COVID-19’s impact on Trinidad and Tobago, a tropical twin-island nation in the Caribbean, has been particularly harsh. As other countries return to normalcy, Trinidad and Tobago is facing its highest numbers of COVID-19 cases yet. In fact, it has seen a total of 33,920 cases and 918 deaths. Of its 1.3 million population, 7,162 currently have COVID-19. Government response consisted of closing the country’s borders, implementing stay-at-home orders and declaring a subsequent state of emergency. These measures have taken a toll on the country’s economy. The unprecedented loss of revenue has trickled down and affected various other sectors, disproportionately affecting the poorest Trinbagonians.
Economic Impact
Trinidad and Tobago is heavily dependent on revenue from crude oil and natural gas exportation. Global travel bans and local restrictions of movement resulted in decreasing fuel demands and worldwide devaluation.
The average price of crude oil, $60/barrel, began falling in January 2020. It reached an all-time low of $21.04/barrel in April 2020, a 65% decrease. Fortunately, since mass vaccination began, restrictions have eased, and prices began normalizing to around $60/barrel again by February 2021.
Tourism and Businesses
Tourism, the country’s second-largest income source, employs almost 10,000 persons and has halted following the country’s border closure. This resulted in up to 7% in job loss. Tobago in particular needs tourism to create jobs and supplement its economy, and both islands gain a large boost in foreign revenue during Carnival. The government closed beaches and canceled Carnival to save lives and with the hope of holding COVID-free Carnivals in future years as the country rebuilds its economy.
Poorer communities benefited from tourism with people working as boat-tour guides, street vendors and fishermen but lost out on those opportunities. Meanwhile, other non-essential and small businesses closed in April 2020. The later-imposed state of emergency saw several go bankrupt, further adding to the mass increase in unemployment and the potential loss of at least 10% of its GDP.
Economist Dr. Indera Sagewan said that while it is too early to confirm the exact number of businesses that closed due to COVID-19, she expects that more businesses will close permanently. She also expects that permanent employment will increase in the private sector.
“The social impact will be severe such as entertainment, tourism, the retail sectors as these sectors employ unskilled and semi-skilled individuals. They also operate in the lower-income bracket of society. This is the sector that has felt the brunt of COVID closures,” she said.
Helping Out
Local media outlets have been covering farmers, vendors and bus drivers fighting to make a living, spreading awareness of their plight and prompting community members to help each other. The government has offered Salary Relief Grants to affected persons in certain sectors, receiving over 15,000 applications, mainly from the retail, entertainment and food and restaurant sector.
Lengthy processing times of these applications have encouraged other entities to address immediate needs. Communities have hosted food drives, and the Digicel Foundation, partnering with 10 NGOs, offered $500,000 in food vouchers to 1,000 families that COVID-19 affected. The Trinidad and Tobago Association of Psychologists has also been offering free calls to help those who have experienced poor mental health as a result of job loss and quarantine during the pandemic.
An Overwhelmed Healthcare System
Early in the pandemic, the government created a parallel healthcare system, designating certain medical facilities to treat COVID-19 patients. However, the government did not fully enforce border closure, leading to a Venezuelan immigrant introducing the P1 Brazilian variant into the country.
Cases surged, with hospitals reaching over 95% occupation. The government’s inability to offer a steady supply of PPE, overtime or childcare pushed healthcare workers, who the pandemic had already spread thin, out of the profession. Despite the one nurse to 30 patient ratio, the Joint Trade Union Movement revealed that medical facilities were still only hiring healthcare workers temporarily.
Dr. Maryam Abdool-Richards, Principal Medical Officer, announced that hospitals were filling faster than emptying and they are “basically out of hospital beds.” This resulted in only 10 patients being admitted to the hospital per 100 cases. Meanwhile, those who were not able to afford private healthcare had to treat themselves at home. The U.S. government donated two field hospitals to mitigate COVID-19’s impact on Trinidad and Tobago, each with a 40-bed capacity.
Education Cutback
COVID-19’s impact on Trinidad and Tobago extends to education as well. Online learning has taken place since schools closed in March 2020. However, The Ministry of Education estimates that the resources needed to participate in school online are inaccessible to 60,000 students. The Ministry has provided most teachers with laptops but has not resolved the accessibility issue for poorer students. The Catholic Board of Education stepped in during 2020, partnering with the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) to bring internet connectivity to almost 2,000 students in need.
Trinbagonians, mainly students who were studying abroad when the borders closed, have spent over a year stranded in foreign countries. Many have been running low on foreign currency for food and shelter. Local media outlets have been covering the plight of these nationals and encouraging locals to utilize various money-transfer platforms to help them. The government recently launched an Exemption Program to slowly repatriate locals through the regional airline.
Thirdly, the Ministry reduced academic scholarships for tertiary education from 400 to 100 and cut postgraduate funding due to the pandemic. However, the Hindu religious group Maha Sabher is fighting for the affected students’ right to education. It has filed a lawsuit against the government’s new policy which they describe as “unlawful, unfair, deprived students of a legitimate expectation to be assessed for scholarships on academic performance.”
One student who qualified for a scholarship under the previous policy has resorted to funding her medical degree via Gofundme. “It’s unfair how our government handled education during COVID, but people online have been so generous,” she told The Borgen Project.
Vaccinations
Willing Trinbagonians aged 60+ are gradually receiving vaccinations, in addition to public officials, some essential workers and some high-risk cases. Trinidad and Tobago’s government found vaccines difficult to secure so it has been depending on gifted doses. Luckily, other countries stepped up as Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, Bermuda, the Grenadines and India donated a total of 64,500 AstraZeneca vaccines, China donated 200,000 Sinopharm vaccines and the U.S. donated 400 Pfizer vaccines.
