Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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How to Help People in the Republic of Moldova

Help People in the Republic of Moldova

The Republic of Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. The national GDP amounts to $1,900 per capita. Moldova relies heavily on agriculture as a main source of income, rendering the environment a major factor in the country’s economic affairs. It faces many economic challenges, including political corruption, which impact the economic depreciation as well. In order to help people in the Republic of Moldova, it is necessary for international aid and domestic reform.

Get Involved – How to Help People in the Republic of Moldova

Major organizations helping the people in the Republic of Moldova include recognizable institutions such as The World Bank and the United Nations.

The World Bank

The World Bank currently has eight projects underway. They are designed to help people in the Republic of Moldova by increasing internal revenue through rejuvenating local businesses and helping to construct a self-sustaining economic foundation.

You can learn more about the World Bank’s mission and how to help by connecting with them on their website.

The United Nations

The United Nations Development Programme focuses on environmental efficiency, developing an accountable and transparent government, and evolving inclusive growth for the people of Moldova.

You can supplement this mission by donating funds or by advocating for change and promoting the mission by visiting their website.

Promo-LEX

Local non-profits are working to promote equality and the insurance of human rights by working directly with Moldovan administration to benefit citizens on a residential level.

The Promo-LEX Association is a group dedicated to democratic values, civic liberties and social justice through pro-bono legal work. By subscribing to the Promo-LEX newsletter, you can keep up to date on legal movements and significant occurrences in Moldova.

Volunteering Moldova

Volunteering Moldova is a state-run non-profit charity whose objective is to aid vulnerable populations including children, the disabled, and those facing financial hardship.

You can get involved by volunteering at group homes, disabled institutions and orphanages. Donations are equally important for non-profits that rely on benevolence; learn how you can fund supplies including diapers, food, medicine, books and school supplies and other general goods. Your efforts will help people in the Republic of Moldova.

Moving Forward

Despite these hardships, Moldova’s economy is growing steadily. Legislative efforts, combined with those of independent organizations, have contributed to successfully reducing poverty. This shows hope for a promising future for the Republic of Moldova.

– Sloan Bousselaire

Photo: Flickr

How to Help People in Gabon

How to Help People in GabonGabon, a very small country in West Africa, is regarded as stable in terms of politics, but it has many other issues when it comes to its socioeconomic conditions. One third of the country lives in poverty; the population is 1.5 million, so this means that 500,000 people in Gabon are living in poverty. In addition, the unemployment rate is high, at 25 percent.

Surprisingly, then, Gabon is one of the richest countries in Africa, with a high GDP per capita. Unfortunately, however, due to the number of people living in poverty in this country, there is much improvement to be made to alleviate this. Here are some of the ways that you can help people in Gabon:

1. Donate to or Volunteer for a Nonprofit

Organizations such as UNICEF are trying to encourage people to volunteer their time or donate to UNICEF. These donations would provide the organization with the means to assist the many people living in the rainforests of Gabon who have poor access to healthcare and sanitation. You can also ask UNICEF or other nonprofits for suggestions on other ways to help people in Gabon.

HIV/AIDS is also a huge problem among people in Gabon – nine percent of the population had this disease in 2002. Organizations like UNAIDS are working on combatting this issue, which affects the population in various ways.

2. Call Your Representatives and Senators

Call your elected officials to support bilateral and trade agreements with Gabon. Contact various departments within the Executive Branch as well. Asking them to support measures or bills that would pressure the Gabonese government to focus on the wealth gap, due to its oil export profits going to the wealthiest Gabonese people.

3. Educate Yourself and Others

You can start a group at your school or university concerning issues in Gabon. There are many classes on wealth disparities in Africa as well as a lot of research on it. Get the word out about this issue because it is easy to get caught up in the positive numbers that Gabon has (such as its GDP). Study why issues like this exist in political economies such as Gabon and other countries around the world. You could even start your own nonprofit or lobby organizations and governments yourself someday. Being a global citizen is incredibly important.

