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Tanzania Achieves Significant Child Survival Goal

Tanzania-Child-Survival-GoalMillennium Development Goal 4: “Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.”

Tanzania is one of the only African countries that has achieved this goal. There is much to celebrate with the country’s accomplishment; however, we must not ignore other critical areas of work that need prioritization. A thorough analysis of the efforts in Tanzania is important to understand what strategies have been effective in the region.

Successes in Tanzania

  • Reduction in child deaths after first month of life
  • 12,500 lives saved thanks to vaccines
  • 9,300 lives saved from malaria programs
  • 5,800 lives saved from HIV/AIDS programs

Areas for Improvement

  • Maternal and newborn survival can be improved
  • Reduction of stillbirths needed
  • Low contraceptive use in Western and Lake Zones
  • Rural poor lack access to health services
  • Shortage of health workers

The achievement of MDG4 is significant in Tanzania. Child deaths after one month of life have decreased at a rate of 8 percent per year during the last decade. This is 50 percent faster than in the 1990s.

Most lives have been saved from programs that increase access to vaccines, address malaria and work to decrease the spread of HIV/AIDS. These types of programs have received the most funding, and therefore these results should be expected.

In Tanzania, 40 percent of national child deaths are newborns. This indicates a need to improve health services in the critical time surrounding childbirth.

Rural women are twice as likely to deliver their children in private homes versus health facilities. Estimates indicate that Tanzania needs 23 health workers per 10,000 people, but Tanzania currently only has five health workers per 10,000 people.

It is evident that portions of the population have not benefitted from some of the improvements Tanzania has experienced as a country. The identification of these categories of people is critical in order to further decrease mortality rates in the country.

High mortality rates slow the rate of development of entire communities and prevent poverty-stricken families from obtaining enough resources to support themselves.

The good news is that this case study of Tanzania estimates that “60,000 lives could be saved each year with intensified efforts to achieve universal access to essential health services.”

– Iliana Lang

Sources: WHO, The Lancet, UNDP
Photo: Global Post

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Foreign Aid Investments Save Over 30 Million Children

Foreign_Aid_Investments
The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, or IHME, the top international agency for global health data collection and analysis, has provided a new report which scores the impact of foreign aid investments made over the past fifteen years.

The study, recently published in the Lancet Medical Journal, determined that between 2000 and 2014, low and middle-income nations invested $133 billion US into child health initiatives. These investments are estimated to have saved the lives of 20 million infants and children.

An additional $73.6 billion US of foreign aid investments provided by donors, both governmental and privatized, accounted for the saving of an additional 14 million infant and child lives, the IHME estimates.

In total, an estimated 34 million children’s lives have been saved in the past 15 years. The report estimates that US foreign aid investments saved the largest number of children under-five, with 3.3 million lives saved. The UK was also noted as a significant factor in this progress and is estimated to have saved 1.7 million lives through their own development funding. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation proved to be the largest privatized donor, having saved an estimated 1.5 million lives.

Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Financing the Health Millennium Development Goals and Malaria, collaborated with the IHME to produce this report and hopes to use this form of analysis in the future to track the success of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Chambers stated in an interview about the new score, “We know that despite the efforts of governments and donors to improve health in low-income and middle-income countries, too many children die before the age of five. Without a way to monitor and publicly share progress regularly, we will miss the opportunity to build on the momentum we have seen since the millennium declaration.”

The IHME estimates that within the most impoverished nations, the cost to save a child’s life is about $4,000 US. The organization stated in its report that within countries such as Tanzania and Haiti, the costs are $4,205. They estimate within nations such as Botswana and Thailand, where economies are more developed, that the costs to save a child’s life are above $10,000 US due to high health care costs.

The Director of the IHME, Dr. Christopher Murray, stated in a recent interview, “You can spend $4,000 on many different things, but there are very few places where the money would deliver the kind of impact you get by investing it in child health.” He continued in reasoning, “If you invest in the poorest countries, you will see the biggest impact in child health because the costs of things like nutrition programs, vaccines and primary care are lower.”

The report analyzed both governmental and privatized donors, and included internationally renowned agencies such the Global Fund, World Bank, UNICEF, USAID, and Gavi. The study concluded that the efforts and financial support of Gavi, a global non-profit organization focused on vaccination, has saved over 2.2 million lives.

