty in Kenya.
Two pillars anchor the project, one focused on worker protections and one on behavior change:
For paid care workers, stronger knowledge of labor rights and improved working conditions can promote better economic security. Changing conditions of time poverty in Kenya can give women more opportunities to pursue paid employment, education or other income-generating activities. However, even when a woman gains time, it does not mean that the time stays hers. A daughter might quietly absorb a chore her mother no longer has time for, meaning the underlying inequality has not moved, only changed shape. By addressing both the conditions of care work and the unequal distribution of unpaid care, TTC takes a “rights-based, feminist, and intersectional approach” to challenging who society expects to do the work, and expanding women’s ability to benefit from economic opportunities.
What Time to Care Has Achieved So Far (2024-2025)
The program is only halfway through, so Oxfam Canada has scheduled a mid-term evaluation for late 2026. While this is not a completed success story, Oxfam Canada offers something incredibly useful: a live test of whether shifting social norms can change who does the work, not simply how long it takes.
When women spend nearly three times as much of their day on unpaid care work as men, time is a scarce resource. There are numerous nonprofits dedicated to providing life-saving infrastructure, like Engineers Without Borders Kenya and Habitat for Humanity Kenya. While these are undoubtedly important, treating time poverty in Kenya as secondary to income poverty misses half of the story.
The purpose of Time to Care is not to find out whether a well or a mill saves hours; evidence already shows it does. It is discovering whether those hours actually redistribute toward the women who lost them, or simply get absorbed elsewhere in the household. That is the harder problem, and it is the one Time to Care is trying to solve.
– Julia Sanders
Photo: Flickr
Supporting The Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza
As of 2026, 1.7 million people continue to seek shelter across 1,600 displacement sites in Gaza, according to the International Rescue Committee. Meanwhile, the threat of famine is growing as the war has severely disrupted agricultural production, food supplies and distribution networks.
Who Are Among the Most Affected?
Women and girls face particularly severe consequences of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Many women fear for their safety while traveling to obtain basic necessities, giving birth, or living in overcrowded makeshift shelters that offer limited privacy and security.
Girls are increasingly vulnerable to child labor and forced marriage as families struggle to cope with extreme hunger and poverty. Exposure to violence, prolonged poverty, unemployment, political restrictions and uncertainty together shape the mental health crisis in Gaza. Together, these pressures can contribute to chronic psychological distress, loss of dignity, social suffering and a sense that life is indefinitely “on hold.”
Addressing the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza
Amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, several humanitarian organizations are working to provide aid and support to communities affected by the conflict. Alongside large international aid organizations, grassroots and community-led organizations have also emerged to respond to needs.
Watermelon Relief is among the community-led organizations responding to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with a particular focus on communities in northern Gaza that have faced significant barriers to receiving assistance through traditional humanitarian channels.
The organization works through local networks and field teams that understand the needs and challenges of the communities they serve. Its relief efforts combine several forms of assistance, including the following:
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has left many families struggling with poverty, displacement, and the emotional effects of war. Watermelon Relief works with local communities to reach people who may not be receiving enough help, especially those in hard-to-reach areas. Its local teams can adjust their work as people’s needs change, providing food, basic supplies and other support.
– Daniela Escobar
Photo: Flickr
Daisy Chain Fields Music Festival: Uplifting Communities
Organizers planned a total of 14 performances across two stages for this one-day festival. In Rodrigo’s own words, “Daisy Chain Fields features an all-women lineup and 100% of the net proceeds will go to charities dedicated to advancing and advocating for women and girls.” She states that she believes that “joy, community and music can be the drivers of meaningful change,” which is evidenced by the festival’s proceeds going to organizations working to create innovative solutions to help the lives of women and young girls. The festival went on to raise $20 million for its charity partners.
Jhpiego Background
One of these organizations is Jhpiego, a global nonprofit active in more than 30 countries that works to develop health care solutions for women. Founded in 1973 as the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics, Jhpiego is Johns Hopkins-affiliated and focuses on adolescent health, immunization and disease prevention. Countries that the organization is involved in include Chad, Guatemala and Pakistan. Working through regional hubs, the organization strives to be closely linked to all sorts of communities, learning about the individual needs of different places and building global expertise.
An example of a place where Jhpiego is working is Guatemala, where it has focused on improving quality health programs for vulnerable communities. These communities include Indigenous Mayan populations in the country’s rural areas, where nearly 50% of the total population of Guatemala resides. These citizens live in chronic poverty, unable to access reliable health care services due to government discrimination and societal inequities.
Improving Health Outcomes
Through technical assistance, human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling tests, and raising awareness about screwworm, the nonprofit has enabled thousands to improve their health outcomes. A key part of this initiative includes the SUCCESS project, which Ana María Barrios leads — a nurse working with Mayan communities in Guatemala’s Western Highlands. Having delivered more than 10,000 HPV kits in Quetzaltenango alone, this program has significantly helped treat cervical cancer, particularly as Barrios has trained facilitators in all 24 health districts she oversees.
