Period poverty occurs when women and girls struggle to afford menstrual products, including tampons, pads, menstrual cups, underwear and painkillers. Period poverty is present in both developing and developed nations and has negative effects on women’s education, work-life and health. Many women are subject to period poverty in South Sudan; however, even outside of the nation, South Sudanese women and girls are affected.
Since the beginning of South Sudan’s civil war in 2013, more than 2 million people have fled their homes, and many have landed in refugee settlements in neighboring countries like Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda. In and around South Sudan, women without adequate menstruation resources face additional challenges in daily life.
Perception of Menstruation
Even though menstruation is a fact of life for most women, cultural taboos prevent conversations about this topic. As a result, many school-age girls in South Sudan are not taught about menstruation and how to safely care for themselves before getting their first period.
A 2014 study conducted across South Sudan found that 28.4% of young, female respondents consider menstruation to be a disease. In the Lopa-Lafon county alone, more than 60% hold this belief. Country-wide, 48.7% of respondents think that menstrual blood is dangerous, 58.2% believe that women are unclean during menstruation and 59.9% believe that if a woman has pain while on her period she is unhealthy.
Consequences
The consequences of upholding secrecy around menstruation in South Sudan are severe. Coupled with low resources, women in refugee settlements and impoverished communities often use rags, newspapers, leaves or banana peels as substitutes for pads. When these items fail and breakthrough bleeding occurs, women are often met with aversion and jokes. Since menstrual blood is considered dirty, women must bathe and wash their rags far from any communal water source. This reduces women’s capacity for frequent washing and increases their risk of infection.
Some, especially refugees, are forced to isolate themselves during menstruation because there is no other way to hide their period. This often prevents girls from sleeping at home or going to school. As a result, girls lose up to three months of classes each year, causing them to fall behind. Furthermore, when period poverty interferes with girls’ education, they are more likely to drop out of school and be married at a young age, often having children shortly after. Globally, the leading cause of death for girls ages 15-19 is pregnancy and childbirth complications.
Combatting Period Poverty
Period poverty in South Sudan is a threat to girls’ education and livelihoods. According to the 2014 survey, about 70% of girls in South Sudan do not have enough money to buy sanitary pads, and 27% of girls in primary school say pads are not available in their area. Fortunately, organizations are working to combat period poverty in South Sudan.
SmilePad gets its name from the smiles it puts on girls’ faces when they are given this reusable, cotton-and-plastic sanitary pad. The pad can be washed and reused for months and comes in a three-pack along with a couple of pairs of underwear. UNICEF funds the project and the NGOs that buy and distribute the pads to communities in South Sudan. The goal is to help girls manage their periods so they can stay in school.
The Freedom Pads Project has distributed 1,500 reusable pads to women and girls in refugee camps in Uganda and South Sudan. Founder Akeer Chut-Deng also tries to provide a space for learning about menstruation and women’s health in the schools and communities she visits.
Men4Women is an organization devoted to raising awareness and improving education about menstruation for men and women. While handing out sanitary pads in schools, they begin the conversation about the taboo subject, hoping that both girls and boys will grow more comfortable talking about periods to end the stigma and promote women’s health.
Moving Forward
While period poverty remains a significant issue in South Sudan, there is hope for the future. The efforts of these organizations to combat period poverty in South Sudan is essential. Moving forward, more work must be done to provide menstrual products and reduce the social stigma surrounding menstruation.
– McKenna Black
Photo: Flickr
Engineers Without Borders: Building to Save Lives
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a foundation that partners with poor communities to help provide them with basic human needs. Its mission is to build a better world with engineering projects that will help solve the world’s most urgent problems. It builds to save lives.
Building Safe Structures
Many people are without a home in poverty-ridden countries, often living without so much as clean water or electricity. Due to environmental disasters, forced refugees and internally displaced people, many must roam the streets. Back in 2015, estimates determined that there were 100 million people facing homelessness. The need for durable and permanent refugee camps and homes is more pressing than ever. This is where EWB-USA saves the day. It addresses the challenges in engineering associated with “transitioning emergency infrastructure to more permanent systems,” which helps boost host communities who take refugees in.
