Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Progress for India’s Largest Public Health Campaign

India's Largest Public Health CampaignIn 2014, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare paired with the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to create a communication campaign aimed at the prevention of Lymphatic Filariasis.

The video for India’s largest public health campaign by the Mass Drug Administration to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) begins with a trail of oversized footprints attracting a group of curious spectators. The growing crowd follows the giant tracks to find their owner and the intent investigation of the crowd captures the matched attention of viewers off-screen.

Lymphatic Filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, is a disfiguring and debilitating neglected tropical disease that puts three in five people in India at risk of infection. While prevention of the disease is fairly simple — a pill once every year — public participation in the government’s drug distribution programs was low.

In 2002, India set a goal to eliminate preventable diseases by 2015. Their current campaign plan began in 2004. Although the Filaria has not yet been eliminated in India, significant progress has been made since India’s largest public health campaign began.

The video leads the villagers to a man with LF, who stresses the ease of prevention and emphasizes that contracting the disease can happen to anyone. The narrative is largely positive with the patient himself acting as a champion for awareness and change. Distributed widely in ten different languages on television and online, the public service announcement reached over 300 million people.

The number of people reached by the MDA increased from 72 percent in 2004, to 89 percent in 2015. Subsequently, the microfilaria rate decreased from 1.2 percent in 2004 to 0.26 percent in 2015, according to India’s National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP).

As of May 2016, 72 districts (each with an approximate population of 164 million) completed the Transmission Assessment Survey for LF and were qualified to stop the MDA program, said the NVBDCP. India’s dedication and success in decreasing LF likely increased global attention on Lymphatic Filariasis and other neglected tropical diseases. On June 3, the World Health Organization reported that LF was eliminated in Sri Lanka and Maldives.

With the largest Mass Drug Administration in the world, the Indian government continues its efforts to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis by distributing LF preventative medication to 460 million people in 17 Indian states.

– Erica Rawles

Photo: Flickr

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Healthcare in Bihar is Improving for Women and Children

Healthcare in Bihar
Bihar is one of the poorest states in India as approximately 55 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. There is an overwhelming need for quality health care facilities and workers in this region. In the past ten years, the World Bank Group and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have made great strides toward the improvement of healthcare in Bihar.

The World Bank’s collaboration with the Bihar Government led to an increase in the accountability and accessibility of healthcare from 2005 to 2008. By 2008, the number of outpatients visiting a government hospital grew from 39 per month to almost 4,500. The number of babies delivered in healthcare facilities also increased from some 100,000 to 780,000.

Bihar’s infant and maternal mortality rates are higher than India’s national average. According to the Sample Registration Survey in India conducted in 2013, 208 women per 100,000 died during childbirth. Furthermore, 28 out of every 1,000 newborns die within their first month of life.

Most of these deaths are preventable if basic care is provided to women and newborns during and immediately following childbirth. Unfortunately, the infrastructure of healthcare in Bihar falls short in nearly all required categories, including the number of health assistants and nurses.

According to the Huffington Post, there are not enough nurses in Bihar to allow for lengthy off-site training to prepare nurses for treatment of postpartum hemorrhage or premature births while also keeping health facilities adequately staffed.

In order to improve maternal health and newborn care, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation along with the Bihar Government launched a Mobile Nurse Mentoring Program called AMANAT.

Through AMANAT, nurses in public health facilities are mentored on-site by mobile nurse mentors, who ensure that basic standards of care are provided for pregnant women and newborns.

The program has greatly improved healthcare in Bihar for women and children before and after deliveries since its implementation in 2012. A few of these improvements include:

  • The administration of the correct use of oxytocin to induce labor has increased from 9 percent to 59 percent.
  • The use of sterile instruments by nurses during deliveries has increased from 13 percent to 43 percent.
  • The implementation of mothers breastfeeding has increased from 49 percent to 72 percent.

The number of stillbirths declined from 19 to 12 per 1,000 live births due to improvements in basic care practices. AMANAT was implemented in 160 public health facilities across Bihar and is expected to be administered in 240 over the course of this year.

There is a long way to go in creating a stable system of healthcare in Bihar. However, these crucial improvements made by the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Bihar’s Government have saved and will continue to save countless maternal and newborn lives.

