A woman in Africa is more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than a woman in Western Europe. The lack of nurses and midwives in comparison to Europe can have a significant impact on pregnancy and postpartum health care as well as maternal mortality in Africa. However, organizations and businesses are helping to improve the well-being of African women. Here are four mobile services reducing maternal and child mortality rates in Africa.
Springster
This mobile platform “connects marginalized and vulnerable girls to online content designed to equip them with knowledge, confidence and connections they need to navigate the complex choices of adolescence.”
Individuals can access Springster’s content through social media channels like Facebook to provide a space for girls to engage in topics like puberty, education, money management and relationships. The app is based on sharing real-life experiences and helping girls make positive choices to change their lives for the better.
A major innovation with the app is Big Sis. Big Sis is a chatbot designed to provide personalized information about questions related to sexual health. This enables girls to find advice and answers 24/7. The app has impacted many girls’ lives with the reassurance and advice from shared stories and experiences from other girls like them. As a result, girls are able to provide guidance and support to each other.
Mum & Baby
This service sends free health information via SMS three times a week to mothers, caregivers and partners. When people sign up for the service, they provide their age, location and stage of parenting they need help with from early pregnancy to taking care of a 5-year-old.
After inputting the personal information, Mum & Baby sends out personalized messages to the user depending on the information given. Along with the messages, there is a free mobile site that does not use data. Instead, it offers articles, videos, tutorials and tools like the immunization calendar, due date calculator and pregnancy medicine checker.
A study was conducted to see the impact Mum & Baby has on people using the service. The study indicates that 96% of users found the information via texts helpful and 98% of users say they would take action to care for themselves or their children.
Of the mothers and pregnant women surveyed, 95% of them say the information they received influenced their decision to breastfeed. Moreover, the Mum & Baby service influenced 96% of participants to vaccinate their children. More than 650,000 children received immunizations as a result of free text messages.
RapidSMS in Rwanda
This mobile service is similar to Mum & Baby in the sense that it shares information via SMS. However, with this mobile platform, community health workers are equipped with mobile devices to collect and use real-time data on key maternal, neonatal and child health indicators.
The service collects data within the “first 1,000 days of life” from pregnancy to childbirth and from the newborn stage until the child reaches age 2. This also includes a broad range of areas of childcare such as antenatal care, delivery, postnatal care, growth monitoring and even death indicators such as maternal and child mortality.
The mobile platform records the indicators and generates reminders for appointments, delivery and postnatal care visits. There is also an emergency care platform called Red Alerts. There is also a creation of a database of clinical records on maternal care delivery.
UNICEF did a study on RapidSMS to measure its effects on maternal and child mortality. RapidSMS has contributed to some changes in the use of health care services and maternal and child mortality and has overall led to improvements in health outcomes for mothers and children in Rwanda.
M-Mama’s Ambulance Taxi
This application “uses mobile technology to connect women in rural areas of Africa to emergency transport.” The project began in 2013 to help women in rural Tanzania gain access to health care where almost half of the women there give birth at home without the assistance of a health care worker. Many mothers and children die from preventable birth complications due to the lack of health systems and delayed access to care. The creators of M-Mama intend to change these circumstances and reduce maternal mortality rates, in line with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.
The process of M-Mama’s ambulance taxi project starts when a patient makes a call to a 24-hour dispatch center. A call handler will then access the condition of the patient using the app, which would indicate whether the patient needs a transfer to a health facility. If health care is required, the call handler will notify the nearest taxi through the app, requesting the taxi driver to take the patient to the hospital. This way, taxis act as a cost-effective ambulance for the patient. The driver will receive payment after safely escorting the patient to the hospital. Since M-Mama’s start, the Lake Zone regions of Tanzania have noted a 27% reduction in maternal mortality rates.
Looking Ahead
These mobile apps are reducing maternal and child mortality rates in Africa. Through the mobile services’ resources and aid, young girls can make better decisions and expecting mothers can get the help they need despite their remote locations. Reducing maternal and child mortality rates by 1% can increase GDP by about 4.6% in African countries.