Engineers Without Borders often takes on villages’ needs for bridges to aid in safer and easier travel. It found that one Guatemalan village had to walk three hours on dangerous mountain roads just to reach the capital. Access to capitals or bigger towns can be dire as they encapsulate hospitals, schools, markets and so forth. So, the Engineers Without Borders project team and volunteers decided to create bridges for these communities. The foundation takes up to several weeks to construct these bridges to make sure they are sturdy, safe and dependable for these villagers.
Engineers Without Borders also discovered the need for schools. It found out that a native Guatemalan girl had biked over an hour to reach her school. As a result, the foundation started building schools and improving the schools’ infrastructures, making them safe and durable. It has brought education to places like Guatemala, Lat Cantun II, Santa Eulalia and more.
Installing Solar Panels
Electricity is a luxury that not many homeless or poor people get. However, it is a necessity for the safety and well-being of many people. This is why EWB-USA not only makes solar panels for villages in need but also introduces and installs them. The solar panels bring hot water, better food storage, increased phone access and light to homes and schools alike. Engineers Without Borders also installs solar street lights to help keep the residents and refugees safe.
University students in EWB-USA even built a solar charging station for villages. These stations could be used by all, specifically to charge phones. It found that cell phones were extremely important for youths to apply for jobs, apply for housing and communicate with friends and family.
Engineers Without Borders helps bring electricity to these areas by partnering with foundations like IKEA and UNHRC. Its partnerships have been a key way to faster and more efficient help for these communities. Currently, Engineers Without Borders is working on over 55 projects located in more than 20 states and two territories, trying to make a difference.
Providing Clean Water
Clean water is yet another widely inaccessible luxury in many poverty-stricken countries. In Uganda alone, over 23 million people must walk over 30 minutes a day to get water that is often contaminated, bringing disease and even death. Engineers Without Borders saw how water brings life and found creative ways of providing clean water for villages. The foundation has dug and repaired wells, built rainwater catchment systems and constructed water filters. Additionally, it has built gravity-based water supply systems in phases for those in the mountains.
In Cyanika, Rwanda, the villagers benefited from one of the Engineers Without Borders’ creative rainwater catchment systems that consisted of two single tank systems. It allows the villagers to save time as well as their lives. One villager even sent a letter of thanks, expressing their gratitude as it bettered many lives, health and well-being of all the villagers.
Engineers Without Borders continues to fight to provide people their basic rights and needs. It continues to live up to its mission of building to save lives through the power of engineering. For more information about this organization, check out its website.
– Katelyn Mendez
Photo: Pixabay
The National Campaign Against Domestic Violence in the Maldives
In July, the Maldives’ Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services introduced a nationwide campaign to combat domestic violence and encourage women’s empowerment. The campaign is intended to last for a three month period and raise awareness on domestic violence in the Maldives.
The Maldives is considered a “development success” by the World Bank. In the last few decades, the Maldives’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita multiplied by more than fifty. The average life expectancy is the Maldives is now 78 years it has almost achieved full literacy across the nation. Now, the country is turning its attention to women’s rights and domestic violence.
Women’s Rights in the Maldives
The Maldives has improved its Gender Inequality Index score significantly in the last two decades from 0.649 to 0.367. The GII takes into account a variety of factors to measure equality between genders, with nations closer to 0 being the most equal. Women contribute to the nation’s economic and political progress through leadership roles and participation in the workforce.
However, the Maldives today still grapples with structural forms of gender inequality. A byproduct of this is the prevalence of domestic violence. According to data collected by the U.N. in 2017, 56% of women ranging from ages 15 to 49 had experienced physical or sexual violence from their partners in the last 12 months.
To continue furthering socio-economic progress in the Maldives, women’s rights and gender equality must not be sidelined. Recognizing this, the government has begun to make a stronger effort to combat domestic violence.
Women’s Rights and Poverty
Economic inequality between the genders is also a persistent social issue in the Maldives. According to research done by the UNDP, Maldivian women’s Gross National Income is lower than men’s by a staggering 48%.
As of 2016, 8.2% of Maldivians live below the nation’s poverty line. Due to structural inequalities that exclude women from major sectors of the economy, such as tourism and agriculture, women are more vulnerable to poverty in the Maldives. For example, the tourism industry indirectly accounts for nearly 60% of the Maldivian economy, but only three percent of women contribute to this sector, in contrast with nearly 50% of men.
