Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Poverty in Cabo Verde

Poverty in Cabo VerdeCabo Verde, also known as Cape Verde, is an archipelago located off the west coast of Africa comprised of ten islands, nine of which are inhabited. Cabo Verde has a population of nearly 520,500 people.

Only seven percent of this population lives below the dollar-a-day poverty line, meaning that most citizens have enough income to purchase the bare minimum of food, clothing and shelter.

Those living in poverty mainly rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. Only ten percent of Cabo Verde has arable land, which means that farms often have poor soil or receive inadequate rainfall.

Poverty in Cabo Verde is primarily a structural problem resulting from the lack of natural resources and the country’s narrow economic base.

According to the United Nations Development Programs (UNDP), Cabo Verde ranks third out of the 43 sub-Saharan African countries. This places it firmly in the medium development bracket. However, the country is still working to come back from the post-global crisis recovery.

Tourism Decline and Poverty in Cabo Verde

The country’s current leading industry is tourism. Tourism slowed from its 2014 rate of 3 percent to about 1.5 percent in 2015, cutting the industry profits in half. Pressures on the country’s public finances in 2016 foretell increases in debt.

However, while the macroeconomic climate is doing poorly and many continue to live within the poverty bracket, Cabo Verde is seeing progress. Since its independence, Cabo Verde has made huge strides in its economic development, health care and education initiatives. Life expectancy has increased from 69 years in 2001 to 73 years in 2016.

The government of Cabo Verde is currently making an effort to turn the islands into a center for trade and transport. Meanwhile, the tourism industry is projected to increase to around a 4 percent rate for 2016. These initiatives are expected to have a positive impact on the economy and poverty in Cabo Verde.

– Kayla Provencher

Photo: Flickr

Child Marriage in Afghanistan

Child Marriage in Afghanistan
Child marriage in Afghanistan is so common that over 30% of all girls are married before the age of 18. This disturbing figure bears more than a cursory glance. Aside from causing immense emotional and physical duress for child brides, the practice also massively hinders the girls’ ability to access education.

The phenomenon of child marriage in Afghanistan is not unique to the country, nor even to South Asia. In fact, the country with the highest prevalence of child brides is Niger, with 76% of girls married by the age of 18. In South Asia, the largest absolute number of child brides is in India — where 12 million children were married before the age of 10.

These figures speak to the fact that child marriage is not a phenomenon of any one race or religion. It has developed independently around the world, often for financial benefit or social mobility. However, in all cases, the effects on young girls have been devastating.

In Afghanistan, the relationship between the occurrence of child marriage and lack of education for females is chilling. Only 14% of girls are literate and only 36 percent are receiving an education. Naturally, these figures cannot be a result of child marriage in Afghanistan alone.

Factors Leading to Child Marriage in Afghanistan

Other factors created by a highly patriarchal society must be taken into consideration. Nevertheless, marrying off girls at a young age has an undeniable influence on their education.

The clearest way that child marriage affects female education is by causing girls to drop out of school in preparation for marriage or pregnancy.

This choice reflects a larger mentality where education for females is considered less valuable than marriage — a far more lucrative venture for families that consider their daughters to be liabilities. Once the girl is married, it can be hard for her to return to school, since she now has a family that takes up most of her time.

Girls Not Brides, an organization focused on ending child marriage states that girls with no education are three times as likely to marry by 18 as those with secondary or higher education.

In addition, over 60 percent of women ages 20-24 with no education were married before 18. Clearly, education is both a catalyst for and a consequence of lowered rates of child marriage.

Educating girls at the secondary school level equips them with the ability to recognize when and whom they want to marry. It also ensures that they have skills that make them self-reliant financially and emotionally.

The mere practice of being in school also furthers the perception that girls are still too young to be married and must invest their time in learning instead of child rearing.

Child marriage in Afghanistan is a direct result of poverty, strong patriarchal values, lack of access to education and cultural practices. All of these factors could be prevented by increasing female participation in schooling, as not only would girls be immediately affected; their qualifications would also allow them to later have a voice in decision making.

– Mallika Khanna

Photo: Flickr

Reducing Food Loss One Piece of Paper at a Time

Reducing Food Loss
A simple invention aims to revolutionize the preservation of perishable goods, thereby reducing food loss.

The invention in question is known as FreshPaper, a small sheet of biodegradable material infused with a special mixture of botanical extracts that claims to preserve food freshness. Its inventor? Then 16-year-old Kavita Shukla, who was inspired to tackle the problem of food waste in a unique way.