However, one issue that stands in the way is the lack of access to mobile phones and the internet. Women in sub-Saharan Africa are 13% less likely to own a phone and 37% less likely to access the internet on mobile.
The more investment there is to reduce maternal and child mortality rates in Africa, the more it will generate social and economic benefits for sub-Saharan Africa. To do that, governments and nonprofit organizations need to work to close the gender gap and develop mobile health services. These efforts will help women become informed and make healthier decisions.
– Jackson Lebedun
Photo: Flickr
5 Influential Young Female Celebrities Who are Changing the World
5 Influential Young Female Celebrities
Looking Ahead
Whether through film or advocacy, these influential young female celebrities are making the most out of their fame by speaking out against the many injustices that plague society. Their platforms allow them to voice concerns and advocate for the less fortunate. These women may be young, but their voices are anything but small. Take note of these celebrity humanitarian names because the world will be hearing a lot more from them in years to come.
– Natalie Whitmeyer
Photo: Flickr
Why Humanitarian Aid is Critical in Lebanon Today
Why is Humanitarian Aid for Lebanon Important Today?
The main reason humanitarian aid is critical in Lebanon today is because of the large number of Syrian refugees that have flooded the country. These Syrian refugees have fled Syria due to the ongoing civil war. Lebanon hosts the largest amount of Syrian refugees in the world, with a total of 1.5 million Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon. It is this high increase in population within Lebanon that is causing a strain on vital services for refugees. Because of this, Lebanese authorities are restricting more refugees from coming into the country. Lebanese authorities have also refused to build camps for the refugees. These factors have all led to worsened conditions for the refugees.
Doctors of the World: Aiding Refugees in Lebanon
One humanitarian organization offering aid in Lebanon is the French Médecins du Monde or Doctors of the World. The organization is providing substantial help to the refugees within the country. The group mainly operates in five health care centers that are located in the Lebanon Mount region and the Baqqa Valley of Lebanon. These two areas have a high concentration of refugees. Just in 2019 alone, Médecins du Monde was able to provide 98,390 health consultations, 3,577 sexual and reproductive health care sessions and 30 training sessions to health care workers. Médecins du Monde is also able to provide medication to the most vulnerable of refugees and mental health support.
The Beirut Explosion
The Beirut explosion only exacerbates the need for humanitarian aid in Lebanon. Fortunately, the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations rose to the challenge, able to provide humanitarian aid in the form of 50 tons of medical supplies and food items. The European Council was able to obtain pledges of up to €252.7 million for humanitarian aid to Lebanon. Of all the contributors, the EU was the largest contributor, offering €63 million. Since 2011, the EU has in total offered €660 million to the refugees in Lebanon.
Additionally, 60% of the EU humanitarian aid provided for refugees in Lebanon is multi-purpose cash assistance. The other 40% of EU assistance addresses other emergencies and needs. Cash assistance allows refugees to avoid the vulnerability that comes with a worsening socio-economic crisis in the country. In just 2019 alone, this type of assistance was able to provide aid to more than 338,000 people within the country. Much of this type of aid went toward purchasing essential items and services.
Lebanon faces several challenges, one of them being its large population of refugees. However, many humanitarian organizations are offering assistance to the country and its refugees. Today, humanitarian aid is critical in Lebanon. As members of the international community, individuals must do their part to help Lebanon and Syrian refugees in their time of need.
–Jacob E. Lee
Photo: Flickr
A Look at Biden’s USAID Chief Choices
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the U.S.’s federal agency for fighting international poverty. Now, many are interested in learning about Biden’s USAID chief candidates. USAID offers development assistance to countries to promote self-reliance. In 2019, the agency spent over $20 billion across 134 countries in 28 different service sectors including agriculture, basic healthcare and emergency response.
The actions of USAID are central to the U.S.’s actions on international poverty as a whole. President-Elect Joe Biden’s presidency is looming. Who he appoints as the head of USAID will be influential in shaping the agency’s actions for years to come. This role is particularly important as the world continues reeling from COVID-19. No formal nominee has been announced yet, but over the past few weeks, some have provided several names of who is on a shortlist to become Biden’s USAID Chief. These names include Ertharin Cousin, Liz Schrayer, Frederick Barton and Jeremy Konyndyk.
