Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Promising New Tuberculosis Regimens

Tuberculosis Regimens
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top ten causes of death worldwide and disproportionately affects the developing world. Though the number of TB deaths decreased from 2000 to 2015, it is responsible for more deaths than HIV and malaria combined. Over the past several years, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has steadily risen. Approximately half a million cases of MDR-TB were reported in 2015. Resistance often develops secondary to patient non-compliance.

Given the complexity and duration of tuberculosis therapy, it is no surprise that many patients struggle to take the medications as directed. Initial first-line therapy consists of isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol. The four-drug regimen must be taken at least five times a week for eight weeks during the initial phase. Then, the patient must continue taking two medications for an additional 18 weeks.

Treatment failure can require eight months of retreatment. If drug resistance develops, treatment can take two years and has a high rate of failure.

Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have been working to develop new tuberculosis regimens that could boost the probability of treatment success. Using Parabolic Response Surface (PRS) technology, the team identified drug combinations with higher antimicrobial activity than the Standard Regimen of isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol.

PRS Regimen I includes clofazimine, ethambutol, prothionamide and pyrazinamide. For PRS Regimen II, bedaquiline is used instead of prothionamide.

So far, the new tuberculosis regimens have only been tested on mice, but the results are promising. Differences in efficacy, quantified by the number of colony-forming units, were statistically significant for both PRS regimen groups compared to the Standard Regimen control group.

For both of the new tuberculosis regimens, efficacy was dependent on the pyrazinamide dose. The bedaquiline dose also affected the efficacy of PRS Regimen II.

PRS Regimen I took 12 weeks to achieve 100% relapse-free cure while variations of PRS Regimen II achieved cure in three to four weeks. The Standard Regimen takes 16 weeks to achieve a relapse-free cure. Based on these results, a new tuberculosis regimens could reduce treatment duration by as much as 75%. Such a drastic reduction in length of therapy could facilitate better patient compliance.

The next step is to see whether or not the results in mice can be replicated in human beings. Given the rise of drug-resistant TB, successful treatment of human subjects with these new tuberculosis regimens would be a huge victory for global health.

– Rebecca Yu

Photo: Flickr

Poverty in Guinea Persists

Guinea Persists
More than half of Guinea’s population lives below the poverty line despite the country’s great mineral wealth. Guinea ranks 178th out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index. Poverty in Guinea is an immense problem, as 40% of children below the age of five are chronically malnourished.

Foreign investments have unfortunately been dropping due to political, social and governmental crises, including emerging tensions with refugee populations coming from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.

There are around 25 foreign international mining companies that currently run operations in Guinea, as well as four domestic mining companies. Guinea has the largest export of bauxite in the world — the primary source of aluminum — as well as possessing vast iron ore, gold and diamond reserves, but, unfortunately, this generation of wealth is lost on the population, as the country gains little compensation for its mineral riches.

Guinea has also been faced with an Ebola crisis during the global outbreak between 2014-2015. It is clear that it had a profound effect on various social aspects of Guinean life. Unemployment doubled in urban areas, and many families withdrew their children from school.

Today, Guinea’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has rebounded by 5.2% from the shock of the Ebola crisis, but, unfortunately, the growing economy has been unable to reduce poverty in Guinea, as it persists in rural areas where 67% of the population resides.

The current government of Guinea headed by President Condé, the country’s first democratically elected leader, received help from the World Bank. Jointly, they started the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Project. The project aims to cut poverty in Guinea by investing in transport and energy, as well as cutting back red tape on job and business creation. By increasing public transit connectivity, President Condé hopes to allow rural workers to go to work in the city. As of now, these workers are landlocked and dependent on subsistence farming for a living.

Guinea has a bright future ahead if it is able to keep its current foreign investment status. With the help of foreign investors, it will be able to continue to develop its MSME Development Project.

– Josh Ward

Photo: Flickr

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UNESCO Rebuilds Refugee Girls Confidence with Education

Girls Through Education
While 91% of children around the world go to primary school, only 50% of refugee children are as lucky. These odds are startling, especially considering that 69 million girls remain out of school worldwide and that this number is expected to increase due to the refugee crisis. UNESCO plans to change that.

