Despite great progress in economic growth and poverty reduction, the gender wage gap in Ghana shows the distribution of these benefits remains unequal. A significant portion of Ghana’s labor market is in the low-paying informal sector, where the most vulnerable people, women and children, find themselves. In fact, women earn less than 30% of what men earn — Ghana is one of just two countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region to experience gaps at that extreme. The wage gap is largely a result of systemic barriers in terms of access to health care and education as well as social norms regarding women’s roles in the workforce and household.
About the Wage Gap in Ghana
More than 23% of the Ghanaian population lives below the poverty line, according to the U.N. Women Data Hub. Most schools lack proper facilities and information on menstrual hygiene for their female students, ultimately contributing to frequent absences and dropouts.
In lower-income households, where financial constraints are prevalent, women often sacrifice their education so they can seek work to support their families. Women and girls spend 14% of their time on unpaid care and domestic work. Due to traditional social norms, some girls in Ghana’s rural areas find themselves in marriage or unions from as young as 18, which typically prevents them from pursuing an education or better-paying jobs. In light of this, there are several initiatives working to reduce the gender wage gap in Ghana and empower women.
The Soronko Academy
The Soronko Academy is an information and communications technology development center in Ghana. Its main focus is equipping women and girls with the technical and soft skills needed to attain better-paying jobs. Women and girls in underprivileged communities learn new modern skills such as branding, graphic design, coding, digital marketing and app development.
The Soronko Academy also helps young entrepreneurs build a technical edge around their website development and social media management. Classes and programs start from as early as 5 years old, even working with schools to integrate coding into their curriculums. Founded in 2017, the Soronko Academy has trained more than 20,000 women in a dozen or so regions across Ghana.
Solidaridad
Solidaridad is a global organization working directly with communities to create fair and sustainable supply chains. In Ghana, small-scale mining employs roughly a million people, with women making up nearly half the workers engaging in informal mining.
With pollution and other unsafe working conditions, Solidaridad’s project aims to improve the financial and social position of women in Ghana’s small gold mining communities. It supports 130 women by introducing village savings and loan associations and external funding for business support while also hosting discussions with women and men on household and business roles for women.
The banking associations receive funding from Solidaridad’s project partner Kering, the owner of fashion brands such as Gucci and Balenciaga, and serve as a means to boost local entrepreneurial endeavors, reducing reliance on bank loans. This project also offers training on responsible mining and leadership skills.
Global Partnership for Education
The Global Partnership for Education is a global fund dedicated to improving education in developing nations. Together since 2004, the partnership has more recently provided the Ghanaian government $1.5 million in grant support for its COVID-19 learning response.
Its active presence in Ghana is an attempt to prevent already-present gender inequalities from continuing into the next generation. It tackles gender barriers in several ways: supporting public awareness campaigns, building schools near communities and also providing for proper menstrual hygiene management.
The partnership also works with the Ghanaian government to identify and address gender barriers in the education system. In fact, its educational programs have boasted considerable success when it comes to the number of young girls completing primary school — now at nearly 95%.
UN Women in Ghana
U.N. Women in Ghana works with the government and its various departments, like the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, to make gender concerns, such as the wage gap, part of the national development process.
The organization also works with non-governmental organizations and other private sector groups to promote gender equality. To execute this, U.N. Women has numerous active programs, including one addressing the link between HIV and the financial effects it has on women and girls, like the cost of treatment. Oftentimes after divorce, women end up without any assets to support themselves and pay for treatment.
The organization also advocates for property and inheritance rights to offer women some form of protection. U.N. Women also works on economically empowering women by introducing small-scale farmers to good agricultural practices in hopes of reducing post-harvest losses. Additionally, the group works in the north and north of the Nkwanta district to enhance the leadership skills of adolescent girls.
Alliance for African Women Initiative
Founded in 2006, the Alliance for African Women Initiative is a grassroots organization fighting to reduce the gender gap by empowering women and children in Ghana. Its livelihood project seeks to enhance the financial independence of women to help families rise above the poverty line. The initiative also provides workshops and training programs intended to help women with all things business and personal finance, teaching bookkeeping and business skills as well as commercial consultancy and management. The initiative provides opportunities for women to connect and share ideas within its network.
Traditionally, the livelihood project creates its own small savings accounts because some women cannot afford to open saving accounts at banks. Then, after the training and workshops, women receive small loans to either expand their businesses or invest in new ones. More than 2,100 women have attended these programs and about 150 have received loans to start up their own businesses.
These five initiatives are attempting to take the steps needed to build an equal system for men and women. They are also showing the many intricacies of solving an issue, such as the gender wage gap, and that the solution is much more than just providing employment opportunities.
– Owen R. Mutiganda
Photo: Flickr
2 CARE Programs in Africa
CARE is a nonprofit international organization that has worked for 75 years to create better lives for the underprivileged. In 2020, CARE implemented 1,300 projects that reached 90 million people across 100 countries. The organization’s work focuses on women and girls because it believes that poverty will not undergo eradication until all people have equal rights and opportunities. Two CARE programs in Africa are helping reduce poverty in several different ways.
