Archive for category: Developing Countries

Information and stories about developing countries.

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Is Hunger in San Marino a Problem?

Hunger in San MarinoThe Republic of San Marino is a high-income, landlocked microstate surrounded by Italy and claims to be the world’s oldest republic. At 23.6 square miles and with a population of 35,000, it is the smallest independent state in Europe. 

Economy and Economic Outlook

San Marino negotiated an association agreement with the European Union in December 2023 that awaits ratification. Once ratified, San Marino will experience free movement in the EU of goods, services, capital and people. 

San Marino’s economy is relatively diverse but experiences volatile performance due to its small size.

More than a third of its GDP is estimated to be attributed to manufacturing, unusual for a “micro-sovereign,” followed by the services and commerce sectors. Tourism is a strong sector that has increased since the pandemic, while a substantial decrease in demand from Italy slowed the economy in 2023. Ratification of the EU association agreement is expected to have an impact over the next two years, with broadened export opportunities that would facilitate increased diversity of the economy. 

San Marino and Poverty

There is no data on poverty in San Marino, but the country has been described as the eighth-richest nation in the world. It has been reported that its extensive social net provides assistance to those with incomes below that to provide a “basic standard of living.” 

San Marino and Hunger

In 2021, San Marino published a Voluntary National Review of its progress in implementing the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its report on SDG 2, Zero Hunger, addressed crops and breeding, organic farming, multifunctional agriculture and management and monitoring of the country’s agricultural and forestry heritage. Ongoing initiatives are directed toward “sustainable eating behavior,” promoted by food education in schools. These initiatives include a Working Group on Health Education in Schools and a Mind Your Health annual survey of physical activity in schools, and dietary habits. The Working Group focuses on healthy lifestyles and healthy school meals, with particular attention to obesity. 

A consortium of owner farmers, agricultural producers and professional associations has developed a certification process to assure food quality in the local product supply chain in an “identity and cultural process.” Indeed, the branded products have brought recognition to, and enhancement of, typical local products, led to the “rediscovery of culinary traditions” and culminated in the establishment of the Museum of Rural Life.

San Marino has participated in the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste designated by the United Nations and co-convened by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization and its Environment Programme. 

San Marino and Nutrition

The 2022 Global Nutrition Report includes San Marino in its country’s nutrition profiles, although there were data available on only two of the study’s 13 indicators—low birth weight and anemia. Furthermore, San Marino was reported as “on course” for the low-birth-weight target, which has been declining over the last two decades. However, there was no progress regarding the reduction of anemia among women of reproductive age or the proportion of those women affected by anemia. The country has implemented national food and noncommunicable disease policies in four of 10 suggested areas and included national policy targets for five of eleven global nutrition targets. 

A Hunger Problem?

While there undoubtedly are hungry people in San Marino, thanks to its solid economy and attention to social issues, hunger would not be a significant problem for the country.

– Staff Reports

Photo: Flickr

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One-Cent Microchip Offers Inexpensive Healthcare Option

One-Cent Microchip
What can you buy for a penny nowadays? Not much, until just recently.

A team of Stanford researchers conducted a study and developed a microchip that can perform multiple, minimally-invasive medical tests. Even better, the microchip takes only twenty minutes to make. This development has the potential to make inexpensive healthcare in developing countries a reality.

The study, which was published on Feb. 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, recognizes the need for new diagnostic technology in developing and resource-limited areas. The scientists noted that technologies would need to be inexpensive, easy to use and applicable to a wide range of medical situations. The team advised that their microchip is simple enough to be operated by non-specialists, yet it integrates multiple steps and analyses, creating viable point-of-care diagnostic testing. The combination of inexpensive health care and ease of use is a major advancement for developing countries.

Minimally Invasive — Redefined

Researchers explained that the affected cells must be isolated from healthy cells in order to diagnose common lethal diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, cancer and HIV. Previously, complicated tools like centrifuges, magnets or membranes were necessary to isolate the diseased cells. With the microchip, the process is simple, cheap, portable, reusable and minimally invasive.

The microchip consists of conductive particles printed on flexible plastic. A regular inkjet printer can be used to print the particles using conductive nanoparticle ink. A separate silicone section reserved for storing the sample sits on top of the chip. The chip only requires a sample size barely a millionth of a liter.

Once a sample is placed on the chip, an electric current is applied, forcing the conductive particles to react. The user can then alter the current as needed to sort the cells in the sample and perform a variety of diagnostic tests. Additionally, drug screens can be conducted with this microchip.