By enabling self-sampling in rural areas, the program empowers Indigenous women to support their own health and improve their quality of life. Additionally, working with Guatemala’s Ministry of Health, Unitaid, and Expertise France, the SUCCESS project has steadily advanced cervical cancer prevention in underserved areas since it began in 2021. Between 2021 and 2024, health workers treated 96% of eligible cases and delivered more than 50,000 HPV tests in total across all 29 health regions.
Conclusion
While Guatemala is just one of the locations that Jhpiego has targeted, the impact on Indigenous women and children in these communities has been significant. Jhpiego is just one of the organizations that Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields Music Festival worked to fund. Additional partners include Black Mamas Matter Alliance, the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the National Women’s Law Center and many others. By funding these life-changing initiatives, including Jhpiego, Rodrigo’s music festival has helped improve the health and lives of women throughout the world.
– Niamh Werner
Photo: Flickr
Digital ID Reform Offers Update on SDG 10 in Nigeria
Nigeria’s poverty rate illustrates the scale of what is at stake. The World Bank reported in 2026 that the share of Nigerians living below the national poverty line rose to an estimated 63%, up from 61% the previous year. Financial exclusion compounds that poverty. Without access to credit, savings or insurance, low income households have fewer tools to absorb shocks like illness or crop failure, and small businesses cannot grow beyond what cash on hand permits. Expanding financial access cannot eliminate poverty on its own, though it removes one of the structural barriers preventing people from building financial resilience – the exact goal SDG 10 sets.
In June 2026, Nigeria signed the National Identity Management Commission Act into law – a reform officials say is designed to expand financial inclusion in Nigeria by giving citizens a single, trusted form of identification. The law replaces its former 2007 framework that fragmented the country’s identity system across competing databases. The reform in Nigeria reflects a commitment to United Nations SDG 10, which calls on countries to reduce inequality by expanding the social and economic inclusion of marginalized populations by 2030.
A New Legal Foundation
President Bola Tinubu signed the NIMC Act 2026 into law at the State House in Abuja on Friday, June 26, 2026, according to a statement from the presidency. The Senate President, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Attorney General, the Interior Minister and a World Bank representative witnessed the signing. The law establishes the National Identification Number as what officials describe as the single source of truth for identity verification across government and financial services. Nigerians already use the number for passport issuance and renewal, and banks and insurance companies are integrating it into their systems, according to Leadership newspaper.
A Market Already Taking Shape
The digital economy’s contribution to Nigeria’s gross domestic product has risen from about 16% to roughly 19% in recent years, Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, said in November 2025. The government is targeting a $1 trillion economy overall, with the digital sector accounting for 21% of GDP by 2027, Tijani said.
Global companies have already found opportunity in Nigeria’s identity infrastructure. In 2013, the National Identity Management Commission partnered with Mastercard, the American payments company, on a pilot program to issue 13 million Mastercard-branded identity cards combining biometric verification with electronic payment functions.
Nigeria’s identity system has since moved toward a domestic card scheme called AfriGo, which the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System operate. Nonetheless, the Mastercard partnership was an early demonstration that Nigeria’s push toward digital identity holds visible commercial value for global payment providers.
The World Bank’s Wider Bet
Nigeria’s NIMC reform corresponds with a larger effort backed by the World Bank. Its Global Digital Public Infrastructure Program, launched in May 2026, funds digital identity, fast payments and secure data-sharing systems that banks, insurers and other private companies can build services around. This serves to extend, spanning financial inclusion in Nigeria and comparable markets to populations previously unreachable by formal lenders. The program estimates that 2.9 billion people worldwide currently lack a digital identity for online transactions, with only 8% of lower middle-income countries and 16% of upper middle-income countries having fast, inclusive payment systems in place.
In Nigeria specifically, that connection is already visible. According to the World Bank, the government’s rollout of targeted cash transfers for 15 million vulnerable households has moved more slowly than planned because it depends on integrating the national identity management system. In other words, the same infrastructure this reform strengthens is the mechanism the government relies on to identify and pay Nigeria’s poorest households directly, rather than through intermediaries who can introduce delay or leakage.
A World Bank representative attended the NIMC Act signing in Abuja, positioning Nigeria as an early participant in the program’s venture into Sub-Saharan Africa. A growing share of the population once locked out of the formal economy is approaching the threshold banks and insurers require before extending credit, savings products and coverage. As more Nigerians gain recognized identification, product lines that were commercially unviable for a fragmented, undocumented customer base start to fall under business logic.
Looking Ahead
With a $1 trillion economic target on the horizon and financial inclusion advancing alongside it, this update on SDG 10 in Nigeria points to a country using digital infrastructure to pursue the UN’s 2030 inclusion goals. For a country where more than 60% of the population lives in poverty, closing the identity gap is a foundational step toward opening a new consumer market and reaching the people that market has excluded.
– Gayatri Lilly Sabharwal
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The Influence of German Aid to Ukraine
In 2024, Annalena Baerbock, then Germany’s federal minister for foreign affairs, pledged €100 million to Ukraine in response to increased Russian attacks on heating infrastructure. Germany, one of the world’s largest donors of humanitarian aid, used this fund to provide heating points with food, water and the opportunity to get warm to more than 86,000 people living in Ukraine’s Kyiv region. Germany’s efforts to keep Ukrainian people warm this past winter demonstrate the life-saving impact that humanitarian aid can have, especially in times of crisis.