It began with Shukla trying her grandmother’s home remedy for an upset stomach: a mixture of plant extracts, botanicals and spices. Upon the remedy’s success, Shukla was inspired to test it further, thus discovering its antimicrobial properties.

Several years of research later, she was able to receive a patent for the mixture, now known as Fenugreen. At 27, Shukla joined forces with a friend to launch the product in Cambridge.

Food waste is a big problem. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the U.N., one-third of food produced for human consumption worldwide is wasted annually. This waste typically happens at the consumer end of the production process. “Food loss” occurs earlier on during production, post-harvest and processing.

Developing countries in particular struggle with food loss, since they often lack the industrialization necessary to preserve food long enough to reach consumers. The National Geographic states that India loses up to 40 percent of its fruits and vegetables in this manner.

There is no one solution to food waste or loss. Instead, it is important to take action at multiple steps in the food making process. In developing countries, aid organizations are providing for better storage facilities for farmers, preventing them from losing excessive amounts of crops during transit.

Since 1997, the FAO has donated metal silos to more than 15 countries by training local craftsmen in their construction, use and delivery to farmers. In one study, 96 percent of the beneficiary farmers in Bolivia responded that the silos in question improved food security by reducing the amount of food lost post-harvest and maintaining grain quality.

Shukla is currently working to make FreshPaper available to food-banks and to farmers in developing countries. She hopes that her invention can have a big impact in reducing food loss.

– Sabrina Santos
Photo: Flickr

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Unmasking the Top Diseases in Kiribati

Top Diseases in KiribatiKiribati is stricken with a hefty mix of diseases that are communicable and non-communicable. The top diseases in Kiribati resulting in death are circulatory, parasitic, nutritional and metabolic disorders. The leading causes of health complications are fungal, respiratory and diarrheal infections.

Life expectancy in Kiribati is the second lowest in the Pacific, with females at 69 years and males at 64 years. Factors contributing to Kiribati’s increased burden of disease are overcrowding, poor hygiene, inadequate sanitation, insufficient immunization coverage, as well as a lack of care and supplies for maternal/neonatal health.

Water-borne illnesses are among the top diseases in Kiribati. The primary infections being diarrhea, dysentery, conjunctivitis, rotavirus, giardia and fungal. These diseases are most threatening to children, causing 60 deaths per 1,000 live births in children under five.

The prevalence of water-borne illness plagues Kiribati mostly due to sanitation issues. Unfortunately, unsafe water is only part of the problem, improper food handling and the continued sale and consumption of expired foods only adds to the cycle of parasitic diseases.

Once a contagious disease has planted itself on the island, it becomes hard to contain because of the high density living arrangements of most communities. For example, Kiribati is one of only four countries in the world that still has leprosy, the number of contractions reaching 180 last year in 2015.

Tuberculosis (TB) is another top disease in Kiribati. TB remains rampant in Kiribati because it is easily spread and can remain dormant for long periods of time. However, disease begets disease. A burdened immune system makes it harder to prevent and treat other diseases. Not surprisingly, the magnitude of diabetes in Kiribati contributes largely to the continued occurrence of TB.

Lifestyle choices, or ignorance of health, feeds the expansion of diabetes, making it one of the top diseases in Kiribati. The majority of I-Kiribati fit into a profile at high risk for diabetes: high blood pressure, obesity, lack of exercise, poor nutrition and smoking. Already, 25% of the adult population is receiving treatment for diabetes or pre-diabetes, with numbers growing each year.

Smoking and diabetes are a deadly combination progressing towards a failing circulatory system, resulting in limb amputation and other disabilities. The rate of amputation in Kiribati is increasing at an alarming rate. In 2014, there were 136 amputations, nearly doubling that of the previous year.

Tobacco consumption is a risk factor for diabetes, but smoking also carries its own army of diseases such as respiratory infections, stroke, cancers and circulatory problems. Kiribati’s tobacco consumption is the highest in the South Pacific as 61.5% of its population smoke.

Like with combating most diseases, the key to success in ending the cycle of disease in Kiribati is awareness and prevention. The government of Kiribati, along with support from the World Health Organization have implemented plans to heighten the awareness of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The goals for these programs are to reinforce good hygiene, improve water sanitation services, increase standard immunizations, educate citizens on the harmful effects of smoking, as well as informing them on the benefits of exercise and good nutrition. As awareness spreads and prevention occurs, there will be a decline in top diseases in Kiribati.

– Amy Whitman

Photo: Flickr

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The Interdependent Relationship Between Poverty and Human Rights

Poverty and Human Rights
Some individuals assume that issues, such as poverty and human rights violations, can be solved separately from one another. However, what many fail to realize is that poverty and the denial of human rights are problems that are interdependent issues. In other words, where there is poverty, there are human rights violations and vice-versa.