Greater women’s empowerment and gender equality have been shown to boost nations’ economic growth. Gender gaps in employment and access to equal opportunity can cost approximately 15% of a nation’s GDP. Allowing women to access the same employment as men in the Maldives would not only benefit the nations’ path of economic growth but help to lift the Maldives’ most vulnerable from extreme poverty.
Furthermore, women’s economic empowerment can be linked to domestic violence. While it is not the only factor, when women can financially support themselves, they are more likely to be able to leave their abusers. Improving women’s rights and helping raise them out of poverty can improve the overall economy and help women escape domestic violence.
The ‘Geveshi Gulhun’ Campaign
The president of the Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, participated in the inauguration of the Maldives’ anti-domestic violence campaign on July 15, 2020. This campaign comes after public demands from individuals and civil society groups that the government fulfill its promises to address issues like sexual violence and domestic violence.
The campaign aims to raise further national awareness about gender inequality and change long-standing stereotypes about women. The ‘Geveshi Gelhun’ campaign is a necessary first step to what is hopefully a more equitable future in the Maldives.
At the event, President Solih announced that the government would almost double the Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services budget to develop resources to address gender-based violence against women in the nation. In addition, he promised that the government would make legislative changes to further punish cases of sexual violence.
The three-month campaign is mostly administered through various forms of media. This has consisted of live television programming, social media posts and billboards to raise awareness. The Ministry is working with local businesses and artists to develop the campaign’s messaging.
Moving Forward
The ‘Geveshi Gelhun’ campaign is a great step in the right direction. Raising awareness and enacting stronger legislation will hopefully have a significant impact on women’s rights. To continue combatting domestic violence in the Maldives, the government and other humanitarian organizations must make this issue a focus of their efforts.
– Leina Gabra
Photo: Flickr
Latet Helps Reduce Child Poverty in Israel
Poverty in Israel impacts 469,400 families with around 1.8 million Israeli citizens living below the poverty line. Children make up 841,000 of the Israeli citizens in poverty, ranking second-most severe, next to Turkey. Poverty in Israel rose from 19.4% in 2017 to 20.4% in 2018 while child poverty rose 2% in those years from 27.1% to 29.1%. Luckily, there are groups looking to reduce child poverty by providing aid to those experiencing hunger. Several non-governmental agencies are working to collect, preserve and distribute food in the country.
Nutrition Among Impoverished Children in Israel
Child poverty in Israel results in children not receiving proper nutrition and reaching their full potential. Welfare services are in place for children who live in extreme poverty in Israel. In 2018, there were 2,934,000 children in Israel. Of these children, poverty affected 14% or 400,000. Families with more children are more likely to experience poverty. In fact, families with an average of five children or more account for two-thirds of child poverty in Israel. Meanwhile, poverty affects 25% of single-family households in Israel. Families who have immigrated from other countries since 1990 account for 16% of all children who are on the welfare support system and about 57.8% of Arab children live in poverty.
State support for child poverty in Israel lacks the nutritional diversity necessary to sustain proper growth and development. About 76.3% of children receiving nutritional support receive only bread and condiments. Meanwhile, reports have determined that 54.5% of children in poverty in Israel have smaller meals than required for proper nutrition or have skipped meals altogether.
The Work of Latet
Latet, meaning “To Give,” works to eliminate child poverty in Israel. Latet has been working to restore dignity and feed families in Israel for more than 20 years. Latet supervises 180 local organizations in Israel aimed at helping Israeli citizens sustain food supply via means of a food bank and other aid programs that attempt to reduce child poverty in Israel. Latet provides assistance to more than 60,000 families monthly by salvaging food that may have otherwise gone to waste. It collects food from grocery stores, food manufacturers and food distributors before sending it to its distribution center. There, the organization sorts, packages and distributes the food to families in need. Latet owns a fleet of trucks for distribution, which occurs to preserve the dignity of families who are able to benefit from the organization’s services.
