Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Addressing Hunger in Hong Kong by Reducing Waste

Hunger in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s growth in the global financial economy has made the country a beacon of rapid development and opulence. Behind the image of luxurious expansion lurks a harsh reality of inequality and growing rates of hunger. A Hong Kong nonprofit aims to help the city’s bounty feed all.

As a major port city and a booming hub of global trade, Hong Kong’s GDP continues to grow. Trading Economics’ data indicates that Hong Kong’s GDP growth in 2016 has nearly doubled since its GDP growth in 2015. This wealth, however, is distributed disproportionately.

The CIA World Factbook designates Hong Kong’s level of income inequality as the tenth worst in the world, and the U.N. Development Program claims Hong Kong has the highest level of income inequality among highly developed nations.

Data on poverty and hunger illuminate these inequities. According to Trading Economics, the poverty line in Hong Kong is HK$ 3,275 per month (about $422) with an hourly minimum wage of HK$ 32 (roughly $4). Twenty percent of Hong Kong’s population currently lives below this threshold, leaving many citizens food insecure.

In light of these concerns, the South China Morning Post reported that the U.N. considered opening a World Food Program (WFP) office in Hong Kong in 2013, citing the region as an appropriate candidate for further attention.

However, the U.N. never established an office, leaving Hong Kong without a concrete inter-governmental organization to deal with the growing issue of food insecurity. Gabrielle Kirstein, co-founder and executive director of Feeding Hong Kong, aimed to address hunger in Hong Kong by creating a nonprofit that would divert food waste to feed those in need.

Feeding Hong Kong (FHK) is a self-proclaimed “Hong Kong food bank with a difference.” By accepting usable food donations from corporate partners, restaurants, grocery stores and delis, FHK creates a supply chain that directs surplus food into the hands of over 25 charities and community organizations that address poverty and hunger. It is the only nonprofit of its kind in Hong Kong.

To ensure the continued effectiveness of the program, FHK thoughtfully distributes the food it collects to its constituent organizations. For example, FHK deliberately addresses the needs of children’s welfare programs differently than those of adults. FHK aims to address hunger in Hong Kong by supporting these already established organizations in their endeavors to provide essential services.

FHK functions in a dense urban environment by harnessing the resources around it. For FHK’s annual event, “Chefs in the Community,” culinary professionals volunteer with local charities to improve their food services. The Feeding Hong Kong Cookbook Collection is sold to generate funds for the nonprofit, while spreading awareness of how to reduce food waste, even in a personal kitchen setting.

Despite growing rates of hunger in Hong Kong, FHK has established a network to solve several issues associated with rapid urban development. By creating an organization that supports those around it, FHK aims to spread the wealth of the nation by eradicating hunger, one meal at a time.

– Laurel Klafehn

Photo: Flickr

This Land is My Land: How Property Rights Reduce Poverty

Property Rights Reduce PovertyGranting formal property rights to the world’s poor, especially in developing countries, may be the key to reducing global poverty. Peruvian economist, Hernando de Soto, believes property rights reduce poverty by empowering the disadvantaged with valuable assets which could add up to an estimated $9.3 trillion in currently “dead capital.”

Promoting property rights is particularly important throughout Africa where more than 90 percent of the land remains outside the legal system. People living in developing countries would benefit from stable, long-term property rights as they are more likely to invest time and energy into cultivating their land or exchange it with someone who would make better use of it.

Stable land ownership would also increase revenue for local governments through property taxes, but land taxes are currently non-existent in the developing world. With an increased demand for land and public investment in roads and other infrastructure, revenue from property taxes would help decentralize and empower previously impoverished residents in developing regions.

In Uganda, land constitutes 50-60 percent of asset endowment and is a valuable asset that may be the key to household wealth. As a primary vehicle for investing, cultivating and transferring between generations, secure property rights help to generate livelihoods centered on local investment. Lack of property rights disproportionately affects women in developing countries.

Traditionally, women are disadvantaged when it comes to land access, but they also have the most to gain from secure property rights. According to the OECD, increasing property rights has been shown to positively affect spending on girls’ education.

