Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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10 Women Who Have Helped Fight Global Poverty


Female leaders play a critical role in helping to end global poverty. Emphasizing the need for equity, education and improved health care services, these women have used their minds and resources as means for bettering the conditions of the world. Here is a list of 10 women who have helped fight global poverty.

Michelle Obama
Recognizing the necessity of educating girls and women around the world, Michelle Obama has continually advocated on behalf of the world’s poor. Citing education as a leading contributor to fighting global poverty, Michelle Obama has suggested that, by giving girls and women access to schooling, global poverty can be ended. In 2016, she launched a Twitter campaign entitled #62milliongirls, seeking to raise awareness regarding the number of women who remain uneducated. That year, with funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, she announced plans to provide $100 million for education efforts. Her efforts to emphasize education have managed to hinder the perpetuity of poverty throughout the world.

Angela Merkel
The current chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel provided Global Citizens with a straightforward message prior to the G20 Summit. She stated that the G20 group of major economies has “a shared responsibility to enable people worldwide to live in dignity.” Suggesting that the interconnectivity of the world established through the Internet and economy links people now more than ever, she emphasized sustainability and development. Merkel has established an ongoing desire to reduce poverty and conflict by teaming up with African nations to create stability. When she was declared Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2015, one of the main reasons cited was her tremendous generosity with refugees, having provided one million with refuge.

J. K. Rowling
Another of the most influential women who have helped fight global poverty is J. K. Rowling. She is a tremendous advocate on behalf of the world’s orphans, demanding that they receive more help than they were once provided. The author of the Harry Potter series established the Lumos Foundation, which works to help millions of children worldwide to regain their right to a family in the face of poverty, disability and minority status.

Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey does tremendous work for girls globally. Like Michelle Obama, Oprah values the role of education in improving women’s quality of life. As a result, she has funded a number of organizations that seek to grant women additional rights worldwide, including Women for Women International and Girl Effect. Women for Women International has assisted over 462,000 marginalized women in unstable, war-torn nations. Girl Effect prides itself on creating a new normal, where girls previously living in poverty are empowered through technology and safe spaces.

Melinda Gates
One of the two leaders of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates has made incredible strides toward ending global poverty. Emphasizing the need for quality healthcare and education in order to end poverty, Gates has used her organization to help provide children in poverty with exactly that. In particular, for many communities around the world, the Gates Foundation has provided financial tools to the poor, taught farmers how to increase production sustainability, helped women with family-planning, increased college completion rates and combatted infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV and polio.

Angelina Jolie
The recipient of the 2005 Global Humanitarian Action Award for her work with the U.N. Refugee Agency and refugees themselves, Angelina Jolie epitomizes global advocacy. Supporting 29 charities, including the Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan, the Clinton Global Initiative, Doctors Without Borders and the U.N. Millennium Project, Jolie has done unbelievable work in terms of ending global poverty. In 2016, Jolie worked to bring light to the ongoing need to help Syrian refugees.

Cindy Levin
Cindy Levin is another one of the most influential women who have helped fight global poverty. Seeking to engage children and stay-at-home parents in global child survival, she works to teach grassroots volunteers to fundraise through an organization known as RESULTS. In October of 2012, Levin traveled to Uganda with the U.N. Foundation’s Shot@Life Campaign, personally meeting mothers living in poverty. On that journey, she accompanied UNICEF to health programs days, which provided vaccines and AIDS testing to people living in the area.

Ellen Gustafson
Sustainable food system activist, author, innovator and social entrepreneur Ellen Gustafson has given TED talks about the necessity of using food as a means for ending global poverty. The creator of the ChangeDinner campaign, she seeks to change the food systems at dinner tables and in schools around the world. She is now a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ertharin Cousin
The former executive director of the World Food Programme, Ertharin Cousin has been fighting global hunger since 2012. Using innovative tactics, Cousin implemented a program called “forecast-based financing.” The program utilized weather models to identify droughts prior to their occurrence in order to emphasize proactivity. Ultimately, the goal of this program was to enable countries to grow enough food before disaster hit, saving both money and lives.

Jacqueline Novogratz
Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and chief executive officer of an organization called Acumen. Acumen prioritizes the voices of the world’s poor, using them as a compass for eliminating poverty. By creating the organization, Novogratz helped make significant strides in emphasizing what the poor truly need.

Clearly, women who have helped fight global poverty play a large role in beginning to combat the issue. While male, female and gender non-binary leaders continue to contribute significantly, it is still incumbent upon governments to provide funds to help address the problem. Only by ensuring that each of these entities works in tandem can the world truly ensure that poverty comes to an end.