Latet maintains economic efficiency by maximizing benefits to families. For every one shekel that it attributes to costs of gathering and transporting food, it obtains and distributes nine shekels worth of food. About 19,100 volunteers have provided 452,000 hours of aid that assist child poverty in Israel. Latet has successfully salvaged $25,000,000 in food annually that would have otherwise gone to waste, and distributed it to families in need. Because of the strategic partnership that Latet has with food supply chains in Israel, it has been able to successfully supply much-needed food to help fight child poverty in Israel.
Non-governmental agencies such as Latet are continuing the fight against child poverty in Israel. It is striving to gain support and momentum both in Israel and abroad. The Alternative Poverty Report, which Latet distributes, keeps track of progress and provides different statistics to bring to light the severity of issues of poverty in Israel. The organization has thousands of volunteers and has large public displays to help raise awareness to provide aid to the issue of Israel’s child poverty.
– Carolyn Lyrenmann
Photo: Flickr
Addressing Period Poverty in South Sudan
Period poverty occurs when women and girls struggle to afford menstrual products, including tampons, pads, menstrual cups, underwear and painkillers. Period poverty is present in both developing and developed nations and has negative effects on women’s education, work-life and health. Many women are subject to period poverty in South Sudan; however, even outside of the nation, South Sudanese women and girls are affected.
Since the beginning of South Sudan’s civil war in 2013, more than 2 million people have fled their homes, and many have landed in refugee settlements in neighboring countries like Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda. In and around South Sudan, women without adequate menstruation resources face additional challenges in daily life.
Perception of Menstruation
Even though menstruation is a fact of life for most women, cultural taboos prevent conversations about this topic. As a result, many school-age girls in South Sudan are not taught about menstruation and how to safely care for themselves before getting their first period.
A 2014 study conducted across South Sudan found that 28.4% of young, female respondents consider menstruation to be a disease. In the Lopa-Lafon county alone, more than 60% hold this belief. Country-wide, 48.7% of respondents think that menstrual blood is dangerous, 58.2% believe that women are unclean during menstruation and 59.9% believe that if a woman has pain while on her period she is unhealthy.
Consequences
The consequences of upholding secrecy around menstruation in South Sudan are severe. Coupled with low resources, women in refugee settlements and impoverished communities often use rags, newspapers, leaves or banana peels as substitutes for pads. When these items fail and breakthrough bleeding occurs, women are often met with aversion and jokes. Since menstrual blood is considered dirty, women must bathe and wash their rags far from any communal water source. This reduces women’s capacity for frequent washing and increases their risk of infection.
Some, especially refugees, are forced to isolate themselves during menstruation because there is no other way to hide their period. This often prevents girls from sleeping at home or going to school. As a result, girls lose up to three months of classes each year, causing them to fall behind. Furthermore, when period poverty interferes with girls’ education, they are more likely to drop out of school and be married at a young age, often having children shortly after. Globally, the leading cause of death for girls ages 15-19 is pregnancy and childbirth complications.
Combatting Period Poverty
Period poverty in South Sudan is a threat to girls’ education and livelihoods. According to the 2014 survey, about 70% of girls in South Sudan do not have enough money to buy sanitary pads, and 27% of girls in primary school say pads are not available in their area. Fortunately, organizations are working to combat period poverty in South Sudan.
SmilePad gets its name from the smiles it puts on girls’ faces when they are given this reusable, cotton-and-plastic sanitary pad. The pad can be washed and reused for months and comes in a three-pack along with a couple of pairs of underwear. UNICEF funds the project and the NGOs that buy and distribute the pads to communities in South Sudan. The goal is to help girls manage their periods so they can stay in school.
The Freedom Pads Project has distributed 1,500 reusable pads to women and girls in refugee camps in Uganda and South Sudan. Founder Akeer Chut-Deng also tries to provide a space for learning about menstruation and women’s health in the schools and communities she visits.
Men4Women is an organization devoted to raising awareness and improving education about menstruation for men and women. While handing out sanitary pads in schools, they begin the conversation about the taboo subject, hoping that both girls and boys will grow more comfortable talking about periods to end the stigma and promote women’s health.
Moving Forward
While period poverty remains a significant issue in South Sudan, there is hope for the future. The efforts of these organizations to combat period poverty in South Sudan is essential. Moving forward, more work must be done to provide menstrual products and reduce the social stigma surrounding menstruation.