While Gabon may seem to be in a great place in terms of its wealth, much of what is happening there is benefiting a small group of people – the wealthiest group, that is. Unemployment and poor healthcare are unequally affecting poor people in Gabon. That is why it is important for us to think about how we can help people in Gabon, even from abroad.

– Emilia Beuger

Photo: Flickr

14 Years of Doctors Without Borders in Pakistan

Doctors Without Borders in PakistanSince 2004, the well-known international humanitarian aid organization Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frotières, has responded to urgent healthcare needs in the Kurram district in Pakistan. Doctors Without Borders in Pakistan focuses primarily on mother and child health and delivering medical care to rural parts of the country, urban slums and areas afflicted by conflict, including isolated tribal areas.

The tribal districts are among the poorest areas in Pakistan, still operating under an extremely harsh legal system implemented by colonizers more than a century ago.

In Kurram, a district within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Doctors Without Borders teams have been providing inpatient and outpatient care for children, treating parasite infections, attending to women during pregnancy and birth and offering emergency treatment services. The organization has been present in the local hospitals, Sadda and Alizai, since 2008.

In Sadda hospital, Doctors Without Borders operated the outpatient department for children under the age of five as well as the inpatient department focused on treating severely ill children up to 12 years of age. In addition, the hospital housed a newborn unit catering to premature babies and complicated births. The organization also facilitated emergency referrals to tertiary care hospitals when necessary by means of ambulance services and medical transfer staff.

The Alizai hospital, with the aid of the international doctors, was responsible for caring for children under 12 in an outpatient department and observation room. In 2016, the Sadda hospital alone admitted 1,946 patients and treated 414 patients for cutaneous leishmaniasis, a skin infection caused by a parasite. 736 children were also admitted to the newborn unit.

Doctors Without Borders in Pakistan has continued to work in this impoverished area of the country amid increased militancy, including American drone strikes targeting members of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda. Sectarian militant attacks primarily targeting Shiite Muslims still plague the area.

Local officials have remarked that Doctors Without Borders provided crucial care in areas that have some of the poorest health services and lowest literacy rates in the country. However, despite continued appreciation from officials and patients in these areas for the work of Doctors Without Borders in Pakistan, the Interior Ministry of the country has ordered that the aid organization leave the Kurram tribal region.

Although Doctors Without Borders was one of 25 international aid agencies that signed an agreement with the government of Pakistan formally granting it permission to operate in the country, Pakistan has been cracking down on international aid agencies in recent years. The Pakistani government has cited the medical charity’s failure to renew their certificates to operate in volatile areas, such as the Kurram tribal region, as the reason for asking the organization to withdraw from the area.

Catherine Moody, the country representative for Doctors Without Borders in Pakistan, expressed sadness over the decision to halt medical services in the Kurram district after 14 years of work. Nevertheless, the organization has stated, “We will, as much as possible, continue to provide obstetric and newborn care to the women of FATA through the MSF women’s hospital located in Peshawar.”

Additionally, Doctors Without Borders will carry on offering free outpatient, emergency and maternal healthcare in other FATA districts, as well as care in other provinces of the country while they continue trying to renew their work certification to provide services in Kurram.

– Richa Bijlani

Photo: Google

Clean Cookstoves in Kenya Change Lives

Cookstoves in KenyaIn Kenya, only 20 percent of the nation’s 47 million inhabitants have access to electricity. In rural areas, that number is even more drastic – only seven percent of the rural population has access to electricity. Consequently, the majority of the nation’s inhabitants, especially those in rural areas, are dependent upon biofuels, such as coal and charcoal, to power their lives.

These biofuels are often used in immense quantities for a very specific task – cooking – as 84 percent of the population relies on wood or charcoal cookstoves. These stoves require such immense quantities of fuel that, in fact, a Kenyan household can often expect to spend about $500 per year on charcoal alone; this is an entirely unsustainable expense that can lead to bankruptcy for impoverished families.