Studies also show that promoting equitable access to education could increase GDP growth by an estimated 0.2 percent each year in developing countries. If executed correctly, providing property rights would also increase the purchasing power of the world’s poor and stimulate economic growth in developing countries.

Slate magazine critiques de Soto’s theory that property rights reduce poverty by pointing out, “titling is more useful to the elite and middle-income groups who can afford to bother with financial leverage, risk, and the real estate market.” Increasing property rights in Turkey, Mexico, South Africa and Columbia have not created a healthy housing market and “wealthy land-grubbers” may be to blame.

De Soto believes that the wealthy, who don’t realize that it’s in their best interest to allow the productive power of the poor brought into the economy, are an obstacle to realizing the full impact that property rights can have on the world’s poor. For those who have doubts, property rights reduce poverty, which bolsters economic development when the poor can contribute to the economy.

Rampant socioeconomic inequality weakens economies by increasing the burden on taxpayers to cover the costs of poverty-related illnesses, which can cost billions per year, perpetuates a cycle of low academic achievement and negatively impacts the demand for a skilled labor force.

Securing property rights in the developing world is one step in the right direction toward reducing global poverty, but educating the public on why uplifting the world’s poor is beneficial for everyone is even more crucial.

– Daniela Sarabia

Photo: Flickr

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The King Scholar Program at Dartmouth College

King Scholar Program
The King Scholar Program is a full scholarship gifted to Dartmouth College students who are dedicated to alleviating poverty in their home countries. The program was funded by Dorothy and Robert King, who wanted to, “help address the problem of global poverty by funding exceptional students from developing nations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia at Dartmouth.”

Students who receive the King Scholarship have ongoing academic mentorship throughout their career at Dartmouth College and course development that encourages them to focus on leadership and international development.

The King Scholar Program encourages its participants to actively participate in ending global poverty. For example, during the students’ participation in the program, they must return to their homes for one summer to research and report how they would end poverty in their countries. After graduating, the students are encouraged to return to continue their work.

Additionally, during their freshman and sophomore years, King Scholars participate in King Leadership Week, which takes place in Washington, D.C. and New York. During this event, they have the opportunity to meet leaders in international development, gain context for work being done in the field and network for future employment.

There is no special application for the King Scholar Program, but the Dartmouth Admissions Office, “elects students for this special honor who embody the vision of the program, including a commitment to alleviating poverty, a record of academic excellence, and a passion for global issues.” The program’s current members hail from Jamaica, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Rwanda and Burkina Faso and all share a similar passion to making a difference in their countries.

By encouraging young students from developing countries to make a difference in alleviating global poverty, the King Scholar Program is creating influential leaders who are ready to make palpable changes in their home countries. This causes students to have a stronger connection to the work they are doing, and be inspired to make a change. This type of education is one that makes a lasting difference in terms of fighting global poverty.

– Julia Arredondo

 

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KOICA CTS: Challenges to Fund Global Development Research

KOICA CTS
The Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is a Korean organization that promotes global development. In 2015, they launched an initiative known as Creative Technology Solutions (CTS). CTS awards grants to a select number of research projects that could potentially provide innovative breakthroughs in global development.

A rigorous application process is required to select recipients of the grant. First, written proposals are accepted. Among the initial candidates, few are chosen to give presentations on their proposals. Those who pass the presentation stage are then given interviews and tested on their problem-solving ability. Candidates who make it through all stages are promised a grant to fund their research.

In 2015, 10 teams were selected from the 99 that applied. One research project involved designing a portable autorefractor, which provides detailed imaging of the eye, allowing a quick diagnosis of vision problems. According to KOICA, 80 percent of cases of blindness could have been prevented with a routine checkup, so providing a method of quick and efficient diagnosis should be beneficial to combating visual impairment, especially in underdeveloped nations.

Another team has developed a solar energy system that can be cost-effectively installed in houses that do not otherwise have access to energy. This solar home system is being tested in Cambodia. With the help of this device, Cambodia hopes to increase the percentage of rural households with access to electricity from 57 percent to at least 70 percent.