In the words of ECLAC’s Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena, “No country will be able to fight this pandemic without global and regional cooperation. At the end of the day, what we really need to consider is what will happen to multilateralism. There must be more integration. Without a doubt, we must move towards greater coordination.”
The aid of global partners has certainly helped alleviate COVID-19’s impact on Trinidad and Tobago. However, while the country’s vaccination efforts continue, its citizens are doing what they can to help each other.
– Serah-Marie Maharaj
Photo: Flickr
The Fight Against Human Trafficking in India
With its current population of 1.3 billion people, India is the second-largest country in the world. However, with its size comes a myriad of human rights issues. With so many people in one country, many of them can easily fall under the radar. Human trafficking in India is one of the most prominent human rights issues within the country.
In India, kidnappings for labor and sexual needs have been constant. In 2020, a U.S. Department of State report identified India as a Tier 2 country. In spite of many genuine efforts, the country remains hindered by its inadequate solutions to alleviate the problem and the department feels that India did not sufficiently ensure the mitigation of the issue. Enslavement has also been a common issue. In 2016, the Global Slavery Index found that 18 million people out of 46 million people are enslaved in India.
Trafficking of Women
Within the system of human trafficking in India, most of those victimized are either women or minors. In 2016, The National Crime Records Bureau estimated that 33,855 people in India have been victims of kidnapping for the purpose of marriage. Half of this percentage consisted of individuals under 18 years of age. Kidnappers most commonly force women into commercial sex and indentured servitude.
Bride trafficking has also been a consistent commodity due to skewed sex ratios in certain areas. There has been a lack of women for the larger male population to marry, so many buy their partners. A UNODC report in 2013 found that of the 92 villages of the Indian state of Haryana, nine out of 10 households bought wives from poor villages in other parts of the country. The report also mentioned that most of the women experienced abuse and rape as well as working like slaves.
Child Kidnappings
Alongside the trade of women, many child kidnappings occur. Kidnappers force many of the victims into servitude within industries of agriculture and manufacturing. In 2016, the Central Bureau of Investigation estimated that 135,000 children become victims of human trafficking in India annually. Many of the Indian train stations, such as Sealdah in the city of Kolkata, have had reports of youth kidnapping. Due to the frantic environment of the station, most of these disappearances go unnoticed. A lot of these children either live near the station due to poverty and abuse at home or travel out to work despite the danger and illegality of child labor. Children have also experienced kidnapping during natural disasters. During an earthquake in Nepal, traffickers targeted children whose parents had lost their lives. Wherever traffickers send these children, they work in brutal conditions and receive little pay or nothing at all.
Action in Legislation
Despite the magnitude of the issue and the bleakness it presents, there are glimmers of hope. The government and the public have pushed to mitigate these problems. Prosecution and the tracking of victims are becoming a focus of legislation creation. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has worked to develop a new law to combat the issue. The draft law will include measures to make placement agencies compulsory and rules to monitor where workers are from and where they are going. The 2020 Department of Justice report recommended that increased prosecutions and legislation are necessary to combat the issues.
There are also Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that can give outside assistance in helping trapped women escape. One such group is Chetanalaya, which is the social action group of the Archdiocese of Delhi. Started in 1970, the organization focuses on mobilizing volunteer groups and state and union governments to assist in its efforts. The group has managed to liberate more than 800 enslaved domestic workers in the past two decades.
Helping Faceless
With the rise of technology in India, many have looked to use new innovations to assist in their cause. An example of this is the app Helping Faceless. Created in 2013, it helps fight child kidnapping and trafficking through the use of search engines that use facial recognition to help find wandering youth. To assist in helping women, the website is available for anonymous documentation of sexual assaults and other horrific experiences. By 2015, 5,000 downloads had occurred and the app continues to grow with attempts to improve the technology. Moreover, some are proposing to bring it to other countries that have similar human rights issues.
Going Forward
While the current issues regarding human trafficking in India are immense, the information and technology available can help alleviate the problem. Looking into a problem is one of the best steps in creating a good future and, while it may take a while, there is reason to hope. With the large population in the country, there are many individuals who have survived these experiences and are ready to fight to ensure that others will not endure them.
– John Dunkerley
Photo: Flickr
Community Development Programs in Togo
Togo, a country located in West Africa, has a population of more than 8.2 million. Since 1998, the country has created many community development programs. Its first Agence d’Appui aux Initiatives de Base (AGAIB), which is a Grassroots Initiative Support Agency, was in the Maritime region. AGAIBs aims to help communities develop more income-generating activities and community infrastructures. In 2001, four more AGAIBS began. Since then, the country has continued establishing different community development programs that target impoverished populations. Here is some information about community development programs in Togo.
Poverty in Togo
The United Nations considers Togo one of the Least Developed Countries (LCD) and a Low Income Food Deficit Country (LIFDC). It is one of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. As of 2018, more than 50% of the population was living below the poverty line. The government’s National Development Plan for 2018-2022 has aimed to promote social and infrastructure services to reduce poverty and improve the overall quality of life. Although the country has high poverty rates, its economy has continued to grow.