About Water+
CARE uses many different approaches to help countries all around the world. One approach is Water+, which focuses on using water to alleviate contributing factors of poverty. This program links water to more than just hand-washing and clean drinking water. In order to make the most significant impact possible, it focuses on the connections between water and many other systems, including agriculture, education and nutrition.
In 2013, 14 studies occurred in low-income countries on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions that found that WASH interventions improved the height-for-age scores in children below the age of 5 years old. This is significant because malnutrition is the surface cause for stunted growth. However, by improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene, the nutrition of the children improved. The direct link between nutrition, hygiene and poverty means that CARE’s Water+ programs are effectively able to alleviate many contributing factors of poverty.
Water+ puts in extra effort to ensure that the water services it provides receive proper maintenance and financing once they are in place so that they will be sustainable. In 2019, CARE’s Water+ approach has directly impacted 8 million people throughout 56 countries. Here is information about two CARE programs in Africa working to improve circumstances regarding poverty and clean water.
She’s SMART
In sub-Saharan Africa, women have limited access to land, water and education, yet they make up 50% of the workforce and are responsible for a large portion of agricultural labor. She’s SMART impacts poverty in Africa by working with female farmers in Mali, Malawi and Ghana, helping them grow more food by using Water Smart Agriculture (WaSA). Women farmers in Mali restored around 225 acres of land to productivity using techniques they learned from the WaSA project.
Women are also receiving encouragement to use CARE’s Village Savings and Loan model because having savings allows them to borrow money for any needs they might have. The Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are currently part of a 12-year strategy to support 65 million people as they form groups by 2030. The savings groups usually contain 15 to 25 people that meet up to “save their money in a safe space, access small loans, and obtain emergency insurance.”
Overall, women in Mali report that they retrieve water for their fields half as often since implementing the WaSA techniques and they saw an increase of 18% in their annual income. In Malawi, the women saw a 27% increase in their income, while Ghana saw a 27% decrease in the costs of production. Thanks to She’s SMART, 36,000 women across these three countries have learned to grow and prepare healthy vegetables, and how to use wastewater to reduce the amount of labor for water collection.
CARE’s Nutrition and Hygiene Project
Each year, malnutrition is responsible for almost 50% of child deaths globally. Therefore, it is important to improve sanitation and provide access to clean drinking water in order to prevent communicable diseases that can lead to malnutrition. The CARE Nutrition and Hygiene project lessens the impact of poverty in Africa by improving the nutrition and health of pregnant women and children under the age of 2 years old in Mali by implementing nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and agricultural interventions. The project takes multiple approaches including helping farmers to produce more nutritious foods, improving the treatment of malnutrition and educating communities on healthy nutrition.
As of August 2019, 48,364 children under the age of 5 years old had improved their nutritional status, 277,838 people had access to an improved sanitation facility, more than 180 communities received open defecation free certification and 9,000 farmers had applied new management or technology practices and increased their food security. At the end of the program interventions in 2019, the project reached 173,000 children under the age of 2 years old, along with 68,300 pregnant and lactating women and 17,500 farmers and their households. There was also a 70% decrease in the prevalence of underweight children.
The Good News
These two CARE programs in Africa were both successful and made an impact on many lives. Past programs also include Glarciares+ which worked to help communities better adapt to changing weather in Peru, and the School Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene plus Community Impact (SWASH+) which focused on “increasing the scale, impact, and sustainability of school water, sanitation, and hygiene (SWASH) programming in Kenya.” Currently, CARE is implementing Rural Access to New Opportunities in WASH (RANO-WASH) which aims to “create solutions for sustainable and equitable water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) systems so people can live healthier lives and preserve the environment” in rural parts of Madagascar. With continued efforts, CARE will have a positive impact on communities by focusing on water, sanitation and hygiene programs to alleviate poverty for years to come.
– Trystin Baker
Photo: Flickr
The Gender Wage Gap In Namibia
Namibia ranks sixth in the Global Gender Gap Report of 2021, the highest-ranked African country for bridging the gap between women and men economic opportunity, educational attainment, health and political empowerment measure. In just nine years, Namibia has climbed 35 spots, excelling past Canada and the United States in the Global Gender Gap Report. A closer look at Namibia’s history provides insight into actions taken to bridge this gap and how the gender wage gap in Namibia still plays a role in society today.
Post-Independence Namibia Focuses on Gender Equality
Prior to Namibia gaining independence, many considered women the property of men. When Namibia gained full independence from South Africa in 1990, it implemented numerous changes aimed at improving gender equality, as well as equality for all, in the new constitution. Article 10 states that “[n]o persons shall be discriminated against on the grounds of sex, race, color, ethnic origin, religion, creed or social or economic status,” emphasizing Namibia’s commitment to equality.
Also, the Married Persons Equality Act became law in 1996. The act allows women to sign contracts, register a property in their name and act as directors of companies. Women in Namibia hold about 44% of the managerial professions.