List of USAID Chief Candidates
Conclusion
Each of the above candidates is well qualified to become Biden’s USAID chief. Although no nominee has received an announcement yet, the future of the U.S.’s largest organization fighting international poverty seems to be in good hands.
– Bradley Cisternino
Photo: Flickr
3 Ways Kenya Works to Drop its Poverty Rates
3 Ways Kenya Works to Drop its Poverty Rates
Looking Forward
Although Kenya is making great advancements in alleviating poverty, there is still room for progress. To completely eradicate poverty in Kenya and support the country’s efforts to drop its poverty rates, the international community and humanitarian organizations must continue to donate and support Kenya’s poverty alleviation efforts. One of the ways the international community can help is by volunteering. Through the Go Overseas program, one can volunteer and take a trip to Kenya to help push forward more advancements toward a less impoverished future for the country.
– Sophia Cloonan
Photo: Flickr
How Ethnic Violence in Ethiopia Deepens Poverty
Ethiopia is a melting pot of more than 80 ethnolinguistic groups all living under one multi-ethnic federation. Long-simmering conflicts over access to land and political power have frequently boiled over into violence. While ethnic conflict is tragic, it also has tangible and concrete impacts on the economic prospects of impoverished Ethiopians. Ethnic violence in Ethiopia is endemic in Oromia, the country’s most populated region, and the Amhara region, home to some of the most impoverished people on the planet.
Ethnic Strife in Oromia
Oromia makes up approximately one-third of Ethiopia’s total area and is home to 37 million people. The region has achieved significant food insecurity reductions in recent years. Still, an astonishingly high number of people, especially children, face impoverishment. In Oromia, 90% of children younger than 18 experience multidimensional poverty. This high number of vulnerable residents pairs poorly with the area’s history of ethnic tensions.
Despite being the largest Ethiopian ethnic group, the Oromos have not held power in modern Ethiopia. Consequently, Oromos have banded together within ethnic-nationalist movements, such as the Oromo Liberation Front, in order to push for political empowerment. The narratives promoted by such outfits have often been accusatory and hostile toward other ethnic groups. Ethnic resentment is baked into the Oromia region’s identity.
In 2018, the outlook in Oromia became particularly fraught. In the spring of that year, a scarcity of productive farmland led to an intense conflict between Gedeos and Gujis, two smaller ethnic groups. In the fall, Oromos clashed with other communities in two neighboring provinces. Just in the first seven months of the year, more than 800,000 Oromian residents had been forced to flee their homes due to conflict and become internally displaced.
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) is a label that covers far too many Ethiopians in Oromia and beyond. Ethiopia was home to 2.9 million IDPs in 2018, the most in any country. Unfortunately, becoming internally displaced is often a precursor to falling into poverty. Farmers who fled Oromia in 2018 left their land behind, abandoning their entire livelihoods and becoming entirely dependent on outside humanitarian support. A World Bank report on the world’s forcibly displaced observed that displacement-induced poverty “condemns generations — mostly women and children — to a life on the margins.”
Luckily, Ahmed’s government has managed to break through some of the major fault lines, including between Oromos and southern Somali groups. The thousands of Gedeos facing displacement within Oromia two years ago have mostly been able to return. Yet to the north, the struggle of one ethnic group demonstrates that a steady home is no guarantee of prosperity.
The Plight of the Amhara
Under the Ethiopian monarchy, Amharas dominated the country’s government. However, since the overthrow of the emperor in 1974, the community has suffered a steep fall from grace. Similar to Oromia, poverty is inescapable for many in the Amhara region with 26% of the population living below the poverty line and 91% of children suffering multi-dimensional deprivation.
Due to poverty’s catastrophic toll, the Amharans lead the world in one undesirable area: The prevalence of trachoma, a disease that blinds millions of the world’s impoverished. Spread by flies and poor hygiene, the disease thrives in Amhara, where 84% of the population lives in rural areas and 47% of households lack access to safe drinking water. Entire villages complain of poor eyesight and intense pain that, without treatment, leads to blindness.