– Kristyn Rohrer

Photo: World Bank

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Hunger in Developing Countries: Five Facts You Need to Know

hunger in developing countries
Hunger in developing countries is one of the most significant hindrances to poverty reduction and global development around the world. Below are five facts about hunger in developing countries that everyone should know.

  1. Hunger is one of the most widespread problems across the globe.

    One in nine people globally is currently undernourished. Of these 795 million people, 98% live in developing countries. This means that hunger in developing countries represents one of the most significant issues facing the developing world and development assistance programs.

  2. Hunger in developing countries is not just concentrated on Africa.

    While the population of Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage of undernourished people, Asia is home to the most hunger people in the world. Nearly 70% of the world’s hungry live in underdeveloped countries within Asia.

  3. Women and children are most negatively impacted.

    Every ten seconds a child dies of malnutrition, making up 45% of all child deaths under age five in developing countries. Those who do survive are often forced to go to school hungry, which hinders their ability to grow and learn and puts them behind in school. Hunger largely contributes to many underdeveloped countries’ educational gaps.

  4. Rural farmers experience the highest rates of undernutrition.

    Three-quarters of the world’s hungry live in rural areas. Most are low-income farmers whose lands are plagued by frequent natural disasters, making them one of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

  5. It is not completely out of reach.

    In July 2014 the heads of the African state department committed to ending hunger in Africa by 2025. To achieve this admirable goal, the country has committed to investing in agriculture and improving peace and stability in the region. Both of these actions have been found to have significant positive impacts on hunger-reduction. Hefty progress has already been made throughout the world — nutrition improved for 26 million people between 2011 and 2013 alone.

Hunger in developing countries is a detrimental hurdle to effective growth. The fight against global hunger is essential; ending hunger in developing countries could bring the world one step closer towards eliminating global poverty and sparking growth in much of the developing world.

– Sara Christensen

 

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How Sex Education in Guatemala is Transforming Lives

Sex Education in Guatemala
Guatemala has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Latin America. By age 20, 54 to 68 percent of indigenous or uneducated women have married or become pregnant.

This number is raised by a high rate of sexual abuse that boys and girls suffer: 10,000 cases are reported every year. One of the many reasons these statistics are so alarmingly high is a lack of comprehensive sex education in Guatemala. In 2012, only two percent of schools had effective programs; but fortunately, many advocates have worked to counteract these dismal statistics over the past few years.

Comprehensive sex education is incredibly beneficial to children of all genders. The National Survey of Family Growth discovered that pregnancy rates for 15 to 19-year-olds are 50 percent lower for teens who receive comprehensive sex education than for teenagers who received less education.

Guatemalan children need to be taught about contraceptives, STIs, HIV, pregnancy and especially consent. Programs should emphasize the goals of improved gender equality as well as increasing male involvement in family planning. These alterations would allow teenagers to have more control over their reproductive health as well as counteract the dangerous culture of violence and rape.

Fortunately, new legislation has paved the way for improvement. The 2010 Preventing through Education Act calls for comprehensive sex education in Guatemala and increases teenage access to sexual health services.

Sex educator Ana Lucía Ramazzini insists that “sex education cannot be successful in Guatemala without being taught from a feminist viewpoint that addresses consent, assault and the power dynamics and social inequalities between men and women.” Two other laws have been similarly positive — hospitals are now required to report pregnancies for girls under 14, and the marrying age with parental consent has been raised from 14 to 16.

Three years after the Prevention through Education Act, a program with gender equality views was incorporated into nine regions. After the 2010 law passed in Guatemala, the rate of teen pregnancy decreased from 90 births per 1000 women ages 15-19 to 81 births in 2014. While the statistic is not overtly dramatic, the steady decline does indeed bode well for the future.

Ten Guatemalan organizations and a handful of international organizations continue to transform sex education from bill to reality. UNAIDS works to educate people about HIV and decrease the stigma surrounding the condition for the 65,000 people in Guatemala who live with the disease and require treatment. Two Guatemalan organizations in particular, Asociacion Pro-Bienestar de la Familia de Guatemala (APROFAM) and Incide Joven, have done exceptional work in this field.