Togo’s Economic Development
In the past five years, Togo’s gross domestic product (GDP) has averaged 5.5% growth. The country’s government has created public investment programs to help alleviate demand. Agricultural production and trade have also contributed to this GDP growth. Agriculture makes up 40% of the GDP and more than 60% of employment in Togo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic momentum could slow as a result of trade tensions and the threat of security. However, its economy still performed well in 2019 with an estimated GDP growth rate of 5.3%. Economists predict that Togo’s GDP growth rate declined to 1% in 2020. Despite this stunt in economic growth, the government and other global partnerships have helped Togo fund different community development programs to reduce poverty rates.
Community Development Programs Fight Poverty Through Microprojects
A microproject is a small-scale project that looks to improve a specific aspect of life for a targeted population. Togo’s Projet de Développement Communautaire (PDC), which began in 2008, is working to improve access to social services for impoverished populations through microprojects in various communities. Its goal was to fund 350 micro-projects in different sectors, like education and health. This project also sought to develop more income-generating activities. PDC was very successful and many consider it Togo’s first big community development program since 1998. After the 2008 global food crisis, PDC provided solutions, specifically agricultural tools, to help alleviate starvation and improve food security. This community project also provided funding to 233 groups to partake in various economic activities in different impoverished communities. The project officially ended in 2013, but still impacts the country today.
Emphasis on Education
PDC helped fund a school feeding program. In 2018, this project reached 85,000 primary school children in 308 schools. One year later, the project increased its availability by 5%, reaching 91,000 children in 314 schools in 2019. Other community development projects have created school canteen programs. These programs not only employ more citizens but also allow for impoverished children to get an education. At least 36,000 children receive benefits from this program. As a result, dropout rates in primary and secondary education have decreased. Although they focus specifically on education, education-community development projects work to reduce poverty in Togo since increasing education allows for more future economic opportunities.
An Expanded Version of PDC
The Community Development and Social Safety Nets Project (PDCplus) formed in 2012, four years after the initial PDC began. Togo’s government and the World Bank help fund this project that works to improve the social and economic situations of impoverished populations in the country. Its strategy, known as the strategy for accelerated growth and the promotion of employment (SCAPE), worked to increase community participation and involvement in the program’s microprojects.
PDCplus completed its mission in 2017. In total, it created 346 micro-projects to improve social infrastructures, 208 micro-projects to develop more income-generating activities, 305 schools with school canteen programs and 196 school buildings. PDCplus was successful like its predecessor PDC, showing how Togo’s community development programs continue to work to reduce poverty rates in the country. The government has continued developing new projects that are similar to PDC and PDCplus due to their successes. As a result, the country has made progress toward mitigating its poverty levels through similar programs.
The Involvement of Impoverished Communities
These community development programs seek to increase citizen participation, specifically through microprojects that provide training for community members. The Borgen Project spoke with Dr. Theresa Davidson, a professor and Sociology Program Director at Samford University. She mainly focused on how participation in these programs could impact how effective they are: “If community development is a process that is led by the people there, it will likely be more effective […] because they know what they need.”
These impoverished populations know how these projects will impact their community. Projects like PDC and PDCplus are so impactful in alleviating poverty since its microprojects worked within these communities and relied on their participation. The active involvement of communities with PDC helped make these community development programs so successful in reducing poverty rates. New projects that the government has created need to continue community participation in order to be as successful as its predecessors.
There are many nonprofit organizations in Togo that seek to expand on the progress that these community development programs made. One nonprofit, Education Leadership Community Development, known as EDULCOD Togo, works to improve quality and accessibility to education for impoverished populations. The mission of this organization echoes outcomes from PDC and PDCplus.
This West African country has created many community development programs. PDC and PDCplus have been its most successful projects. These programs range from microprojects aimed at improving social infrastructure and involvement to improving accessible education and feeding programs. Although it ended more than a decade ago, Togo’s government is continuing to enact similar projects to improve its economy. Overall, the community development programs are reducing poverty rates in Togo.
– Mia Banuelos
Photo: Pixabay
Electrifying the Rural Amazon
In the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, communities of people currently live on islands with no electricity. The Tucuruí hydroelectric dam on the Tocantins River in the Amazon provides electricity to countless people but not to those living in the area. In 2013, nearly a quarter of those living in this region lived in “favelas” or slums and 12,000 people were without electricity. Electrifying the rural Amazon could improve the conditions of those living there.
Bringing Power
The Brazilian government’s original plan was to connect isolated communities to the national power grid. However, this was not feasible due to Brazil’s difficult terrain. The landscape made it very challenging to reach certain remote regions. Oftentimes, these remote areas have plenty of renewable resources, such as the sun, wind and water. This means that off-grid solutions, such as individual solar panels, can be much more effective in reaching these areas. Thus, a new plan emerged.
Omexom, through its Brazilian branch (VINCI Energies), plans to install mini photovoltaic power plants to bring electricity to these isolated communities. From January 2019 to January 2020, Omexom was supposed to install 1,361 solar panel systems to the islands surrounding the dam. Each of these solar panels has a capacity of 1.8 MWp, which is enough power to run lights and household appliances on the farms. This is all part of the Brazilian government’s program “Luz Para Todos.” This endeavor aims to provide electricity to more than 10 million people living in the rural areas of the country without access to the grid. Electrifying the rural Amazon and other rural areas in Brazil can help the country in a multitude of ways, including poverty.
How Electricity Helps Poverty Reduction
Very few farms on these islands have access to diesel generators for power as they are expensive. Many families use oil lamps for light and preserve food using ice they must bring back from the mainland daily. Renewable resources could help increase the quality of living for these families through sustainable development. In turn, this could reduce poverty overall.