“Changing the World of Refugee Girls Through Education” is the aim of UNESCO’s new partnership with Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Save the Children, showcased in late January. Its main goal is to raise awareness of the extreme vulnerability of refugee girls and to secure solutions for their future through education and skills development.

The project is geared toward Syrian and Jordanian women who struggle to continue basic education or pursue work opportunities. The partners are working to help develop the life, business and vocational skills of these women, all while encouraging them to share their experiences.

The program, which is based in Jordan, offers refugee girls innovative job search techniques and helps them develop skills required to gain employment. In addition to all this, UNESCO helps them find opportunities in today’s global marketplace. If needed, one-on-one psychological counseling is also provided.

Schools also play an important role in identifying refugee children at risk of abuse, sexual and gender-based violence as well as forced recruitment. Even more so, they can help connect them with appropriate services, according to a recent UNESCO report.

Classrooms can also act as a place of transformation for many kids. Becoming educated can help one become a well-rounded person and gain a foundation of learning, which is a big step in helping one stand on his or her own feet.

This is even more important for refugee girls. Educating these girls empowers them and reduces the number of girls getting married at a very young age. This is a massive problem for girls in developing countries, where one in three girls is married before the age of 18.

Solving such a problem requires commitment, time and effort. This is just what the UNESCO partnership is hoping to accomplish by supporting refugee girls, raising their confidence and shaping their future.

– Mayan Derhy

Photo: Flickr

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Five Things to Know About the Bosnian War

Bosnian War
Between the years of 1991 and 1992, the country of Yugoslavia suffered mass chaos as nationalism in six different regions of the country began to surge. This was due in large part to growing perceptions of ethnic distinctions and a faltering economy. This time gave rise to intense violence and ethnic cleansing throughout the region, resulting in the Bosnian War. Here are five things to know about the Bosnian War:

    1. On March 3, 1992, Bosnia (now Bosnia-Herzegovina) declared its independence from Yugoslavia, following in the footsteps of neighboring Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia from the previous year. The official beginning of the Bosnian War is typically marked as April 6, 1992, when Bosnian Serb forces invaded the capital of Sarajevo.
    2. Three primary ethnic groups were embroiled in the conflict: the Bosniaks, Bosnian Muslims who comprised more than 44% of the population; the Bosnian Serbs, who predominately practiced Eastern Orthodox Christianity (31% of the population) and Bosnian Croats, a Catholic minority who comprised 17% of Bosnia’s populace at the time.
    3. Reelected to the Serbian presidency in 1992, Slobodan Milošević encouraged rising nationalist sentiments within the region and backed the attacks on Sarajevo, as well as the siege on Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. Serbian forces invaded the town, which had previously been designated a safe haven by the U.N., and separated the Muslim Bosniaks from the rest of the population. The women and girls — many of them raped and sexually assaulted — were bussed to nearby villages, while the remaining 8,000 Muslims were murdered and left in mass graves.
    4. By the end of 1993, Bosnian Serbs controlled 70% of the country, and most Bosnian Croats had fled. The term “ethnic cleansing” arose, a painful euphemism for the thousands that had been expelled, tortured, raped and murdered at the hands of Serbian forces. Many were forced into concentration camps, while vestiges of Bosniak culture, including places of worship and sites of cultural importance, were destroyed.
    5. In May 1993, the U.N. created the first war crimes tribunal since the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-1946, which indicted Nazi officials for crimes against humanity. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) charged more than 160 individuals for their participation in the violence, including Slobodan Milošević, who was tried and convicted in 2002 of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. He was found dead in his prison cell in The Hague in 2006 following a heart attack.

From 1992 to 1995, the Bosnian War claimed the lives of roughly 100,000 people, 80% of whom were Bosniak — the worst act of genocide since the Holocaust. To date, almost 120,000 of the original 2.2 million people displaced by the conflict still live in bleak conditions in refugee centers far from their homes.

– Emily Marshall

Photo: Flickr

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Walton Payton Man of the Year Award Nominees Fight Poverty

Walton Payton
Super Bowl fever has come and gone, and while Patriots fans can rejoice in their victory, the season is not quite over yet for players on the remaining teams. On Feb. 4, the NFL Honors ceremony awarded many athletes who demonstrated sportsmanship throughout the season. A highlight of this event is always the announcement of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award to one football star who takes success outside the stadium to charities most in need.