A Penny and 20 Minutes

The Stanford team notes in their paper that manufacturing the chip is considerably less expensive and time-consuming over its predecessors, as the process requires only an inkjet printer. Electrical engineer and lead author of the study, Rahim Esfandyarpour, explained, “We designed it to eliminate the need for clean-room facilities and trained personnel to fabricate such a device.” Creating the microchip takes just 20 minutes, versus up to weeks for other diagnostic tools. The best part is the price — just a penny per chip.
Esfandyarpour recognized that the microchip has great potential to provide inexpensive healthcare in developing countries.

“Enabling early detection of diseases is one of the greatest opportunities we have for developing effective treatments,” Esfandyarpour said. “Maybe $1 in the U.S. doesn’t count that much, but somewhere in the developing world, it’s a lot of money.”

– Gisele Dunn

Photo: Flickr

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New E-Permit System to Boost Construction in Serbia

Ikea_Serbia

A new e-permit system in Serbia, created with the help of USAID, has shortened the process for obtaining a construction permit from 240 to 28 days. It cut out the 50-plus interactions between the investor and the government. One can register for an e-permit through the Business Register’s Agency website, the Minister of Construction website, or other government websites.

The new e-permit system will help develop Serbia’s important infrastructure as well, particularly transportation. Serbia has been called the “gateway to Europe” as it is the crossroads between Western Europe and the Middle East. The Serbian parliament is looking for private investment in this sector, and the e-permits system has made this process more efficient. In addition, the new e-permit system is allowing the Clinical Center of Serbia to build new healthcare facilities. New jobs in the construction sector lead to new jobs in other sectors. The new e-permit system has not only helped construction in Serbia, it has increased the nation’s GDP by 3.5% in the first quarter of 2016.

One company already taking advantage of the new system is IKEA, and its investment is expected to bring 700 million euros and 300 new jobs to the nation. IKEA took advantage of the new permit process to build a new store in Belgrade. This new store is expected to open in July 2017. IKEA will be the first international business to invest in Serbia after the introduction of the country’s new construction e-permit system. The store in Belgrade is only the first store IKEA is building in Serbia, and the company is planning to invest 300 million euros in five stores across the nation.

IKEA will hopefully pave the way for more investment in Serbia, whether through creating new businesses or encouraging domestic construction in Serbia.

– Jennifer Taggart

Photo: Flickr

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Top Five Preventable Diseases Caused by Poverty

Top 5 Preventable Diseases Caused by Poverty
While the causes of some diseases are debatable, a lot are easily preventable. However, because of a lack of access to healthcare and poor sanitation, a lot of people in developing nations die from these preventable diseases. With education and better healthcare, the people of these nations could be saved.

  1. Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) and Other Prenatal Conditions: Neonatal tetanus is the result of unclean birthing practices. The illness can cause extreme pain to the infant at birth, often leading to its death. However, with cleaner birthing practices and immunizing the expectant mothers with the inexpensive Tetanus Toxoid-Containing Vaccines, babies and mothers can be saved. Organizations such as Circle K and UNICEF have been working for many years to eliminate this disease and have been highly successful. The number of countries containing the disease went from 21 in 2015 to 18 in 2016, and the number of newborns dying from MNT has decreased by 96% since the late ’80s.
  2. HIV/AIDS: HIV/AIDS kills about 7.2% of developing countries’ populations, and by the end of 2007, 33.2 million people were living with HIV. HIV is also the leading cause of death in Africa. Many organizations are continuing their prevention practices by allowing access to affordable condoms, HIV testing and counseling as well as sexual health education in schools and communities. There is also hope for a cure as scientists are still researching for a vaccine. In 2016, a vaccine trial called HVTN 072 tested if the HIV infection could be prevented among South African adults. Research regarding a vaccine gets more in-depth each year.
  3. Measles: There are many preventable diseases that can be stopped with a vaccine. However, in developing countries, health services for those vaccines are either unavailable or inaccessible. While measles is very rare in industrialized countries like the United States, the illness has a 40% mortality rate among children in developing nations who contract it. In 2003, measles took the lives of more than 500,000 children.
  4. Malaria: Another one of the diseases preventable with vaccines, malaria kills more than one million people a year. It is especially prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa.
  5. Tuberculosis: The countries of India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa account for 60% of total deaths caused by tuberculosis. It is one of the top 10 causes of death in the world, yet it is also a treatable and preventable disease. Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria in the air which eventually affects the lungs. People living with HIV are more at risk of dying from the disease. To treat this disease, patients take a six-month course of four antimicrobial drugs.