According to an environmental research letter, “Electrification provides a solid basis for development of local communities.” Access to electricity aids communities in accessing other vital resources. Safe potable water, improved health conditions and food security are all linked to available electricity. By-products, such as time saved and less pollution, also aid the community.
Electrifying the rural Amazon can help improve Brazil’s Human Development Index (HDI) score. Studies have shown a clear connection between HDI and electricity consumption. One study even concluding that electricity consumption promotes human development. In the case of Brazil specifically, the states with the highest HDI score were also the states with the highest electrification levels in the country.
Lighting Up the Future
Brazil can help improve the lives of the rural populace by simply giving these communities access to electricity. Electrifying the rural Amazon will help the people isolated by the Tucuruí dam and many others across the rainforest. With increased access to electricity, inhabitants can obtain a higher quality of life and have more opportunities in life. Electricity for those who live off-grid can help to decrease poverty levels. It is time to bring poverty-reduction efforts to the rural areas; it is time to electrify the rural Amazon.
– Courtney Roe
Photo: Flickr
Solutions to Water Pollution in India
Water Pollution’s Impact on Livelihoods
Urban areas in India generate approximately 62,000 million liters per day (MLD) of sewage water. With the capacity to only treat 23,277 MLD, more than 70% of the sewage in urban areas does not receive treatment. The untreated waste often ends up in nearby water bodies such as the River Ganges, one of 10 rivers accounting for “90% of the plastic pollution that ends up at sea.”
Because of the water pollution, India’s rivers are in a dire state and citizens suffer health and economic impacts. The pollutants entering the water leave it contaminated and unsafe to consume. In 2018, more than 163 million people in India did not have a source of safe drinking water, leading to people relying on rivers for drinking water.
The polluted water also affects the fish that rely on healthy bacteria to survive. As a result, incidents of mass fish deaths are increasing at an alarming rate. Without fish in India’s waterways, millions of people will be out of work. As of 2020, India ranks third globally in fishery production and the fishing industry employs more than 145 million people.
Small-scale fisheries, which supply 55% of the total fish production, are critical for reducing poverty and food scarcity in local communities. Freshwater fisheries also help improve water quality and soil conditions on land, positively aiding agriculture. For this reason, water pollution in India is harmful to the agriculture and aquaculture industries.
Repurposing Plastic Pollution
Concerned for their futures, fishermen in Kerala, India, are taking part in an environmental initiative to keep their waters clean. In 2017, the local government put out an order to minimize water pollution. Fishermen in Kerala have answered the call. Kerala relies substantially on the fishing industry, which brings in approximately $14 million in revenue.
The government passed the Suchitwa Sagaram (Clean Sea) project, requiring harbor authorities to distribute nylon bags to fishermen so that they can store the plastic pollution that gets caught in their nets instead of throwing it back into the sea. Construction companies buy the collected plastic in shredded form and use it to build new roads. Cleaning and sorting the gathered plastic provides jobs to local women in Kerala.
When mixed with asphalt, the plastic component makes India’s roads more resistant to intense heat. In addition to helping the environment, the process is saving India money by reducing the cost of building roads by “8–10% per kilometer of road paved with plastic as compared with a conventionally built road.” Every kilometer of road utilizes about 1 million plastic bags. As of April 2021, the project has collected about 176,000 pounds of plastic and has built 135 kilometers of road, creating many employment opportunities in the process.
Fighting Poverty and Environmental Degradation
Properly developed roads contribute to economic growth. By building and maintaining roads to rural communities, India can ensure the economic development of these areas. Roads to rural communities improve access to education and reduce costs for transportation, trade and production. However, funding for rural infrastructure is usually low on the list of budgetary priorities for the Indian government. Repurposing ocean plastic for use in building materials reduces the cost of roads while simultaneously combating water pollution in India, thus reducing poverty overall.
– Samantha Fazio
Photo: Flickr
The Fight Against Child Marriage in Palestine
In 2014, the State of Palestine ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. These treaties aim to protect children from child marriage in Palestine. However, child marriage is still a threat to children due to gender discrimination and economic struggle.
The Main Causes of Child Marriage in Palestine
Gender discrimination is among the causes of child marriage in Palestine. Children living in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, especially girls and women, suffer gender-based violence throughout their communities and even in their families. Some girls face physical, sexual and psychological abuse. In 2015, the Women’s Affairs Center (WAC) reported that 65% of women married before 18 experienced at least one act of violence in the Gaza Strip. Although Palestine produced laws and treaties to help women and children, many of them are incredibly broad. In addition, they are subject to varying degrees of interpretation by the police and legal institutions. Because of the number of gender-based attacks, families use marriage to protect these girls from poverty, sexual harassment and assault. However, marriages frequently lead to more negative effects for these child brides.
The necessity for economic survival also ties in with the prevalence of child marriage in Palestine. Political instability has led to widespread poverty with more than half of families in Palestine living below the poverty line. A 2019 survey showed that the highest rate of child marriage exists in encampments and the Jordan Valley. These areas also struggle the most with education. According to this report, families in this area have turned away from the socioeconomic and demographic transitions that have taken place in the West Bank over the past two decades. While the rate of child marriage has decreased through Palestine, certain areas still have issues keeping their children safe.
The Effect of Child Marriage in Palestine
Child marriage is a violation of basic human rights. Consequently, it often results in early pregnancy and social isolation. In addition, many child brides have minimal school experience, which is reinforcing the cycle of poverty. In the West Bank, 21.3% of girls have had a live birth below 18, and in the Gaza Strip, the number is 23.8%. Pregnancy-related deaths are the leading cause of death in both married and unmarried girls below the age of 18.