In the year 2013, “Namibia’s ruling party, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO),” implemented a 50/50 gender policy that requires “equal representation of men and women” in parliament. At the time of the policy creation, women filled only 25% of the positions in parliament. Currently, women occupy 44% of the seats in parliament, proving that the gender policy has been effective in adding more women to work in government roles. The government’s adoption of these policies aid in creating a more inclusive environment for women in Namibia, particularly in political and urban settings.
More Women Seek an Education
Women in Namibia are leading their male counterparts in post-secondary education with a tertiary education enrollment rate of 30% for women and 15% for men. At the largest university in Namibia, the University of Namibia (UNAM), 64% of the students are women while only 36% are men. Many women continue on to obtain their master’s degrees or doctoral degrees. Once out of school, the labor force participation rate for women drops below men at 57% and 64% respectively. Even though more women seek secondary education than men, women earn less than men in several industries.
While the gender wage gap in Namibia is less prominent than that of many other countries, the distribution of wealth is immensely unequal. According to the Gini index, which measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income, Namibia ranks second-highest in comparison to all other countries in the world. Namibia has one of the highest Gini index ratings because of its high unemployment rate, with women more likely to experience unemployment. About 64% of Namibians survive on less than $5.55 per person per day, which equates to slightly more than $2,000 a year. The average amount U.S. citizens spend on a summer vacation is roughly the same.
Namibians Continue to Reach for Gender Equality
Much like other patriarchal societies, when women and men reach for equality, there are often roadblocks along the way. While women in Namibia now occupy 44% of the positions in parliament, they are still shy of the 50% goal of the 50/50 gender policy. The gender wage gap in Namibia has narrowed significantly, but there is still massive inequality concerning family income distribution. There is also an underlying dialogue in Namibia that women are inferior to men. Sexual and gender-based violence is prevalent due to societal and cultural norms. In fact, among the age group of 15 to 49, 28% of women and 22% of men in Namibia believe a husband beating his wife as a form of discipline constitutes a justifiable act. These beliefs contribute to a culture of gender inequality, which often proliferates inequalities in the workplace and perpetuates traditional gender roles.
Fortunately, the government is continuing to implement policies beneficial to gender equality. Additionally, women are pursuing secondary education at astounding rates, which is crucial in combating gender-based disparities as well as decreasing the gender wage gap in Namibia.
– Amy Helmendach
Photo: Flickr
Global Developments in the Fight Against Malaria
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019, malaria infections stood at almost 230 million globally. Of these malaria incidents, 409,000 cases led to fatalities. These are the striking and often overlooked numbers encasing the global fight against malaria. Malaria, a parasitic infection that mosquito varieties ruthlessly spread, is an ancient disease plaguing regions across the globe, particularly within the warmer climates of the tropical and subtropical areas of the world.
The cyclical nature of the disease from uninfected mosquitoes to infected hosts then infected mosquitoes to uninfected hosts, is in part the reason this disease is difficult to counteract outside of preventive measures, such as traditional nets, drugs and various forms of insecticides. However, these methods have limitations. The insidious nature of repeat infections adds insult to injury, with reports indicating up to six malaria infections annually among some children. Now, the dawn of a malaria vaccine hopes to make strides in the fight against malaria.
The Dawn of a Malaria Vaccine
The daunting reality and statistics on malaria illustrate only one side of the story on emerging aid over the last three decades. After years of research and trials by the manufacturer, on October 6, 2021, WHO officially authorized the widespread use of a malaria vaccine that GlaxoSmithKline created called Mosquirix. This is not only a win in the fight against malaria. Mosquirix is “also the first vaccine ever recommended for use by WHO to combat a parasitic disease in humans.”
Dr. Pedro Alonso, director of WHO’s global malaria program, says in a press release that “[i]t’s a huge jump from the science perspective to have a first-generation vaccine against a human parasite.” The vaccine, which targets children, has the potential to prevent “23,000 deaths in children younger than 5 each year.” As it stands, the vaccine manufacturer has “committed to producing 15 million doses of Mosquirix annually” until 2028.
Development in Tandem With the Global Health Order
This trend toward vaccination campaigns, development and authorization does not of course appear in a vacuum. After decades of stalling efforts on malaria prevention, a new global health order has ushered in a recent admiration for the efficacy of vaccine funding, research and implementation on the back of the global struggle against COVID-19. Organizations championing the global vaccine battle against COVID-19, such as GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, “likely play a crucial role in negotiating the financing, procurement and delivery of” the Mosquirix vaccine.
Other major players in the fight against COVID-19 are also entering the ring. BioNTech recently launched a malaria project in July 2021. Its intentions are the use of mRNA technology, which has proven highly effective in COVID-19 vaccines, in the fight against the malaria parasite. Clinical trials of the world’s “first mRNA-based vaccine for malaria prevention” will begin at the close of 2022. These new multilateral and multi-agency relationships in health care, which the pandemic brought about, could be the stepping stones for future breakthroughs in global health.