– McKenna Black
Photo: Flickr
Women’s Rights in Greece
There have been significant, recent developments in the status of women’s rights in Greece. Some Greeks excitedly look toward a future of gender equality. Others are reluctant to certain changes and are holding steadfast to tradition.
The primary debates in the fight for women’s rights are mainly between rural and urban citizens. Women in urban areas are more likely to dismiss traditional notions of domesticity and instead seek opportunities in the workforce. However, women in more rural areas still hold fast to the status quo. They are much more likely to take care of the home and children while a male partner seeks out work to provide for the family.
A Brief History of Women’s Rights in Greece
The Current Situation
Although all of these strides forward have occurred, Greek women still seem to be at a disadvantage. In terms of E.U. countries, Greece is the lowest ranking in the Gender Equality Index, with a score of 0.122. Likewise, the country’s female labor force population, as of 2019, is 44.17%. Additionally, domestic violence rates seem to be on the rise, having increased by more than 30% in the last six years.
Furthermore, migrant and Roma women are, on average, at an even worse economical and educational disadvantage. For example, the typical Romani woman in Greece will spend less than six years in school.
Recent data reports that men make up around 70% of Greece’s total workforce and 80% of the country’s Parliament. Many women in the workforce remain in low-income, service and part-time positions — with only about 33% of part-time positions belonging to men.
In contrast, Greek women have made great strides in academia. More than 50% of Greece’s citizens obtaining university degrees are female. There is hope that these well-educated women will advance in career paths and assume leadership roles. In this same vein, leadership roles are one of the primary areas in which women are currently underrepresented.
Proponents for Women’s Rights in Greece
Many people around the country are in an active fight for gender equality and women’s rights in Greece. There is an ongoing discussion to address gender stereotypes and challenge norms established within the country, in nongovernmental organizations.
The Greek League for Women’s Rights has been fighting for women’s rights since 1920. Notably, it was a strong leader in the fight for a women’s right to vote in 1952. It has also founded the Centre for Documentation and Study of Women’s Problems and is still active today, fighting discriminatory laws and practices.
The National Council of Greek Women, founded in 2008, is a nonprofit fighting for the equality of men and women. The nonprofit recently released a statement from its president who maintains that although legislatively, men and women are equals — the country still has to reach true gender equality in practice.
Katerina Sakellaropoulou became the first female president of the country in January 2020. Many saw the vote for the new president as an optimistic mark of change and growth in Greece.
With an adjustment to public opinion and the presence of female leaders such as President Sakellaropoulou, experts believe that the country is capable of combatting historical barriers to women’s rights in Greece that still affect its culture, today.
– Aradia Webb
Photo: Unsplash
Poverty & Oppression: The Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, China
More than 40 different ethnic groups live within China’s Northwest region, known as Xinjiang. The two largest ethnic groups are the Han Chinese and Uyghur Muslims. The two groups do not speak the same language, nor do they share similar traditions. This creates a divide that widens due to the socio-economic disparity between the two factions. The Chinese government’s treatment of the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, through exploitation and other human rights violations, further exacerbated the issue. Unfortunately, fear of the Uyghurs has given the Chinese government a justification to detain and exploit millions.
The Issue of Poverty
The poverty in Xinjiang is most prevalent of any Chinese province at approximately 6%. However, certain regions suffer more than others. For example, Yutian County has a poverty rate of around 25%. Yet, the region has made great strides forward in poverty alleviation during recent years. In fact, more than 2.3 million people escaped poverty between 2014 and 2018. Xinjiang’s resource-rich areas have caught the attention of the Han Chinese. This, in turn, drives migration and economic growth. Additionally, the government has promoted various industries, employment transfers and citizen relocation, further driving down poverty rates.
Despite this, many Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang suffer exclusion from these benefits. Most prominently, employment discrimination prevents Uyghurs from obtaining jobs in these rising markets. As a result, a disproportionate amount of Han Chinese receives better jobs, furthering the economic disparity between the two groups. Furthermore, the rising number of Han Chinese in the region (currently at 40% of the population) has made the native Uyghurs feel distant from one another. The Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang fear the loss of their culture.
