Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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MDG Failures

MDG Failures MDGs
As 2015 comes to a close and the world takes a look at the progress that has been made, it is clear that while much has been accomplished — with more than a billion people having been lifted out of poverty — many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were not complete successes, and some failed outright. Discussed below are the MDG failures and their implications.

Shortcomings: Assessing the MDG Failures

One of the major MDG failures is the fact that the success of the goals was not experienced equally across the globe; this in itself is a major defeat. Consider a few of these statistics from different countries concerning the same MDGs.

Extreme Poverty 50 Percent Reduction Rate:

  1. Southeastern Asia exceeded the goal for extreme poverty reduction by 16 percent
  2. Southern Asia exceeded the goal by 12.5 percent
  3. Northern Africa scraped by at about 1.2 percent
  4. Sub-Saharan Africa was by far the most behind. It did not even meet the goal for extreme poverty reduction and was 12.5 percent away from doing so.

The extreme poverty reduction goal of at least a 50 percent reduction in those living on $1.25 a day arguably had the best statistics for each country; from there it goes steadily downhill. This trend can be seen throughout the different Millennium Development Goals. Sub-Saharan Africa was far from reaching its goals, and not one country achieved the goal set for maternal mortality rate reduction.MDG_failures

Gender inequality was also a focus of the MDGs, but unfortunately, according to the United Nations, “gender inequality persists in spite of more representation of women in parliament and more girls going to school. Women continue to face discrimination in access to work, economic assets and participation in private and public decision-making.”

Although there were huge successes achieved through the MDGs, it is important to note that more than 800 million people continue to live in extreme poverty.

According to the U.N., “children from the poorest 20 percent of households are more than twice as likely to be stunted as those from the wealthiest 20 percent and are also four times as likely to be out of school. In countries affected by conflict, the proportion of out-of-school children increased from 30 percent in 1999 to 36 percent in 2012.”

In addition, the numbers for global emissions of carbon dioxide as well as water scarcity are disheartening. There has been a 50 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions and water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the world in comparison to 1990 statistics.

Although there have been failures in trying to implement the goals, all hope is not lost. Progress in the form of the Sustainable Development Goals is already being made.

Global leaders are regrouping, and as the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, “The emerging post-2015 development agenda, including the set of Sustainable Development Goals, strives to build on our successes and put all countries, together, firmly on track towards a more prosperous, sustainable and equitable world.”

– Drusilla Gibbs

Sources: IRIN News, UN
Photo: Flickr, Pixabay

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UN World Toilet Day is Here!

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The name might result in a few giggles, but the importance behind the U.N.’s World Toilet Day is no laughing matter.

The annual day of action was established in order to bring awareness to sanitation issues around the world. It is estimated that 2.4 billion people — or approximately one out of every three people in the world — still do not have access to adequate sanitation.

Furthermore, around 1 billion people are forced to practice open defecation, due to a widespread lack of toilets and proper sanitation in several developing countries.

Poor sanitation and open defecation pose obvious and significant health risks, spreading diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and dysentery. It is estimated that approximately 1,000 children under the age of five die every day due to diarrhea and chronic undernutrition attributed to poor sanitation and hygiene practices where they live.

The lack of public toilets is also linked to violence against women, as women are more at risk of sexual assault when they must venture out alone into secluded places after dark to relieve themselves.

Sanitation is often termed a “silent crisis” as it has evaded the extent of media coverage and awareness devoted toward other key development issues. World Toilet Day seeks to address this lack of attention and was established with the exact purpose of dispelling the taboos, disgust and discomfort associated with discussing and addressing global sanitation issues.

World Toilet Day was initially established by the World Toilet Organization, a group whose main mission is “raising a stink for sanitation” on the world stage. The Organization was founded in 2001 and held its first annual World Toilet Summit on Nov. 19 of that year.UN_World_Toilet_Day

Every year thereafter, the organization has been steadily working to disseminate information and create awareness for sanitation as a topic of conversation on the global development agenda. Jack Sim, a retired Singaporean businessman and founder of the World Toilet Organization, has been hailed for his efforts through the organization to help dispel the taboos associated with openly talking about toilets, sanitation and human waste.

In recognition of the need to emphasize global sanitation issues, the U.N. General Assembly passed the “Sanitation for All” resolution in 2013 designating Nov. 19 to be the official U.N. World Toilet Day. UN-Water has taken the lead in working with governments and stakeholders to expand World Toilet Day in scope and recognition.

The message behind World Toilet Day has found widespread support across the globe, especially within countries currently struggling with serious sanitation issues.