Adding to their misfortune, other ethnic groups demonize the Amharas for their involvement in the country’s imperial history, inspiring a sense of victimhood among Amharas that only creates new waves of conflict. In 2018, authorities of the neighboring Benishangul-Gumuz region accused ethnic Amharas of killing 200 people over a land dispute. One year later, Amhara’s regional president was murdered by the region’s own security chief, who had links to Amharan ethnic-nationalist groups, in a suspected coup attempt. This shocking development vastly destabilized the region and emboldened radical ethnic armed groups.
The aftermath of the assassination demonstrates another upshot of ethnic violence in Ethiopia that can worsen poverty: Profound instability. Following the coup attempt, a harsh crackdown on Amhara ensued, including the arrest of 250 people and, dismayingly, a total internet shutdown. Growing internet access across Ethiopia and other African nations is hailed as a major step forward developmentally, but internet shutdowns reverse this progress and exact millions of dollars in economic losses.
A More Inclusive Future
While the government’s efforts to quell ethnic violence in Ethiopia and its resulting human impacts have not always been successful, Ahmed has inspired hope that peace is achievable. The creation of a national commission focused on ethnic reconciliation is a step forward, as is the prime minister’s promise to reform the country’s federal system. In Amhara, the distribution of antibiotics has led to a major decrease in trachoma prevalence. Hopefully, Amharans who had their vision saved can soon open their eyes to a brighter future ahead— for them and all Ethiopians.
– Jack Silvers
Photo: Flickr
The Growing Concern of Elderly Poverty in France
Since the early 1970s, the mean standard of living for senior citizens above 65 years old in France has significantly improved. Complying with the guidelines that the second U.N. World Assembly on Aging (WAA) in 2002 and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Aging (MIPAA) brought up, France keeps implementing aging policies that focus on the health and well-being of elderly people, their participation and benefits in the social development and a more enabling and supportive environment. However, elderly poverty in France remains a socioeconomic issue. As of 2012, 17.5% of French people are over 65 years old, whereas working-age people between 15 and 64 take up 63.8% of the total population. A 2019 study reported that around one out of 10 elderly people in France lives in poverty, which is to say, there are now more than one million French people of old age living below the poverty threshold.
Wealthier than the Younger Population
Although elderly poverty in France is a significant issue, senior French citizens are not the most susceptible group to poverty. The elderly population is far behind young adults, females and immigrants in terms of one’s risk of poverty. The French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) reported that in 2015, elderly people more than 65 years old are not only half as likely to fall into the lowest-earning 10% as their counterparts between the ages of 25 and 64, but their proportion among the lowest-earning 20% also decreases in the 21st century.
Such situations are the comprehensive outcome of a more continuous career and higher wages, higher retirement pensions, mandatory supplementary schemes and so on. They also have more time and opportunity for inheritance and savings, and their forms of resources are less sensitive to economic fluctuations. As such, it is not too hard to understand why the mean standard of living for elderly people is 3% higher than that for the younger generations in France.
Health Status
Yet, despite accumulated wealth, health status deteriorates remarkably with age, which may cause extra expenses that Social Security does not cover and lead to elderly poverty in France. In 2015, 43% of French people more than 65 years old endured at least one long-term illness, and the percentage keeps rising over the years.
When the deterioration in health causes a partial loss of autonomy and home care is no longer suitable, the elderly people have to live in an institutional setting such as a nursing home, and this would be another large expense that many are not able or not willing to afford. Only fewer than 2% of people aged below 75 live in a nursing institution, and for those more than 85 years old, the number climbs to 10 times higher.
The Incoming Challenge of Population Aging
As the problem of population aging is becoming increasingly serious in Europe, it is too early for the elderly to be too optimistic. In 2012, there were 15 million French people aged more than 60 years old, and this number could reach 24 million in 50 years, alongside the extended life expectancy. Over the last decade, more people went into retirement, and there were 5% of elderly people aged between 65 and 74 still in employment, many of whom were part-time employees with low qualifications, shopkeepers and older farmers.