The Man of the Year Award has been given out since 1970 but was renamed in 1999 to honor Walter Payton, one of the NFL’s most charitable players. In light of his off-field contributions, each team continues to nominate one player demonstrating a significant impact on the global community, and a winner is chosen on the eve of the big game. This year, notables included many causes devoted to global poverty.

Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garçon was nominated for his commitment to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. Garçon originally started the Helping Hands Foundation to provide disaster assistance such as building shelters, establishing education systems and coordinating fundraising. Since then, he has returned every year to continue the work of the organization and hopes to create partnerships with other organizations investing in long-term sustainable ideas for Haitian communities.

Another nominee was Sam Acho, a linebacker for the Chicago Bears. Acho has been dedicated to the construction of a hospital in Nigeria that would serve more than 30,000 residents in remote rural villages. He has hosted an annual fashion show and celebrity auction since 2012 with all proceeds going to the initiative. He also travels to the affected area frequently to volunteer his efforts physically and financially. Plans show an expected completion date within the next few months.

Lastly, Seattle Seahawks’ defensive end Cliff Avril volunteered in Haiti because of his family heritage. Throughout the season, he promised to build a house for every sack he recorded. He also worked extensively on a project to build two new elementary schools opening September 2016 and April 2017. As part of this project, Avril funded six classrooms, laid the foundation of the building, erected fence posts for a community garden, hosted a sports camp and donated backpacks, cooking utensils, clothing and even a year’s supply of water. Finally, after Hurricane Matthew, he launched an online campaign to provide food and medical supplies for damaged locations.

While only one of the 32 nominees won the Man of the Year award and the accompanying $500,000 donation to a charity of his choice, all nominees were guaranteed $50,000 to their charity as well. Therefore, regardless of the outcome, the reception of this award closed out the season with a nod to developing communities.

– Zack Machuga

Photo: Flickr

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Hunger in Madagascar

Hunger in Madagascar
While Madagascar was made famous by the 2005 DreamWorks animated movie about talking zoo animals, it is also one of the world’s poorest nations, with four million people suffering from lack of food access.

Drought, cyclones, floods and locust infestation worsen the case of hunger in Madagascar. Natural disasters are likely to grow worse with the continuation of climate change. Madagascar is one of the 10 nations most vulnerable to natural disasters affecting food security and nutrition.

Those who live in southern Madagascar are most likely to suffer from hunger because the lean season takes up a much longer portion of the year. The lean season is the period of time in between the harvest and the first plant of the next season. During this time, poor farmers and their families have little food or income on which to survive.

In 2016, a drought worsened by El Niño, an irregular and complex series of climatic changes, left 1.4 million people in Madagascar desperately short on food. These people are expected to face food shortages through 2017.

Crop failure causes people to take desperate measures to survive, such as selling their livestock and farming tools and moving into the wild to forage. Over 90% of Malagasies live below the poverty line.

Chronic malnutrition affects nearly half of all the children in Madagascar under five. Hunger in Madagascar also results in stunted growth in children and high mortality rates. Anemia is one of the biggest health issues in Malagasies facing hunger, with one-third of children under five and women suffering from iron deficiency.

More than six percent of children die before they reach five years old, and 500 out of every 100,000 live births result in the mother’s death. High levels of anemia lead to this high maternal mortality rate.

Collaborative Efforts Against Madagascar’s Hunger

Despite the bleak outlook caused by hunger in Madagascar, not all hope is lost. The World Food Program (WFP) works in conjunction with 30 other organizations to relieve Madagascar’s most vulnerable regions, including the South and poor urban areas.

This is done through:

  • Providing meals, nutritional information and promoting hygiene for children in schools;
  • Empowering smallholder farmers, who own small plots of land and harvest only a few cash crops, through increasing access to markets and supporting farmers’ associations;
  • Providing relief and early recovery assistance to households affected by natural disasters;
  • Placing food in remote and disaster-prone areas before incidents are expected to occur to prevent malnutrition;
  • Distributing cash assistance and food during the 2016-2017 prolonged lean season;
  • Assessing Madagascar’s vulnerability to shocks, coordinating livelihood activities and implementing community planning exercises.