India is one such country, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched a campaign tackling sanitation issues. Accordingly, India has set an ambitious target to build enough toilets for more than 600 million people by 2019.

In the past, World Toilet Day has had a different focus every year. This year, the theme is “Sanitation and Nutrition,” particularly emphasizing the importance of toilets, clean water and proper hygiene in supporting nutrition and health.

The theme for 2014 was “Equality and Dignity” and in 2012 it was “I Give a Shit, Do You?” Every year, several communities around the world take part in World Toilet Day, hosting awareness and fundraising events in line with the theme, such as the “Urgent Run” marathon-style event.

World Toilet Day is certainly one of the more provocative commemorative days, and it has been an all-around success in using humor and light-heartedness to reframe how we discuss toilets and sanitation issues that still cause trouble for billions.

As the World Toilet Organization notes, “[Today] is the day to stand up (or sit down or squat if you prefer) to do something about it.”

– Jace White

Sources: The Guardian, Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, UN 1, UN 2, UN 3, UN 4, Voice of America, World Health Organization, World Toilet Organization 1, World Toilet Organization 2
Photo: Wikimedia, Flickr

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New Innovative Cooking Stove Uses 50 Percent Less Fuels

New_Innovative_Cooking_ Stove_Uses_50_Percent_Less_FuelsCooking stove design studio and manufacturer BURN envisions a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable future for Africa with the help of an innovative cooking stove just larger than a soup pot. The Jikokoa, a modern design of East African jikos, reduces many negative impacts of traditional stoves and is 100 percent manufactured in Kenya.

Although significant progress has been made with high tech stove designs, successfully manufacturing, distributing and maintaining an affordable product is a challenge. In partnership with the Paradigm Project, a social enterprise that aims to leverage business for social good, and other investors, BURN developed a scalable business model with the Jikokoa, one of several cooking solutions from the U.S. based design studio.

Chief Product Officer Boston Nyer says, “Our priorities are: Protect the forests and the environment; help people alleviate the burden of poverty; and improve health.” The Jikokoa targets each of these priorities. Requiring less fuel slows deforestation, quicker and more efficient cooking saves time and money and reduced emissions provide a healthier cooking environment.

Kenya and many other countries in Africa traditionally rely on a three-stone fire fueled with wood or charcoal. Since the 1990s, Africa has seen significant deforestation for fuel and charcoal production. Research by the Berkeley Air Monitoring Group confirmed the Jikokoa provides a 50 percent reduction in fuel use and a 37 percent reduction in CO concentrations.

Along with impacts on the greater African region, households using the Jikokoa cooking stove reported both time and monetary savings. Many women managing the fire and cooking spent less time gathering fuel. Household fuel costs also dropped due to the Jikokoa’s efficient use of biomass fuels allowing money to be reinvested into homes and farms.

Smoke inhalation from other cooking methods is a huge concern, especially for women and children. Without a change in household practices, it is estimated that by 2030 more people in Africa will die from smoke inhalation than by malaria and tuberculosis combined.

The $40 Jikokoa is designed to be affordable and durable. BURN also works to provide financing for users in developing areas. Typically, the Jikokoa pays for itself in two and a half months from money saved on fuel.

Other jikos are available at a lower initial cost but require more fuel, increasing the overall expense. Since beginning operations in Kenya in 2013, BURN has sold 100,000 Jikokoa cooking stoves in East Africa. The company aims to locally manufacture and sell 1 million stoves in the next decade.

BURN estimates over the next ten years, Jikokoa cooking stoves will eventually save 123 million trees, reduce carbon emissions and save families more than $1 billion in food costs.

However, the Jikokoa is only the first step. BURN plans to continue designing innovative cooking solutions and producing a line of clean-burning stoves that use a variety of sustainable fuels. Three of these new clean-burning products are scheduled to launch in 2016.

– Cara Kuhlman

Sources: AFK Insider, Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, Burn Design Lab, Inhabitat, The Paradigm Project
Photo: Flickr

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How Climate Change Impacts Poverty

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The topics of global warming and climate change have been discussed in great length in recent times. The effects of both of these trends have an especially significant impact on those living in poverty. Here are some ways climate change impacts poverty by making life more difficult for those already experiencing poor conditions:

Displacement
Climate change causes more extreme weather. For instance, floods or hurricanes can result in damage to homes and land. Displacement is especially an issue in developing countries when natural disasters strike because victims may flee to safer areas, but are unable to return to their homes.

According to the Brookings Institute, since 2008, an average of 26.4 million people have been displaced by natural disasters every year. Relocating impoverished communities means that efforts to end poverty slow down and become more complicated, especially in developing countries.