– Emily Chazen

Photo: Flickr

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Fighting Non-Communicable Diseases in Brunei

Fighting Diseases in Brunei
Brunei is an incredibly small country that shares borders with Indonesia and Borneo. Some of the top diseases in Brunei include various cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases. These non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a widespread issue for countries in The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN focuses on improving political and international economic relations to improve the stability of Southeast Asia. Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Brunei comprise the organization.

Brunei’s Ministry of Health is working to promote the prevention and treatment of these diseases. The ministry is concerned because the prevalence of these NCDs has paralleled the economic growth of ASEAN countries. Consequently, they called a meeting in 2013 with the health sector of ASEAN. Together, the two groups established goals that will attempt to control NCDs in the region by 2025.

For 30 years, NCDs have been among the most common diseases in Brunei and have been the leading cause of death. The government launched the Brunei Darussalam National Multisectoral Action Plan, which is working towards reducing NCD mortality rates by 18% by 2018. This is part of the larger goal to reduce mortality rates from NCDs by 25% before 2025.

This action plan includes five main goals to combat common diseases in Brunei. They aim to reduce tobacco use, promote healthy diets, increase physical activity, identify at-risk individuals and improve NCD treatment. With these goals in place, Brunei expects to see a reduction in the rate of diabetes by 1 percent before 2018. Diabetes is a major issue in Brunei, where 62% of people are overweight.

These programs have been successful thus far. The World Health Organization (WHO) created the NCDs Progress Monitor to track the progress of ASEAN countries. According to the WHO, Brunei has made the most progress in terms of fighting NCDs out of all ASEAN countries. The WHO has highlighted Brunei’s progress in particular areas, including drug and alcohol counseling, tobacco usage warnings and public awareness programs.

Although there is still potential for further progress, this report from the WHO indicates that Brunei is moving in the right direction to combat NCDs.

Photo: Flickr

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Top Diseases in Belarus

Top Diseases in BelarusBelarus is a relatively large country in Europe with a population of 9.5 million people. The life expectancy in Belarus is 71 years with females living longer than males. Understanding the top diseases in Belarus is key to improving preventative care and medical assistance available to the citizens. The top 10 diseases in Belarus have remained the same over the last decade.

Ischemic heart disease is the most prevalent disease and has risen almost 9 percent in the last decade. Males are more likely to have heart disease later in life than females. Cerebrovascular disease has also maintained its position over the decade as the second-most prevalent diseases. However, it has seen a decrease of just about 5 percent over the last decade.

Belarus has the highest mortality rate due to cardiovascular diseases in Europe. There are other countries around Europe where the impact of heart disease is much lower. Places like Norway, France and the Netherlands all have relatively low rates of heart disease. Studying healthcare and government initiatives of these countries could help Belarus fight these disease on the home front.

Since 1983, cardiac rehabilitation has been routinely used by doctors in Belarus after a cardiac event. In 2016, 53 percent of patients underwent rehab to strengthen their heart back to working condition. The opportunity to monitor patients and control the rehab process with newer technology is working to bring people back to healthy lives after a cardiac event.

More of the top 10 diseases in Belarus include three different types of cancers. Lung cancer is the only cancer that is in the top five. The other two types of cancer are colorectal and stomach cancer.

Alzheimer’s disease saw an increase of 37 percent over the last decade and jumped from eighth on the list up to fourth.

The main risk factors for the top diseases in Belarus include diet, high blood pressure, alcohol and drug abuse and smoking. Many of these risk factors can be controlled with preventative measures. Controlling even a few of these risk factors could drastically reduce the number of cases of heart disease and cancers.

Belarus is still feeling the effects of communist rule under which healthcare was severely neglected. However, there is a very large number of doctors, about 42,000, relative to the size of the population. There is also emergency care available. The country has 834 hospitals and more than 100,000 beds.

The top diseases in Belarus are similar to the rest of the world, with heart disease as the leading cause of death. Focusing on controlling risk factors and increasing preventative care could help to decrease the prevalence of these diseases and increase the life expectancy for Belarusians.

– Brendin Axtman

Photo: Flickr

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A Brief Guide to Activism on YouTube

Activism on YouTube
Most of the millennial generation might remember the splash that “Kony 2012” made on the Internet, a video about Joseph Kony forcing child soldiers to fight his wars for him in Uganda. Regardless of the resulting conduct of the filmmaker, the film was a digital phenomenon, shared from every social media platform known at the time. There’s no mistaking the amount of awareness that the video generated. Kony 2012 was one of the first and most viral examples of activism on YouTube.