The French government has to adjust the retirement pension and health care policies to ensure the well-being of old age. So far, various actions are underway, but the results are far from satisfying. For instance, a large national strike began in December 2019 to protest against President Macron’s pension system reform. The government must take into consideration the growing elderly poverty in France and actively work to alleviate poverty rates with policies and financial support.
– Jingyan Zhang
Photo: Flickr
4 Mobile Services Reducing Maternal and Child Mortality Rates
Springster
This mobile platform “connects marginalized and vulnerable girls to online content designed to equip them with knowledge, confidence and connections they need to navigate the complex choices of adolescence.”
Individuals can access Springster’s content through social media channels like Facebook to provide a space for girls to engage in topics like puberty, education, money management and relationships. The app is based on sharing real-life experiences and helping girls make positive choices to change their lives for the better.
A major innovation with the app is Big Sis. Big Sis is a chatbot designed to provide personalized information about questions related to sexual health. This enables girls to find advice and answers 24/7. The app has impacted many girls’ lives with the reassurance and advice from shared stories and experiences from other girls like them. As a result, girls are able to provide guidance and support to each other.
Mum & Baby
This service sends free health information via SMS three times a week to mothers, caregivers and partners. When people sign up for the service, they provide their age, location and stage of parenting they need help with from early pregnancy to taking care of a 5-year-old.
After inputting the personal information, Mum & Baby sends out personalized messages to the user depending on the information given. Along with the messages, there is a free mobile site that does not use data. Instead, it offers articles, videos, tutorials and tools like the immunization calendar, due date calculator and pregnancy medicine checker.
A study was conducted to see the impact Mum & Baby has on people using the service. The study indicates that 96% of users found the information via texts helpful and 98% of users say they would take action to care for themselves or their children.
Of the mothers and pregnant women surveyed, 95% of them say the information they received influenced their decision to breastfeed. Moreover, the Mum & Baby service influenced 96% of participants to vaccinate their children. More than 650,000 children received immunizations as a result of free text messages.
RapidSMS in Rwanda
This mobile service is similar to Mum & Baby in the sense that it shares information via SMS. However, with this mobile platform, community health workers are equipped with mobile devices to collect and use real-time data on key maternal, neonatal and child health indicators.
The service collects data within the “first 1,000 days of life” from pregnancy to childbirth and from the newborn stage until the child reaches age 2. This also includes a broad range of areas of childcare such as antenatal care, delivery, postnatal care, growth monitoring and even death indicators such as maternal and child mortality.
The mobile platform records the indicators and generates reminders for appointments, delivery and postnatal care visits. There is also an emergency care platform called Red Alerts. There is also a creation of a database of clinical records on maternal care delivery.
UNICEF did a study on RapidSMS to measure its effects on maternal and child mortality. RapidSMS has contributed to some changes in the use of health care services and maternal and child mortality and has overall led to improvements in health outcomes for mothers and children in Rwanda.
M-Mama’s Ambulance Taxi
This application “uses mobile technology to connect women in rural areas of Africa to emergency transport.” The project began in 2013 to help women in rural Tanzania gain access to health care where almost half of the women there give birth at home without the assistance of a health care worker. Many mothers and children die from preventable birth complications due to the lack of health systems and delayed access to care. The creators of M-Mama intend to change these circumstances and reduce maternal mortality rates, in line with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.
The process of M-Mama’s ambulance taxi project starts when a patient makes a call to a 24-hour dispatch center. A call handler will then access the condition of the patient using the app, which would indicate whether the patient needs a transfer to a health facility. If health care is required, the call handler will notify the nearest taxi through the app, requesting the taxi driver to take the patient to the hospital. This way, taxis act as a cost-effective ambulance for the patient. The driver will receive payment after safely escorting the patient to the hospital. Since M-Mama’s start, the Lake Zone regions of Tanzania have noted a 27% reduction in maternal mortality rates.
Looking Ahead
These mobile apps are reducing maternal and child mortality rates in Africa. Through the mobile services’ resources and aid, young girls can make better decisions and expecting mothers can get the help they need despite their remote locations. Reducing maternal and child mortality rates by 1% can increase GDP by about 4.6% in African countries.