APROFAM is a family planning organization that serves Guatemala with 27 permanent clinics, five mobile facilities and a large number of community distributors. Their clinics and workshops provide education for both men and women about the effectiveness of contraceptives and family planning services. Using media from comic strips and television shows, they educate the public on both sexual health as well as issues of consent and abuse.

Incide Joven is a similar organization, but its uniqueness stems from the fact that it is entirely youth-run. Like APROFAM, Incide Joven is dedicated to making sex education available for teenagers. Their advocacy was very successful in creating the valuable Gender and Cultural Diversity office as part of the Ministry of Education to oversee new sex education. APROFAM and Incide Joben share sex educator Ana Ramazzini’s ideology by encouraging both genders to take an active role in family planning.

With such high rates of abuse and teenage pregnancy, sex education in Guatemala is a tough job. Fortunately, children are growing more aware of their rights and the risks of young sex. A 10-year-old listing off information about HIV at a UNAIDS event said that “[children] are very young for sex. Ah! And that our body is only ours and no one can touch it.”

The emphasis on consent in sex education in Guatemala not only builds a better-informed public, but it also is a large step in the right direction for female empowerment and youth rights.

– Jeanette Burke

Photo: Bustle

7 Facts: The Focus on Slowing Poverty In Lithuania

7 Facts: The Focus on Slowing Poverty In Lithuania
Lithuania is one of the three European Baltic States and also a new addition to the Eurozone. While the country faces a serious problem with rural poverty, recent indicators and initiatives suggest that Lithuania is a country on the rise.

  1. Lithuania is a high-income country. Lithuania is considered a high-income country by the World Bank. Its GNI per capita, total income claimed by residents divided by the population, is about $15,000 per year. This is significantly higher than that of Russia ($11000) but less than half of the average in the EU which stands at $34000.
  2. Very few people in Lithuania are desperately poor. Extreme or desperate poverty isn’t common in Lithuania, less than one percent of the population lives on less than one dollar a day.
  3. Poverty in Lithuania is widespread but shallow. While very few Lithuanians are extremely poor, many live in moderate poverty. Lithuania’s poverty line is set at LTL 811 ($265), and around 20 percent of the population lives below this measure.
  4. Poverty is centered in rural areas. One-third of the population live in rural areas, with half of the population employed in agriculture.
  5. Lithuania has a transitioning economy. In 2015, it became the 19th economy to use the euro. The economy of Lithuania seems to be shifting towards a knowledge-based one, as information and communication technologies are its fastest-growing sectors. However, after being hit incredibly hard by the recession in 2008, the growth of the economy has slowed in recent years.
  6. Lithuania has comparatively low unemployment and inequality levels. Despite the relatively high poverty rate in Lithuania, other development indicators like unemployment and income inequality are somewhat low. Unemployment stands at 8 percent, which is lower than in France or Italy, and the World Bank’s income inequality indicator, the GINI index, suggests that Lithuania has higher income equality than the U.S., and is comparable to that of Canada.

The EU plans to invest heavily over the next few years. The EU plans to invest $7 billion in aid to Lithuania by 2020, with the main focus on infrastructure. Other major points of investment are in renewable energy and quality employment. With continuing economic growth and help from the EU, poverty numbers may be driven down in the coming years.

– John English

Photo: Flickr

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G20 Summit Aims for Sustainable and Inclusive Development

Sustainable Development

From Sept. 4 to 5, heads of state and government from nineteen countries and the European Union will gather in Hangzhou, China for the 11th G20 summit. The theme of this year’s conference is “Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy”, a motto which many officials and experts find encouraging.

In an interview with the Xinhua News Agency, China’s state-owned media outlet, Atsushi Sunami, the vice president of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, explained that the G20 summit could forge consensus on implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Adopted by the U.N. last fall, the 2030 Agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and aims to end poverty and hunger by the end of the third decade in the 21st century.

Sunami also called on countries to work together and build innovation across borders. The conference in Hangzhou, in his view, could jump-start the dialogue on open innovation and inclusive development.