Looking towards future development initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Dr. Murray has stressed, “We have seen such incredible success in saving children’s lives over the past 15 years. We need to take what we have learned from that experience and push for more progress and more accountability as we enter the era of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.” The Sustainable Development Goals were developed at the UN Rio+20 Conference in 2012, and are designed to build upon the progress of the Millennium Development Goals in the coming years.

– James Thornton

Sources: The Guardian, News Medical
Photo: Flickr

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How Transparency Leads to Sustainable Development

How Transparency Leads to Sustainable Long-Term Development
Ever wondered where that money you donated went? The U.S. government, in partnership with USAID, has made a commitment to track international aid to more closely monitor sources of aid abroad and hold international leaders accountable for development. Up-to-date, truthful data about where international funds are going helps governments, civil service organizations and private sponsors track their money and increase the efficacy of donations.

The government recently signed on to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), an international organization that encourages NGOs, governments and international aid organizations to report data on foreign aid spending. This group estimates that $4.8 billion of EU-given aid, $2.8 billion U.S.-given aid and $13.8 billion in international donor aid was not visible. The initiative aims to have 80 percent of aid be visible; this amount, it estimates, will make the aid useful. This makes development easier to track and organizations more transparent in how they use their funds. It will encourage further donations and trust in the work of these organizations. Furthermore, IATI has developed a tool to compare spending by different aid groups and the amount of money going to different countries.

Anyone with Internet connection can now track the U.S. government’s aid efforts by country, sector and year on www.foreignassistance.gov.

Through this initiative, USAID has made a commitment to increasing its transparency in regards to foreign aid spending. Through developing a cost management plan, the organization upped its accountability and made it clear to donors where their money goes. As a result of this, USAID’s Aid Transparency Review jumped 20 points in the last year, from the “fair” category to the “good” one. The organization predicts improved donor understanding and confidence in its future projects and improvement in international development through its and other organizations’ efforts at increased accountability.

Progress does not end at transparency, however. USAID hopes to improve the knowledge base of its donors so that they can better understand the organization’s international efforts, understand where funds are going and hold governments, both those donating and accepting aid, accountable.

Through initiatives like these, international aid can become more sustainable, efficient and successful.

– Jenny Wheeler

Sources: USAID, Road To 2015
Photo: The Spectator

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China’s First World Bank Trust Fund

World Bank
On July 16, 2015, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei signed an agreement creating a $50 million trust fund to help alleviate global poverty. This agreement will set in motion new investments and organizations that will provide immediate assistance to third world countries all over the globe. The fund also serves to reaffirm the World Bank Group’s relationship with China.

According to the WBG itself, “The trust fund, which is expected to start later this year, aims to enhance the cooperation between China and the WBG and leverage financial and knowledge-based resources to help developing countries achieve inclusive and sustainable development. It will finance investment projects, operations, knowledge development and human-resource cooperation at both global and regional levels.” With the financial support of China’s super economy, the Bank is poised to make real changes for people in poverty.

China’s renewed partnership with the WBG represents a major step forward in the fight against global poverty. This new partnership will begin in late 2015 and continue throughout the upcoming years. WBG President Jim Yong Kim was quoted as saying, “China is a strong partner in development and a strong partner for the WBG, and we share the commitment to ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity.” The marriage between China and the World Bank Group is all the more significant considering that the two were part of a controversy earlier this year.

It was reported by Outlook India that the World Bank Group redacted a criticism of the Chinese economy in a report made on July 3 of this year. An excerpt from the Outlook India article reads, “The World Bank today refuted claims that it withdrew a report critical of China’s financial sector under pressure from the Chinese government and said the economic fundamentals of the country are sound despite the recent equity market volatility.” For any meaningful reform to come out of the new $50 million trust fund, China and the World Bank must find themselves on the same page.

– Diego Catala

Sources: World Bank, Outlook India
Photo: Thanhnien Newsk

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Canada Increases Aid Given to Combat Child Marriages

Child-Marriages
Every minute, 28 girls around the world who are under the age of 18 are forced into marriage. Child marriage is one of the most serious human rights violations of today. An average of 15 million girls are annually forced to marry before they are of legal marriageable age, and the consequences can be severe. Child brides are more likely to face domestic violence, HIV/AIDS and complications during pregnancy. Some brides are able to escape their marriage, but are then forced to return to an abusive home because they are not able to survive on their own.