While bingeing on Netflix or finding the latest funny videos on YouTube can waste the day away, platforms such as YouTube also provide a unique space for creativity, art and passion that can easily be tied to activism and global issues. Whether it is a specific person or an organization, a YouTube channel can be the means to a movement. Below are some channels to get started with bineging on activism on YouTube:

  • Jacksgap: While this channel isn’t currently active, all of Jack and Finn Harries’ previous videos remain online, detailing their work and travel to support different charities and issues. Their videos showcase a blend of art and activism that is very well done. Jack Harries is currently traveling in Somalia to study the effects of climate change on the impoverished country.
  • The Uncultured Project: Now a charity, this is a channel run by Shawn Ahmed, designed to raise awareness about global poverty, initially while traveling around Bangladesh. He focuses his videos on a problem as well as a solution. Ahmed sends pictures to donors so they can see the direct impact of their donations.
  • Vlogbrothers: Brothers Hank and John Green, the latter being a famous young adult author, achieved their YouTube success with the idea of Nerdfighteria, which fights the stigma of “the nerd.” However, they also created the Project for Awesome, a way for their subscribers to advocate for charities by making their own videos.
  • Engage by Uplift: This channel advocates against sexual violence in all of its different forms. It seeks to educate and raise awareness for the various aspects of the issue and calls its viewers to action in every video. In terms of activism on YouTube, this channel is upfront and consistent.
  • Tyler Oakley: Oakley focuses on LGBTQ activism by working with The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention. Besides its activism on YouTube, his channel includes plenty of fun and light videos as well as collaborations with other users to keep viewers entertained.

While this is certainly not a comprehensive list, this list provides a basic starting point for seeing what activism on YouTube has to offer. Social media is a major part of life in modern society, and these channels have used it to make a change.

– Ellie Ray

Photo: Flickr

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Understanding the Main Causes of Poverty in Timor-Leste

Causes of Poverty in Timor-Leste
After almost three decades of Indonesian occupation, Timor-Leste gained its independence in 2002. The widespread violence during the years of occupation has taken its toll, however, and, since independence, the nation has striven to rebuild. Despite these efforts, Timor-Leste remains one of the world’s poorest nations, with an estimated 42 percent of the population living in poverty. Before investigating methods by which this issue can be alleviated, it is important to understand the main causes of poverty in Timor-Leste.

  1. Much of Timor-Leste’s economic infrastructure became severely damaged during the years of Indonesian occupation. This has negatively impacted many of the country’s essential services, such as healthcare, agriculture and education. The lack of infrastructure has further exacerbated the country’s food insecurity. With many people reliant on harvested crops as their primary source of food, large amounts of these crops have been improperly allocated or are traded on the black market, compounding the issue of hunger.
  2. Timor-Leste faces challenges from its surrounding geography. The country’s uneven terrain makes both farming and water-gathering difficult, with only 30 percent of arable land currently used in farming. Around 70 percent of the nation’s population lives in rural areas and are reliant on agriculture as their primary food source. However, they are faced with the challenges of tackling the wet and dry seasons. Natural disasters also make this difficult, with floods and droughts the cause of large losses. As a result, many families who are reliant on farming are only able to produce enough food for eight months of the year.
  3. Food shortages contribute to a large number of illnesses and diseases in Timor-Leste. Malnutrition is widespread, and proper health care is hard to come by, particularly for those in rural areas. Maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world, and 45 out of every 1,000 children are expected to die before their first birthday. Of those who survive, many are stunted due to poor nutrition.
  4. Water and sanitation also create problems for health care. Of all Timorese, 300,000 do not have access to clean water, with large numbers of the population using public taps and unprotected springs to get the water they need. Additionally, 700,000 people are without adequate sanitation. The lack of these basic facilities enables disease to spread, resulting in unnecessary deaths, particularly of young children.
  5. Education attainment levels in Timor-Leste are low, with a lack of literacy among the population being particularly problematic. Prior to independence, many of the country’s schools were destroyed and teachers were in short supply. A 2015 UNESCO report found numerous challenges facing the education system. Dropout and attendance rates, particularly those of girls, is one of the key issues the country is facing.
  6. One of the primary reasons education is a major cause of poverty in Timor-Leste is the direct impact it has on employment. While more than three-quarters of Timor-Leste’s workers are employed within the primary sector, employment outside of this area is limited. The country’s educational issues prevent the development of a skilled workforce, which hinders the ability of the government to function effectively. This skill gap is particularly problematic for Timorese youths, where educational inadequacies have led to a 40 percent unemployment level. Further compounding this issue is the lack of job creation outside of government, with the private sector only able to create an estimated 400 jobs per annum.
  7. While Timor-Leste receives foreign aid from a multitude of sources, questions have been raised as to whether aid has delivered any observable results. Policies of donors may not necessarily be in line with what is best for the country, particularly when focused on the public versus private sector. Despite this, a recent government report shows that critical areas of health, agriculture and education are receiving significant investment through foreign aid. As some of the primary causes of poverty in Timor-Leste, further investment in these areas may enable at least a small alleviation of the poverty facing the country.