In our developed worlds with advanced medical work, people don’t usually have to worry about these types of diseases affecting them. Developed nations, however, need to continue allowing healthcare to their people in order to truly eliminate these preventable diseases.

– Emma Majewski

Photo: Flickr

Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries: Top 15 States

Entrepreneurs
Governments around the world have made it challenging for various countries to start businesses. However, there are many entrepreneurs who have overcome the obstacles of doing business in their countries in order to achieve their goals. Expert Market, an entrepreneurial consulting firm based in Texas, performed a study on the most determined entrepreneurs in developing countries by comparing the number of businesses created in a region to the challenges faced in that region to start businesses.

  1. Botswana
    Botswana is a middle-income country in sub-Saharan Africa. It takes both men and women over twice the amount of time to register a firm in Botswana than it does in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Two of the other major challenges to doing business in Botswana are a lack of money and training.
  2. Malta
    Malta is a high-income country in the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa region. It takes people almost a week longer to register firms in Malta than in other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
  3. Timor-Leste
    Timor-Leste is a lower-middle-income country in the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific region. Timor-Leste is a country that gained its independence in 2002 and has been working on developing stability and security in the region since 2008.
  4. Gabon
    Gabon is an upper-middle-income country in the World Bank’s sub-Saharan Africa region. It takes almost double the amount of time for people to register firms in Gabon than it takes to register firms in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.
  5. Brazil
    It takes over three times as long to start a business in Sao Paolo, Brazil than in other average city cities in the World Bank’s Latin America and the Caribbean region. Two of the greatest challenges in starting a business in Brazil are corruption and bureaucracy. Brazilians have to go through many government agencies to start businesses. Corruption is a common problem for entrepreneurs in developing countries to deal with.
  6. Belize
    Belize is an upper-middle-income country in the World Bank’s Latin America and Caribbean region. It takes almost two more weeks to register firms in Belize than in other countries in the Latin America and Caribbean Region.
  7. Antigua and Barbuda
    Antigua and Barbuda is a high-income country in the World Bank’s Latin America and Caribbean region. The nation’s biggest industry is tourism.
  8. Bulgaria
    Bulgaria is an upper-middle-income country in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region. It takes people over twice as long to register firms in Bulgaria as it does in other countries in Europe and Central Asia. Corruption is a major issue in Bulgaria.
  9. Croatia
    Croatia is a high-income country in Europe. It takes people in Croatia twice the number of procedures to register firms than it does in other countries in Europe and Central Asia. Another major challenge in Croatia is that the economy in Croatia is still transitioning from a socialist economy with many paychecks coming from public monopolies or the government.
  10. Suriname
    Suriname is an upper-middle-income country in the World Bank’s Latin America and Caribbean region. It is almost three times the cost to start a business in Suriname than in any other country in South America.
  11. Vanuatu
    Vanuatu is a lower-middle-income country in the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific region. It takes over twice the cost it takes to start businesses in other parts of the East Asia and Pacific region.
  12. United States
    While many would not consider entrepreneurs in the United States to be as determined as entrepreneurs in developing countries, entrepreneurs in the United States face their own set of challenges. Entrepreneurs in the United States face many regulations and costs in order to start businesses.
  13. South Africa
    South Africa is an upper-middle-income country. It takes 43 days for men and women to start a business in South Africa, and about 27 days in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
  14. Uganda
    Uganda is a low-income country in the World Bank’s sub-Saharan African region. It takes Ugandan citizens almost twice the number of procedures than it takes the rest of the people in sub-Saharan Africa to register a firm.
  15. Cyprus
    Cyprus is a high-income country in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region. It takes almost three times the amount of income per capita for people to start businesses in Cyprus than it does in other countries in the Europe and Central Asia region.

It may be difficult to start businesses in developing countries, but determined entrepreneurs in developing countries can make it happen.