Conflict
Due to the exclusion and poverty that the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang experience, they tend to move closer to Islam. Some even go so far as to commit acts of violence. Regardless of the real reasons for the violence, many Han Chinese believe it is Islamic extremists causing violence. The Han Chinese believe this contributes to instability within the region as the Uyghur’s are fighting for independence. This, in turn, leads to widespread fear and distrust among the population.
The Chinese government responded to these acts of violence by claiming that Islamic extremists caused it. Therefore, the government must “reeducate” the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Since 2014, China has suppressed the Uyghurs’ culture, language and religion in the name of national security, while claiming that the Uyghurs have full freedom. Police stations now occupy every few blocks and cameras are on every street. Some public areas are inaccessible and many people are stopped on the street for identification. Notably, many Uyghurs have had their passports taken and can no longer leave the region.
Crackdown
Since 2017, the government has been detaining approximately 1 million Uyghurs in reeducation camps, with their only crimes being that they are Muslim. Hundreds of camps are present today with 39, having tripled in size from 2017 to 2018. Construction spending has increased drastically by nearly $3 billion in recent years.
Information on exact conditions in the camps is difficult to discern. However, previous detainees speak of a prison-like environment, sexual assault, forced abortions or contraceptives, extreme surveillance and torture. Some say they witnessed people taking their own lives.
Additionally, many Uyghurs in these camps must work in factories across China. They experience exploitation, completely against their will. The products they produce are widespread. Approximately 83 international companies use this forced labor in their supply chain. Moreover, 20% of cotton products around the world came from this forced labor.
Policy, Legislation and Coalition of Aid
Many U.S. companies benefit from this system. Legislation must pass to prevent forced labor and condemn China’s actions. Most recently, the Senate passed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (S3744) in June 2020. It placed sanctions on many officials responsible or complicit in the detainment and abuse of the Uyghurs.
Particularly, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act emerged in March 2020 but has not passed into law yet. Additionally, many Uyghurs are stuck in U.S. immigration limbo, complicating their ability to seek refuge. Both proposals are crucial in helping significantly reduce the demand for forced labor. Further, people are urging the Chinese government to stop committing human rights abuses.
Many NGOs are working to bring attention to the crisis, as well as aiding the affected Uyghurs. Despite difficulties in offering direct aid, there exists a coalition of more than 250 organizations part of the End Uyghur Forced Labor campaign. The coalition demands companies eliminate any Uyghur forced labor within their production lines, within one year. Companies that agree must sign a pledge — applying pressure to all companies that have not yet signed. Also, the coalition organized advocacy days, began petitions and called on Congress to ban cotton from the Uyghur region. This additional pressure on companies will help end Uyghur forced labor. Hopefully, it will reduce demand for Uyghur labor and prevent their exploitation as well.
Hope Remains
Poverty in Xinjiang has reduced significantly. It will likely continue to decrease in the upcoming years. Additionally, numerous countries have applied pressure on the Chinese government. It is crucial that the U.S. does the same. Many NGOs have worked to raise awareness and apply pressure on governments and companies to eliminate Uyghur forced labor. Despite the many challenges that the Uyghurs have faced, hope remains for conditions to improve, with the support of the global community.
– Elizabeth Lee
Photo: Flickr
5 Facts About Period Poverty in Cambodia
Period poverty affects women and girls around the globe who cannot afford safe, sanitary products or are unable to receive information about safe period practices due to stigma. Poor period hygiene can lead to many health risks, such as urinary tract infections and reproductive infections. About 50% of the people in Cambodia are women, but people do not talk about period poverty as they deem it a taboo subject.
As of 2019, the poverty rate in Cambodia was 12.9%. However, this number could increase to around 20% due to the coronavirus pandemic. This rise in the poverty rate will leave millions of women and girls vulnerable. Here are five facts regarding period poverty in Cambodia.
5 Facts About Period Poverty in Cambodia
An End to Period Poverty
Period poverty in Cambodia is a threat to women’s health as unsanitary period practices lead to infections. Period poverty also affects women’s ability to receive an education as many schools do not have the proper facilities to support menstruating girls. However, as the use of reusable period products becomes more mainstream and continued education and programs in schools develop — hopefully, the stigma surrounding periods will come to an end.