As a young nation with limited resources, assistance from the developed world is critical to progress in Timor-Leste. Increased foreign aid, focused on the primary causes of poverty in the country, will be a strong starting point to enabling a stable economic future for Timor-Leste.

– Gavin Callander

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Refugees in Singapore

Refugees in Singapore
In recent history, Singapore has had a complicated relationship with refugees. Having been burned once before, Singapore now routinely turns away refugees with the intention of turning the responsibility over to a third party. But should they be doing more to help? Here to help you decide are ten facts about refugees in Singapore:

  1. Following the Vietnam war, refugees known as “Vietnamese boat people” came flooding out of their country to Southeast Asia looking for a safe haven. With this refugee crisis in mind, the Singapore government and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agreed on a policy that would provide refugees with international protection. Singapore was to be a kind of limbo by temporarily housing refugees in a transit camp while the UNHCR planned for a more permanent resettlement.
  2. However, the number of refugees continuously arriving proved to be too great, and after a 1989 conference on Indochinese refugees in which committee members decided to enact a new policy called the Comprehensive Plan of Action, Singapore’s transit camp suffered greatly. With a new refugee screening policy in place, Singapore continued to accept new entrants, but the entrants were now not guaranteed resettlement, even temporarily.
  3. Singapore’s transit camp was now a place for rejected asylum seekers to gather, many of whom refused to leave voluntarily. The threat of repatriation caused many refugees to protest the UNHCR, go on hunger strike, or even attempt suicide. Singapore government officials, feeling betrayed by resettlement countries and embittered by the whole experience, closed the camp in 1996 and promised that refugees would no longer be allowed in Singapore, even if another country pledged to take them in.
  4. For many years, Singapore held firm to this policy, stopping refugees at coastlines and, instead of taking them in, providing them with food, water and fuel before sending them away.
  5. However, Singapore’s refugee policy has been slowly softening in recent years. In 2009, Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, addressed the problem of Rohingyas searching for, and being unable to find, a haven after fleeing from Burma. A senior minister of state for foreign affairs clarified that Singapore could not accept asylum seekers, but would offer humanitarian aid so that they could depart for another country.
  6. Apart from Singapore’s unpleasant experience with refugees in the past, the government gives one other reason for refusing to accept new entrants into the country: space. Singapore is the second smallest country in Asia and also one of the most densely populated. Refugees would certainly put an extra strain on the country’s infrastructure.
  7. A lack of space cannot be reason alone to reject refugees, as Singapore actually plans to increase its population from approximately 5.5 million to up to 6.9 million by the year 2030. In 2013, Singapore’s Population White Paper projected this growth, arguing that the country’s land area has grown by 23 percent since 1965 and that increasingly stable investments into infrastructure facilities and land capacity make this population growth sustainable.
  8. As of right now, refugees in Singapore are completely unwelcome, joining one of many Southeast Asian countries that refuse to do so.
  9. It may be, though, that Singapore is finally healing from its past experiences with refugees. In 2016, the UNCHR launched a new campaign to appeal to governments around the world to join the fight to end statelessness, with a special chapter dedicated to Advocates for Refugees in Singapore (the AFR-SG).
  10. Singapore is still a long way away from changing its policy on accepting refugees, but with the continued efforts of the UNCHR, the AFR-SG and anybody who takes the time to help, it is possible to move toward finding a home for the millions of people still left stateless.

