Archive for category: Global Health

Information and stories about global health.

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Catalysts for Change

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A first of its kind, Catalysts for Change, an innovative and interactive online game, was run by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Institute for the Future last year in the beginning of April. The game prompted participants worldwide to discuss and come up with ways to battle the plentiful issues of poverty. The game itself was designed around four catalysts: new evidence, new capacities, new rules and new stories, all of which contributed to the card-based gaming platform.

Players could share ideas through Positive/Critical imagination cards – these had the potential to be built on by others through Momentum, Antagonism, Investigation and Adaptation cards. Leaderboards were also created, displaying points players had earned through using and gaining said cards. These could furthermore be categorized as Scenario Fail, Common Knowledge or Super Interesting based on the players’ personal perception of presented ideas. Achievements spanning across seven levels, going from Inspired to Legend, were available for unlocking before being recorded in player profiles.  Each card played was then cataloged by category, available for public viewing on a special dashboard.

A game blog recorded all progress and presented new missions and challenges in real time. Two weeks before the actual game start, several preparations were made including social media advertising and buzz-building, recruitment, email exchange between coordinators across the world and various sponsor partnerships which led to further awareness among people. Most follow-up cards played were either Investigation or Momentum; of the top-tier, Critical versus Positive imagination were played, the latter being more than twice as frequent. Around 53% of all cards had follow-up cards attached, spanning overall very optimistic and fruitful discussions. As expected from discussions concerning poverty, themes such as education, work and community were amongst the most common. A few top innovative ideas that were brought up include:

–  Alternative economic systems or a universal currency
–  Empathy, i.e. teaching children from an early age to perceive worldly problems
–  Entrepreneurial education and new business funding as a common endorsement for all
–  Socially engineered ways around corruption
–  Sharing to eliminate waste

Although the aim of the game was not to implement any policy for actual poverty reduction, it managed to fulfill its purpose: to motivate and bring together people in their desire to make a change. Several of the players, engaged among one another, even discussed ways they could contribute beyond playing the game, such as starting a non-profit together centered chiefly around their ideas. The attention on social media (Facebook and Twitter) that Catalysts for Change received helped further spread the cause. Thoughts shared by players are still accessible on the website today, providing ‘food for thought’ for anyone hungry for making a difference. Although the game spanned for only 48 hours, it attracted 1,616 players from 79 different countries who used a total of 18,207 cards.

– Natalia Isaeva

Sources: The Rockefeller Foundation: Catalysts for Change, Institute for the Future
Photo: Vimeo

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Palmetto Medical Initiative to Build Hospitals

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Palmetto Medical Initiative (PMI) — a global health nonprofit — announced its $1.5 million Revolutionizing Global Health campaign, which aims to build five medical centers in East Africa and Central America by 2015. $1.2 million has already been pledged from lead donors Darla Moore, Seacoast Church and others. The group of donors are counting on individuals and corporations to raise the remainder before Dec. 31, 2013.

Founded in 2009 by Dr. Ed O’Bryan, a physician at MUSC, and Matt Alexander, an entrepreneur and nonprofit executive, PMI was created as a permanent health care solution for impoverished regions.  In 2011, PMI opened its first hospital in Masindi, Uganda. Within 13 months of opening, the hospital achieved self-sustainability and has served more than 50,000 patients. The typical doctor visit costs patients $2, making it possible for more than 98% of all patients to cover the entire cost of their care.

“I invite our community to join me and support PMI’s campaign,” said Darla Moore, financier, philanthropist and one of the lead contributors to the current campaign. “On a mission trip with PMI in 2009, I saw firsthand the desperate health care needs of so many people. PMI has proven its ability to provide the same quality health care we value in the U.S.”

The regions selected by PMI for the Revolutionizing Global Health campaign lack basic quality health care and, all in all, are some of the poorest corners of the world. These areas have exceptionally high mortality rates, widespread disease and low life expectancy rates. With the contribution of generous donors, the campaign will be up and running for the new year, and represent a prominent step forward for the growth of global health.

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: Post and Courier, Moultrie News, ABC News
Photo: Giphy.com

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Obesity Growing in the Developing World

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The number of overweight and obese people has grown drastically in the past 30 years, going from 23% of the world’s population in 1980 to over a third today.  Surprisingly to some, the majority of overweight and obese people live in developing countries.  As globalization spreads and countries go from low-income to middle-income, people have more money to buy food.  At the same time the access to cheap junk food full of fat, carbohydrates, sugar and salt is becoming readily available.  As food gets tastier and cheaper, families in the developing world are consuming these products and steadily gaining weight.

Sharada Keats and Steven Wiggins from the Overseas Development Institute in London released a report on January 3rd called, “Future Diets.”  This report summarizes research that shows that diets are changing.  As incomes rise in the developing world people are moving from a diet that consists of cereals and tubers to diets that include meat, fat and sugar.

The portion sizes that people are eating are also going up.

These changes mean that the price of animal products will go up all over the world while prices for grains will go down.  The agricultural crisis of not having enough grains to feed the poor may be replaced by a public health crisis as more people move to eating unhealthy diets.

Obesity is increasing throughout the developing world.  Further, reports have noted that obesity has tripled in the developing world in the past 30 years.