Hunger
Many impoverished communities live in rural areas where agriculture is their source of sustenance. Climate change can cause droughts, famines and loss of livestock, which causes food and water to become scarce.

A survey of households in India’s Andhra found that in a 25-year span, 12 percent of households became more impoverished, and 44 percent of them cited the weather as the cause.

The poor rural farmers who produce the bare minimum needed to feed their families have few resources as it is. Climate change will lead to more undernourished households.

Sanitation and Water Supply
Climate change jeopardizes the availability of clean drinking water. For example, severe flooding causes damage to drinking water infrastructures, which often take weeks to repair. Climate change also creates an environment where diseases are easily spread. In 2007, floods in Bangladesh resulted in the widespread contamination of tubewells.

More countries are enforcing climate policies in order to slow down global warming. These strategies include policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, carbon pricing to reduce emission and phasing out fossil fuel emissions.

Dr. Margaret Chan, the World Health Organization Director-General stated: “The evidence is overwhelming: climate change endangers human health. Solutions exist and we need to act decisively to change this trajectory.”

– Marie Helene Ngom

Sources: World Bank, Brookings, WHO
Photo: Pixabay

Poverty-Fighting Gifts to Consider for the Holidays

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As Americans prepare for another season of holiday gift-giving, it is important to consider where and how items are produced. Questions about fair trade products, ethical sourcing and supply chains are not always on the average consumer’s mind—but they should be.

For items produced both domestically and overseas, were they produced using sustainable practices? Did the employees working at all levels of the company receive fair pay? Is the company’s supply chain transparent and ethical?

These considerations can have consequences for many working people around the world. Companies selling products on American shelves can have traces of child labor, conflict minerals, forced labor and human trafficking.

The employees at these companies might make a wage that keeps them from extreme poverty yet binds them to a working poor, in-work poverty status.

To make gift-giving easier this holiday season, here is a list of poverty-fighting gifts and ethical companies that utilize sustainable practices, are fair trade and pay workers fair wages, thus keeping them from in-work poverty.

Chocolate
Chocolate companies receiving cacao beans from West Africa often have supply chains tainted by child labor, forced labor and human trafficking. Organic, fair trade chocolate is ethically sourced.

According to the Slave Free Chocolate organization, chocolate produced by companies such as Taza, Green and Black’s, Newman’s Own, Honest Artisan and Aldi are produced without child labor and meet the guidelines for fair trade. The full list can be found on the Slave Free Chocolate website. poverty-fighting_gifts

Clothing
While many companies pay garment workers in Southeast Asia wages that leave them in working poverty, The Good Trade has compiled a list of companies producing clothing and jewelry that are fair trade. Some companies selling in the U.S. include prANA, Eileen Fisher, EleganTees and Patagonia.

Coffee
Fair trade coffee ensures that companies pay the coffee farmers fair wages and use sustainable practices. According to Fair Trade USA, coffee farmers selling fair trade coffee earned, on average, 40 cents more per pound than farmers not selling fair trade coffee.

Some popular fair trade coffee companies include Wild Harvest, Wolfgang Puck Coffee Company and Dunkin Donuts. Coffee sold at grocery stores such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, Weis Markets, The Fresh Market and Aldi are also fair trade certified.

Tea
Tea companies that pay workers a living wage include Celestial Seasonings, Honest Tea, Keurig, Numi, Stash, Traditional Medicinals and The Republic of Tea.

Sports Gear
Sports balls produced by Senda Athletics are free of child labor and provide workers with fair wages and safe working conditions, whereas many other companies produce sports balls using child labor in India. With regards to sports and outdoor apparel, companies such as L.L. Bean, Vaude and REI are considered sustainable.

Products from companies with ethical supply chains
Corporations that have transparent supply chains and engage in sustainable, ethical business practices on an international level are more worthy of one’s holiday shopping dollars than companies that don’t support their workers.

Sedex is an organization whose members meet standards for labor, health and safety, the environment and business ethics. Members include Barbour, Bacardi, Hallmark, Miller Coors, P&G, and Unilever.

Resources such as Slave Free Chocolate, The Good Trade, Fair Trade USA and Rank a Brand can be very helpful in choosing a gift that is sustainable this holiday season. To help support workers all over the world, it’s important to be just as mindful when choosing a gift based on how it is made as when we consider the gift-receiver.