– Audrey Palzkill

Photo: Flickr

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Fighting the Top Diseases in Zambia Through Collaboration

Diseases in Zambia

In Zambia, located east of Angola and south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis have the highest incidence rates. The risk for infectious diseases in Zambia, as with many Southern African nations, is particularly high. Here are the most common diseases in Zambia:

  1. HIV/AIDS
    Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus transmitted through certain bodily fluids that weakens or destroys the immune system’s cells. If not started on antiretroviral treatment (ART), HIV can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)— the most advanced phase of the HIV infection.HIV/AIDS afflicts a large proportion of the Zambian population. In 2015, the adult prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS was the seventh-highest in the world, with an estimated 13 percent of Zambian adults aged 15-49 being HIV-positive.In 2016, the Zambian government partnered with the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to deliver anti-retroviral therapy to 693,599 Zambians. The partnership will also supply 2.7 million Zambians with HIV counseling and testing, support voluntary medical male circumcision and offer supportive care services to 366,447 Zambian youth affected by HIV/AIDS.
  2. Malaria
    Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease transmitted through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Malaria can be prevented with interventions, such as indoor insecticide spraying and insecticide-treated mosquito nets and treated with anti-malarial drugs.Each year, malaria affects more than four million Zambians and is responsible for nearly 8,000 deaths. Pregnant women and children under the age of five are the most vulnerable groups, with malaria being the cause of 35 to 50 percent of under-five mortality and 20 percent of maternal mortality.Zambia is a member state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Malaria Elimination (E8), a regional alliance of eight Southern African nations committed to malaria elimination in Southern Africa by 2021. Recent interventions, including the distribution of more than 1.8 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets, indoor insecticide spraying programs and mass antimalarial drug administration have assisted Zambia in reaching its elimination targets.“The [Southern] province has done extremely well in the malaria elimination agenda. We are talking about zero mortality rate and single-digit malaria cases in most of the districts,” said Zambian health minister Chitalu Chilufya in an interview with Zambia Daily Mail on June 12, 2017.
  3. Tuberculosis
    Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne bacterial disease that primarily affects the lungs. Most cases of TB can be treated with a course of antibiotics.Annually, an estimated 50,000 cases are identified in Zambia and about 5,000 deaths are attributable to TB. HIV-positive individuals are at higher risk than the general population for developing TB; in 2013, an estimated 50 to 70 percent of Zambian TB patients were coinfected with HIV.An initiative for a 75 percent reduction in TB-related deaths among HIV-positive individuals by 2012 was included in the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS (UNAIDS).“It is unacceptable that so many people living with HIV die from tuberculosis, and that most are undiagnosed or untreated,” UNAIDS Director Michel Sidibé said. “Only by stepping up collaboration between HIV and tuberculosis programs to accelerate joint action can the world reach its critical HIV and tuberculosis targets.”

HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB incidences are concentrated in the world’s poorest populations. Limited resources, deficient transportation and sanitation infrastructures and a number of other issues accelerate transmission and the severity of diseases in Zambia.

Recently, the Zambian government unveiled its 7 National Development Plan (7NDP), 2017–2021, which addresses the need for community-based preventive health services and new programs for prevention and reduction of diseases in Zambia. The plan proposes a conceptual framework to transition from sector-specific to multi-sector health intervention programs, which address the non-biological determinants of public health (e.g., water and sanitation, nutrition, education, household income and road infrastructure).

With the addition of new, multi-sectoral development programs for infectious disease control and reduction, the government anticipates declining incidences of HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB in Zambia.

– Gabrielle Doran

Photo: Flickr

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Superb Water Quality in Italy Still Needs Improvements


Italians, the descendants of the water-savvy and water-loving Romans, still maintain a potable supply of drinking water today. Overall, the water quality in Italy is excellent. Italy’s drinking water is safe to drink and widely available, with public fountains running fresh drinking water throughout many major cities.

These fountains, called “nasoni,” which means “big noses” in Italian, provide high-quality and free drinking water in cities like Rome and Florence for locals and tourists alike. Florence regulates its water with a strict code of 61 parameters. Florentine officials examine the chemicals in the water and its microbiology using these parameters to ensure potability.

Both rural and urban populations in Italy have 100 percent access to improved water sources, making water quality in Italy superb, even better than the United States, which comes in at 99 percent access to improved water sources.

Although all Italians have access to improved water sources, the water quality in Italy does vary slightly by city. Naples, for example, has lower quality water than most other major Italian cities. The water in Naples “may be safe to drink” according to a tourist water safety website. However, strains of local E. coli are present within Naples’ tap water. Locals are accustomed to these strains of E. coli, but tourists and other visitors are not. Therefore, the water is safe for locals, but visitors require a transition period in order to drink the water without experiencing unpleasant after-effects, such as diarrhea.