Although there are laws that prohibit child marriage, these marriages still persist for many reasons, including poverty and cultural traditions. Parents who are poor tend to try to marry their children off at an earlier age in order to have one less mouth to feed. Also, some countries still practice dowry-giving (in which the bride’s family has to give a present to a groom at the time of marriage). Since dowries are lower for younger brides, many families who feel the need to give a dowry try to marry their daughters off at a young age.

Luckily, there are programs in place that work to reduce the amount of child marriages taking place throughout the world. One of the main ways to help is to increase the amount of access to education that girls receive. Girls who are able to complete their education are more likely to be able to support themselves, and therefore less likely to be forced into marriage in order to survive. Educating communities also plays a large part in decreasing the number of child marriages which occur.

Canada has been an important player in the fight against early and forced marriages. As Girls Not Brides states, in 2013, Canada and Zambia co-led a U.N. Resolution to combat child, early and forced marriages. They are working to pass a second resolution by mid-November of 2015. Canada has also give $20 million to UNICEF in order to fight child marriage in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Gambia, Yemen and Zambia.

The Canadian Broadcasting Channel reports that on Wednesday, July 8, 2015, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister announced that the government would give $10 million to end child, early and forced marriages worldwide. $2.3 million of that money is to go towards promoting education and skills training for girls in the Commonwealth countries, and the rest of the money is meant for local community groups, governments and NGOs which work to end child marriages.

This increase in funding is part of the Canadian Government’s Muskoka Initiative, a $3.5 billion pledge which focuses on maternal, child and newborn health. Eleven Canadian NGOs are going to share $180 million in the next five years in order to help with projects which address nutrition, sanitation, hygiene and health worker training.
Increasing aid is an important step towards making certain foreign affairs issues a priority. By giving money to fight child marriage, Canada reinforces just how important it is to end the human rights violation of forced marriages once and for all.

– Ashrita Rau

Sources: Yahoo News, Girls Not Brides 1, Girls Not Brides 2, CBC, UNICEF
Photo: Punch

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Foreign Aid Investments Saved Over 30 Million Children’s Lives

foreign_aid
The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the top international agency for global health data collection and analysis, has provided a new report which scores the impact of foreign aid investments made over the past fifteen years.

The study, recently published in the Lancet Medical Journal, determined that between 2000 and 2014, low and middle-income nations invested $133 billion US into child health initiatives. These investments are estimated to have saved the lives of 20 million infants and children.

An additional $73.6 billion US of foreign aid investments provided by donors, both governmental and privatized, accounted for the saving of an additional 14 million infant and child lives, the IHME estimates.

In total, an estimated 34 million children’s lives have been saved in the past 15 years. The report estimates that US foreign aid investments saved the largest number of children under-five, with 3.3 million lives saved. The UK was also noted as a significant factor in this progress and is estimated to have saved 1.7 million lives through their own development funding. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation proved to be the largest privatized donor, having saved an estimated 1.5 million lives.

Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Financing the Health Millennium Development Goals and Malaria, collaborated with the IHME to produce this report and hopes to use this form of analysis in the future to track the success of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Chambers said in an interview about the new score, “We know that despite the efforts of governments and donors to improve health in low-income and middle-income countries, too many children die before the age of five. Without a way to monitor and publicly share progress regularly, we will miss the opportunity to build on the momentum we have seen since the millennium declaration.”

The IHME estimates that within the most impoverished nations, the cost to save a child’s life is about $4,000 US. The organization stated in its report that within countries such as Tanzania and Haiti, the costs are $4,205. They estimate within nations such as Botswana and Thailand, where economies are more developed, that the costs to save a child’s life are above $10,000 US due to high health care costs.

The Director of the IHME, Dr. Christopher Murray, said in a recent interview, “You can spend $4,000 on many different things, but there are very few places where the money would deliver the kind of impact you get by investing it in child health.” He continued in reasoning, “If you invest in the poorest countries, you will see the biggest impact in child health because the costs of things like nutrition programmes, vaccines and primary care are lower.”

The report analyzed both governmental and privatized donors and included internationally renowned agencies such the Global Fund, World Bank, UNICEF, USAid and Gavi. The study concluded that the efforts and financial support of Gavi, a global non-profit organization focused on vaccination, has saved over 2.2 million lives.