Child marriage has many long-term effects on children’s psyche. It negatively affects any likelihood of a future healthy relationship and employment. This forceful engagement brings out trust issues, leaving victims of child marriage isolated and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Many of these child brides do not receive any support. Furthermore, child brides’ social wellbeing frequently declines as well. Child marriage has many long-term effects on a child’s physical, psychological and social health.
The Men Who Stand Against Child Marriage in Palestine
Freeh Abu T’ema is one of the first 20 ambassadors of change working to persuade their community to stop early marriages. After two of the ambassadors came to his house to stop his daughter’s wedding, he realized that the marriages of young girls is unethical and decided to join the ambassadors to advocate for change. The two ambassadors who visited him were Mossa Abu Taema and Wael Abu Ismael. These men had undergone training from a community-based organization, the Future Brilliant Society, as part of the U.N. Women’s Regional Men and Women Gender Equality Programme.
This organization focuses on educating men on gender equality issues to promote gender equality. This training helped them become advocates for change. As a result, the group expanded to more than 30 men in eastern Khan Younis (and the Gaza Strip) and prevented 50 marriages and counting.
Freeh Abu T’ema and the rest of the ambassadors raise awareness by educating people in their communities. Teaching people, protesting early marriage and donating to charities are ways to raise awareness about early marriage in Palestine.
– Aahana Goswami
Photo: Flickr
Efforts to Combat Marital Rape in Egypt
A Voice on Instagram
Egyptian fashion designer Nada Adel was married to Tameem Youness, a musician. Now divorced, Adel said in an Instagram video that people should not ignore rape just because two people are married. She claims her husband raped her while they were married for a year. This sparked debate over social media and many women called for legal action.
Adel’s ex-husband denied her claims, and those in favor of Sharia law claimed that marital rape in Egypt was nonexistent. In fact, social media user Amr Sabry argued that unless a woman is too sick or too tired, rape cannot exist within the marriage.
Who is Joining the Cause?
Actresses like Mona Zaki have spread awareness in the past by playing wives in scenes where the husband tries to force intercourse. More celebrities are taking action by prompting legislation to criminalize marital rape in support of Adel. Journalist Amr Adeeb and actress Somaya El Khashab are just two examples of renowned individuals fighting for a change in legislation.
In June 2021, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet released a statement about the violence women experience in Egypt. Bachelet stated that violence percentages have risen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With many staying home and quarantining, women have suffered at the hands of their husbands. She claimed that many women do not report the men out of fear of their community shaming them, family members initiating verbal or physical attacks on them and authorities not believing them.
Further, many women cannot report marital rape in Egypt because many do not see marital rape as an issue. Bachelet has urged for change in legislation for a better future for women in Egypt.
Religious Boundaries
Currently, a woman who reports marital rape may only succeed in their husband receiving a charge for hitting them, resulting in a misdemeanor for the husband. Ahmed El-Sabag, a scholar with Al-Azhar, claims that a husband forcing a wife into intercourse is unlawful under Sharia law.
Quoting two verses from the Quran, El-Sabag says that a husband must not have sex with his wife while she is menstruating, as to remain pure. Purity is something the relationship should have before intercourse. Therefore, violent husbands are in violation of Islamic Sharia.
The second verse explains that since wives carry children, they have a task of honor and should receive honorable treatment. A husband should show righteousness when approaching his wife and keep in mind that he respects Allah when doing so.
How Less Sexual Violence Leads to Less Poverty
Women who depend on someone else to provide food, water, shelter, clothing and more often feel they do not have a right to revoke consent, especially if they have children. However, victims of sexual violence are often the ones living in poverty. As those at greater risk, women become marginalized, leading to more stigma that results in wage gaps, violence and dependency. This leads to more families and women in poverty.
A Movement of Hope
Islamic Sharia law prohibits marital rape. It is the stigma surrounding gender that causes people to take the Quran out of context. Therefore, criminalizing marital rape for Egyptians would not violate religious expectations. As many women and men fight for these human rights, hope is an enduring light.
– Selena Soto
Photo: Unsplash
Explaining the Low Healthcare Access in LMICs
Around 2 billion people around the world lack proper access to surgical care or advanced medical care. On average, low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) have fewer than two operating rooms and one trained surgeon per 100,000 people. Due to this, treatable maladies often result in death. In 2011, around 5 million people died of injuries in LMICs. The barrier between proper medical care and patients is the cost of care. More often, the costs of admission, medications and food are based on the strained economic conditions of impoverished countries. The shortage of medical professionals in LMICs has been identified as one of the most significant obstacles to achieving health-related U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). One can see the severity of this lack of healthcare access in LMICs in countries such as Mozambique, with only 548 doctors for more than 22 million people.
Lack of Medical Professionals
The absence of medical professionals in LMICs is often due to the poor economic situation of these countries. This results in limited financial resources to support a good healthcare system and provide proper training for doctors. Even when training is available, many skilled doctors work overseas due to others offering them a better medical career abroad, leading to a lack of healthcare access in LMICs. The British Medical Journal claims that “African countries have lost about $2.6 billion…training doctors who are now living in western countries.”
On average, there is less than one doctor for every 20,000 people in Chad. In addition, an equipment shortage in Chad means there are fewer than four hospital beds for every 10,000 people. Furthermore, inequitable distribution of service is a major problem in these countries. Due to a limited number of doctors being available to treat millions of people, often patients with a higher income receive what little medical support is available. Those of a lower income in these countries find it more difficult to afford treatment and especially cannot afford emergency medical procedures.