This immense reliance on biofuels has also contributed to the massive deforestation the nation has faced. Only two to three percent of the land remains forested today, leaving the environment susceptible to irregular rain patterns and soil degradation, both issues that undermine agricultural abilities and thus undermine the economy. Further, the reliance on biofuel cookstoves in Kenya costs the nation at least 5,000 children a year, as the children catch respiratory infections caused by smoke from the stoves.

All of this is exactly why the clean cookstove revolution has entered Kenya. Organizations like the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves have catalyzed the efforts to diversify cooking options in order to combat the effects of traditional, expensive, and ultimately dangerous biofuel cookstoves.

Further, the first-ever clean cookstove manufacturing facility in Sub-Saharan Africa has settled in Kenya. This facility, run by BURN – a clean and affordable cookstove company – employs over 100 Kenyans in the effort to invigorate the economy with localized production and employment.

Though BURN’s cookstoves still use biofuels, they are incredibly efficient, cutting fuel consumption by over 56 percent, which ultimately saves Kenyans up to $250 a year. They also reduce carbon emissions by 65 percent, which not only helps to improve air quality on the whole, but also minimizes the respiratory risks associated with biofuels.

Thankfully, it is clear that although the clean cookstove revolution is relatively young, it is on its way to changing cookstoves in Kenya for the better. BURN is only a single company, and yet it is projected that in the next 10 years it will have generated 3.7 million clean biofuel cookstoves. This essentially means that at least 3.7 million households will be able to improve their finances, environment and health. And they are only a single company; imagine the impact that all similar companies will have in conjunction. Thus, there is a very bright light gleaming ahead for Kenyan cookstoves, and it is a clean light at that.

– Kailee Nardi

Photo: Flickr

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Addressing the Most Common Diseases in Paraguay

Common diseases in ParaguayAt the heart of South America, Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in the region. 40 percent of its 6.7 million residents live in chronic poverty. For this landlocked nation full of millions of poor, health care is not at the forefront of government policy, as poverty continues to send the population into crisis. As a result, the country has an unfortunately low life expectancy rate and is plagued with various diseases.

Of the many common diseases in Paraguay, a particular few have been of the most concern in the last several years. Among the top causes of death in Paraguay are coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, influenza and pneumonia, cancer, kidney disease and hypertension.

The diseases with the greatest impact on the population are intestinal infectious diseases. These viruses, parasites and bacteria result in 107.7 annual years of healthy life lost per 100,000 people. Since 1990, the mortality rate of intestinal infectious diseases has increased by 6.1 percent per 100,000 people. Mostly infants die from these diseases, but the mortality rate peaks again for adult women and men ages 60 to 64. The diseases can be a result of unsafe water, poor sanitation and lack of hand washing. The most deadly of these diseases are caused by typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever.

Other infectious diseases are also common in Paraguay. Lower respiratory infections have a mortality rate of about 28 per 100,000 people. Diarrheal diseases, while common, have had a steady decreasing mortality rate since 1990 — a solid 79 percent decrease. Meningitis and tetanus are also common infectious diseases with decreasing mortality rates, while encephalitis and intestinal diseases remain at a steady infection rate.

In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control warned that Zika virus was present in Paraguay. Public health officials reported the virus was being carried and spread by infected mosquitoes, and also warned of the virus’s dangerous lack of symptoms. Pregnant women were at the highest risk, as infection during pregnancy causes harsher symptoms and serious birth defects.

In 2014, the National Eradication Service for Vector-Borne Diseases reported that the vector for the dangerous parasitic Chagas disease was found with increasing frequency in Paraguay. At first it was believed the vector was only found in rural and indigenous areas, but uncleanliness and housing insecurity of other poor areas have caused the vector to find a home between the bricks of houses, which mimic its normal dry habitat. An estimated 165,000 people in the country suffer from chronic Chagas disease. A bite from the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, can potentially be life-threatening.

The life-saving organization, Doctors Without Borders, has worked recently in Paraguay’s rural Chaco region, educating people in isolated communities about Chagas disease and offering screenings to locals. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls Chagas the “neglected tropical disease” because the vast majority of people affected do not have access to diagnosis or treatment. Most people affected experience symptoms without knowing why. Treatment is rapid and proves to be effective.