Looking towards future development initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Dr. Murray said, “We have seen such incredible success in saving children’s lives over the past 15 years. We need to take what we have learned from that experience and push for more progress and more accountability as we enter the era of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.”

The Sustainable Development Goals were developed at the UN Rio+20 Conference in 2012 and are designed to build upon the progress of the Millennium Development Goals in the coming years.

– James Thornton

Sources: The Guardian, News-Medical
Photo: The Guardian

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King Salman Humanitarian Center

humanitarian_aid
In May 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a new, unified government humanitarian aid organization called the King Salman Humanitarian Center (KSC) — named after the nation’s new monarch.

Saudi Arabia is eighth largest aid donor in the world and spent over 736 million dollars in humanitarian aid in 2014. The new center has the potential to transform how Saudi Arabia donates, organizes and distributes millions of dollars in emergency aid.

This administration transformation was not widely reported, though the scale of this change is immense. A source in the UN reported to IRIN that he believes the King Salman Humanitarian Center will be Saudi Arabia’s version of USAID and that it will establish multiple departments such as monitoring, evaluation and research.

Rafaat Sabbagh, a KSC spokesman, elaborated on the new organization’s goals. “We are very ambitious… We are only one month and a half old. But at the same time we are very keen to learn to learn from the experience of DFID [in the UK] and USAID. Our work is not only for one country. Whenever there are people in need, especially with natural disasters, we will be there.”

Before the creation of KSC, Saudi Arabia’s humanitarian aid was notorious for being “highly unpredictable, hard to navigate, and – some argued – incoherent,” writes IRIN. There were often miscommunication errors between different branches, causing confusion and unnecessary overlap.

The Center plans to take a more direct, hands-on approach to its funding techniques, spending on local organizations rather than large international organizations.

The country is known for its large donations or powerful financial potential. For example, in 2008, it gave 500 million to the World Food Program in one large payment. In 2014, it also gave 500 million to help the Iraq crisis.

Donations like this are expected to be approved and processed by the KSC now, and some worry that Saudi Arabia’s involvement with UN aid programs will decrease.

These worries are not unfounded. Saudi Arabia has become increasingly frustrated with the United Nations in the past few years. “In late 2013, it rejected a seat on the UN Security Council, condemning ‘double standards’ in Syria and wasteful use of resources,” says the IRIN.

KSC spokesperson, Sabbagh, said to IRIN that the KSC will “avoid the bureaucracy that some organizations are suffering from” and will be “more flexible” than other organizations. Some believe this is a subtle critique of the United Nations.

At the same time, Sabbagh maintains that he wants to continue to work with the UN. “We are very keen to build a partnership [with the UN]. At the same time we have our own networks. Our work through the UN partnership can be complimentary,” he tells IRIN.

If the King Salman Humanitarian Center is successful, Saudi Arabia’s donations will become much more impactful, strategic and effective. The Center’s first project is to disburse 250 million dollars in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is involved actively in the civil war.

– Aaron Andree

Sources: Aawsat, Irin News
Photo: Today Online

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General Electric Grant to Pay University of Ghana Students’ Tuition

General Electric Grant to Pay University of Ghana Students' Tuition
A mere three percent of Ghanaians ages 18 to 21 are enrolled in some form of higher education. Nearly 80 percent of Ghana’s population survives on less than $2 per day, and university tuition is far from affordable for most.

However, thanks to a $100,000 General Electric grant, tertiary education will become a little more accessible for impoverished students in Ghana.

The University of Ghana, one of the country’s top-ranking institutions of higher learning, is the recipient of this grant. With 29,754 current students, the University of Ghana is both the largest and oldest public university in the country. It is one of six public tertiary educational institutions in Ghana, which, along with the 11 private post-secondary schools, make up Ghana’s university offerings.

According to the University of Sussex in Ghana, “46.6 percent of the nation’s income/expenditure is enjoyed by the richest 20 percent of the population, whereas the poorest 20 percent have access to only 5.6 percent of national income/expenditure.”

Access to education, especially secondary and post-secondary schooling can often become a luxury of the wealthy, entrenching patterns of poverty. Herein lies the importance of scholarships designated for financially disadvantaged students.