However, one issue that stands in the way is the lack of access to mobile phones and the internet. Women in sub-Saharan Africa are 13% less likely to own a phone and 37% less likely to access the internet on mobile.
The more investment there is to reduce maternal and child mortality rates in Africa, the more it will generate social and economic benefits for sub-Saharan Africa. To do that, governments and nonprofit organizations need to work to close the gender gap and develop mobile health services. These efforts will help women become informed and make healthier decisions.
– Jackson Lebedun
Photo: Flickr
Period Poverty in Guatemala and 3 Organizations’ Aid
As young girls grow up in Guatemala, they meet a challenge: their menstruation cycle. Period poverty in Guatemala weighs heavily on the country. The lack of access to hygiene management education and proper sanitation tools forces young girls to stay out of school for days at a time. However, as technology evolves and resources develop, many organizations are working to end period poverty in Guatemala and beyond.
Days for Girls
Days for Girls commits to helping females reach their fullest potential by combating period poverty and menstrual stigma. The organization begins this process by providing a Days for Girls (DFG) Kit, education on hygiene and sanitation, training and general support. Additionally, the group spreads awareness through global partnerships, mobilizing volunteer networks and working toward destigmatizing menstruation.
The DFG Kit consists of a multitude of necessities for managing a period. All the products are reusable, easily washable and durable. In fact, users of the patented kit say the items can last up to three years. Specifically, these kits require just a small amount of water, dry quickly and keep users comfortable while going about their daily lives. Furthermore, Days for Girls also handmakes the kits and the bags the kits come with, giving the packages a personal touch of beauty.
Thus far, Days for Girls has touched the lives of more than 1.7 million females. The organization’s reach spreads across more than 140 countries, with more than a thousand mobilizing teams and chapters. Currently, the organization has more than 15 countries with enterprises. Importantly, the group has an office stationed in Guatemala, focused on growing the team and production in the country.
The GRACE Project (Guatemalan Rural Adult and Children’s Education)
The GRACE Project stems from a collaboration of groups in Southwest Florida. The project aims to educate, train and help employ local Guatemalan women. The organization develops and implements workshops and home visits where they provide educational materials on reproductive health and local resources.
In addition to education, The GRACE Project creates handmade menstruation kits. All the products are reusable, washable and long-lasting. The kit consists of fertility bracelets with instructions, shields that serve as barriers to any leakage, flannel cotton pads, soap, gallon bags for washing and underwear.
In the past year, The GRACE Project gave 500 kits to women all over Guatemala. Along with these, the project has also passed out 800 Reproductive Health Kits within Central America. The kit provides up to three years’ worth of period products and a lifetime of birth control. The GRACE Project continues to grow production and delivery methods through workshops in Guatemala.
SERniña
SERniña founder, Danielle Skogen, lived in Guatemala for three years working as a teacher. During her time, she noticed a need for health and hygiene education. Often, Skogen would watch girls drop out of school due to a lack of access to proper sanitary items and a lack of support from their community. Thus, she developed SERniña as an educational support program.
The SERniña program works with already established educational organizations to bring about curriculums to educate and help eradicate period poverty in Guatemala. The organization teaches a range of topics such as human rights, financial literacy skills, aspiration-setting and menstrual and reproductive health.
In the workshops, facilitators work with the women to raise confidence levels and take care of their hygienic needs. Trained local women who are certified facilitators for SERniña teach all of the organization’s lessons. The program allows for conversations and participation in a safe space with specific lessons focused on self-advocacy, self-care and overall self-love. As a result, the program has delivered more than 400 hours of workshops to 180 girls and counting.
As shown above, the efforts of each organization play an important role in the Guatemalan community. Education, access and support truly uplift the local women. The work to eradicate period poverty in Guatemala can continue thanks to aid from organizations like these.
– Sallie Blackmon
Photo: Flickr
GM Golden Rice Provides Nutrition to the Poor
Vitamin A
In Bangladesh, China, India and elsewhere in Asia, there is a vitamin A deficiency problem. Annually, vitamin A deficiency results in the death of several million children and blindness in 250,000, according to a study done by WHO. Half of these children die within 12 months of losing their sight.