Consequences for Patients
Lack of trained medical professionals often means that diseases, surgeries, injuries and complications often result in death. Disease is excessive and often untreatable in these countries. Medical procedures often require advanced training and experience to be conducted successfully. The demand for these procedures greatly exceeds the supply of surgeons and institutions, leading to low healthcare access in LMICs.
For example, 90% of those who are visually impaired live in LMICs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 80% of cases involving visual disability are preventable. Eye surgery, an effective method of treating blindness, is rarely available. Furthermore, according to the National Library of Medicine, 6 billion people in LMICs lack access to safe and affordable cardiac surgery.
According to WHO, 94% of all maternal deaths occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Many women facing birth complications rarely have access to trained professionals who can handle these complications. Sometimes, doctors with insufficient training may perform emergency procedures improperly, resulting in debilitating injuries or even death. Furthermore, 99% of hemorrhage-related peripartum deaths occur in LMICs. These problems all stem from the fact that a qualified medical professional attends less than 50% of all births in LMICs.
Rising Cancer Rates
Another consequence of a poor global healthcare system is the rising cancer mortality rates in LMICs. More than half of the 10 million cancer deaths in 2020 occurred in LMICs. When comparing the healthcare systems of different regions, high-income countries usually spend around five to 10 times more per person. As a result, less than 50% of those diagnosed with cancer in high-income countries die from the disease. On the other hand, 66% of those diagnosed with cancer in LMICs die from the disease. This is mostly due to the fact that LMICs do not have the resources for treatment facilities or radiation therapy centers.
Organizations Making an Impact
Organizations like the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) support the training of doctors to improve healthcare access in LMICs. MEPI works to increase the number of new healthcare workers, strengthen medical education systems and build clinical and research capacity in LMICs. Charities such as Mercy Ships send volunteer surgeons to provide lifesaving surgical procedures and invite local doctors to expand upon their surgical skills alongside the volunteer surgeons. Mercy Ships also provides mentoring programs for surgeons, anesthesia providers, ward nurses, operating nurses and biomedical technicians. By providing new medical tools and resources, constructing new medical facilities, providing training for local professionals and working with local governments, Mercy Ships leaves a long-lasting impact.
Poverty and disease are closely related. In order to have significant improvement in global health, economic development of LMICs and improved medical education is essential. The growing disparity in surgical access and other health services requires urgent attention. We can put this into action through the comprehensive development of healthcare access in LMICs.
– Arya Baladevigan
Photo: Unsplash
COVID-19’s Impact on Trinidad and Tobago
COVID-19’s impact on Trinidad and Tobago, a tropical twin-island nation in the Caribbean, has been particularly harsh. As other countries return to normalcy, Trinidad and Tobago is facing its highest numbers of COVID-19 cases yet. In fact, it has seen a total of 33,920 cases and 918 deaths. Of its 1.3 million population, 7,162 currently have COVID-19. Government response consisted of closing the country’s borders, implementing stay-at-home orders and declaring a subsequent state of emergency. These measures have taken a toll on the country’s economy. The unprecedented loss of revenue has trickled down and affected various other sectors, disproportionately affecting the poorest Trinbagonians.
Economic Impact
Trinidad and Tobago is heavily dependent on revenue from crude oil and natural gas exportation. Global travel bans and local restrictions of movement resulted in decreasing fuel demands and worldwide devaluation.
The average price of crude oil, $60/barrel, began falling in January 2020. It reached an all-time low of $21.04/barrel in April 2020, a 65% decrease. Fortunately, since mass vaccination began, restrictions have eased, and prices began normalizing to around $60/barrel again by February 2021.
Tourism and Businesses
Tourism, the country’s second-largest income source, employs almost 10,000 persons and has halted following the country’s border closure. This resulted in up to 7% in job loss. Tobago in particular needs tourism to create jobs and supplement its economy, and both islands gain a large boost in foreign revenue during Carnival. The government closed beaches and canceled Carnival to save lives and with the hope of holding COVID-free Carnivals in future years as the country rebuilds its economy.
Poorer communities benefited from tourism with people working as boat-tour guides, street vendors and fishermen but lost out on those opportunities. Meanwhile, other non-essential and small businesses closed in April 2020. The later-imposed state of emergency saw several go bankrupt, further adding to the mass increase in unemployment and the potential loss of at least 10% of its GDP.
Economist Dr. Indera Sagewan said that while it is too early to confirm the exact number of businesses that closed due to COVID-19, she expects that more businesses will close permanently. She also expects that permanent employment will increase in the private sector.
“The social impact will be severe such as entertainment, tourism, the retail sectors as these sectors employ unskilled and semi-skilled individuals. They also operate in the lower-income bracket of society. This is the sector that has felt the brunt of COVID closures,” she said.
Helping Out
Local media outlets have been covering farmers, vendors and bus drivers fighting to make a living, spreading awareness of their plight and prompting community members to help each other. The government has offered Salary Relief Grants to affected persons in certain sectors, receiving over 15,000 applications, mainly from the retail, entertainment and food and restaurant sector.
Lengthy processing times of these applications have encouraged other entities to address immediate needs. Communities have hosted food drives, and the Digicel Foundation, partnering with 10 NGOs, offered $500,000 in food vouchers to 1,000 families that COVID-19 affected. The Trinidad and Tobago Association of Psychologists has also been offering free calls to help those who have experienced poor mental health as a result of job loss and quarantine during the pandemic.
