Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Life Expectancy On the Rise in Africa

Life Expectancy in AfricaLife expectancy is one of the methods used to measure health in various countries. Countries with low life expectancies usually have problems maintaining health and longevity, while countries with higher life expectancies generally have better healthcare and longevity. Africa is a continent that has long had a very low life expectancy; however, in recent years the life expectancy in Africa has fortunately been on the rise.

Since 2000, the average life expectancy in African countries has increased from 20 percent to 42 percent. That is the biggest increase in life expectancy recorded in that time frame in all regions around the world. One of the biggest life expectancy increases has occurred in Malawi. Malawi’s life expectancy in 2000 was 44.1 years. In 2014, it was reported that the new life expectancy in Malawi was 62.7 years – a 42.2 percent increase.

Health and welfare improvements are one of the main reasons why life expectancy in Africa has been on the rise. One of the biggest health issues that Africa has been plagued with is the HIV/AIDS epidemic. HIV/AIDS has tragically claimed many lives in Africa, which is a large reason why life expectancy was so low. Treating these diseases was difficult at the height of the epidemic, so many Africans unfortunately died. Because HIV/AIDS has been such a huge issue, there has been a lot of research done to help alleviate the problem. Improvements in medication and treatment have helped Africans and others around the world combat the AIDS epidemic. Not only is there now medicine available to help suppress the disease, but this medicine has become much more affordable for all people, including those in developing countries.

Although an epidemic, HIV/AIDS was not the only problem that African countries suffered from. Malaria was also an issue that affected life expectancy in Africa. However, strides have since been made to alleviate that issue as well. The World Health Organization (WHO) in Africa has reported that the rate of malaria has decreased by 66 percent since the year 2000. More importantly, malaria in African children under the age of five has decreased by 71 percent. This is important because more children are surviving in Africa. Prior to these improvements, HIV/AIDS and malaria have claimed many lives of children under the age of five. Since healthcare – and access to it – has increased in Africa, more children are surviving past age five. Once these kids clear the first five years of their lives, it is much more likely that they will grow up to reach the age of 60.

Life expectancy in Africa has increased and things are only looking to get better. Not only has the life expectancy dramatically increased, it is beginning to look like malaria may be eliminated by 2020 and HIV/AIDS by 2030. This will surely serve to further increase the life expectancy of African countries, as well as elsewhere around the world.

– Daniel Borjas

Photo: Flickr

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Obesity in Resource-Poor Nations

Obesity in Resource-Poor NationsThe state of physical activity – or perhaps inactivity – is presenting researchers with a new problem in an age of widespread poverty. Over two billion people are currently obese or overweight, globally. Subsequently, one in 10 deaths are the direct result of health issues stemming from inactivity and obesity.

Inactivity in high-income countries is not a novel concept. When there are means of automatic transportation, a market or grocer nearby and a population that has access to vast white-collar work opportunities, inactivity – and its resulting obesity – existing at an elevated rate is not suspect. However, obesity in resource-poor nations is now concerning global leaders. When a country cannot afford basic needs without help, how will it deal with increased healthcare costs associated with poor health?

Brazilian researcher, Dr. Pedro C. Hallal, recently sought out to answer just how inactive the world is becoming. In 2012, Hallal compiled answers to 155 population surveys from 122 different countries, with the purpose of collecting data about people’s general health and lifestyle choices. What Hallal discovered was that severely impoverished countries, like Swaziland and Dominican Republic, ranked at the top of the list of the most inactive countries, alongside some of the most affluent countries.

According to Hallal’s research, Malta ranked at the very top, with nearly 72 percent of the population reporting high levels of inactivity. However, the Pacific Islands, Middle East and Americas lead the way, generally. For comparison, the U.S. had an inactivity rate of 41 percent. The countries with the most commendable numbers were well under 10 percent; these include Bangladesh, Mozambique, Benin and Cambodia.