Poverty is more than just individuals lacking in quality employment and material goods; it also incorporates social and physical goods. Social and physical goods are characterized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a right to cultural identity, right to equality, freedom to live with respect and dignity, freedom from violence and degrading treatment, freedom of political opinion, education, personal security and many other basic human rights.

According to Amnesty USA, “Gross economic and social inequality is an enduring reality in countries of all political ideologies, and all levels of development. In the midst of plenty, many are still unable to access even minimum levels of food, water, education, healthcare and housing. This is not only the result of a lack of resources, but also unwillingness, negligence and discrimination by governments and others. Many groups are specifically targeted because of who they are; those on the margins of society are often overlooked altogether.”

It is estimated that one-third of all human deaths occur because of poverty associated reasons. These poverty-related reasons are considered easily preventable such as access to clean water, nutrition and access to quality health care because they fall under basic human rights.

This relationship is further validated by statistics. The Human Rights Watch reports that those who live in dire poverty within low income or lower-middle income countries, also live in homes where the head of household is part of an ethnic minority group.

In recent years, the Office of the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in collaboration with other U.N. partners, has recognized this relationship between poverty and human rights violations. A few of the approaches that these organizations are utilizing are empowering the poor, providing international assistance and cooperation and strengthening human rights protection systems.

Currently, these organizations are collaborating with multiple governments in order to employ poverty reduction strategies as a way to ensure that vulnerable groups have access to their basic human rights.

– Shannon Warren

Photo: Flickr

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Citizens Fleeing Eritrea because of Poverty and Forced Labor

Fleeing EritreaSince 2012, one in every 50 Eritreans (nearly twice the ratio of Syrians fleeing from civil war) has sought asylum in Europe. According to the U.N., 5,000 Eritrean men and boys are leaving their families and fleeing Eritrea each month.

High Rates of Fleeing

The U.N. estimates that 400 thousand Eritreans, or nine percent of the population, have fled in recent years. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly one-quarter of the 132 thousand migrants arriving in Italy between January and September of 2015 were Eritreans.

Poverty in Eritrea is extreme. The CIA World Factbook reports the nation’s GDP purchasing power as $8.7 billion, ranking Eritrea 162nd in the world. Unemployment in the country is estimated at just 8.6%, but the poverty rate is estimated at 50%. More specific numbers are nearly impossible to acquire due to Eritrea’s secretive nature.

Reasons for Leaving

Why are people fleeing Eritrea? In June 2015, the UNHCR released a 500-page report detailing the systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations going on in Eritrea, violations that have created a climate of fear in which dissent is stifled. The report found that a large proportion of the population was being subjected to forced labor and imprisonment.

According to the report, the people of Eritrea are not ruled by law, but by fear. The Eritrean government denied repeated requests by the commission for information and access to the country. To gain insight into the situation, the commission conducted 550 confidential interviews with Eritrean witnesses in eight countries and received an additional 160 written submissions.

Conscription for 18 months is required of each Eritrean adult but is often extended indefinitely and carried out for years in harsh and inhumane conditions. Thousands of conscripts are subjected to forced labor that effectively abuses, exploits and enslaves them.

According to the UNHCR’s report, women conscripts are at extreme risk for sexual violence during national service. All sectors of the economy rely on forced service, and all Eritreans are likely to be subject to it at some point during their lives. The commission concluded that, “forced labor in this context is a practice similar to slavery in its effects and, as such, is prohibited under international human rights law.”

Mandatory conscription has not remedied poverty in Eretria. Instead, it has exacerbated it. Commission chair Sheila B. Keethrauth urged commitment from the international community to end the climate of fear in Eritrea.

“Rule by fear — fear of indefinite conscription, of arbitrary and incommunicado detention, of torture and other human rights violations — must end,” said Keethrauth.

– Aaron Parr

Photo: Flickr

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Breastfeeding to Combat Malnutrition in Ghana

Malnutrition in GhanaMalnutrition in Ghana has cost its economy $2.6 billion annually or 6.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) due to increased health care costs, additional burdens on the educational system and lower productivity by its workforce, according to a new United Nations report.

In the Northern Region, malnutrition is much more prevalent with 20 percent of children under five being underweight. As a result, there is a high stunting rate of 32.4 percent. The region is also plagued by high rate of micronutrient deficiencies such as anemia and vitamin A deficiency.