Looking Ahead
Spurred on by new movements in global health, the malaria vaccine will make strides within infant and youth populations across at-risk regions like Africa and beyond. Mosquirix pilot programs in Kenya, Malawi and Ghana “found that the vaccine is safe. There is community demand for it and it is a cost-effective prevention method.” While perhaps not intrinsically linked to the new global health order, the world is making strides in combating an ancient and sometimes overlooked disease through emerging technologies, monetary funding and intellectual endorsements. It is safe to say that the new malaria vaccine could set new precedents as to the way the world cooperates on matters of global health security so that the international community can develop long-lasting strategies to keep at-risk regions safe, productive and healthy.
– Aidan Swayne
Photo: Flickr
Reducing the Gender Wage Gap in Ghana
Despite great progress in economic growth and poverty reduction, the gender wage gap in Ghana shows the distribution of these benefits remains unequal. A significant portion of Ghana’s labor market is in the low-paying informal sector, where the most vulnerable people, women and children, find themselves. In fact, women earn less than 30% of what men earn — Ghana is one of just two countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region to experience gaps at that extreme. The wage gap is largely a result of systemic barriers in terms of access to health care and education as well as social norms regarding women’s roles in the workforce and household.
About the Wage Gap in Ghana
More than 23% of the Ghanaian population lives below the poverty line, according to the U.N. Women Data Hub. Most schools lack proper facilities and information on menstrual hygiene for their female students, ultimately contributing to frequent absences and dropouts.
In lower-income households, where financial constraints are prevalent, women often sacrifice their education so they can seek work to support their families. Women and girls spend 14% of their time on unpaid care and domestic work. Due to traditional social norms, some girls in Ghana’s rural areas find themselves in marriage or unions from as young as 18, which typically prevents them from pursuing an education or better-paying jobs. In light of this, there are several initiatives working to reduce the gender wage gap in Ghana and empower women.
The Soronko Academy
The Soronko Academy is an information and communications technology development center in Ghana. Its main focus is equipping women and girls with the technical and soft skills needed to attain better-paying jobs. Women and girls in underprivileged communities learn new modern skills such as branding, graphic design, coding, digital marketing and app development.
The Soronko Academy also helps young entrepreneurs build a technical edge around their website development and social media management. Classes and programs start from as early as 5 years old, even working with schools to integrate coding into their curriculums. Founded in 2017, the Soronko Academy has trained more than 20,000 women in a dozen or so regions across Ghana.
Solidaridad
Solidaridad is a global organization working directly with communities to create fair and sustainable supply chains. In Ghana, small-scale mining employs roughly a million people, with women making up nearly half the workers engaging in informal mining.
With pollution and other unsafe working conditions, Solidaridad’s project aims to improve the financial and social position of women in Ghana’s small gold mining communities. It supports 130 women by introducing village savings and loan associations and external funding for business support while also hosting discussions with women and men on household and business roles for women.
The banking associations receive funding from Solidaridad’s project partner Kering, the owner of fashion brands such as Gucci and Balenciaga, and serve as a means to boost local entrepreneurial endeavors, reducing reliance on bank loans. This project also offers training on responsible mining and leadership skills.
Global Partnership for Education
The Global Partnership for Education is a global fund dedicated to improving education in developing nations. Together since 2004, the partnership has more recently provided the Ghanaian government $1.5 million in grant support for its COVID-19 learning response.
Its active presence in Ghana is an attempt to prevent already-present gender inequalities from continuing into the next generation. It tackles gender barriers in several ways: supporting public awareness campaigns, building schools near communities and also providing for proper menstrual hygiene management.
The partnership also works with the Ghanaian government to identify and address gender barriers in the education system. In fact, its educational programs have boasted considerable success when it comes to the number of young girls completing primary school — now at nearly 95%.
UN Women in Ghana
U.N. Women in Ghana works with the government and its various departments, like the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, to make gender concerns, such as the wage gap, part of the national development process.
The organization also works with non-governmental organizations and other private sector groups to promote gender equality. To execute this, U.N. Women has numerous active programs, including one addressing the link between HIV and the financial effects it has on women and girls, like the cost of treatment. Oftentimes after divorce, women end up without any assets to support themselves and pay for treatment.
The organization also advocates for property and inheritance rights to offer women some form of protection. U.N. Women also works on economically empowering women by introducing small-scale farmers to good agricultural practices in hopes of reducing post-harvest losses. Additionally, the group works in the north and north of the Nkwanta district to enhance the leadership skills of adolescent girls.
Alliance for African Women Initiative
Founded in 2006, the Alliance for African Women Initiative is a grassroots organization fighting to reduce the gender gap by empowering women and children in Ghana. Its livelihood project seeks to enhance the financial independence of women to help families rise above the poverty line. The initiative also provides workshops and training programs intended to help women with all things business and personal finance, teaching bookkeeping and business skills as well as commercial consultancy and management. The initiative provides opportunities for women to connect and share ideas within its network.