Sub-Saharan Africa demonstrates, though, why physical activity is so essential, even when wages and higher living standards cannot be guaranteed. Noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, thrive in resource-poor countries such as Kenya. While these resource-poor nations are having a tough time ensuring a balanced diet, the rapid urbanization of these same countries is compounding the negative health effects and increasing the number of health-related deaths.

A healthy lifestyle ultimately depends on an active one. This does not mean that gyms need to be constructed immediately, nor does foreign aid need to fund exercise equipment before meeting basic needs. Rather, one important thing that can be done is simply encouraging people to be more active. The U.N. has intervened, with its Sustainable Development Goals placing a focus on poor eating choices combined with physical inactivity, and the need to improve the rates of obesity that result from these choices.

However, the solution must be a societal one. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, noted that “different countries have different issues… You need to mobilize (their) whole society to tackle the problem… it’s not just a medical problem.”

The benefits of a healthier nation are also not a novel concept. When people are physically active, the heart and lungs experience increased efficiency, cholesterol levels go down, muscles strengthen, blood pressure problems decline and, overall, individuals makes themselves less susceptible to major illnesses. There are no inherent risks in encouraging people to walk a little more and have their kids play outside for 30 minutes, aside from a possible scraped knee or other minor accident.

The rising level of obesity in resource-poor nations should concern the countries experiencing it, along with the countries that are providing foreign aid. While not every nation can adjust the foods available, individuals in resource-poor nations can still make choices about their physical activity in order to prevent obesity. Neglecting to address this issue will only open the door to more medical expenses for countries that cannot afford to run themselves financially. Obesity is preventable, but it takes societal motivation and accountability to help prevent it.

– Taylor Elkins

Photo: Flickr

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AMREF Lasting Healthcare Improvements to Africa

AMREF: Lasting Health Changes in AfricaSurgeons Michael Wood, Archibald McIndoe, and Tom Rees came up with a plan to provide medical assistance in remote regions of East Africa in 1957. Today, the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) is the most respected health development organization based in Africa. Their mission is simple: bringing lasting healthcare improvements to Africa.

AMREF’s strategy is based on seven priority areas:

  1. Maternal health, including safer pregnancies, support for reproductive rights and cervical cancer prevention for disadvantaged women.
  2. Child health, including integrated management of childhood illnesses and improved childhood nutrition.
  3. Fighting diseases like HIV, TB and malaria with prevention, care and treatment.
  4. Improving access to safe water and sanitation to prevent epidemics of waterborne diseases.
  5. A wider reach of quality clinical and diagnostic services by strengthening health facilities.
  6. Research and advocacy to distribute knowledge to healthcare workers across the continent.
  7. A strong, united AMREF Health Africa.

AMREF works to make significant healthcare improvements in African countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Senegal. AMREF has been successful in developing community-based healthcare models and programs with communities, which is the heart of their system. It reaches and respects communities and brings lasting healthcare improvements to Africa from within.

AMREF launched the successful Stand Up for African Mothers campaign to ensure that mothers are given adequate medical care during pregnancy and childbirth. It aimed to train 15,000 midwives to reduce maternal death by 25 percent. One trained midwife was projected to provide care for 500 women each year, including safe deliveries of 100 babies.

AMREF set up the Kenya eLearning Nurses Upgrading Programme in 2005 and a few years later, it expanded to include the AMREF Virtual Nursing School. The program has further evolved to implement projects such as:

  • Conversion of the Diploma in Community Health program to eLearning
  • Conversion of six distance education courses to eLearning
  • The Center for Disease Control-supported infection prevention and control program
  • Conversion of the national antiretroviral therapy guidelines to eLearning
  • Replication of the eLearning program in various countries across the region including Uganda, Tanzania and Senegal
  • Support for the Ministries of Health in non-AMREF countries to implement eLearning, including Zambia and Lesotho.