In addition to creating effective technological solutions, KOICA CTS also aims for a widespread outreach. They are planning to be active in various countries throughout Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Latin America. Second round searches for grant recipients have already launched on July 18 of this year.

The practice of awarding grants in this fashion is reminiscent of the Grand Challenges initiative, which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation began in an effort to fund research going towards global development.

In fact, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation considered the launch of the second round of KOICA CTS as the beginning of Grand Challenges South Korea. This means that CTS will be working more closely with other groups involved in Grand Challenges. The likelihood of strengthening these efforts through the addition of CTS, and increasing research is starting to look very hopeful.

– Edmond Kim

Photo: Flickr

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Is xRapid a Breakthrough in Malaria Detection?

xRapid
As technology continues to become more accessible in poverty-stricken countries, one app hopes to improve the cost and accuracy of malaria detection. Recently developed by the London-based startup xRapid, the application is the world’s first commercially available mobile health solution that provides an automatic diagnosis of malaria. However, identifying malaria requires more than just an iPhone and the app.

In addition to the iPhone and free app, a special iPhone case with an attachable eyepiece and a microscope are also required to begin detecting malaria in blood samples. The user simply attaches the eyepiece onto the iPhone case and inserts it into the microscope’s eye tube, where it runs the test. A clinical laboratory report is then produced detailing the data collected during the examination.

Currently, there are three different methods used to diagnose malaria, each attempting to be the fastest, most accurate and cost-effective technique available. However, each process pales in comparison to xRapid in one aspect or another.

Rapid diagnostic testing (RDT), which detects specific malaria antigens in human blood, is significantly less accurate than xRapid, while polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is considerably slower and more technical and expensive to utilize.

Microscopy testing often referred to as the “gold standard” for laboratory malaria detection, is just as accurate as xRapid, but is much slower at conducting tests. This method requires an average of 30 minutes per assessment while xRapid can conduct an examination in under two minutes.

The availability and potential of this new, convenient technique and advanced technology for diagnosing malaria is vastly important as 3.2 billion people — 43 percent of the world’s population — continue to live in areas at risk of malaria transmission.

XRapid has already begun dispersing its product to impoverished countries such as Benin, where malaria is the cause of nine percent of total deaths. Additionally, in the near future, xRapid, with the assistance of Digicape, will expand the product to countries in Southern Africa that crucially need it, and presently rely on microscopy and RDT for malaria detection.

Recently, xRapid announced it is working on adapting the product to detect and diagnose tuberculosis, an equally life-threatening disease commonly found in poverty-stricken countries.

The malaria mortality rate has dropped 60 percent since 2000, and with the assistance of this mobile health solution, the numbers could continue to drop. Although the complexity and harshness of these lethal diseases cannot truly be grasped, the solution to them may be in the palm of our hands.

– Jordan J. Phelan

Photo: Flickr

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SCORE’s Electricity-Producing Cookstove: Improving Lives

SCORE's Electricity-Producing Cookstove
Around the world, close to three billion people cook on energy-inefficient open fires. These fires produce smoke that puts one’s respiratory health at risk. Four million people globally die each year due to air pollution. SCORE’s electricity-producing cookstove aims to address this issue.

A project created in 2007 known as SCORE has worked to create a stove that is both clean and can provide electricity to an entire home. This was done by conducting research in social understanding and technological development.

SCORE’s main goal is to reduce wood consumption and smoke inhalation in order to improve health, education, and wealth. Health-wise, by reducing the amount of smoke emitted into the air, the prevalence of respiratory illness like pneumonia and lung cancer decreases.

SCORE hopes the new cook stove’s production of electricity will improve education. Electricity will create light at night and improve access to lessons and knowledge by enabling access to cell phones, computers, radios and televisions.

The stove is able to produce electricity by converting excess heat into sound waves which generate electricity. Three hours of cooking should produce enough electricity to light a home for a night. Light at night allows children to continue to read and learn once the sun goes down.

The electricity produced will also provide better access to improved farming equipment and methods that will help improve the wealth of communities. Families within communities will also gain business opportunities such as selling the new stoves or electricity. Money and resources will also be saved, as the stove uses three times less fuel, like wood or dung, compared to other cook stoves.