According to the WHO, in Paraguay, the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60 years is 166 for males and 126 for females per 1,000 people. Additionally, the country’s total expenditure on healthcare in 2014 was 9.8 percent of GDP. If Paraguay’s healthcare system were improved to prevent, treat and educate on disease and illness, many lives could be spared. As for now, organizations like Doctors Without Borders will continue to spread hope and educate on the common diseases in Paraguay which affect a majority of the population.

– Olivia Cyr

Photo: Flickr

The Link Between Education and Ending Child Marriage

The Link Between Education and Ending Child MarriageAccording to the organization Girls Not Brides, child marriage is “any formal marriage or informal union where one or both of the parties are under 18 years of age.” The largest number of child marriages take place in Western and Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Over 50 percent of girls living in Bangladesh, Niger, Mozambique and Mali are married before they turn 18.

Child marriage violates several international human rights treaties including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. All of these treaties require that marriage be consensual between both parties and that both parties be legal adults (over the age of 18.)

Beyond violating human rights treaties, child marriage has many negative consequences for the participants. While boys are affected negatively by child marriage as well, the burden is felt more by girls and there is more data on its effects on girls. Child marriage leads to higher incidences of domestic violence, marital rape, medical complications due to pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. It is also difficult for girls who marry young to find work.

So, is there a silver bullet? Is there an easy way to reduce the number of girls who are forced to marry young? No – unfortunately things are rarely that simple. However, education is the most useful tool we have.

What is the link between education and ending child marriage?

There is undoubtedly a link between education and ending child marriage, but it is complex. On the one hand, higher educational attainment is associated with fewer child marriages and lower educational attainment is associated with more child marriages. But child marriage also obstructs educational attainment; therefore, the cause and effect are not clear. “Leaving school early both contributes to, and results from, marrying young.”

So, what do we know?

We know that girls are less likely to marry as children the higher if they obtain a higher level of education. We also know that countries with higher rates of child marriage have proportionally lower rates of school enrollment for girls. For example, in Niger – where there is the greatest disparity – 76 percent of girls are married before 18 and only 10 percent of girls are enrolled in secondary school. While primary school is important and should be accessible for all, secondary school attainment is a more reliable measure.

Why does child marriage still happen?

Poverty is a leading cause of child marriage. Families may want their daughters to marry so they have fewer mouths to feed, so they no longer have to pay their school fees or so that they receive the dowry – typically money or livestock – in exchange for their permission to marry.

Inaccessible education also leads to higher incidences of child marriage. Especially in rural areas, schools can be too far away to reach. Even when girls do make it to school, teacher absenteeism is common in underfunded rural schools and the quality of the education itself may be lacking due to poor teacher training and a lack of supplies and textbooks.

Environmental factors can also affect the rate of child marriage. Natural disasters may spur families to marry off their daughters, to protect them or to receive the dowry to help them rebuild.

What can be done?

Many organizations are working to eradicate child marriage through several different approaches. Girls Not Brides has a theory of change centered around four areas: empowering girls, mobilizing communities, providing services and implementing policies. This approach is rather comprehensive. Other organizations may focus on just one facet – improving access to quality education, making girls aware of their human rights or providing scholarships for school attendance.

Solutions should be oriented around requiring consent of both parties and requiring proof of age before a marriage ceremony. Education and ending child marriage may be intrinsically linked, but change will be most effective if the girls themselves are empowered to fulfill their own personal and professional aspirations and become economically independent.

– Olivia Bradley

Photo: Flickr

Entrepreneurship Education and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

Poverty in Sub-Saharan AfricaThe woes of sub-Saharan Africa likely need no real introduction to most in the developed world, with daily survival a challenge for many across the region. Traditionally, the method of attempting to resolve these issues has been via foreign aid. However, in recent years, a new school of thought has emerged. The new thinking is that through entrepreneurship education for the next generation of workers in Africa, an alternative solution to poverty in sub-Saharan Africa may be found.