More than 220 women die each day due to pregnancy and childbirth complications in Sub-Saharan Africa, and children in Africa are 16 times more likely to die before the age of five than in developed regions. This highlights the serious need for healthcare improvements in Africa. AMREF has shown that when women have more control over their life and health, they become more effective and have a great impact on their own community.

AMREF has taken the lead to improve the situation by partnering with and empowering communities and strengthening healthcare systems. Their priority areas address the most pressing healthcare concerns, bringing lasting healthcare improvements to Africa in the places where it is needed most.

– Tripti Sinha

Photo: Flickr

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The Fight for Girls’ Education in Malawi

Girls' Education in MalawiIn April 2017, Malawi president Peter Murtharika signed an amendment into law to outlaw child marriage in the country following a vote in Parliament.

This amendment has greatly affected the role of women and girls in Malawi, because prior to the amendment, girls were allowed to marry at age 15. Consequently, Malawi is ranked 11th in child marriage around the world; however, with the introduction of the new amendment, girls will not be allowed to marry if they are under the age of 18.

Child marriage was a large problem in Malawi and posed various challenges to the lives of girls, including limited access to a proper education. According to Jill Filipovic of The Guardian, girls who are married and have children in their early teenage years find it difficult to obtain an education while maintaining their roles as wives and mothers. Also, a lack of hygiene products like tampons and pads is a serious issue for girls who attempt to receive an education, because girls have to stay home during menstruation if they do not have the proper hygiene products.

However, many steps have been taken to increase girls’ access to education in Malawi. President Murtharika’s amendment to outlaw child marriage was an important step in the right direction for girls, and there are many organizations that are helping girls as well. For instance, the organization Girls Not Brides takes action against countries in which child marriage is allowed.

Furthermore, in May 2017, Neetha Tangirala from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) reported that radio has served as a “primary source of news and information” for the people of Malawi, including women and girls.

Marshall Dyton, a Mandela Washington Fellow, hosted a radio show in order to stress the importance of girls’ education in Malawi. Dyton’s two-hour-long radio show reached an audience of approximately three million people.

USAID highlights the importance of community inclusion in the fight for gender equality in impoverished areas. Dyton’s radio show is a great example of the work many people are doing to improve girls’ education in Malawi. The radio show, which was organized by the Girl Child Education movement and funded by USAID, helped to start conversations in communities regarding the importance of girls’ education.

The outcome of the radio show was immense; following the broadcast of the radio show, the Muslim Association of Malawi was persuaded to increase access to information regarding education in some of the most rural areas of Malawi. The fight for girls’ education in the wake of the outlaw of child marriage in Malawi is only just beginning.

– Emily Santora

Photo: Flickr

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ZubaBox: An Innovation Bringing the Internet to Remote Areas

ZubaBox: An Innovation Bringing Internet to Remote AreasFor the technologically privileged, access to the Internet is considered a tool of our everyday lives. But out of the world’s entire population, only a third of people in developing countries have access to an Internet connection, according to a 2015 report by the International Telecommunications Union. Countries with no access to the Internet are disadvantaged economically, as they are do not have the knowledge and resources to widen their professional opportunities.

But the appearance of a container in remote areas, including refugee camps, has changed the lives of several marginalized communities. Countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe were finally able to bring digital literacy into their neighborhoods through a shipping container, also called ZubaBox, converted into a “solar-powered Internet café or classroom”.

“Zuba” means “sun” in Nyanja, a common language spoken in Malawi and Zambia, which refers to the solar power by which the Internet hub functions. In addition to being environmentally friendly, solar power is crucial for remote populations who often lack the electricity to benefit from standard technologies. The ZubaBox constitutes an innovation that benefits the most remote communities with no access to a stable power supply.