GM golden rice allows for beta-carotene (a Vitamin A precursor) synthesis in the edible portion of rice. This process may prove to be a promising remedy to this widespread vitamin deficiency. The body can actually use beta-carotene in the edible portion of rice, rather than the rice’s leaves. Not only is it usable, but it can supply 30% to 50% of a person’s daily vitamin A requirement.
Other Benefits
Besides the nutritional benefit, GM golden rice also lasts longer than its non-GM counterparts. A Purdue University researcher found that some GM foods have an increased shelf life by a week longer than it would have originally. Foods that can stay fresher longer help impoverished regions store food and aid food distribution across long periods of time.
Furthermore, modified foods, like GM golden rice, are routinely screened for safety. Simon Barber, director of the Plant Biotechnology Unit at EuropaBio, the European biotech industry association, stated that before anything may be imported into Europe and used as animal feed or as an ingredient in food for humans, it had to travel through a security approval process.
In addition, the two genes inserted into GM golden rice, plant phytoene synthase and bacterial phytoene desaturase, are innocuous to the human body. Further, Dr. Russesll Reinke, IRR Program Lead for Healthier Rice, stated that test trials in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. found this rice to be safe for consumption.
Conclusion
As technology rapidly evolves, people will have reservations about the unfamiliar processes involved. However, GM golden rice has continued to be a proven and effective supplement for adequate nutrition. With new technological solutions, like GM golden rice, food shortages can continue to decrease.
– Justin Chan
Photo: Flickr
Every Last Child Campaign — The Basic Facts
The Start
Save the Children introduced the global campaign to the world on April 26, 2016. The campaign strives to reach children who do not have adequate access to health care, education and protection. It works to end preventable deaths among children. The specific goal is to avoid at least 600,000 preventable child deaths. Another facet of the campaign is aiding children in receiving a basic quality education. The quantified objective for this goal is to help 50 million more children gain access to education. A 15-year time frame, 2030, is the target date for these missions. So far, the campaign has helped 15 million of the world’s “excluded children” gain access to life-saving health care and quality education.
“Excluded Children”
Every Last Child focuses on “excluded children,” defined as children “not benefiting from recent global progress in social well-being, particularly in health and learning because of a toxic mix of poverty and discrimination.” The campaign did research to establish the extent of exclusion associated with certain groups of children. It found that persecution and discrimination based on beliefs impacted 400 million children with ethnic and religious backgrounds. Further, children with disabilities are four times more likely to experience physical and sexual violence and neglect when compared to their peers.
Three Guarantees
The campaign calls on leaders across the world to make three guarantees for all children. The first guarantee is the establishment of fair finance. The Every Last Child campaign describes this as “sustainable financing of and free access to essential services.” This includes escalating public investment in high-quality health and educational services to increase access for all children.
The second guarantee is to establish equal treatment by putting an end to discriminatory policies and norms. This is to help eliminate bias that negatively impacts minority groups.
The third guarantee is to increase the accountability of decision-makers by amplifying the voices of excluded groups in policymaking. This will ensure the allocation of community budgets positively impact excluded groups of children. These three promises help contribute to the mission of the Every Last Child campaign.
Tailored Strategies
The campaign customizes its efforts to fit each country’s needs. While many countries experience similar issues, not all of them are equal in the extent of assistance necessary. In order to reach these vulnerable populations of children, the issues the campaign addresses vary in each country.
For example, in Niger, the Every Last Child campaign advocates for the adoption of policies that outlaw early child marriage and support access to quality education. In Yemen, the campaign fights for the protection of children affected by conflict. In Kosovo, the campaign promotes access to quality services in the education and health industries for children, particularly those with disabilities.
The goal is to make these services and information about the services available to parents and families in the country to create greater access. Customizing its goals allows the Every Last Child campaign to focus on the most pressing issues affecting each country.
Since its beginning in 2016, Save the Children’s Every Last Child campaign has committed to put an end to the exclusion of vulnerable populations of children. Through its research and advocacy efforts, the organization has helped to address the need to increase access to life-saving health care and quality education for children worldwide to ensure that no child is left out of the advancements of the world.
– Sara Holm
Photo: Flickr