Traditionally, the livelihood project creates its own small savings accounts because some women cannot afford to open saving accounts at banks. Then, after the training and workshops, women receive small loans to either expand their businesses or invest in new ones. More than 2,100 women have attended these programs and about 150 have received loans to start up their own businesses.
These five initiatives are attempting to take the steps needed to build an equal system for men and women. They are also showing the many intricacies of solving an issue, such as the gender wage gap, and that the solution is much more than just providing employment opportunities.
– Owen R. Mutiganda
Photo: Flickr
The Campaign Addressing Food Waste in China
By November 1, 2021, China reported more than 97,000 COVID-19 cases and 4,636 deaths. Graphic representations of this data seem to show an upward trend as COVID-19 numbers continue rising. Apart from the direct health impacts of COVID-19, the pandemic has also exacerbated existing social strife, such as nationwide hunger. Along with high rates of hunger, China also reports high rates of food waste, with a recent report from July 2021 stating that the nation discards about 350 million tonnes of its farm produce. Addressing the issue of food waste in China provides a solution to growing rates of hunger in the nation. China’s Clean Plate campaign aims to tackle these two issues simultaneously.
Food Waste Globally
With the global population possibly expanding by 2 billion people by 2025, totaling more than 9 billion global citizens, the United Nations stated that “food production must double by 2050 to meet the demand of the world’s growing population.” Yet, about “one-third of the food” the world produces “for human consumption” annually, equating to 1.3 billion tonnes, goes to waste. Fruits and vegetables account for the greatest portion of food waste. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “if just one-fourth of the food currently lost or wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people in the world.”
Food Waste in China
In China, specifically, food waste or loss amounts to “more than 35 million tonnes of food.” This amount of food can “feed 30 to 50 million people.”
In August 2020, President Xi Jinping pressed for the nationwide Clean Plate campaign in response to food waste and the economic and food-centric devastation that COVID-19 caused. At the time of Jinping’s address, the southern end of China had suffered immense flooding, ruining crops and leaving the rest of the nation without a sufficient supply of produce.
In essence, the campaign directs that diners must finish the food on their plates. Encouraging empty plates may lead to less food waste. In response to the Clean Plate campaign, “the Wuhan Catering Industry Association urged restaurants in the city to limit the number of dishes served to diners” to reduce instances of over-ordering, thereby reducing food waste. Culturally, there is a traditional understanding that a clean plate is indicative of “a bad host,” implying that there is “an insufficient amount of food” for diners.
Jinping’s initiative encourages people to be more conscious of food waste in order to address food insecurity in the nation. The Clean Plate initiative has proven to be successful, continuing in an entrepreneurial and consumerist sense. Prior to the Clean Plate initiative, taking leftovers home was unheard of, but has since become a commonality.
Looking Ahead
To avoid past crises of food insecurity, initiatives like Clean Plate encourage consumers to approach food consumption more consciously. Traditionally, in China, ordering more food than necessary is an indicator of power, wealth and status. However, the Clean Plate challenges these traditions in the name of reducing food waste to address hunger in China.
– Maia Nuñez
Photo: Flickr
Infectious Diseases Impacting Malaysia During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has diverted the world’s attention from the spread of other infectious diseases across the globe. However, the battle of the Malaysian government against other infectious diseases has never stopped. According to Health Minister Dr. Adham Baba, despite the pandemic, efforts to prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases in Malaysia are still ongoing. In fact, as of March 2020, the government has updated The Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations to better coordinate the measures it was implementing between controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and the transmission of other infectious diseases in Malaysia. Here is information about three infectious diseases impacting Malaysia as well as how the country is dealing with them.
Dengue Fever
Dengue fever has existed in Malaysia since 1902 when reports of the first case emerged. The bite of infectious mosquitoes spreads dengue fever, resulting in it affecting a large fraction of the population in Malaysia. Most affected are those living in impoverished areas because they have an abundance of stagnant water bodies that are ideal for the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes.
Surprisingly though, from January to August 2021, the Malaysian government reported only a total of 16,565 dengue cases as compared to the 63,988 cases in 2020. With an approximately 94% decrease in the total number of dengue cases across the nation, the government is optimistic about continuing and committing to the current effective measures, maintaining overall cleanliness in residential areas as well as public spaces with frequent mosquito fogging operations.
Tuberculosis (TB)
Tuberculosis (TB) is an air-borne infection affecting the lungs. Like dengue, it is also one of the most common infectious diseases primarily impacting those living under the strain of poverty in Malaysia. Overcrowded and poorly ventilated residential areas facilitate TB in low-cost flats all around Malaysia. On average, the number of cases documented throughout the nation has fluctuated and varied in its trend but up to 2019, around 92 in 100, 000 people have been diagnosed in Malaysia.