The organization fueling this technology is Computer Aid International, who decided to design the ZubaBox to enhance the online presence of remote rural areas. In each container, they provide refurbished PCs, visualisation cards, monitors, keyboards, mice, an Internet connection, mobile chargers, a ventilation system and benches.
The box can contain enough components for up to 11 individuals, which brings isolated communities together and develops a sense of inclusion. It also enables every individual to grow personally and professionally, which ultimately benefits the neighborhood as a whole. In fact, David Barker, former chief executive of Computer Aid, spoke about the technology as beneficial for doctors who need to contact specialists in the nearest city hospital, school children who want access to educational material or even local people who are looking for ways to expand their professional outlets.

By May 2016, Computer Aid had already placed its 12th Zubabox in a suburb of Bogota, Colombia. Another project on Computer Aid’s agenda is to build a box in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where 150,000 people found refuge after fleeing 20 different African nations. For the largest refugee camps in the world, having a ZubaBox could enable them to open up to the world and provide them with the opportunity to rebuild their lives and find work once outside the camp.

– Sarah Soutoul

Photo: Flickr

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Instagram Provides a View of Gaza Few Outsiders See

Instagram Provides a View of GazaIn June 2007, Israel began a strict land, sea and air blockade of Gaza. Nearly two million people live locked inside, the borders rigorously controlled. The movement of goods and humans are harshly restricted, and for as much as 72 percent of the population, food supplies are uncertain. 41 percent are unemployed. Hospitals must rely on generators to maintain life-saving equipment, and their stock of medicine dwindles dangerously. Drinking water is in danger of running out if the highly-taxed desalinization plants break down.

Through the camera lenses of two Palestinian women, Instagram provides a view of Gaza that few outsiders are allowed to see. Though forbidden to leave Gaza, Kholoud Nassar and Fatma Mosabah are Instagram celebrities by showing the world there is more to Gaza than the war. Each woman has over 100,000 Instagram followers. Through images captured by Nassar and Mosabah on their cell phones, Instagram provides a view of Gaza to those who live outside its restrictive borders. The people of Gaza, locked inside a land mass the approximate size of Philadelphia, recognize Nassar and Mosabah several times a day,

Israel guards Gaza’s borders to the east and north by Israel, Egypt to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Gazans must obtain permission to leave the area. Neither Nassar nor Mosabah has left Gaza in over 10 years. Also, Israel denies tourists permission to visit Gaza. The rest of the world can only imagine what life is like inside the heavily guarded strip. Since 2008, three wars have played out between Hamas and Israel. For most, the mention of Gaza conjures visions of devastation, poverty and suffering.

Although Gazans receive just a short period of electricity each day, social media sites are remarkably popular. Palestinian Social Media Club president Ali Bkheet calculates that approximately 50 percent of Gazans have Facebook accounts. The number utilizing Twitter and Instagram are significantly smaller.

According to Bkheet, the decade-long Israeli blockade makes Gazans particularly enthusiastic to use social media to express themselves and narrate the story of Gaza.

Rather than using text to educate outsiders about life in Gaza, Kholoud Nassar and Fatma Mosabah depict the people and the beauty of their homeland through pictures. Instagram’s focus on photos over text and political debates enables the two women to show a different side of Gaza that exists behind the Israeli-built steel mesh fence.

– Heather Hopkins

Photo: Google

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New Law Promises Women’s Empowerment in Tunisia

Women's Empowerment in TunisiaA lawyer by training and a former militant against the colonialist movement, Béji Caïd Essebsi, current president of Tunisia, has earned himself another title for his resume: women’s rights activist.

Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring, is often regarded as a model country for Middle Eastern countries trying to move toward democracy. In a predominantly Muslim country, President Essebsi has been the subject of much criticism due to his support for controversial legislation regarding women’s rights. However, the president maintains that under the country’s constitution, Tunisia is a civil state that emphasizes equality.