The inferiority of Naples’ drinking water compared to other Italian cities could be due to the toxic waste and immense pollution in Naples. Some claim that the mafia dumped hazardous industrial waste on agricultural lands outside of Naples, creating pollution problems. More obvious pollutants are the immense piles of garbage lining the streets of Naples and the litter on its surrounding farmlands.

Although pollution threatens health and safety standards in Naples, the city fights against it by cleaning up dirtied areas and installing spaces for outdoor recreation. By 2014, the city of Naples created a larger beachfront for pedestrian use and a bicycle lane lining its coast. Additionally, large portions of Naples’ bay have been cleaned, allowing for swimmers to retake the water.

Decreasing pollution creates tangibly increased standards of health and safety, including better water quality in Italy. Additionally, reigning in pollution increases the quality of living for residents of a city, as it provides greener and more appealing outdoor spaces, encouraging physical activity for its residents.

– Mary Kate Luft

Photo: Flickr

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The Current Problems with Water Quality in Hungary

Water Quality in Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country located in the central Danube Basin. It is divided into The Great Plains, the Transdanube and the Northern Hills areas. Hungary is a fairly small country but is known for great biodiversity. This biodiversity is threatened by some of Hungary’s most serious problems: air and water pollution. Pollution disrupts the water quality in Hungary, especially the Danube River, quite significantly. These pollutants come from industrial and large-scale agriculture.

A recent reservoir failure flooded many towns in Hungary with red toxic mud. In October 2016, a dam holding waste products such as arsenic and mercury collapsed. It was said to have released about 184 million gallons of this red mud. The toxic mud negatively impacted the water quality in Hungary, polluting the Danube even further.

Another danger to the water quality in Hungary is caused by human alterations to the Danube for the purpose of navigation. Intentions to deepen the dam for easier boat passage have changed the way the traditional floodplain landscape and water flows into the deltas. This not only affects the water quality but also endangers the wildlife and habitats near those areas. Scientists worry that the improper mining of these dams could lead to something even worse than the toxic red mud scare. They say that, without the correct techniques or repairs, there could be catastrophic repercussions should they fail. More dangerous toxic chemicals such as cyanide could spill into the river and completely ruin the water quality in Hungary.

With more than 90 percent of Hungary relying solely on groundwater, and with 47 out of 108 groundwater bodies considered to be “possibly at risk,” the water quality in Hungary remains in jeopardy. Something must be done to reverse the rising levels of pollution and stop the harm to the environment.

One potential solution comes from a European Union-funded project that brings clean drinking water to those in Hungary affected by polluted groundwater. The National Water Management Administration is responsible for organizing 33 projects that have already brought clean water to 227 communities. They are currently working to complete these projects in time to qualify for 100 billion HUF in financing from the European Union. These projects are the greatest hope to improve water quality in Hungary at this time.

– Katelynn Kenworthy

Photo: Flickr

One in Five People Face Poverty in Israel

Poverty in Israel
Israel has a population of about 1.7 million people. Poverty in Israel affected about 22 percent of those people in 2014, which included 1,709,300 people, 444,900 families and 776,500 children. These rates have been rising ever since. This same year, the depth of poverty index, which refers to the gap between family income and the poverty line, also rose by about six percent. Poverty in Israel ranks second highest among OECD countries, just behind Mexico.

Little is done to combat poverty in Israel because the poor are of little interest to the government. The government’s main concern is with promoting the rich and the middle class in the country. The suffering of thousands poses a threat to the social resilience of the country, which means the government must take action.

Families with children are more likely to live in poverty in Israel due to the decrease in allowances. They are being stripped of these rights and in turn, Israel ranks fourth for highest child poverty rates.

These poverty rates can be linked back to several causes: low wages and unemployment rates in particular. It is possible that poor education is the root of these low wages and unemployment rates along with the already impoverished state of the country. The high cost of food, gas, utilities and rent are forcing more people into poverty in Israel. Emergency food has become an increasing demand as prices rise.

The Israeli government has created a couple of goals to reduce poverty after the National Insurance Institute released a report. The country’s Finance Minister, Moshe Kahlon, decided to revamp the corporate tax rates and give government aid to poor families. The corporate tax rate was cut by 1.5 percent by the cabinet, who unanimously approved this in November.

In addition, Israel has discussed the introduction of a welfare system that could bring income and take 187,000 people out of poverty. These efforts are promising but still not grand enough to save all of Israel. To make an impact, the country must focus on reorganizing its education system, and the government needs to take interest in the poor citizens, not just in the higher class.

– Katelynn Kenworthy

Photo: Flickr