A well-instructed population benefits developing countries on a variety of levels. Education gives individuals a tool for socioeconomic mobility while also developing a knowledgeable and skilled workforce resource. This “human capital” is exactly the sort of resource Mr. Leslie Nelson, CEO of General Electric, Ghana, hopes to foster through ongoing partnerships with Ghanaian universities.

Education is an important part of development for impoverished countries. In Ghana, primary school enrollment is on the rise and literacy remains comparatively high for the region with youth literacy rising above that of adults. Although poverty still remains prevalent, these statistics offer a heartening glimpse of future developments.

– Emma-Claire LaSaine

Sources: UG, AllAfrica, Sussex
Photo: How Africa

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Man Runs Across the Country to Fight Global Poverty

global_poverty
Remember in “Forrest Gump” when Tom Hanks’ title character ran across the country? Everyone asked him why he did it and he said he just felt like running. So he ran.

Inspired by his favorite film, Barclay Oudersluys is currently on a run across the United States in an event he titled Project Gump. The 23-year-old began his trip in California and plans to end in Maine in less than 100 days, for a total of 3,200 miles.

But Oudersluys isn’t running simply for the sake of a good run; he is on a cross-country run to raise awareness and funds for the Hall Step Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to ending global poverty. Founded in 2009 by professional runners Ryan and Sara Hall, the organization fights extreme poverty by improving health. During his 100-day run, Oudersluys would like to raise $10,000 for the organization.

The journey quite accurately follows that of Forrest Gump’s. It began at Santa Monica Pier and will end at the famous Marshall Point Lighthouse, just like in the movie. Running about 32 miles everyday in five to seven hours, Oudersluys has covered over 2,000 miles in 68 days.

Fortunately, Oudersluys has some seriously awesome friends that are driving cross-country in a van full of food, water and clothes as he runs. He typically rests in the back of the van or drives to a hotel each night.

Running across the country surely means seeing historical landmarks and meeting interesting people and Oudersluys has definitely seen some cool things, including another runner journeying across the country in the opposite direction.

Documenting his journey on Twitter and Instagram, Oudersluys hasn’t forgotten what his run is all about–lending his voice (or legs) to the fight against global poverty. Check out Project Gump’s mission and fundraising progress at their website, or follow Oudersluys on social media.

– Sarah Sheppard

Sources: Telegraph, 6abc, The Steps Foundation
Photo: Flickr

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Senators Cardin, Flake, Coons and Isakson Introduce Millennium Compacts for Regional Economic Integration Act

Millenium Compacts for Regional Economic Integration Act

Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, Senator Flake (R-AZ), and members of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Coons (D-Del) and Senator Isakson (R-GA), have introduced the Millennium Compacts for Regional Economic Integration Act.

This piece of legislation could potentially allow the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to partner with countries in order to address regional development challenges and encourage trans-border economic growth in the developing world, especially in Africa. The Millennium Challenge Corporation is an independent U.S. foreign aid agency established by Congress in 2004. This agency aims to combat global poverty through economic growth. The MCC partners with developing countries committed to good governance, economic freedom and investing in their citizens.

Countries have reformed in order to partner with the MCC. For example, Ghana changed its power grid in order to partner with the MCC. In addition, Lesotho allowed women to open bank accounts in order to receive MCC assistance. Given this, it is assumed that countries could improve conditions in their country in order to develop regional economic partnerships. This would yield two benefits simultaneously.

In a world of globalization, many economies are interconnected. Global economies have experienced significant and sustained growth partly because of regional infrastructure and integrated trade agreements. Through greater regional economic collaboration, countries can improve infrastructure deficiencies, unemployment and poverty reduction efforts.

The MCC’s work could be enhanced if it had the authority to encourage regional economic growth. In Central America, road infrastructure could be significantly improved if the roads connected across borders. In Africa, countries could create regional power agreements and connect countries through transportation infrastructure.

Knowing this, the Millennium Challenge Corporation could foster regional economic growth between developing countries. Today, it is important to consider globalization when assisting developing countries. Globalization could help developing countries grow faster than ever.

In conclusion, this bipartisan piece of legislation aims to improve economic interconnectedness between neighboring developing countries. The MCC could foster these relationships between countries. Globalization could exponentially help developing countries grow, given that it increases trade, infrastructure access and energy access.

– Ella Cady

Sources: Senate, Open Congress, The Constituent
Photo: MCC