In Selangor alone, more than 3,500 cases have also been reported in 2020, making it essential for public awareness programs and governmental allocations to be implemented to mitigate the spread of this infectious disease in Malaysia. At the moment, the Malaysian Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (MAPTB) is diligent in its efforts to educate the public on TB prevention and provide financial aids to diagnose and treat individuals from higher-risk groups. MAPTB is gradually making progress in educating the public about proper prevention methods and ultimately controlling the spread of TB in the country. Its plan is to do this through various online forums, conferences, newsletters and collaborations with Malaysian NGOs.
Hepatitis B
The Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is most commonly transmitted through infected blood products and unprotected sex. Affecting more than 1 million people nationwide, Hepatitis B causes acute and chronic liver infections particularly in male adults between the age of 30 to 49. In rural areas with little to no access to health care, the adverse environmental conditions and lack of proper treatment among the infected are exacerbating the infection rate of HBV.
With the hopes of eradicating the threat this infectious disease poses to the country, the Malaysian government has been proactively working toward a strategic and sustainable plan to combat the spread of HBV in Malaysia via the National Strategic Plan for Hepatitis B and C (NSPHBC) to strengthen national policies regarding prevention measures, control of transmission and the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with the virus. By 2030, the government hopes to reduce the number of new viral hepatitis cases in Malaysia by 90% with proper diagnoses and treatment methods. This includes encompassing free HBV vaccination programs as well as mandated education for children and teenagers throughout the nation.
Solutions for Infectious Diseases Impacting Malaysia
In partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), Malaysia used to receive generous financial support from countries like Japan, Denmark and Germany up until 1998. However, the country is receiving little to no direct aid to the health sector since 2000. In regards to professional and technical development, WHO remains active in providing medical fellowships and training to health care workers in Malaysia. It is also contributing invaluable advice on disease control and specialized support for disease outbreaks in the country.
Various local NGOs such as the Consumers’ Association of Penang are also supportive in their efforts to fund novel research projects aiming to create new solutions that could mitigate the spread of infectious diseases across the country better than existing strategies.
The Future
All things considered, the Malaysian government is slowly gaining a foothold in the uphill battle of preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases in the country. While the future remains unknown, the Ministry of Health is resilient in its implementation of more sustainable health care policies. It is also working on the development of systems to aid in the recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia.
With the help of WHO and several significant NGOs across the nation, it is only a matter of time before Malaysia can truly gain control over the spread of infectious diseases. The country should effectively manage diseases’ effects on the country’s politics and the economy as a whole.
– Low Xin Yi
Photo: Unsplash
COVID-19 Vaccine Equity
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge, global calls for achieving COVID-19 vaccine equity are increasing. Vaccine equity is a simple concept: it is the belief that all people should have equal access to vaccines. Inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines leaves developing nations helpless against the virus. Moreover, inequitable access has allowed new deadlier variants of the virus to emerge and spread globally.
According to the World Bank Group, as of November 15, 2021, 72.8% of the population in high-income countries received a COVID-19 vaccine. This is a harsh difference from the mere 4.2% of the population in low-income countries. Luckily, several global organizations have initiated various efforts to help make COVID-19 vaccine equity a reality.
The World Health Organization (WHO)
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a leader in global health initiatives. Its COVID-19 vaccine equity campaign is a roadmap to achieve vaccine equity. This roadmap sets the goal to administer a COVID-19 vaccine to at least 40% of the residents in every country by the end of 2021. It sets a second goal to vaccinate 70% of the global population by mid-2022. WHO is calling for countries and companies that control vaccine supplies to donate and contract with COVAX and The African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to get the vaccines where they are most needed.
WHO also believes that individual efforts matter. It launched its GoGiveOne fundraising initiative to allow individual efforts to directly aid the vaccine equity campaign through crowdfunding. A donation of $6 amounts to one vaccine.
Global Dashboard for Vaccine Equity
The Global Dashboard for Vaccine Equity is a collaborative effort that the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the University of Oxford launched with support across the U.N. It is a part of the SDG 3 Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All.
This initiative works towards global COVID-19 vaccine equity by sharing the latest data on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. It also provides socioeconomic data to demonstrate why the acceleration of global vaccination is critical. The Dashboard shows how a faster rollout not only saves more lives but also supports a speedier pandemic recovery. Moreover, it presents and highlights important vaccine equity policies and uses these to help guide legislative change. Finally, the Dashboard aids in educating the public about COVID-19 vaccine equity through free resources and statistics.
Only organizations can directly participate in the Dashboard. Nevertheless, individuals have a significant part to play. Raising awareness and increasing knowledge about COVID-19 vaccine equity is the Dashboard’s primary goal.
African Vaccine Acquisition Trust
The African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) is a global effort that strives for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines across the African continent. To combat the looming vaccine inequality, in August 2020, a group of 10 people from throughout Africa gathered and became the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team. This team went on to found the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust and gain the endorsement of the African Union. Moreover, AVAT became an integral part of the Africa Vaccine Strategy. AVAT’s primary goal is ensuring the vaccination of at least 60% of the African population against COVID-19. Individuals can help through advocating for increased COVID-19 vaccine donations from their governments and through educating themselves about COVID-19 vaccine equity in Africa.