To help relieve hunger in Madagascar, you can make a donation to the WFP.

– Cassie Lipp

Photo: Flickr

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2KUZE Mobile Marketplace

Mobile Marketplace
Let’s grow together. This is what MasterCard enabled with the launch of the 2KUZE mobile marketplace in January, which connects smallholder farmers, agents, buyers and banks in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Users can buy, sell and receive electronic payments for their crops through a mobile app. 2KUZE mobile marketplace makes the selling of crops more efficient for farmers, eliminating the need for them to travel long distances to markets. The platform also gives them access to a wider marketplace, allowing them to seek out the best price for their crops. Women will benefit from selling their crops through the platform, as their duties often prevent them from leaving home.

Through the app, buyers can post orders with the help of an agent. Farmers can see the orders and accept them. Agents then collect the produce from farmers and deliver it to buyers. The agents also pay farmers through a bank transfer or cash.

Eighty percent of African farmers are classified as smallholder farmers, who own small plots of land and rely mostly on family labor and grow only a few cash crops. Smallholder farmers often work with limited resources and incomes, which makes it difficult for them to improve the profitability and sustainability of their crops.

Named after the Swahili words for “let’s grow together,” the 2KUZE mobile marketplace was developed through MasterCard Labs for Financial Inclusion. There are currently 2,000 smallholder farmers in Nandi Hills, Kenya using the marketplace to sell their produce and work with agents to reach the best buyers at the best price.

MasterCard Labs for Financial Inclusion, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, collaborates with local expertise to improve access to financial services. The initiative works to empower the 500 million people previously excluded from financial services and promote more inclusive growth.

MasterCard also collaborated with Cafédirect Producers Foundation to introduce the 2KUZE mobile marketplace. This British nonprofit works with 280,000 smallholder farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America. The smallholder farmer-led organization allows farmers to share knowledge and develop their own projects.

Cell phones are now as popular in Nigeria and South Africa as they are in the U.S. While smartphones are not as widely used in Africa as basic cell phones, the availability of low-cost smartphones has caused smartphone ownership in Africa to increase rapidly.

In 2016, the Pew Research Center reported that 40% of adults in Kenya own a smartphone or use the internet. Twenty-one percent of adults in Tanzania and 11% of adults in Uganda reported in the same study that they use the internet or own a smartphone.

– Cassie Lipp

Photo: Flickr

India Proposes Universal Basic Income

India_Income
On Nov. 8, 2016, financial assets in India faced the possibility of losing their values completely. This potential instability, along with the ongoing failures of India’s current welfare programs, has pushed the government to consider alternative methods for economic stability. Thus, the government introduced the idea of a universal basic income (UBI).

By replacing India’s current welfare programs with a universal income, families, rich or poor, could receive monthly stipends of equal amounts. The economic survey conducted on a UBI plan proposes a monthly stipend of 893 rupees ($13) per month, amounting to 7,620 rupees ($112) per person each year.

Founding member of the Basic Income Earth Network, Guy Standing, has celebrated the potential positive outcomes from a UBI system, including debt reduction and women’s empowerment. Proponents of UBI hope to see the poor become more self-sufficient and to see social justice promoted.

Faced with corruption and the disproportionate allocation of funds, experts argue that India’s current welfare programs are indignant toward the country’s poor and give them no means of financial control. Transitioning away from such welfare programs would free up 950 existing welfare schemes that could fund a universal basic income plan. Overall, a universal basic income could reduce absolute poverty in India by 21.5%.

Currently, India has limited access to ATMs, and a third of Indian adults do not use financial institutions to manage their funds. The direct depositing of funds could encourage the use of formal financial services and could help improve financial infrastructure in India.

Given the recognizable need for reform in India’s welfare programs, current statistics reflect issues that need resolving before establishing a universal basic income. For example, access to a UBI program would only be available for 75% of the population, creating quite an expense that would account for 4.9% of India’s GDP. Limited access also leads to the question of fairness. Would the wealthy still collect from a UBI program and leave some in extreme poverty without access, or would the rich honorably opt-out as beneficiaries to a program for which they have no need? These dilemmas make the debate on a universal basic income more complex.