SCORE looks to impact countries like Nepal where many people, especially women, suffer while they use wood-fire stoves inside their homes. Hopefully, a fair cost for the stove can be negotiated to make the stove more affordable for developing countries to buy.

– Casey Marx

Photo: Flickr

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The Challenges and Benefits of Foreign Aid Policy

Benefits of Foreign Aid Policy
In less than a decade, Europe suffered severe destruction and was quickly torn apart due to World War II. Soon after that, a huge foreign aid policy package known as the Marshall Plan helped European nations recover, seek a path of democracy and sustained peace.

Today, The U.S. continues to invest in foreign aid to advance its security and global leadership. This has played an indispensable role in strengthening U.S. strategy as well as economic and moral obligations.

Foreign aid policy can strengthen national security by cutting the roots of terrorism. It also helps in stabilizing weaker regimes, promoting regional security and long-term stability. Foreign aid helped nations such as South Korea and Colombia recover from instability.

Nations who receive aid could serve as potential markets and attract investors. Presidents like George W. Bush and Barack Obama emphasized such points. Also, President Reagan was a strong advocate of aid. He also argued strongly against those who claimed that national income was being wasted.

However, the success of the past decades is facing an uncertain, and perhaps unpromising future. The foreign aid budget planned for next year is only $34 billion. This number is expected to decrease further in the coming years.

Furthermore, there have been more conflicts in the twenty-first century that gripped the attention of the U.S. War in Afghanistan and Iraq coupled with a rising global trend of terrorism are some of the factors that challenge foreign aid programs. Hence, there comes a greater target zone for aid programs and more communities to address.

Such challenges make the process of development and the execution of programs a lot harder. Agencies are put under pressure as they have to provide support for a lot of people in a short time. Political dilemmas and conflicts complicate the tasks of agencies to access data and effectively manage aid programs.

With all the modern challenges of the twenty-first century, the U.S. aims to make the process of foreign development programs more transparent, accountable and effective.

Over the last decade, the U.S. has succeeded in creating new standards and metrics as part of foreign aid reform. Such transparency and accountability reforms can be expanded into developmental programs such as delivering aid packages and managing educational programs.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) understands the modern challenges standing in face of foreign aid policy. It aims to address such challenges by aligning resources with goals to achieve transforming development.

USAID also tailors programs according to needs and opportunities. The agency has also adopted the policy of increased selectivity in allocating resources. Despite the disappointing voice, aid programs are improving in their capability of dealing with all the modern challenges.

– Noman Ahmed

Photo: Flickr

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Fleeing Crises: Nine Facts About Venezuelan Refugees

Venezuelan Refugees
The South American country of Venezuela is facing a political and economic storm that has unraveled into a humanitarian crisis. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for Venezuelans to leave and live in the country, but those that do manage to escape are in search of living a better life. Here are nine facts about Venezuelan refugees:

  1. Due to the economic and political crisis faced by Venezuela, the amount of people fleeing the country toward a life of a refugee has increased greatly. According to the U.N.’s Population Division from 1990 to 2015, the number of Venezuelans living abroad more than tripled from 185,282 to 606,344. There are currently 345,783 Venezuelans residing in the U.S. Many of these Venezuelan refugees are undocumented and only have the few goods they were able to take along with them in order to escape Venezuela.
  2. On July 17, 2016 more than 100,000 Venezuelans crossed the Simon Bolivar Bridge to Cúcuta, Colombia, through a border that has long been closed off, in search of food and medicine. This is a result of many factors including the fact that food in Venezuela has a price set by the government, which is lower than the cost to make the product. This alone has caused a humanitarian crisis.
  3. The crisis is not only affecting food shortages but it is playing a role in population growth. It is now a growing trend that women opt for sterilization procedures because traditional birth control methods have disappeared from stores that are increasingly empty. Government officials announced that the nation had run out of birth control in July 2015. Doctors state they have seen an increase in number of appointments as well as a change in demographics. Women with one or two children instead of four or more are opting in for sterilization.
  4. According to the Pew Research Center, U.S. asylum applications filed by Venezuelans have risen 168 percent this year versus 2015. Many Venezuelans are looking to escape the economic turmoil in the country but are having difficulties obtaining documentation to live in surrounding countries.
  5. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Colombia is currently the country that hosts the most Venezuelans with 46,614 Venezuelans currently residing in Colombia. Both countries have agreed to gradually open its borders in order to help with the refugee crisis and help those who continue to reside in Venezuela.
  6. Legal status is one reason the influx of Venezuelans into Colombia goes largely unnoticed. All Venezuelans that don’t have a Colombian relative or a visa, while in Colombia are considered illegal economic migrants.
  7. Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida introduced the Venezuelan Refugee Assistance Act in October 2015. The legislation would provide for the adjustment to permanent resident status of Venezuelan nationals who: were physically present in the U.S. on January 1, 2013, have been physically present in the U.S. for at least one year, are physically present in the U.S. on the date the status adjustment application is filed, have not been convicted of certain specified crimes and were never involved in the persecution of others and apply for adjustment before January 1, 2019. However, this act does not protect refugees currently fleeing from crises in Venezuela.
  8. According to a 2014 study by the Central University of Venezuela more than 1.5 million Venezuelans fled the country since the reign of Hugo Chavez in 1999. Those who left have become immigrants and refugees in neighboring countries and across the globe.
  9. Like the U.S., the neighboring country of Colombia has also received many more applications for asylum status from Venezuelans. These Venezuelans are aware that they might be succumbing to refugee status but it also provides food and safety for these families.

The current situation in Venezuela is abysmal and many Venezuelans continue to suffer within its borders. Life does not get any easier for those who try to leave that have difficulties finding jobs and sustaining themselves.

The solution to this is in the referendum that could possibly take current president, Nicolás Maduro, out of power in order to make Venezuela the home that people once knew. Countries that have worked along with Venezuela like Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay should now be offering asylum for Venezuelan refugees and assistance to the wounded country.

– Mariana Camacho

Photo: Flickr

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The Role of Grandmothers: The Heroes Everyone Overlooks

The Role of Grandmothers
Working women have a lot for which to thank their mothers. Without the help of their mothers in the home, it would be difficult for young women to balance having a family with advancing in their careers. By taking care of their daughters’ children, grandmothers give their daughters the time they need to work.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales claim grandmothers’ childcare provision leads to a rise in their daughters’ labor force participation (LFP). According to their research, “grandparents are the largest source of informal childcare” for working women. In Italy and Greece, almost 50 percent of grandparents provide daily care for their grandchildren.

Although passing the responsibility of childcare over to their parents gives women freedom and independence to pursue their careers, it creates a problem for grandmothers. Grandmothers, rather than young daughters, get saddled with having to balance work and family.

Madonna Harrington Meyer, author of Grandmothers at Work: Juggling Families and Jobs, argues, “In the same way that women who reduce employment hours when raising their young children experience reductions in salary, savings, and public and private pensions, the mothers of those same women, as grandmothers, are rearranging hours to take care of their grandchildren, experiencing additional loss of salary and reduced old-age pension accumulation.”

Grandmothers do not only make sacrifices for their children and grandchildren in countries like Italy and Greece, but the role of grandmothers is very important in developing regions of the world as well. Veronica Nankya, a 93-year-old Ugandan grandmother taking care of her four grandchildren, told Daily Monitor Magazine that, after her children died of HIV/AIDS, life became very difficult because taking care of orphaned grandchildren is “an enormous duty,” particularly when she has to be the sole breadwinner for the family.

These matriarchs have carried the brunt of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa in multiple ways. They have not only taken up the responsibility of caring for the orphaned children of HIV casualties but have also cared for the millions of adult AIDS patients who have nowhere to go but their parents’ homes.

Research by the World Bank shows grandmothers are “the managers of indigenous knowledge systems that deal with the development, care and well-being of women and children” in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Grandmothers, therefore, play an essential role in maternal and child nutrition, health and survival rates in these regions.