– Rae Brozovich
Photo: Flickr
COVID-19 in Central America & Mexico: How the US is Helping
The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have left no region of the world unscathed. Central America and Mexico have certainly felt the wrath of this virus. Recent outbreaks in the region threaten to compound upon other humanitarian struggles. The U.S. has recognized this challenge and taken action to provide aid, despite facing its own issues fighting the coronavirus — the difficulties of COVID-19 in Central America and Mexico are vast.
An Issue in Central America & Mexico Before COVID-19
COVID-19 poses a health and economic challenge to Central America and Mexico. Yet, before the pandemic, the region was already suffering from poverty. As such, the pandemic has hit this area particularly hard. Our World in Data projected that the extreme poverty rate was about 8.12% in Guatemala, 14.24% in Honduras, 2.79% in El Salvador and 1.96% in Mexico in 2019. The full economic impacts of COVID-19 are not yet known.
Apart from facing extreme poverty — Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico also suffer from high crime rates. In 2017, Guatemala had an intentional homicide rate of about 26.1 per 100,000, Honduras had 41.7, El Salvador had 61.8 and Mexico had 24.8.
Providing sustainable assistance to Central America is particularly important for the national security in the U.S. As of July 2019, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition explained that there is a correlation between children seeking refuge in the U.S. and murders in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Aid to these three countries could reduce poverty and crime. Consequently, the number of people searching for safety in the U.S. may potentially decrease.
The US Steps Up
The U.S. has committed to providing more than $22 million for Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The aid focuses on key areas of need. For example, the U.S. committed $850,000 in Migration and Refugee Assistance funding in Mexico. This includes funding for the dissemination of hygiene products and assistance creating a remote program to register asylum seekers and hold interviews.
The U.S. also committed to providing almost $6.6 million in aid to El Salvador, more than $8.4 million to Guatemala and more than $5.4 million to Honduras. Notably, these aid packages contain International Disaster Assistance for each country. The assistance also focuses on immediate and long-term health needs.
In recent months, the U.S. has also provided other forms of support to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Notable aid includes investments in critical infrastructures, such as energy programs. This is an important step in reducing poverty in the region. However, continued aid and investment are necessary to fight COVID-19 in Central America, save lives, reduce poverty and protect U.S. national security.
Global Help
This aid is a substantial sum targeted in areas that most need money to help fight COVID-19. However, there is more than the U.S. could do to protect global health. Global health spending has remained mostly constant for the past 10 years. Now, the future of U.S. global health aid is at-risk. The federal government’s spending on global health could reduce to its lowest point in 13 years if the proposed budget for the 2021 Fiscal Year receives approval. This could exacerbate outbreaks of other diseases that the U.S. has historically fought against. Without aid from the U.S., other nations such as China will have to step in as a global leader during this crisis.
– Kayleigh Crabb
Photo: Pixabay
African Vegetable Staples
Approximately 65% of the African labor force involves itself in agriculture, with the agriculture industry accounting for 32% of the region’s GDP. Governments have attempted to increase crop yield by utilizing agriculture marketing boards in order to provide more stable and standardized prices, credit extension services, technology and improved seeds. Additionally, more companies in the private sector have improved rural marketing and supply lines. These advances in extension services improve land and water management, introduce new farming techniques and provide new, efficient technology.
Essential African Vegetable Staples
Essential African vegetable staples include yams, green bananas, plantains and cassava. There are a plethora of different and unique ways of preparing dishes particular to each region and culture. Vegetables such as beans and lentils accompany almost every meal in order to provide a balanced nutritious diet. People in Africa consider meat a side dish rather than the main dish, and vegetables the main dish. Typical African vegetable staples specific to a region are dependent on the location, land viability, soil richness and water availability. Rice is more common where there is more water whereas cash crops such as groundnut are common in every household.
Many African staple foods provide a base diet for African families. African vegetable staples provide the necessary proteins, vitamins and nutrients that combat the alarming, wide-scale malnutrition issues that run rampant in many small villages that are not connected to large cities. With no access to large-scale trade or industrial resources, villagers take care of each other with personal farms. Additionally, many African vegetables also double as medicinal uses as well, allowing improved community health and nutrition.