The question to consider going forward is: what will be the most efficient way to replace India’s current welfare system? According to India’s Chief Economic Advisor, Arvind Subramanian, there is much to consider in implementing a universal basic income. However, the good news remains that efforts are being made to alleviate the people of India from poverty through a potential plan for a universal basic income.

– Amy Williams

Photo: Flickr

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Top Diseases in Lesotho

Top Diseases in Lesotho
Lesotho is a small landlocked country in Southern Africa. The country, with a population of 2.1 million, suffers from high rates of poverty with more than 50% of the population living below the income poverty line of $1.25 a day. The majority (72%) of the population lives in rural areas far away from services, like healthcare.

Many people in Lesotho thus face barriers to accessing healthcare because of the cost of traveling to distant healthcare facilities. A shortage of skilled health workers only adds to this problem.

Lesotho has one of the highest mortality rates in Southern Africa and an average life expectancy of only 49 years. These are the top diseases in Lesotho:

  • HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis: Lesotho has the third-highest HIV infection rate in the world, with almost 23% of adults aged 15-49 affected and more than 9,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2014. Of the people infected with HIV, 80% are also infected with tuberculosis.
  • Lower respiratory infections: Lower respiratory infections like pneumonia affect many people in Lesotho. Lower respiratory infections result in an annual mortality rate of 120 deaths per 100,000 people. One of the main causes of these infections is household air pollution from solid fuels used for cooking and heat.
  • Diarrheal Diseases: Lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation contributes to high rates of diarrheal diseases. While diarrheal diseases do not necessarily cause many deaths, they contribute greatly to the overall disease burden in the country.
  • Non-communicable diseases: Like many other countries in Africa, Lesotho has seen a spike in cases of non-communicable diseases in recent years. This rise is due to various lifestyle risk factors like smoking, alcohol consumption, high blood pressure and obesity. The most common non-communicable diseases are cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer. In 2014, non-communicable diseases accounted for 27 % of total deaths.

While most of the top diseases in Lesotho are infectious diseases, lifestyle diseases are increasingly contributing to the overall disease burden of the country.

– Helena Jacobs

Photo: Flickr

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Boko Haram Causes Hunger Crisis in the Lake Chad Basin

Lake Chad_Hunger
A hunger crisis in the Lake Chad basin has unfolded since Boko Haram has left much of Nigeria and surrounding nations in ruins.

The people in the region are facing famine-like conditions due to being forced to abandon their crops to flee Boko Haram. More than eight million people in the Lake Chad basin are currently struggling with hunger. The area is plunging further into food scarcity as more crops go unharvested. Some crops are even being burned as Boko Haram raids and loots villages.

Boko Haram is a militant Islamist group that has created unrest with bombings, abductions and assassinations. Its followers believe that the Nigerian government is run by non-believers, and Muslims should be forbidden from taking part in any activities associated with Western society, including voting in elections and participating in secular education.

While the group was founded in 2002, military operations began in 2009 in an attempt to create an Islamic state. The name Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden,” when translated loosely from the Hausa language. The U.S. declared Boko Haram a terrorist group in 2013.

Boko Haram spread its military campaign into the neighboring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. The U.N. estimates that 14 million people in the region are in need of humanitarian assistance.

An estimated 480,000 children across the four countries affected by Boko Haram are suffering from acute malnutrition. Basic supplies in refugee camps are scarce, and aid groups cannot reach those in villages occupied by Boko Haram as well as remote areas to offer humanitarian assistance. Of the children in critical need of assistance, U.N. officials estimate that 75,000 could die within a few months.

The hunger crisis in the Lake Chad basin is so severe that Doctors Without Borders physicians have added food to their bags of medical supplies. The U.N.’s World Food Programme delivered aid to more than one million people in December 2016, a sharp increase from the 160,000 people it assisted in October 2016. The World Food Programme is in desperate need of more funding to deliver life-saving assistance to all those in need in the region.

To help relieve the hunger crisis in the Lake Chad basin, you can make a donation to the World Food Programme.

– Cassie Lipp

Photo: Flickr