Also speaking with Xinhua, Peter Thompson, who will be the president of the upcoming 71st Session of the U.N. General Assembly, voiced his support for the summit’s theme as well as the U.N.’s desire to work with the G20 organizers. “We will certainly be doing our part here at the United Nations in terms of the G20 outcome to make sure it’s built into the international implementation plans,” he said.

Likewise, Daniel Funes de Rioja, President of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), expressed his hope that the G20 summit will be a step in the direction of inclusive development. “Prosperity requires growth, investment, technology and innovation, with employment and social coverage for all,” according to de Rioja.

Indeed, while the G20 is primarily a forum for leaders of the developed world, developing countries are also starting to make their voices heard.

Senegal, which will be present at the summit in Hangzhou, sees the G20 as a platform to call attention to African issues as well as an opportunity to explore solutions. Alioune Sarr, the country’s commerce minister, told China Central Television (CCTV) that the conference will highlight the necessity of poverty eradication and inclusive development on the continent.

The G20 has consistently underscored the importance of international cooperation when it comes to solving the world’s problems, and the renewed emphasis on inclusive development and shared prosperity is certainly a welcome change.

– Philip Katz

Photo: Flickr

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Hunger in Zimbabwe: Overcoming Child Malnutrition

Hunger in Zimbabwe

Thousands of children are facing starvation and hunger in Zimbabwe due to the worst drought in two decades. According to the World Food Programme, nearly four million Zimbabweans are struggling to meet their basic food needs.

Zimbabwe is considered a food-deficit country, ranked 156 out of 187 on the Global Hunger Index. Although food insecurity affects people of all ages, it is even more detrimental to children.

Studies show that proper nutrition is critical to children’s physical and emotional development. Children struggling with hunger are more likely to repeat a grade in primary school, experience impairments in language and motor skills, or have social and behavioral problems.

In Zimbabwe, only 17.3% of children between the ages of two and six receive the recommended minimum diet for adequate nutrition. A child suffering from malnutrition is more likely to contract diseases, such as HIV, or suffer from stunting. Currently, one in every three Zimbabwean children suffers from chronic malnutrition or stunting. Stunting alone contributes to more than 12,000 deaths per year.

Hunger in Zimbabwe has become a major issue, particularly for low-income families and their children. Struggling families are often pressured to accept a dowry for their young daughters. This provides food for the rest of the family, as well as a potentially more food-secure situation for their daughter.

Approximately one out of every three girls in Zimbabwe are married before their 18th birthday. Girls living in the poorest 20% of households were more than four times as likely to marry before the age of 18 than those living in the wealthiest 20% of households.

Both poverty and hunger in Zimbabwe have resulted in an unsafe environment for children.

In order to combat hunger in Zimbabwe, the World Food Programme has implemented the Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO). The three primary focus areas of the operation are disaster response, food assistance and nutrition.

The disaster response and risk reduction program are designed to support food-insecure households affected by severe drought during the growing season.

Food Assistance for Assets provides cash and in-kind transfers, along with activities that promote self-reliance. It empowers vulnerable communities to move away from a dependence on food assistance.

The health and nutrition promotion is responsible for the Moderately Acutely Malnourished treatment, which assists pregnant and nursing women and children under the age of five. A stunting prevention program was also established in the same district.

With the help of the World Food Programme and other international organizations, hunger in Zimbabwe is decreasing and children are able to live healthier and happier lives.

– Kristyn Rohrer

Photo: Flickr

How Doctors Without Borders is Fighting HIV in Mozambique

HIV in MozambiqueDoctors Without Borders (DWB) is an international organization that works to improve global health conditions. One of their current missions is fighting HIV in the sub-Saharan African nation of Mozambique. In Mozambique, one in ten adults is estimated to be HIV positive. DWB is focusing its efforts on increasing treatment and reducing the spread of the disease for sex workers and truck drivers — two demographics that are particularly at risk for infection. Their highway corridor project is estimated to reach and positively impact 3,800 sex workers and 4,500 truck drivers.

In the port city of Beira, cargo trucks are continuously moving through docks, loading and unloading cargo. The cargo is then transported to many areas of central and southern Africa. This highway corridor used for cargo transportation is also at risk for spreading HIV. DWB offers weekly HIV testing and counseling for truck drivers along the highway as far as the border of Malawi. Additionally, the organization is responsible for distributing free condoms at truck stops.