In July 2017, Tunisia’s parliament passed an unprecedented legislative package defending women’s rights. The law on violence against women, specifically rape and domestic violence, became a landmark step toward women’s empowerment in Tunisia, as well as all over the Middle East. Including key elements of the United Nations Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women, the law defines violence as “any physical, moral, sexual or economic aggression against women based on discrimination between the two sexes and resulting in damage or physical, sexual, psychological or economic suffering to the woman, including threats of such aggression, pressure or deprivation of rights and freedoms, both in public and private life.”

Tunisia became the first to overturn the draconian law offering impunity to rapists if they marry their victim of the few countries that still enforced it. Shortly after, Jordan and Lebanon followed suit. In addition, the laws passed by the Tunisian parliament include criminal provisions for violence committed within a family, as well as public sexual harassment. The new law takes important steps to women’s empowerment in Tunisia by requiring equal pay and protection against child employment. The law also includes crucial preventative measures to prevent violence against women, and requires assistance be given to surviving victims of domestic violence.

President Essebsi did not stop there though. In September 2017, he shifted his focus toward administrative orders regarding marriage and inheritance. President Essebsi urged the government to rescind previous law forbidding Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men. Additionally, he seeks to allow women to receive equal inheritance as women heirs are currently entitled to only half the inheritance of a man.

While President Essebsi’s emphasis on equality has the potential to empower women in Tunisia, passing a law is only the first step. Changing the way people think about women, not only in Tunisia and the Middle East but all over the world, still promises to be an uphill battle.

– Richa Bijlani

Photo: Flickr

10 Facts About the Ustase Genocide

Facts About the Ustase GenocideMost people know little about or have never heard of the Ustase – a Croatian, racist, Nazi-like movement formed in 1929 that ruled Croatia during World War II. Modeled after the Italian fascists, the Ustase sought to separate Croatia from Yugoslavia in order to attain Croatian independence and create a “pure” Croatian state, using genocide to rid the country of “impure” people. This dark period for Croatia resulted in the Ustase genocide.

Top 10 facts about the Ustase Genocide:

  1. The targets of the Ustase genocide were mainly Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. These groups were also the main targets of the German Nazi genocide (the Holocaust).
  2. Initially, the Ustase’s enacted race laws against the groups they saw as non-Croatian and who they felt threatened Croatian identity, much like how the Nazi’s established race rules against those who weren’t considered pure Germans.
  3. Additionally, like the German Nazis, the Ustase also established concentration camps to carry out their ethnic cleansing. The largest was Jasenovac where the Ustase murdered around 70,000 to 100,000 people.
  4. The Jewish population of Croatia was practically eliminated – almost all of the 40,000 Jews that resided in Croatia were murdered.
  5. It is estimated that about 30,000 Croatian Gypsies were murdered as well. The most number of deaths comes from the Serbs killed by the Ustase; it is estimated (on the low end) that 300,000 to 400,000 Serbs were murdered in the Ustase genocide. Some reports estimate that around 750,000 Serbians perished.
  6. The leader of the Ustase movement, Ante Pavelic, fled to South America after the end of World War II in 1945. He eventually moved to Spain and died in 1959 at the age of 70 and was never prosecuted for his crimes.
  7. The racism in Croatia did not end after the end of World War II, it continued into the later twentieth century with Serbs still being persecuted and even murdered as late as 1991.
  8. Even the United States was complicit in the continued racism in Croatia. The Assistant US Secretary of State who served as the American Ambassador to Germany during the beginning of the Yugoslav War, Richard Holbrooke, represented the US view that “The Serbs started this war.”
  9. Unlike the German concentration camps, which most often used gas chambers to murder the innocent people they targeted, the Ustase genocide was carried out through much more brutal means. Croatian Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies were cruelly beheaded, drowned and murdered in other barbaric and torturous ways.
  10. Even the German Nazis noticed the brutality of the Ustase. A Gestapo report to Heinrich Himmler from 1942 stated, “The Ustaše committed their deeds in a bestial manner not only against males of conscript age but especially against helpless old people, women and children.”