Mexico is a good example of how globalization and higher incomes are impacting diets and waistlines of middle-income countries. In 1980, fewer than 40% of Mexicans were overweight or obese. Today that figure is more than 70%.  In 1980 there were 250 million overweight and obese adults in the developing world. In 2008 those numbers have grown to 904 million.

This is a global health concern as unhealthy diets and weight gain put people at a large risk for a wide range of health conditions including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. This is going to place an increased burden on low and middle-income countries with already struggling health care systems.  It will also cause economic difficulties and increased health care costs.

At the moment there seems to be little interest among the public and leaders to take action against the growing obesity problem.  Keats and Wiggins suggest that as countries begin to face the serious health implications and economic problems associated with obesity they may consider investing in public education and policy changes as well.  Conclusively, Keats and Wiggins suggest for a resolution that is a moderate combination of education, prices and regulation measures.

– Elizabeth Brown

Sources: NPR, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), BBC

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Child Labor: An Overview

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“Millions of children are victims of violence and exploitation. They are physically and emotionally vulnerable and they can be scarred for life by mental or emotional abuse. That is why children should always have the first claim on our attention and resources. They must be at the heart of our thinking on challenges we are addressing on a daily basis. We know what to do, and we know how to do it. The means are at hand, it is up to us to seize the opportunity and build a world that is fit for children,” remarked Ban Ki-moon, Secretarty-General of the United Nations on November 20, 2009, on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Just as Ban Ki-moon mentioned, children are not physically or mentally ready to enter the labor force. With the lack of physical abilities, the safety of the workplace cannot be ensured, for both the children and other employees. In fact, children are more likely to be abused and mistreated in an environment centering around child labor.

“Few human rights abuses are so widely condemned, yet so widely practiced. Let us make (child labor) a priority. Because a child in danger is a child that cannot wait,” stated Kofi Annan, Former UN Secretary-General. Around the world, more than 211 million children between the age of 5 and 14 are being forced to work. Among these children, 120 million children are working full time.

To eradicate child labor, people should first understand what leads to such situations. For example, poverty is the first and foremost reason of child labor.  Since many parents do not have the capability to support their household, children end up working to help support the family’s daily lives. Another reason for child labor is a poor education system.

When education is expensive or not readily available, impoverished parents do not see the benefit of learning and think that working is a better alternative. In the United States, there are many laws that prohibit child labor, however, in some countries, child labor laws exist, but are not enforced. Companies can thus take advantage of the cheap labor and further exploit it.

On the other hand, many organizations have been striving to put a stop to child labor by various programs. For example, the United Nations has been running campaigns to raise the awareness of child labor across various nations and airing them in global events such as the World Cup. Moreover, in order to raise the level of education in poverty stricken areas, the Red Cross and governments of third world countries have been recruiting teachers to volunteer in remote areas.

– Phong Pham

Sources: Child Labor Public Education Project, UN: Agencies Urge Greater Action, International Labor Rights Forum, UN: Child Labor
Photo: Addicting Info

 

Facts about Child Labor

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OECD’s Health at a Glance Reports

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The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has reported slow health-spending as economies continue to struggle. Further, Reuters reported that total health spending fell in one in three OECD countries between 2009 and 2011 with the poor from these countries being the ones hardest hit.

Those living in poverty within those hard-hit countries are at a larger risk of longer-term problems and have lessened access to regular medicines and checkups, the OECD explained on Nov. 14.

This drop in health spending is a “sharp reversal” compared to the years prior to the financial crisis. The OECD said this makes it “all the more important that governments work to make healthcare systems more productive, efficient and affordable.”

The OECD further stated that longer-term impacts on health and health spending are important to focus on in contrast to short-term benefits to budgets.

Reuters then explained that personal spending per capita “fell in 11 of the 33 OECD countries between 2009 and 2011, according to the 2013 Health at a Glance report.”

As it stands, Japan and Israel are the only countries that saw their health spending rise since 2009, when compared to the previous decade.  On the other hand, growth in the U.S. fell 1.3% and 0.8% in Canada.

In fact, a third of what the OECD claims to be “rich countries” cut their health spending between 2009 and 2011. The report states that budget cuts in “austerity hit countries for the drop in healthcare spending.”

The OECD said that “Governments have worked to lower spending through cutting prices of medical goods, especially pharmaceuticals, and by budget restrictions and wage cuts in hospitals.”

Some of the other findings in the Health at a Glance 2013 report are:

1. “Chronic diseases such as diabetes and dementia are increasingly prevalent. In 2011, close to 7% of 20-79 year-olds in OECD countries, or over 85 million people, had diabetes. This number is likely to increase in the years ahead, given the high and often growing rates of obesity across the developed world.”

2. “The market share of generic drugs has increased significantly over the past decade in many countries. However, generics still represent less than 25% of the market in Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Japan and France, compared with about 75% in Germany and the United Kingdom.”

3. “The burden of out-of-pocket spending creates barriers to health care access in some countries. On average in the OECD, 20% of health spending is paid directly by patients; this ranges from less than 10% in the Netherlands and France to over 35% in Chile, Korea and Mexico.”

3. “Across OECD countries, more than 15% of people aged 50 and older provide care for a dependent relative or friend, and most informal carers are women.”

– Alycia Rock

Sources: OECD, Huffington Post, Reuters