Realizing COVID-19 Vaccine Equity
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the world, vaccine equity should remain at the forefront of global efforts. Many developed countries are increasingly pledging to donate COVID-19 vaccines due to pressure from the global initiatives mentioned above. Therefore, it remains important for individuals to support the global COVID-19 vaccine equity initiatives to help make vaccine equity a reality.
– Nohad Awada
Photo: Unsplash
Ghana Tech Lab: The Next Generation of Innovators
The Ghana Tech Lab, a collaborative tech-centric company, has now connected 7,000 youths with digital and technical education as part of its Ghana Startup Ecosystem program. The goal is to build the next generation of tech entrepreneurs in Africa.
About the Ghana Tech Lab
The Ghana Tech lab is a company building a launch platform for young tech talent in Ghana. Headquartered in Accra, the lab takes a multi-stage approach to launch startups. First, trainees complete a three-month intensive training program to develop technical and digital skills. The top talents from this program then move to the incubation program, where trainees build a business model and receive mentorship.
Finally, the company connects the new startups with seed funding through grants and a network of venture capitalists. By supporting entrepreneurs, the company hopes to fight poverty through innovation, economic development and job creation. Since its founding in 2018, the base program alone has trained 3,933 Ghanaians and incubated 68 startups.
Once a founder begins a startup, it joins the Ghana Startup Ecosystem, a program and database run by The Ghana Tech Lab. Its goal is to act as a central hub for tracking and supporting Ghanian startup ventures. The Ecosystem tracks human capital, market and financial data across Ghana. The database serves to contextualize ventures and produce market trends to substantiate ventures. This system legitimizes startups and encourages global investment.
In fact, 50% of the startups within the system secure funding. The adjunct of the Startup Ecosystem has led to the launch and funding of 100 startups in Ghana, according to AllAfrica. Data-driven innovation has become a central tenant of the Ghana Tech Lab, as a way to promote long-term success. Rather than focus on the symptoms of poverty in Ghana, the company hopes to use economic revitalization as a way to target poverty at the source.
About the State of Poverty in Ghana
In order to understand why tech plays a role in poverty reduction, it is important to contextualize poverty in Ghana. As of 2021, Ghana has a poverty rate of 11.3%. It means that 3.57 million people live on or under $1.90 a day. The country experienced a decrease in poverty from 52.6% to 21.4% between 1991 and 2012. However, the rate of decline has become stagnant over recent years. At the same time, economic development has steadily improved over the last decade. The combination of economic growth and poverty maintenance has led to an increasing rate of economic inequality.
Because of these conditions, the World Bank in Ghana has determined that developing human capital, growing the job market and improving economic resiliency are the best strategies for decreasing poverty and economic inequality. The Ghana Tech Lab has created a business model that targets all three strategies.
The Way Building Tech Startups Fights Poverty
By directly increasing access to education and skill development, the Ghana Tech Lab removes barriers of entry for skilled work. Sourcing funding for startups benefits job production and improves long-term job security. The innovations that startups spur on also improve economic resilience. Often, the startups that come out of the Ghana Tech Lab target poverty directly. For example, Farminista Africa is a woman-led company that helps smallscale female farmers grow their businesses. By 2030, the Ghana Tech Lab expects to produce 30 million new jobs through technical education and economic development, according to AllAfrica.
By increasing accessibility to digital skills, the Ghana Tech Lab is building a new path forward. The company shows that poverty reduction is a natural byproduct of community empowerment.
– Aiden Smith
Photo: Unsplash
USAID’s Programs to Reduce Poverty and Hunger
In September 2021, the White House introduced two of USAID’s new programs to reduce poverty and hunger. USAID, the U.S.’s international development agency, provides aid to countries to support various sectors such as agriculture, trade and human rights. The latest programs of USAID include the Gender Responsive Agricultural Systems Policy (GRASP) and its latest collaboration with the Eleanor Crook Foundation’s Global Nutrition Financing Alliance. GRASP will provide African female policymakers with a three-and-a-half-year virtual leadership development fellowship to empower women in food systems. USAID’s collaboration with the Eleanor Crook Foundation will mobilize $100 million over five years to reduce COVID-19’s impact on food insecurity and reduce malnutrition worldwide.
GRASP: African Women in Agriculture
According to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women account for 43% of the world’s agricultural workforce. Although women make up nearly half of all global agricultural workers, they may not receive equitable opportunities in developing countries. In some regions of Africa, women make up 60% of domestic farm labor. Despite their participation, African women hold limited leadership roles in food systems.
Issues regarding legal ownership of land, fair compensation and access to financial resources hinder African women’s leadership in agriculture. According to Feed the Future, “women tend to own less land, have limited ability to hire labor and face impediments to accessing credit, agricultural extension services and other resources.”
GRASP intends to address gender inequality within African agriculture by empowering female policymakers and inciting change in food systems. With help from USAID, GRASP will provide 100 women with mentorships, networking opportunities and virtual leadership programs targeted to create food-secure communities. By empowering African women in leadership, GRASP strives to develop improved and equitable food systems beneficial to all.