The organization has also implemented several strategies for sex workers, who are ten times more likely to be HIV positive than the general population.

Most strategies fighting HIV in Mozambique focus on educating these workers and increasing access to HIV prevention and treatment. Another important tactic includes distributing free condoms to women who engage in sex work. DWB also encourages sex workers to get tested for HIV and even provides on the spot testing in Beira.

If a woman’s test result is negative, she is offered the option to join a program called PrEp, which stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis. In this program, patients receive an anti-AIDS drug that aims to block the virus in women who face a high risk of infection. Although PrEP is relatively new for fighting HIV in Mozambique, it has been shown to significantly reduce one’s chance of infection.

If tests results come back positive, women are referred to a clinic for further treatment. They also have a chance to talk with DWB’s “peer educators,” who are current or former sex workers employed by DWB to speak publicly about HIV prevention and treatment. Women feel comfortable talking to them because they do not make them feel ashamed of their work and all information discussed is kept confidential.

Hearing HIV discussed in public settings greatly reduces the shame and discrimination that is often associated with the disease. In 2010, Mozambique experienced a 58 percent increase in the number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment for HIV. This does not reflect an increase in the number of people infected, but rather an increase in willingness to be tested and receive treatment.

To increase access to treatment, DWB employs people to speak publicly about their own experiences in order to reduce shame surrounding the issue, which is a key step in fighting HIV in Mozambique. The organization also offers a training program for nurses that will allow them to be able to prescribe antiretroviral treatments for patients. Not only does this increase access to treatment, but it also creates jobs and more self-sufficient communities.

Both sex works and truckers in Mozambique often engage in unsafe sex practices that make them vulnerable to HIV infection and transmission during their travels. Through the numerous initiatives mentioned above, DWB is working to improve the quality of life for these two groups as well as for all HIV patients.

– Nathaniel Siegel

Photo: Flickr

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Water Quality in Palestine: Gaza in Crisis

Water Quality in Palestine

Gaza is one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world, with 1.8 million people confined in a 140-mile radius. The only water resource, the Coastal Aquifer, is insufficient for the needs of the population. Water access and water quality in Palestine leaves a lot to be desired.

The World Bank reported on the poor water quality in Palestine, as well as the lack of access to sanitation services that reached crisis proportions. Due to said conditions, Palestinians in Gaza are forced to over-extract water from the Coastal Aquifer in order to stay alive. They obtain water at a rate equivalent to twice the aquifer’s yearly sustainable yield, causing the water to become contaminated.

In 2008, WHO estimated that 26% of diseases in Gaza were water-related, a statistic that could be higher now that 90-95% of Gaza water is polluted and unfit for human consumption. Due to the contamination, high levels of nitrite were found in the groundwater at levels far above the WHO accepted guideline of 50mg per liter. Such dispersion has increased cases of methemoglobinemia, a blood disorder that impedes the flow of oxygen in young infants.

Why Palestinians in Gaza Lack Water Facilities

The water quality in Palestine remains unsanitary due to Israel’s blockade of Gaza, and military operations hinder the possibility of Palestinians restoring their water facilities. Wells, cisterns and roof water tanks have been destroyed and damaged, most notably during the Israeli attacks in 2008 and 2014.

During the 2008 Operation ‘Cast Lead,’ Israel caused U.S. $6 million worth of damage to Gaza’s water supply and wastewater facilities. In 2014 the Israeli attack on Gaza resulted in heavy destruction of infrastructure; the total damage was estimated to be $4.4 billion and included water and sanitation facilities.

The loss of water facilities has had a lasting impact on the Palestinians in Gaza. The continued blockade by Israeli security forces prevents the import of equipment and spare parts needed to repair and improve the water supply and sanitation systems. Even simple sanitation items such as chlorine are not permitted.

Furthermore, water main and sewage conduits are routinely crushed by Israeli tanks and armored vehicles. Water tanks are also shot at and damaged by Israeli soldiers.

Addressing the Issue Through the BDS Movement

In 2007 Palestinians founded “Lifesource,” a collective working at the grassroots level to organize for water justice.