– Jennifer Taggart

Photo: Flickr

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Five Youngest Democratic Nations

Democratic Nations

In nations such as the United States, the concept of democracy is sacred as something that has existed for centuries and must be protected. But for many nations around the globe, democracy is a relatively new development. Here are five of some of the youngest democratic nations in the world:

  1. Bhutan
    Once an absolute monarchy in the Himalayan mountains, Bhutan transitioned into a democratic nation in 2008 when its people voted for the first time on the members of its new parliament. Since then, the country has become a constitutional monarchy, with Tshering Tobgay as its current prime minister.
  2. Guinea
    Guinea endured decades of dictatorship before becoming a democratic nation. In 2010, Guinea followed in fellow West African nation Nigeria’s footsteps and had its first democratic election, won by Alpha Conde.
  3. Tunisia
    Democracy has had a tough time taking root in the Middle East, but Tunisia braved the transition in 2011 when the populace successfully rose up and unseated the dictatorship that was in place. Though off to a rocky start, Tunisians are poised to fight for democracy in their nation in the upcoming years.
  4. Myanmar
    After 50 years of military rule, the Burmese junta made way for a new civilian government in 2011, but it wasn’t until 2016 that citizens were able to vote for their first civilian president, Htin Kyaw.
  5. Burkina Faso
    The citizens of Burkina Faso didn’t have their first free and fair elections until November of 2015, making Burkina Faso among the youngest democratic nations in the world.

It’s easy for citizens of the United States to take democracy for granted, especially since it has been a central tenet of American life since the nation’s birth in the late 18th century. But for young democratic nations such as Burkina Faso and Tunisia, democracy is not a birthright, and the fight for it is far from over.

– Mary Grace Costa

Photo: Flickr

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USAID: Increasing Food Aid Through a Simple Bag

Food_AidAs humanitarian crises grow across the world, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is increasing food aid with one simple solution: bag redesigns.

Before getting into the solution, it is imperative to diagnose the problem first.

The world currently faces six qualified food emergencies, as stated by the World Food Program. Between civil wars and the environmental effects of the recent El Nino, civilians in Syria, Iraq, southern Africa, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen are all in dire need of food assistance. If lives are to be saved, agencies like USAID must increase food aid.

USAID is considered to be one of the world’s most significant food aid donors. Yearly, it donates around $1.5 billion in rice, sorghum and wheat to countries in need all around the world. These shipments are ordered to port in one of three chosen locations: Djibouti, Ethiopia or South Africa. However, under law, this food aid must be bought within the U.S. and half of all aid must be transported via U.S. ships. Realistically, this process takes around four to six months to ship. This donation process can be tedious and, in emergency situations when food is needed in less than a week (like the Haitian earthquake), deadly.

Not only this, but it is estimated that one percent of food donation cargo spoils along the way. While the percentage appears insignificant, the repercussions are fierce. One percent of USAID’s food donation is equivalent to 10,000 tons of food, costing up to $15 million. And so, when one percent spoils, an estimated 200,000 families will go hungry for an entire month. For some, one percent is the difference between life and death.

Alongside the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USAID sought out the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to tackle this mission last year. MIT researchers will assess how food aid is packaged in present-day and then research alternative packaging systems that will both delay the food aid’s expiration and decrease the cost of making the package. Should they find an alternative, USAID and MIT could be responsible for increasing food aid around the world.

MIT is currently testing bags that will avoid water damage and slow insect infestation, two leading causes of food aid spoiling. Currently, these newly design bags are carrying $1.7 million worth of food aid to Djibouti and South Africa. Only time will tell if USAID and MIT have found success in the redesigns. Regardless, for 200,000 families, the world of food aid is growing a little brighter.

– Brenna Yowell

Photo: Flickr

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Sustainable Development Goals: Create Economic Opportunities

Economic OpportunitiesThe United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015, intend to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. The 17 interrelated goals aim to work towards an economic model which is not only environmentally sustainable but also turns poverty, inequality and lack of financial access into new opportunities for businesses, especially in developing countries.

The Business and Sustainable Development Commission recently released a report on the role of business in working towards the SDGs and how the goals create economic opportunities in developing countries. According to this report, by seizing opportunities in high growth sectors (like food and agriculture, cities, energy and materials, and health and wellbeing), achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will create an estimated $12 trillion in economic growth. Over half of this growth will be in developing countries. The goals also offer an opportunity to create up to 340 million new jobs in developing countries by 2030.

To capture these opportunities, companies and entrepreneurs will have to use innovative and game-changing business models. One of these is the circular economy business model. A circular economy is an alternative to the traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible by recovering and reusing spent materials and products. This model aligns to SDG12 – responsible consumption and production.

Another market that could benefit greatly from the circular economy business model and offer substantial growth opportunities in developing countries (an estimated $810 billion by 2030) is the automotive industry. While collection rates for vehicles at the end of their life in Europe and elsewhere in the industrialized world are generally very high, it is not an effective process. Most collected vehicles are recycled into their base materials, a process which is energy-intensive and results in loss of value.

Many developing countries, however, have developed robust car repair and refurbishing industries because they cannot afford new cars. Rather, these countries import used vehicles from industrialized countries. In Nigeria, for example, 95 percent of cars are second-hand.