An Overwhelmed Healthcare System
Early in the pandemic, the government created a parallel healthcare system, designating certain medical facilities to treat COVID-19 patients. However, the government did not fully enforce border closure, leading to a Venezuelan immigrant introducing the P1 Brazilian variant into the country.
Cases surged, with hospitals reaching over 95% occupation. The government’s inability to offer a steady supply of PPE, overtime or childcare pushed healthcare workers, who the pandemic had already spread thin, out of the profession. Despite the one nurse to 30 patient ratio, the Joint Trade Union Movement revealed that medical facilities were still only hiring healthcare workers temporarily.
Dr. Maryam Abdool-Richards, Principal Medical Officer, announced that hospitals were filling faster than emptying and they are “basically out of hospital beds.” This resulted in only 10 patients being admitted to the hospital per 100 cases. Meanwhile, those who were not able to afford private healthcare had to treat themselves at home. The U.S. government donated two field hospitals to mitigate COVID-19’s impact on Trinidad and Tobago, each with a 40-bed capacity.
Education Cutback
COVID-19’s impact on Trinidad and Tobago extends to education as well. Online learning has taken place since schools closed in March 2020. However, The Ministry of Education estimates that the resources needed to participate in school online are inaccessible to 60,000 students. The Ministry has provided most teachers with laptops but has not resolved the accessibility issue for poorer students. The Catholic Board of Education stepped in during 2020, partnering with the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) to bring internet connectivity to almost 2,000 students in need.
Trinbagonians, mainly students who were studying abroad when the borders closed, have spent over a year stranded in foreign countries. Many have been running low on foreign currency for food and shelter. Local media outlets have been covering the plight of these nationals and encouraging locals to utilize various money-transfer platforms to help them. The government recently launched an Exemption Program to slowly repatriate locals through the regional airline.
Thirdly, the Ministry reduced academic scholarships for tertiary education from 400 to 100 and cut postgraduate funding due to the pandemic. However, the Hindu religious group Maha Sabher is fighting for the affected students’ right to education. It has filed a lawsuit against the government’s new policy which they describe as “unlawful, unfair, deprived students of a legitimate expectation to be assessed for scholarships on academic performance.”
One student who qualified for a scholarship under the previous policy has resorted to funding her medical degree via Gofundme. “It’s unfair how our government handled education during COVID, but people online have been so generous,” she told The Borgen Project.
Vaccinations
Willing Trinbagonians aged 60+ are gradually receiving vaccinations, in addition to public officials, some essential workers and some high-risk cases. Trinidad and Tobago’s government found vaccines difficult to secure so it has been depending on gifted doses. Luckily, other countries stepped up as Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, Bermuda, the Grenadines and India donated a total of 64,500 AstraZeneca vaccines, China donated 200,000 Sinopharm vaccines and the U.S. donated 400 Pfizer vaccines.
In the words of ECLAC’s Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena, “No country will be able to fight this pandemic without global and regional cooperation. At the end of the day, what we really need to consider is what will happen to multilateralism. There must be more integration. Without a doubt, we must move towards greater coordination.”
The aid of global partners has certainly helped alleviate COVID-19’s impact on Trinidad and Tobago. However, while the country’s vaccination efforts continue, its citizens are doing what they can to help each other.
– Serah-Marie Maharaj
Photo: Flickr
HIV Prevention: Economic And Educational Disparity
As economic vulnerability is an important risk factor for HIV, economic empowerment projects are becoming an increasingly common measure for HIV prevention and mitigation. Stakeholders are primarily concerned with the effects of HIV/AIDS on women and girls. However, concerted efforts have begun to improve their living conditions by finding sustainable ways to remove economic and educational disparity and improve their economic status.
Connections between economic and educational disparity and HIV status remain complicated. Few studies have linked involvement in economic empowerment methods and HIV outcomes for young women. Therefore, the exploration of effective interventions must go beyond the healthcare sector to further address the linkage between HIV risks and economic and social factors.
Furthermore, strong stigmatization of the disease persists in sub-Saharan Africa in addition to poor awareness of HIV transmission and preventive initiatives. This increases the need to improve HIV-related knowledge in the region for future prevention strategies. Thus far, initiatives to improve HIV-related awareness in sub-Saharan Africa have included a broad range of information-dissemination methods, including the use of means that can easily reach the vulnerable populations, such as mass media or community-based social cohesion methods.
The significant social determinants of HIV require more comprehensive educational interventions. These interventions became designed in light of social- and gender-inequity-based theories. These include social norms theory, the social constructivist theory of gender and the theory of gender and power. Furthermore, approaches focused on behavior theories have undergone wide use in interventions aimed at improving HIV-related knowledge, as experts have found that HIV-education interventions, when combined with behavioral change components, correlate with a higher probability of eventual implementation of preventive behaviors.
The Current Landscape
Implementation issues in HIV-education interventions became neglected. The sub-Saharan region of Africa suffers from a lack of HIV education because this region has the highest rates of education exclusion and the highest out-of-school rates for all age groups in the world. A disproportionate number of young children attend school for a short while and quickly drop out. Around 20% of children from 6 to 11 years old are out of school in addition to 34% of children between 12 and 14 years old. According to UIS, 60% of teenagers from 15 to 17 years old remain unenrolled in school.
These statistics show that HIV-education interventions do not always have wide distribution. This results in few youths receiving education from these programs. Thus, how to deliver effective HIV/AIDS education in sub-Saharan Africa is worth discussing.