Community health specialist Dr. Judi Aubel claims that because the role of grandmothers is central in “advising younger women and male family members on nutrition and health matters, especially during pregnancy, childbirth and when children are infants or still young,” they should be involved in national and international programs and policies targeting these issues. It is through grandmothers that new knowledge and better health practices can be transmitted to the rest of society.

UNICEF in Laos showed that when grandmothers were involved in health campaigns, great results were possible. For example, when grandmothers became involved in diarrhea treatment workshops, the proportion of families providing the necessary fluids to children went up from 30 to 74 percent.

The role of grandmothers in the developed and the developing world is different but crucial to their families. In the developed world, grandmothers provide the needed childcare that young mothers need to continue rising in their professions.

In the developing world, grandmothers are essential for the care of orphaned children and for advising young mothers on health issues. It is very important that in the future, grandmothers in both the developed and developing world are given the help they need so that they are not required to make so many sacrifices and carry such a heavy burden of responsibility.

For women’s emancipation and empowerment to be complete, all women must have time for themselves and their own life regardless of age. It is not true women’s empowerment if older women must sacrifice their own freedoms for those of their daughters.

– Christina Egerstrom

Photo: Flickr

 

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Reducing the Prevalence of The Top Diseases in Morocco

Top Diseases in Morocco
Although modern in many respects, Morocco remains a traditional country that struggles to combat certain diseases. The country with a population of 33,680,000 has a life expectancy of 71, which is right at the world’s average. Although there are a good number of physicians and medical centers available, the rural population still experiences difficulty accessing these facilities and safe drinking water. Here are the top diseases in Morocco:

Hepatitis

Hepatitis A, B, C, and E are all prominent in Morocco, but currently, hepatitis A and B are the only forms that can be prevented through a vaccine or medication. Regardless of where you are staying or what food you are eating, there is a high possibility of obtaining hepatitis A in Morocco due to contaminated food and water. It is also transmitted through person-to-person contact.

Hepatitis B, which is transmitted via blood and bodily fluids, is another dangerous disease. Activities such as intercourse with the local population, intravenous drug use, contaminated tattoo and piercing equipment or exposure to blood may yield hepatitis B. Symptoms usually include nausea, fatigue, dark urine, abdominal pain and jaundice.

Hepatitis C is a viral infection that inflames the liver. This form of hepatitis is similar to the others because it can be transmitted person to person and through activities that expose one to blood and other bodily fluids.

Hepatitis E is extremely endemic in Morocco and also inflames the liver. Water contaminated with fecal matter and foods that contain raw or undercooked meats, may result in exposure to hepatitis E.

Rabies

Rabies, which is found everywhere, is another prominent disease in Morocco. One can obtain rabies through mammal bites, especially from dogs, cats and bats.

Typhoid

Common in areas with poor sanitation, Typhoid Fever is a gastrointestinal infection that is transmitted from person to person. It’s found in Southeast Asia, Africa, Central and South America and Western Pacific countries. Symptoms include headaches, lack of appetite, enlarged liver and constipation. Similar to hepatitis E, ensuring that one’s food is thoroughly cooked is an easy way to avoid typhoid.

Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis, a disorder that has become more prevalent due to irrigation, is characterized by the inflammation of the intestines, bladder, liver and other organs. It was first detected in Morocco in 1914, but reached its peak post-independence when the new government was constructing numerous irrigation systems across the country.

Almost as dangerous as malaria, it is a serious parasitic infection that affects nearly 200 million people in Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean. The lack of clean water makes schistosomiasis easily attainable because worms that carry the parasite can be found where people work, bathe or swim.

Although the top diseases in Morocco are affecting not only the population but those who visit the country, there is ample aid given to reduce the prevalence of these diseases. Organizations such as USAID and the World Health Organization (WHO) funnel money to provide more portable water, vaccinations and access to medical personnel and facilities. The U.S. planned to give $33,500,000 to combat top diseases in Morocco.

The country has been open to implementing strategies that lead to impressive differences. For example, Morocco started using azithromycin on a large-scale, the first country to do so, in an attempt to control trachoma.

Overall, Morocco has also made great strides towards eliminating other diseases including eradicating malaria, which it accomplished in 2010.

– Ashley Morefield

Photo: Flickr