The shocking cruelty of the Ustase genocide has gone forgotten but should be remembered as an example of the senseless tragedy that occurs from allowing nationalism and racism to fester rather than rooting it out immediately.

– Mary Kate Luft

Photo: Flickr

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The Importance of Women and Girls in Agriculture

The Importance of Women and Girls in AgricultureSmall communities and impoverished areas oftentimes rely on farming for their food supplies, however, due to the low socioeconomic statuses of many of these places the livestock is often diseased and plagued by harmful pests and environmental factors.

According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, there is a large opportunity to improve health outcomes in countries of low socioeconomic status by helping communities that rely on farming. Moreover, the organization believes that providing aid to farming and agriculture is “the most effective way to reduce hunger and poverty over the long term.”

Women and girls tend to run the farms in their small communities, working in order to provide food for their families and local communities. Bill and Melinda Gates are aware of the role women and girls have in agriculture and have developed a variety of agricultural education programs that help women and girls thrive on these farms.

For instance, the organization is currently working with the United Nations World Food Programme‘s Purchase for Progress initiative in order to create goals that are specifically geared towards women and girls in agriculture. Programs that are “gender-aware” are more likely to reach women who lack education and encourage women to step into leadership roles.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has found that yields on farms run by women are approximately 20 to 40 percent lower than yields on farms run by men, and therefore, “gender-aware” programs that specifically seek to increase the work of women on farms are vital.

As mentioned above, women are typically the providers of food for their families and local communities. Access to healthy food is important for children in school and the health of the community as a whole which is why agricultural education for women is important because it is promising better health outcomes for communities in which farming is the main source of food.

– Emily Santora

Photo: Flickr

Solutions to Reduce the Poverty Rate in St. Kitts and Nevis

Challenges and Solutions in Reducing the Poverty Rate in St. Kitts and NevisSt. Kitts and Nevis is not one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean. No exact statistics on the exact poverty rate in St. Kitts and Nevis exist, but it is clear that the country both has ongoing struggles and that solutions to many of its problems do exist.

One of the biggest contributing factors to the poverty rate in St. Kitts and Nevis is youth unemployment and underemployment. Some of the costs of this are hard to quantify, such as the feeling of self-esteem one gains from being employed.

Childhood education is free in St. Kitts and Nevis, but the additional costs associated with it can be prohibitive. Teachers in St. Kitts and Nevis have been known to hold antagonistic attitudes towards the poor. In many cases, impoverished parents of children have to work two or three jobs to provide for their families.

Health problems related to unhealthy lifestyles are widespread in St. Kitts and Nevis, such as obesity, hypertension and depression. This, in turn, puts a strain on the country’s healthcare system and economy.

It is not unheard of for citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis to procure healthcare and education abroad. In fact, many low-income families in the country are supported by migrants living abroad and sending money home.

Another contributor to the poverty rate in St. Kitts and Nevis is one that threatens all Caribbean nations: natural disasters, particularly hurricanes. The collapse of the sugar industry has led to soil erosion, a result of diverting runoff rainwater to sugar fields through pipes.

Alarmingly, violent crime, which can be both symptomatic of and contribute to poverty, has risen in the very recent past. There were 103 reported homicides in 2006-2010, compared to 42 from 2001-2005, a 160 percent increase.

Despite the obvious challenges that lay ahead, there are several steps being taken to reduce the poverty rate in St. Kitts and Nevis. The country is in the process of reforming the various antiquated departments that would be concerned with a rise in violent crime. Effective mobilization of resources to inform the public about bad health choices could make a huge difference. Currently, the government is investing in more training for medical professionals.

St. Kitts and Nevis face a number of very real challenges in alleviating poverty. But most of these challenges have been identified and none are insurmountable. In the coming years, with proper action, the poverty rate in St. Kitts and Nevis can be reduced.

– Andrew Revord

Photo: Flickr