Current trends in Africa indicate that by the year 2030, enrollment in secondary education will have doubled across sub-Saharan Africa. Yet despite better access to education, youth unemployment rates are increasing. Of all surveyed entrepreneurs in the region, 40 percent said that finding employees with the right skills was their primary challenge when looking to hire new employees. It is perhaps with this type of issue in mind that advocates of educational reform are seeking to make schooling more explicitly linked to the needs of the region.

Reform of this type is obviously a difficult undertaking, especially when considering the multitude of countries and different education systems in the region. With entrepreneurship becoming an increasingly important part of the solution to poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, enabling youths to have skills such as critical thinking and autonomy in their work, traits sought after by hiring managers, seems to be an important step to helping them into the working environment.

A sizable number of countries have already begun taking steps towards reforming their curriculums, with an increased emphasis to be placed on employability skills and entrepreneurship. One of these is Rwanda, a nation in which under-25s, who comprise 67 percent of the population, account for 70 percent of the unemployed labor force. As such, steps towards focusing education on these key aspects could be a massive difference maker in the country’s battle with poverty.

One organization focused on assisting education reform across sub-Saharan Africa is Educate!, whose goal is the transformation of schooling in the region with the ultimate aim of teaching youths to solve poverty in their community themselves. By 2024, Educate! aims to directly impact 1 million students, while reaching 4 million more, with skills training in leadership, entrepreneurship and employability skills. Through this, the organization hopes to transform youths into the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs across the region.

While it is perhaps naive to believe that entrepreneurship education can be the single solution to poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, it is not naive to believe that it will have an impact. It is with this impact in mind that support for these educational reforms should be given. The problem in the region is unique; the solutions to it can be too.

– Gavin Callander

Photo: Flickr

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Clean Blood Transfusions Impoverished Countries

Hemafuse: Clean Blood Transfusions in Impoverished CountriesIn the U.S., there are many people who are willing and able to donate their blood. With a large blood bank available, the U.S. does not have to use extreme measures to perform a blood transfusion. Unfortunately, this is not the case with many impoverished countries; getting a clean blood transfusion in most of these countries is simply not an option. However, a device called Hemafuse has been developed for doctors to help make these clean blood transfusions possible.

Due to the lack of blood donors in poverty-stricken countries, doctors use autologous transfusions to give the patients the blood they needed; this involves using the patient’s own blood for the transfusion. It could be obtained during hemothorax – a condition where the patient’s blood has pooled up in an open cavity, or, alternatively, they could also use the blood resulting from hemorrhaging during an ectopic pregnancy – pregnancy which occurs outside the uterus.

Originally, doctors had to scoop up the patient’s pooled blood with nothing but a soup ladle. They then took the blood collected from the soup ladle and poured it through a filtration system to make the blood cleaner for transfusion. Not only is this unsanitary, but it is a highly complicated process that takes many doctors to perform. It has saved a few lives in the past, but it is inadequate as a permanent solution.

The Hemafuse looks to alleviate all of those problems and make clean blood transfusions in impoverished countries happen. To operate the Hemafuse, doctors need to put the suction inlet into the pooled blood and then pull the pump. Blood is then filtered through the filtration system, removing clots and impurities. After the blood is collected, the doctor then pushes the pump and the blood is then moved into a separate blood bag that is connected to the side of the device. Once there, the blood can be used in a blood transfusion back to the patient the blood originally came from.

This is much safer and cleaner than using a soup ladle. The patient’s blood stays within a closed and sterile system rather than it being exposed to the elements. Not only that, it requires only one or two doctors to use rather than the eight or nine that were previously required. It also costs about $60 per patient use, which is much more affordable than the $250 a normal blood bag would cost.

The Hemafuse device has been backed by many prominent organizations such as USAID, UKAID and the Gates Foundation, among many others. Doctors want clean blood transfusions in impoverished countries to become widespread, so they are willingly coming around to performing clinical trials using Hemafuse. With this device, the soup ladle transfusion will hopefully become a procedure of the past and patients will finally be able to receive the – clean – lifesaving blood that they need.