The USAID Resiliency in Northern Ghana (RING), a collaborative project dedicated to sustainably reducing poverty and improving livelihoods and nutritional status of vulnerable populations, called for exclusive breastfeeding to combat malnutrition in Ghana.

“Mothers should stick to [exclusive] breastfeeding for the first six months after which they can introduce the sour foods to children,” nutrition officer of the USAID-RING Project, Kristen Kappos underscored.

Kappos also implored health workers, volunteers and farmers to continue raising people’s awareness on breastfeeding within their operational zones.

As far back as 1991, Ghana adopted the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) to promote and support the practice of exclusive breastfeeding. However, exclusive breastfeeding rate has remained unchanged for two decades at 64.7%, far lower than the World Health Organization would prefer.

According to a recent study, knowledge gaps in key nutritional areas, especially infant and young child feeding, are the main reason leading to a low rate of exclusive breastfeeding in Ghana.

About 26% of the mothers studied were unable to define exclusive breastfeeding and 22% of them said breastmilk only was not sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of the child. They believed that the child may not be satisfied and could die if fed with only breastmilk for six months. Nearly 90% of the mothers did not know that breast milk could be expressed, stored safely and given to the child when the mothers were absent.

In addition, cultural factors also create challenges for mothers to breastfeed. The majority of the mothers showed a lack of confidence in expressing and storing breastmilk, a taboo in the local context.

Interventions must be designed to increase women’s confidence and dispel their misconceptions regarding breast milk, USAID-RING Project urged. Meanwhile, Hajia Ayishetu Bukari, Central Gonja district director of Ghana Health Service, also emphasized the need for employers to create and maintain conducive workplaces for exclusive breastfeeding practices.

– Yvie Yao
Photo: Flickr

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Fighting Hunger in Asia Through Female Empowerment

Hunger in Asia
According to UNICEF, “In 2015, more than half of all stunted children under five lived in Asia.” Further, the organization notes that the wasting rate in Southern Asia is close to being “a critical public health emergency.” In light of these concerning statistics, research has illuminated how an interdisciplinary female-focused approach to fighting hunger in Asia is the key to success for both child nutrition and the overall health of the community.

Gender inequality is more prevalent in South Asia than other parts of the continent, with a gender inequality index measuring .0536. This is on a scale from 0 being completely equal to 1 being not equal — the ratings in Singapore and The Republic of Korea are 0.088 and 0.125 respectively. Data suggests that improvements in women’s equality may hold the key to reducing South Asia’s current child undernutrition rate of 36%.

Groundbreaking research carried out in 1998 by the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., showed that gender inequality plays a large role in malnutrition.

While analyzing global data, the authors Smith and Haddad showed that improvement in women’s status and improvement in women’s enrollment in secondary education was responsible for over half of the reductions in child malnutrition.

Other major factors, such as food availability and improvements in a health environment, contributed to only 26% and 19% of the malnutrition reductions, respectively.

Further publications such as the World Bank Global Monitoring Report of 2007 highlight how creating diverse opportunities for women can directly combat hunger in Asia. Education benefits child nutrition by increasing access to information for expectant and current mothers and child malnutrition decreases when women have more control of the household’s resources.

Nutrition is not only important for child growth but is also an investment in preventative health. The danger of not supporting female-focused initiatives is potent, due to the foundational importance of nutrition on well-being.

Over 5 million individuals are currently living with HIV in Asia, according to UNAIDS, with 19,000 new infections in children in 2015 alone. In malnourished patients, HIV quickly progresses toward AIDS due to the immune system’s lack of essential nutrients.

Other opportunistic infections, such as tuberculosis, which is present in its “latent” non-active form in one-third of the world’s population, can then thrive in the absence of a functional immune system and can threaten entire communities.

However, focused efforts are being made to improve nutrition with an interdisciplinary approach. CARE International, a U.K. based company, sponsored the Shouhardo Project in Bangladesh to fight child malnutrition through women’s empowerment.

By implementing community initiatives to confront early marriage, prevent violence against women, give more power to women in business transactions and have more political power in the local sphere, outcomes changed.

Before the project began, less than 25% of women reported being involved in decisions to buy or sell family assets, or use savings. At the end of the study period, almost 50% of women were included in such decisions. As a result, the data collected showed a 30% drop in child stunting.

More initiatives in Asia are focusing on women’s role in child well-being, such as the Every Woman Every Child movement, which recently launched a campaign to use mobile phones to educate women on nutrition for their children in India.

India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has partnered with the Food and Agriculture organization of the U.N. to boost economic opportunities for women in rural areas, with the direct goal of fighting nutrition through such avenues.