– Priscilla McCelvey

Sources: Fair Trade USA, The Good Trade, Oxfam, Rank a Brand, Slave Free Chocolate
Photo: Flickr1, Flickr2

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Clinic-In-A-Box Helps Bring Healthcare to Africa

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Clinic-in-a-box (CiB) is an innovative solution to providing facilities with long-term health care to impoverished regions of South Africa and beyond. Manufactured in South Africa, it only takes four to six weeks for a CiB to turn up, and as promised, shipping is free.

The inexpensive design adapts the storage capacity of a freight container to fold out and erect a clinic whose size and shape is determined by the consumer’s needs.

The container that holds all of the equipment is recycled from old freight carriers. It is prefabricated before shipping, and by the time it reaches its destination it will only take four days until the completed product emerges, equipped with a unique selection of technology aimed at providing exactly what the region requires.

The reason clinic-in-a-box is so ingenious is not only because of its mobility but also due to its application to the health system in rural parts of Africa.

They will help to bring sustainable healthcare to those who lack the means to do so, seeing as the upkeep of the clinic can be met by a small community. So once a clinic has been established, it relies on the people to properly maintain it.

The price of visiting one of these clinics is $10-$15 (R77-R96) which is still not cheap enough for most impoverished Africans. However, the cost is significantly lower than state health care, which only covers about 20 percent in South Africa, the home of CiBs.

This inequality of health provisions brings about the issues of affordable and accessible health care that South Africa faces today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGHnr4DMwU8

In South Africa alone there is only one doctor per 4,000 people; this is because nearly 73 percent of the 165,000 qualified health practitioners work in the private sector, which is rather expensive for the 80 percent of people who live in areas where affordable healthcare is hard to come by.

By distributing more health centers in these containers, healthcare will quickly become easily obtainable and the price will become much more fixed.

In comparison to the $3,179 (R45,000) one pays to give birth in a South African hospital, a similar procedure curated in a clinic-in-a-box costs significantly less. This is because the price of building a hospital ($1.05 billion or R 1.5 billion) dwarfs the price of constructing a small clinic ($53,512 or R 757,443) capable of serving a wide variety of ailments–not to mention it only takes a few days to build the clinic and months to place a hospital.

The Clinic-in-a-Box holds promise for the thousands in rural parts of South Africa that healthcare will one day be accessible to the majority of people and not just to those who can afford it.

Because of this, it won an award in the SA Innovation Awards of 2015. The standard model starts at $50,000, but more selections are available and offer different options. However, all come with running water, air conditioning and a toilet—great luxuries for comfort-ability in areas that struggle day-to-day.

– Emilio Rivera

Sources: South Africa, Bus-Ex, SA Private Hospitals, PFSCM 1, PFSCM 2
Photo: Flickr

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ShareTheMeal App Uses Technology to Fight Global Hunger

ShareTheMealThere are 795 million undernourished people in the world today. That’s one in nine people who are not getting enough food to lead a healthy life.

Those numbers make hunger and malnutrition the number one risk to health worldwide. That makes malnutrition a greater threat than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

Enter the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger today. Each year, the WFP reaches 80 million people with food assistance in around 80 countries.

As an initiative that relies completely on voluntary donations, two managers at WFP, Sebastian Stricker and Bernhard Kowatsh, have created a way to make donating even easier by using technology to fight global hunger.

In fact, thanks to them, donating is right at your fingertips.

That’s because they’ve created an app. It’s called ShareTheMeal.

Currently being hailed as the first of its kind, this free app allows iOS and Android users to fund food rations for as little as $0.50. While a small sum to most in the Western world, in other, poorer parts of the planet, the value can be life-saving. The sum is enough to provide the vital nutrition an individual needs a day.

“The simple act of sharing a meal is how people all over the world come together,” said Ertharin Cousin, the WFP’s executive director, “This digital version of sharing a meal is a tangible way that generation zero hunger can act to end hunger.”

Pilot tests for the app were performed in June 2015 across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Using the technology to fight global hunger, more than 120,000 users provided more than 1.7 million meals for schoolchildren in the southern African country of Lesotho.

The money coming from Thursday’s global launch of ShareTheMeal will initially be used to support 200,000 Syrian refugee children living in the Zaatari camp in Jordan who participate in the WFP’s school meals program.

“By Christmas, we hope to have gathered enough shared meals, to feed these children for one year,” ShareTheMeal’s head of growth Massimiliano Costa says.

Improvements to hunger and living conditions in refugee camps as well as among Syrian communities is widely viewed as crucial to encouraging Syrians not to embark on risky travel to Europe.

If the app does well, the project will expand to other countries and regions. The WFP is already looking at the numbers. With two billion smartphone users worldwide, that statistic outnumbers the hungry children in the world 20 to 1.