Many staple meals accompany African’s rich variety of culture and history. The thousands of various African cultures utilize varieties of spices to prepare the same ingredient to uphold their respective traditional values and ideas. Diverse food choices are unique in each region and can range from fermented beans, sweet potato greens, teff and varieties of dumplings, to corn-based porridges, millet, kenkey, fontou and fonio. The diverse sets of languages within each region also have their own unique menus specific to their culture and certain traditions.
Case Study: The Democratic Republic of Congo
Vegetables grown in the DRC include peanuts, yams, beans, peas and maize. The political instability of the DRC has led to problems of malnutrition and lack of food access for millions of people. However, vegetables are used as an efficient solution because of the mass remote lands DRC controls for horticulture. The agriculture industry supports more than half of the DRC population. Although farming provides less than 10% of DRC’s GDP, land use is minimal to only 3.5% of DRC’s land and accounts for over 50 tons of subsistence foodstuffs.
What Next?
African vegetables have been the bulk of the African diet for millennia. Not only is it an efficient and effective way of utilizing rich soil and plentiful land on the continent, but it is also one of the most viable ways to aid the economy while doing so. Vegetables in Africa are the staple food not just for the famous nutritious diets, but also because they are an important characteristic of African identity and culture. Many African recipes eaten today have passed down generation after generation in an effort to maintain and uphold tradition. The African vegetable staples are one of the most unique characteristics of African culture and are a testament to their devotion to their diverse ideas and traditions.
– Aria Ma
Photo: Flickr
How to Purchase Conflict-Free Diamonds
Twenty years after the international push to ban all conflict diamonds or blood diamonds, they still exist. Conflict diamonds often have a link to rebel insurgencies in diamond-producing countries. Even without the presence of these rebel groups, however, diamond mining and trade remain unethical. Fortunately, alternatives exist, such as conflict-free and ethically sourced diamonds.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS)
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), popularly known as the Kimberley Process, began in 2000 in Kimberley, South Africa when diamond-producing states met to discuss the total elimination of conflict diamonds. This effort occurred with the hopes that rebel groups would not sell diamonds to finance their movements. In 2003, the United Nations adopted the resolution to expand the scheme’s reach to the diamond industry internationally.
Today, the scheme has 81 signatories, with 52 nations having ratified the scheme. Countries that cannot prove their diamonds are conflict-free could receive a suspension from the international diamond trade.
The Challenges of KPCS
Many politicians, investigative journalists and diamond traders have expressed that KPCS is a step forward in ending conflict-free diamond trading. The certification, however, contains many loopholes for blood diamonds to mix in with legitimately mined and traded diamonds. For instance, according to The Next Web news site, which did an extensive report on the legitimacy of conflict-free diamonds, “no legitimate company willingly buys diamonds from conflict regions, at least not anymore.” This is a step in the right direction, but is it enough to guarantee a conflict-free diamond? The watchdog group Human Rights Watch wrote in 2018, “The Kimberley Process is narrowly focused on curbing the trade of diamonds whose sales benefit armed groups—not abusive governments or their armed forces.” Thus civilian harassment, child labor and human rights abuses still go unchecked.
There also remains the question of who is creating the conflict. In recent years, the local Zimbabwean government of the Marange mining village has become notorious for creating conflict in their diamond mining villages. The intimidation of the residents with threats and weapons has characterized this conflict, enforcing unethical labor practices, and the like.
Thus, at the very minimum when buying diamonds, the jeweler should be able to state where the diamond came from and if it has KPCS certification. But the buyer will have to do more to ensure the diamond in question is completely conflict-free.
6 Ways to Ensure a Conflict-Free Diamond
Because the systems in place are inconsistent, it is up to the consumer to do extra research. Thankfully, legitimate ways exist to ensure these criteria.
Concluding Thoughts
While it can be challenging to ensure that a diamond emerged from ethical practices, the above steps are an excellent starting point. By knowing where a diamond comes from as well and whether it has the appropriate certification, one can be sure they are purchasing a diamond that is conflict-free.
– Vicki Colbert
Photo: Flickr