These programs are evidence of why female leadership is so important, especially in an area where gender inequality is prominent. As such initiatives develop and are supported, communities will see unprecedented gains in the fight against hunger.

– Patrick Tolosky
Photo: Flickr

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Water Quality in Jamaica

Water Quality in Jamaica
The Government of Jamaica has revealed that the series of dry weather that the country is experiencing will continue to affect the country. “That is a problem that is critical in Jamaica right now,” said Albert Gordon, director general of the Office of Utilities Regulation and chairman of the Organization of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR).

The recent drought caused the National Water Commission (NWC) to take action by strategically shutting off water in certain areas during scheduled times. With disparities between urban and rural areas, water availability varies with each area, often revealing the country’s need of proper water storage facilities and distribution systems to improve accessibility and water quality in Jamaica.

Water Quality in Jamaica: Regional Assessment

  • Water in Rural Jamaica: Access to household running water remains something that most residents living in rural Jamaica have been without for most of their lives. The Minister of Water Robert Pickersgill expressed that some parishes are experiencing more severe signs of drought with as low as eight percent rainfall since May of 2016. Schools, particularly in rural Jamaica, that lack drinking water and hand washing facilities create high risks for children and staff to environmental health hazards.
  • Water in Urban Jamaica: Water storage levels at the Mona Reservoir have depleted significantly to 32.8 percent. This reservoir serves as a critical source of water for the island. In addition, water levels at the Hermitage Dam have depleted by 44.2 percent of its capacity. Individuals living in the outskirts of the urban area or in illegal settlements have little or no access to piped water supply. According to Gordon, the government of Jamaica needs assistance in tackling their current water issues. “There are things that need to be strengthened. We don’t have a water sector law that can facilitate more people coming in and providing alternatives to NWC (National Water Commission),” said Gordon. “How do we incentivise others to come in? Because NWC cannot do it.”

Government Involvement in Water Quality in Jamaica

Access to water will be one of the main issues discussed at the 14th Annual Conference Organization of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR) in Montego Bay set to happen Oct. 26 to 28. The conference will feature presentations from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on the benefits of international water investments as well as the importance of public-private water partnership to improve water quality in Jamaica.

While there are no immediate plans to build additional dams or reservoirs, mitigation measures have been employed to assist southern farmers who have been most affected by the drought. Trucking via the Rapid Response Unit and through the National Irrigation Commission allows access to water by the gallon in these areas.

– Shanique Wright

Photo: Flickr

Seaweed Farming Aids Food Security in South America

Seaweed Farming Aids Food Security in South America
Seaweed is a nutrient-rich food source that has always been part of many South American indigenous groups’ diets, especially in the Chilean area.

The aquatic plant is currently seeing a revival in the diets of the area. The Inter Press Service (IPS) reports that the wild supply is being harvested from the ocean at a high rate. As a solution, seaweed farming is becoming a new industry. There are over 700 known varieties of seaweed in Chile but only 20 are currently used commercially.

A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the U.N. states that 25 million tons of algae and seaweed are harvested around the world each year. These seaweeds are used as food, cosmetics and fertilizers. Seaweeds are also used as thickeners and animal food ingredients.

Aquaculture could go a long way in helping to improve hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although the region managed to reduce its proportion of undernourished by 60% between 1990 and 2014, FAO reports that hunger still affects 37 million people or 6.1% of the population.

Aquaculture, which includes fish and seaweed farming, provides direct employment to more than 200,000 people and indirect employment to another 500,000 in the area of Latin America and the Caribbean. Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico account for more than 80 percent of the regional aquaculture production, but most of the countries in the area practice some form of aquaculture farming.

FAO reports that marine aquaculture products contribute to food security and the alleviation of poverty. Most workers are employed in small- or medium-sized fisheries and family businesses.

Chile’s seaweed industry alone employs 30,000. Seaweed provides food and food security to rural areas where the poverty rate stands at 47% poverty according to a TakePart article. The most grown, harvested and cooked species of seaweed in the country is cochayuyo. It is high in protein and is often found being used in place of meat in traditional dishes.

TakePart reports that not only is seaweed helping to make the poverty-stricken less hungry; the plant is making its way into the kitchens of fancy restaurants. In particular, vegans are regular consumers of kelp. Chile is a leader of environmentally friendly cultivation of seaweed in the local area; they offer incentives to farmers to replant. This will hopefully further help the poor out of poverty.

Many women are active in seaweed farming and as TakePart points out: “Across the globe, when women gain economic independence, childhood malnutrition goes down, and education goes up.”

– Rhonda Marrone

Photo: Flickr