– Daniel Borjas
Photo: Flickr

Improving Access to Clean Water in India

Clean Water in IndiaIn rural India, access to potable water is virtually nonexistent. Dirty water runs rampant, wreaking havoc on communities by spreading disease, with 37.7 million Indians annually suffering from waterborne diseases. An estimated 80 percent of the region’s 325 million inhabitants have no access to safe drinking water. Further, only 16 percent of India’s total rural families have access to piped water, and of the 1.7 million rural habitations that were supposedly supplied with potable water through the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, a disconcerting 21 percent of such habitations were found to have traces of arsenic within the water.

Thus, it is clear that access to clean water in India is a serious issue. Consequently, such an enormous undertaking typically requires an enormous price tag. As such, the increasing efforts to provide communal water systems are almost impossible to support financially, as an average system will typically cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000.

Yet, a company called Spring Health is changing the narrative. Spring Health provides low-cost safe water “kiosks” in Orissa, a rural state in northeastern India. After cleaning the water using a liquid chlorine solution, the water is distributed via motorcycle to rural vendors. Spring Health constructs cement water tanks near pre-existing local retailers within a village, which allows local retailers to then pump the water from the tanks into 10-liter Spring Health branded containers. From there, these local vendors sell the water alongside their other products, returning a portion of their water profits to Spring Health.

The system has revolutionized life in Orissa and is currently expanding. Within the next three years, the company is projecting to serve five million people via 10,000 village retailers, and it also hopes to one day export the system to other nations in order to serve on a global level as well. By simply capitalizing on pre-existing retailers and creating a low-cost distribution system using standard methods of transportation, Spring Health is advancing the fight for clean water in India.

– Kailee Nardi

Photo: Flickr

How to Help People in the Solomon Islands

Help People in the Solomon IslandsThe Solomon Islands, located in the south Pacific Ocean, make up a country that lies to the east of Australia. The Solomon Islands is one of the least developed countries in the Pacific for a few reasons.

Why the Solomon Islands Are Vulnerable
Between 1998 and 2003, the Solomon Islands suffered ethnic tensions and civil unrest. As result, the domestic infrastructure of the country was severely damaged. The geographic location of the islands makes the country particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, especially those that are water-related.

International Assistance
After the ethnic tensions and civil unrest had dramatically affected the Solomon Islands, the country’s prime minister requested Australian assistance. In response, Australia and New Zealand worked with the Solomon Islands to draft the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI). The Pacific Islands Forum wholeheartedly endorsed RAMSI, and was supported in its undertaking by then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

RAMSI set up a comprehensive assistance plan focusing on the economy to better help people in the Solomon Islands. On June 30, 2017, RAMSI concluded, having improved the Solomon Islands’ economic capacity. RAMSI will likely be replaced by a new bilateral policy development program to ensure that the Solomon Islands’ growth continues in leaps and bounds.

The United States is helping the Solomon Islands work towards such a bilateral policy. In particular, the State Department has done detailed research into the ongoing policies of the Solomon Islands. There are opportunities to work to help people in the Solomon Islands through the U.S. State Department’s internship program or its career options.

Help from Organizations
There are several organizations helping to eliminate the causes of poverty in the Solomon Islands. Caritas Australia is one such organization. Caritas Australia focuses on helping people through community-driven efforts: improved access to water, sanitation, hygiene and heavy investments into education. Along the way, Caritas Australia promotes social justice for those living on the islands, and also prepares permanent residents of the islands to face natural disasters. For example, in 2012 and 2013, Caritas Australia trained more than 80 teachers to use nursery rhymes and games to prepare children for natural disasters.

The organization has vacancies, so those interested can work to help people in the Solomon Islands. While serving with organizations that directly help people in the Solomon Islands would be a powerful way to make an impact on people’s lives, other forms of advocacy from home are also important. Political advocacy for legislation that impacts international policies is an influential way to ensure that poverty across the world is reduced, bit by bit.

– Smriti B Krishnan

Photo: Google