The mission of Lifesource is to:

  1. Educate Palestinians about their water rights and enable communities to take an active role in improving the situation.
  2. Promote and utilize nonviolent popular resistance tactics for the human rights to water and sanitation.
  3. Connect popular movements locally and globally to support Palestinian water rights.

In 2009 “Lifesource” partnered with the global campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

Lifesource led a program called “BDS for Palestinian Water Justice,” supporting boycott divestment and eschewing sanctions that infringe on Palestinians right to water and sanitation. The BDS Movement works to increase economic and political pressure on Israel to end the occupation and colonization of Palestinian land. By organizing demonstrations that target companies that have contracts with Israel, companies are pressured to break ties with Israel, thus deterring the country from continuing to occupy Palestine. Their work led to some success: water companies profiteering from human rights violations, such as Eden Springs and Veolia, lost important contracts and had to downsize or close their doors.

Although Lifesource came to an end in 2012, the BDS movement is still up and running, giving Palestinians in Gaza hope that their basic human needs will continue to be addressed.

– Marcelo Guadiana

Photo: Flickr

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A Unique Struggle: 10 Facts About Palestine Refugees

10 Facts About Palestine Refugees
The Arab-Israeli conflict has continued for more than 65 years. The absence of a Palestinian state has led to major difficulties in providing aid for their refugees. Palestine refugees differ from other refugee populations in the world and have a unique status as a result. In order to understand the struggle of refugees involved in this conflict, consider these 10 facts about Palestine refugees:

1. One in three refugees is Palestinian.

There are nearly 7.2 million Palestine refugees worldwide. The number of Palestinian refugees is nearly double that of Syrian refugees (3.8 million).

2. There are three main groups of Palestinian refugees.

The largest group is comprised of Palestinians who were displaced in 1948. Another major group are those who were displaced from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967. The third group refers to internally displaced Palestinians.

Internally displaced refugees include both: Palestinians who remained in areas that later became the state of Israel, and Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who lost their homes due to demolition, revocation of residency rights or the construction of Israeli settlements.

3. There is a specific U.N. relief organization for Palestine refugees.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) began operations in 1950. All other refugee populations worldwide are protected by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

4. There are specific criteria for qualifying for UNRWA assistance.

The UNRWA provides aid for Palestine refugees who “lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” The other primary groups of refugees do not qualify for aid under the UNRWA mandate.

5. Palestinians are one of the only populations whose descendants also qualify as refugees.

As a result of Palestinian descendants gaining refugee status, there are currently 5 million refugees who qualify for UNRWA services. When the UNRWA began operations, the agency responded to the needs of only 750,000 Palestinian refugees.

6. There are 58 UNRWA recognized Palestine refugee camps.

There are 58 official and six unofficial refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

One-third of the registered Palestine refugees live in refugee camps. Camps typically have poor socioeconomic conditions, are extremely overcrowded and lack adequate roads and sewer systems.

7. Palestine refugee camps in Gaza comprise one of the highest population densities in the world.

More than half a million Palestine refugees live in the eight recognized refugee camps in Gaza. The number of refugees in the area continues to rise due to wars and bombings. Over 70 percent of Gaza’s total population are refugees.

8. Jordan has the most Palestinian refugees of any country.

There are over 2 million registered Palestine refugees living in Jordan. The number of refugees living in the Gaza Strip and West Bank combined is fewer than the amount living in Jordan.

9. Palestine refugees are granted citizenship in Jordan.

Jordan is the only host country that has granted Palestinian refugees full citizenship rights. Other host countries have been known to bar Palestinians from basic rights, such as health and educational services.

10. No Palestinian has ever lost their refugee status.

Palestinian refugees have been refused the right to return to their place of origin; Israeli officials have declared that such a right is not legitimate. The number of Palestine refugees has increased by more than six times the amount originally accounted for in 1948. This is a result of Palestinians being able to retain their refugee status.

These 10 facts about Palestine refugees are by no means an exhaustive list, however, it offers insight into the current situation. Palestinians are the largest and longest-standing group of refugees in the world. Palestinian refugees have suffered for over six decades and will continue to suffer until their basic needs and rights are met.

– Kristyn Rohrer

Photo: Pixabay