USAID and the Global Nutrition Financing Alliance
USAID has also joined the Global Nutrition Financing Alliance in mobilizing $100 million to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries. The Eleanor Crook Foundation (ECF) and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC0 initially established the Global Nutrition Financing Alliance. The partnership combines public and private sectors to address the pandemic’s effect on malnutrition.
The ECF projects a 50% rise in severe malnutrition due to COVID-19’s economic and existing food programs disruption. USAID’s partnership will help catalyze comprehensive approaches to decrease food insecurity. The alliance will prioritize health and food systems along with food-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The collaboration seeks to address the financing gap among SMEs, bolster women-led businesses and advance food safety. The alliance also seeks to end malnutrition by 2030.
USAID’s Promising Next Moves to Reduce Poverty and Hunger
USAID’s latest programs will benefit not only those in need but also the rest of the world. GRASP can open new markets by supporting African women in agriculture. The program will also expand leadership and business in African food systems. With accessible development opportunities, African women can create social and economic change to address global poverty and food insecurity.
Additionally, USAID’s alliance with the Global Nutrition Financing Alliance will help reestablish the world’s progress to reduce poverty and hunger. The alliance’s monetary aid will also function as a sustainable investment in global food systems. In helping the world’s poor and hungry through programs like GRASP and the Global Nutrition Financing Alliance, USAID helps the world get back on track.
– Dana Gil
Photo: Flickr
Rising Food Insecurity Rates in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has experienced many crises in recent decades, with several domestic and international conflicts transpiring within the nation’s borders. Afghanistan’s economic crisis as well as conflicts and droughts aggravate rates of food insecurity in Afghanistan. With the recent Taliban takeover in August 2021, the country is seeing a collapse in food security. On October 25, 2021, the World Food Programme (WFP) issued a warning that millions of Afghans may face starvation during Afghanistan’s winter unless the world responds with urgent intervention. Understanding the challenges that Afghanistan and its people face, many international organizations are providing both donations and aid to alleviate food insecurity in the nation.
The Food Insecurity Situation in Afghanistan
According to the WFP in October 2021, more than 50% of Afghans, approximately 22.8 million citizens, are enduring severe food insecurity. Furthermore, about 3.2 million Afghan children younger than 5 years old are at risk of acute malnutrition. In a WFP news release, the executive director of the WFP, David Beasley, says, “Afghanistan is now among the world’s worst humanitarian crises, if not the worst.”
The full Taliban takeover that came to fruition in August 2021 debilitated an “already fragile economy heavily dependant on foreign aid.” In an effort to cut off support to the Taliban, many nations chose to suspend aid to Afghanistan and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) chose to halt payments to Afghanistan. For a country with about 40% of its GDP stemming from international support, vulnerable Afghans are hit heavily with the impacts of aid suspensions as food insecurity rates in Afghanistan continue to rise.
In September 2021, the U.N. warned that just 5% of Afghan families have sufficient daily food supplies, with essential ingredients like cooking oil and wheat drastically rising in prices. In October 2021, the WFP warned that “one million children were at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition without immediate life-saving treatment.” WFP also predicted that the looming winter would further isolate Afghans depending on humanitarian assistance to survive. With overall food insecurity rates skyrocketing, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities. The WFP stresses the importance of continuing international aid to Afghanistan so that citizens can survive the coming months.
The Aid Dilemma for Global Economic Powers
“If we do nothing, Afghanistan drifts into state collapse. The economic chokehold is squeezing the air out of the economy,” said Graeme Smith, a consultant for the International Crisis Group (ICG), in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor on November 4, 2021.
The danger of a total state collapse is so concerning that European donors “are trying to expand stopgap emergency measures to find creative ways to alleviate the financial challenge faced by the central Taliban government in Kabul.”
The challenges of providing support remain. The U.N. estimates that as much as 97% of the country’s population could live in poverty by 2022 “in a worst-case scenario.” However, recognizing the severe consequences of aid suspensions, in October 2021, “The Group of 20 major economies” pledged to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. As a global powerhouse, the United States also announced its intention of providing aid to Afghan citizens as the harsh winter season starts. However, these countries are skeptical about providing aid directly to the Taliban government, therefore, aid will likely come through international agencies.
Aid to Afghanistan
Recognizing the need for aid, international organizations worked tirelessly to deliver food, blankets and monetary assistance “to hundreds of displaced families in Kabul” in October 2021. Humanitarian assistance from different global agencies found a way into Afghanistan. Even though the distribution of aid only reached 324 families, a very small percentage of the total needs of the nation, this aid gives hope to many Afghans who are experiencing severe food shortages.
Rising food insecurity rates in Afghanistan highlight the desperate need for aid. With many donors creatively developing ways to help the Afghan people, during a time of crisis, the country is hopeful for a brighter future.
– Tri Truong
Photo: Max Pixel