War-Induced Poverty
Since 2021, the poverty rate in Ukraine has risen from 20.6% to 35.5% in 2023. Due to the ongoing war, exact poverty data is hard to collect, but recent estimates suggest that 34.5% of Ukraine exists in poverty, while 51.6% suffer severe material and social deprivation. These statistics worsen depending on the region, with areas most affected by the war showing rates of 62% and primarily unaffected regions showing 23.4%. Thus, in addition to facing increasing poverty rates, Ukrainian people are facing the worst income inequality gap in years. Ukrainians impacted by the war suffer destroyed infrastructure, homes, loss of family and friends and dwindling resources. This humanitarian crisis, which has displaced millions and inflicted nationwide poverty, has stagnated the economy of Ukraine, making prospects of recovery slower and endangering the lives of millions of Ukrainians.
German Aid to Ukraine
In the face of devastating conflict, international aid has greatly benefited Ukraine, especially as the nation enters its fifth year of war. In December 2025, the European Union agreed to loan Ukraine €90 billion to help maintain the economy, defend against Russia and provide humanitarian aid for those forced into impoverished and deadly conditions. Additionally, Germany’s federal government has provided €43.3 billion in civilian aid and €57.6 billion for military aid to the Ukrainian government, alongside other donations throughout the last five years.
The German federal government outlines what this government-provided aid accomplishes on its website. German aid to Ukraine has gone toward constructing and replacing electrical and heating systems, power plants and nuclear power plants to both maintain safe infrastructure and help stimulate the economy and renewable energy sector during the war. Additionally, German aid to Ukraine goes toward providing medical care, food, clean water and refugee assistance. Approximately a million Ukrainian refugees have sought refuge in Germany, where the German government provides them with access to vocational language courses, training and integration programs, job assistance centers and immediate access to the labor market. These programs have assisted more than 1.3 million Ukrainian refugees, helped train 27,000 Ukrainian soldiers and helped more than 86,000 people survive an extremely cold winter without infrastructure.
Final Thoughts
Germany’s efforts as one of the world’s largest donors of humanitarian aid help protect the most vulnerable populations. Ukrainian people suffer significantly increased levels of poverty due to the ongoing war, but German aid helps alleviate some of these consequences and prevents unnecessary deaths in vulnerable communities. From mobile heating centers to efforts to reconstruct electrical and heating infrastructure and the welcoming of refugees, Germany’s government-initiated aid to Ukraine has played a substantial role in protecting those in need.
– Aubrey Wallen
Photo: Pexels
Changing Lives by Changing Minds: The Busyhead Project
The Busyhead Project
The Busyhead Project was launched in 2023 as a nonprofit mental health organization founded by Kahan to end stigmatization, raise awareness, and improve resource accessibility. The website offers opportunities to get involved by learning how to support others struggling with their mental health, donating to organizations that provide resources, and inspiring activism in friends and family. In addition, the organization’s website features a Community Wall with thousands of notes written by fans and activists with advice to younger selves, one thing they are proud of, and other inspiring prompts. By building community through facilitating connection and recognizing personal struggles, Kahan has paved the way for inclusion and acceptance of mental health as a legitimate issue.
Success
The organization has also achieved significant success in fundraising. Since its founding, The Busyhead Project has raised over $6 million for more than 150 community-led organizations around the world to target mental health stigma. For instance, in 2025, Kahan held a benefit show at MGM Musical Hall at Fenway after the City of Boston declared Nov. 20, 2025, as “Noah Kahan’s The Busyhead Project Day.” This intimate crowd performance featured a surprise appearance from Niall Horan and raised more than $1.5 million, with proceeds split evenly between The Busyhead Project and The Red Sox Foundation.
Additionally, many of the festivals Kahan played at in 2025 featured wellness experiences with special products and kits for people to take care of their physical health and check in with themselves during the busy festival experience. These kits were given to more than 200 artists, bands, and crew members backstage. In 2025 alone, The Busyhead Project donated over $1 million to other international mental health organizations.
Mental Health Importance in Poverty
Mental health issues are important in poverty because the disparities in resource accessibility and respect for human rights for those living with neurological conditions vary widely between poor and rich countries. As poverty increases the risk of mental health problems, supporting people who struggle with their emotional well-being is crucial to addressing poverty in its entirety. Stigma is also a major aspect of mental health perception in developing countries, contributing to negative attitudes toward health care professionals due to medical distrust, cultural barriers, and lack of resources. Survey data from the World Mental Health Surveys shows that double the percentage of participants from developing countries faced discrimination due to mental illness compared to those from developed countries. Furthermore, in 2022, the World Health Organization reported that of the 970 million people suffering from mental disorders globally, 82% lived in low- and middle-income countries.
Without accessible and free mental health support, inequities will continue to harm those in poverty, exacerbating their struggles and making getting help more difficult.
– Niamh Werner
Photo: Flickr