Current trends in sub-Saharan Africa indicate that digital education is getting traction even though technological barriers persist. Many perceive digital education as not only a better form of learning but also as a cost-effective way to broaden educational opportunities. The rapidly growing population is exploding with demands for education. Countries are increasingly embracing digital tools to increase access to education and improve educational and social equity.
According to World Bank Education, the learning crisis, which resulted from learning poverty, started long before the COVID-19 pandemic. With the spread of COVID-19, 1.6 billion children and youth are out of school. Thus, it has become more and more urgent to prepare students in low-resource areas for digital learning. This is so they have an opportunity to gain healthcare knowledge, especially the knowledge of COVID-19 treatment and HIV prevention.
Educational Radio Programmes
Educational radio programming can be an excellent tool to keep children from disadvantaged areas engaged in HIV-knowledge acquisition. It enables disadvantaged populations to access the information they need to achieve sustainable development. Many of these radio programs aim to improve regional development. Community radio platforms became promoted to encourage local development. Many villages have limited access to information about education and nutrition. Radio programs allow them to study and improve their living conditions.
UNESCO, which set up multi-collaborations with low-resource countries, stated that these countries rely heavily on the radio (93%) and “the use of radio and television broadcasts as distance learning solutions is a powerful way to bridge the digital divide in the education sector and reach the most marginalized learners.” Previous research and studies have focused on how the radio programs have developed in recent years, but these studies have neglected the application of radio and have rarely directly studied how people use the radio, and specifically how radio platforms can be effective educational tools.
Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa seek to develop into emerging nations by 2035 and are setting policies and goals. For example, in Cameroon, the government has prioritized Information Communication Technologies (ICT) development in the economic, culture and education domains in all state sectors, with a specific focus on ICT in the education domain. It encouraged programs consisting of agriculture, health and rural and urban development content for a mass audience. Many see radio programming as a way for Cameroon to achieve overall development.
Educational Equity and Digital Learning
Still, a portion of the population in the rural areas – for example, 42% of the population of Cameroon – cannot receive national radio services. Young adolescents in these rural areas are still in a more disadvantaged position than those in urban districts because they are unable to receive important information.
Therefore, policymakers ought to develop a short- or long-term digital learning arrangement and evaluate their systems’ capability to support a digital learning paradigm that incorporates a mixture of technologies and delivery mechanisms. It is also critical for policymakers to collaborate with outside stakeholders such as EdTech companies, local broadcast centers and private radio stations to ensure the accelerated growth of the designated digital learning modality. Dispersing economic and educational disparity should always be the priority among all planning efforts.
– Aining Liang
Photo: Flickr
Poverty, COVID-19 and Tuberculosis in Peru
The History of Tuberculosis in Peru
Tuberculosis in Peru was a pressing issue long before the emergence of COVID-19. Peru reports the second-highest rate of tuberculosis in the Americas and WHO has classified Peru as one of the countries with the most cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) worldwide. Peru’s economic landscape makes it the perfect hotbed for highly contagious diseases such as COVID-19 and tuberculosis. Roughly 27% of Peru’s population lives in poverty, with a lack of proper housing confining many to dense slums in urban centers. When combined with restricted access to healthcare, these circumstances worsen the spread of disease.
In recent years, Peru has made strides in combating the spread of tuberculosis. For example, the Peruvian government has revamped its tuberculosis control program by establishing multiple committees to guide tuberculosis containment. It has also increased funding for tuberculosis efforts. However, COVID-19 has become a serious roadblock to this mission.
The Impact of Two Pandemics
Upon the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Peru in early 2020, nearly all the country’s healthcare equipment and resources went toward its treatment and containment. Peru’s healthcare system lacked the capacity to continue fighting tuberculosis as it had, thus, COVID-19 and tuberculosis cases rose simultaneously. Lockdown has also limited the availability of tuberculosis testing, making it harder for doctors to track the disease’s spread. Doctors fear inadequate access to proper medical care and resources will contribute to the development of new strands of MDR-TB.
Continuing to Fight Tuberculosis
The COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly continue to impact how Peru addresses tuberculosis. However, efforts have occurred at every level of society to keep combating the latter’s rise. For example, the government is continuing the TB Móvil program which it established in 2019 to increase access to tuberculosis testing by mobilizing vans across the country. The program will provide wide-reaching tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment options.
Non-governmental organizations are working on the ground in Peru as well. Socios en Salud (Partners in Health), which has been active in Peru since the mid-1990s, created its own programs and tools to increase access to tuberculosis treatments. The tools include Mochila TB, individual backpack machines that are useful for tuberculosis testing. The portable and compact machines “[take] testing directly to patients.” One device can test as many as 80 people per day. Solutions like Mochila TB make healthcare more accessible to the rural population. The devices can therefore greatly reduce the impact of tuberculosis in Peru.
Descriptions have determined that Mochila TB is a combination of “digital radiology, artificial intelligence and molecular biology” and has already made a significant impact. Since early March 2021, Mochila TB has reached 3,491 people in the most remote communities of Peru. The mobile testing capability eases the strain on healthcare systems to accommodate for COVID-19 care.
Paving the Way Forward
Healthcare professionals have identified another key step in mitigating COVID-19’s effect on the spread of tuberculosis in Peru: using the healthcare system to combat both diseases simultaneously. Given the diseases’ many similarities in infection, containment and spread, using the same strategies and principles for COVID-19 and tuberculosis in Peru can help stop the spread of both. Through innovations and strategizing, Peru should be able to successfully combat both pandemics.
– Nathan Mo
Photo: Flickr