Ghana is another such an example. In a neighborhood called Suame Magazine, an estimated 200,000 artisans take discarded western cars and use the parts to build easily repairable vehicles that are more suitable for African roads. Car parts are also used to build anything from fences and swings to water pumps and welding machines.

These are just some of the ways that illustrate that by rethinking the approach to consumption and production, the Sustainable Development Goals create economic opportunities in developing countries while also addressing the issues of poverty and environmental sustainability.

– Helena Jacobs

Photo: Flickr

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Rockefeller Foundation Initiative to Help Halve Food Loss by 2030

Food Loss by 2030Local and global stakeholders in the Nigerian tomato value chain met late last year for the first YieldWise partner planning session. This was part of a crucial Rockefeller Foundation initiative to help halve food loss worldwide by 2030, a key objective of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

The product loss in Nigeria is staggering. While the country is the largest producer of tomatoes in Sub-Saharan Africa and the second largest in all of Africa, more than 40 percent of the product is lost between harvest and market each year. The post-harvest loss harms both consumers and smallholder farmers. On a worldwide basis, one-third of the food produced is lost to spoilage or is just thrown away. That’s food that could nourish the nearly 800 million people who go to bed hungry. For smallholder farmers, the post-harvest loss means loss of income and profits, leading to their own economic insecurity.

To demonstrate how post-harvest loss can be prevented, the Rockefeller Foundation launched the $130 million YieldWise initiative last year. The Foundation chose as its demonstration sites Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania. Nearly half the fruits, vegetables and staple crops produced in these countries are lost before they can ever reach a table. In Nigeria, the focus of the Rockefeller Foundation initiative to help halve food loss is on reducing crop losses and, perhaps just as important, on building an efficient value chain from a producer, to a buyer, a processor, a retailer and ultimately to the consumer.

Creating a more efficient, integrated tomato value chain was a key purpose of the meeting late last year of 22 local and global stakeholders. The stakeholders included Nigerian and international NGOs, Nigerian government representatives, providers, processors, agro-technology manufacturers and large scale tomato buyers. By aligning the resources each brings to the table, the stakeholders could develop a single, unified strategy to overcome post-harvest loss in the tomato value chain. The strategy addresses farmer aggregation and training, market linkages, financing and loss mitigating technologies.

The strategy was made possible because the individual stakeholders set aside their usual competitive differences to engage in a collaboration that would benefit the entire value chain, as well as each individual part of the value chain. The stakeholders will continue their collaboration at quarterly working group meetings. This spirit of collaboration is characteristic of the other demonstration projects participating in the Rockefeller Foundation initiative to help halve food loss by 2030. Through collaboration that engages stakeholders from smallholder farmers to international giants like Coca-Cola, the Foundation hopes to show that the problem of post-harvest loss can be solved for good.

– Robert Cornet

Photo: Flickr

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Camions of Care for Women and Education

Women and EducationWomen are estimated to menstruate for an average of 3,000 days throughout their lifetimes. This highlights the necessity for adequate access to sanitation and health services for women’s hygiene. A project called Camions of Care, founded by 18-year-old Nadya Okamoto from Portland, has made a monumental impact on relieving incidence of disease and social exclusion among women worldwide.

Since the establishment of Camions of Care, the organization has facilitated the transmission of more than 27,000 period care packages to women globally. A 2013 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) case study of menstrual hygiene in Burkina Faso and Niger emphasized challenges such as inadequate sanitation facilities, lack of knowledge regarding periods and the cultural impact of stigma regarding menstruation. Addressing these challenges is pivotal in establishing better practices for women’s hygiene. The study also cites that empowering women through education and personal support is imperative to improving local sanitation practices.

A journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS) also attributes poor knowledge of healthy menstruation practices to decreased school attendance among girls in Uganda.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) reinforces evidence that women and girls without access to satisfactory female hygiene facilities are more likely to miss school and work, and can be subject to higher rates of sexual assault. USAID also attributes improved sanitation facilities to promoting economic development, while also affording women “dignity, privacy and security.”

The non-profit organization also aids partners such as New Avenues for Youth, Central City Concern, Rose Haven, Free Hot Soup and Self Enhancement, Inc. and has impacted women across 19 states within the U.S. through foundations of “advocacy, youth leadership and service”. The Hasbro Community Action Hero Awards program has also recognized Okamoto’s homeless relief organization for exceptional commitment to advancing women’s health.

– Amber Bailey

Photo: Flickr