The United Nations’ has set the ambitious goal of ending world hunger by 2023. Perhaps ShareTheMeal is the answer.

– Kara Buckley

Sources: ShareTheMeal, Forbes, Reuters, The Guardian                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Photo: Pixabay

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How to Improve Global Health

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Think about how much of an issue health care is here in the United States. Then think about how, although not perfect, the majority of us have access to even basic healthcare and the right to go to a hospital if we need care.

In third world countries, the idea of healthcare and regularly scheduled doctors’ visits is almost non-existent. Even where healthcare does exist, there are not enough healthcare workers compared to the ratio of people. It is time to take action in thinking about the effects of poor healthcare and how to improve global health overall.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), close to 60 countries currently have less than 23 health workers for every 10,000 people. Worse yet, 13 developing countries have less than one hospital per million people, a staggering figure that seems impossible but is a reality in these countries. These ratios are expected to get even worse in 2045 when the world’s population is projected to exceed 9 billion. It is clear that the time to implement initiatives to improve global health is now.

Although it is extremely important that there are an adequate number of healthcare workers and doctors in relation to the population that they serve, it is critical to advocate behavioral changes. Diseases and conditions such as HIV, obesity and malnutrition can be fought in part by simply taking the time to educate people on the importance of self-awareness, safety and proper sanitation.

Spending is another component of improving global health. Although the number of pandemic outbreaks such as SARS and Ebola has been increasing, the World Bank projects that less than a third of the $3.4 billion needed to maintain a strong (not excellent) pandemic preparedness system has been committed. Also, according to the World Health Organization, donor countries have only spent $3 billion of the $6 billion needed to maintain the health of the public globally.

In order to improve global health, the WHO sums it up best when it says that the main areas of focus are health systems, non-communicable diseases, communicable diseases, corporate services and preparedness. If the emphasis, time, effort and money can be placed on these areas of health, then the world will be well on its way to improving the global health of the public.

– Drusilla Gibbs

Sources: Time, Clinton Foundation, WHO, APA
Photo: Global Health

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MDGs: What They Achieved After 15 Years

MDGsAt the Millennium Summit in 2000, history was made when a record number of world leaders gathered to adopt the U.N. Millennium Declaration, committing nations to cutting extreme poverty in half through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and eradicate poverty through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Through the agreement, the MDGs target different dimensions of poverty including hunger, disease, insufficient shelter, gender inequality, global education and environmental sustainability.

With an expiration date of December 2015, the achievements made through the MDGs provide evidence that poverty can be eliminated worldwide by 2030.

MDG 1: Cut Extreme Hunger and Poverty in Half

Since 1990, the amount of people living on less than $1.25 per day decreased from 1.9 billion to 836 million in 2015. While extreme poverty was cut in half, extreme hunger narrowly missed the mark, dropping from 23.3 percent to 12.9 percent.

MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Primary School Enrollment has seen a slight rise, increasing from 83 percent in 2000 to 91 percent in 2015.

MDG 3: Eliminate Gender Disparity in Education and Empower Women

Since 1990, approximately two-thirds of developing countries have achieved gender unity. In Southern Asia, the primary school enrollment ratio favors girls over boys in 2015.

MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality by Two-Thirds

The child mortality rate decreased from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6 million in 2015. In addition, the measles vaccine compared to 2000 covered almost 10 percent more children worldwide.

MDG 5: Reduce the Maternal Morality Rate by 75 Percent

Compared to 1990, the maternal mortality rate has been cut in half, narrowly missing the 75 percent benchmark.

MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

Since 2000, the number of new HIV infections decreased by 40 percent, dropping from 3.5 million to 2.1 million in 2013.

MDG 7: Increase Environmental Sustainability

In 2010, the goal to increase access to clean water was achieved five years early. Since 1990, 2.6 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water.

MDG 8: Develop an Open Partnership for Development

Overseas development assistance from developed nations to developing countries increased 66 percent. With the expansion of technology, Internet infiltration increased significantly from 6 percent in 2000 to 43 percent in 2015.

– Alexandra Korman

Sources: The Guardian
Photo: NaijaLog

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LifeStraw Purifiers: Kenyan Schoolchildren with Drinking Water

LifeStraw Purifiers Provide Schoolchildren with Clean Drinking WaterIn Eastern Africa, 70 percent of hospital visits are related to contaminated water. This is due to a lack of clean water sources. The majority of people in developing countries depend on water sources like rivers to drink and bathe, but serious illnesses like typhoid fever, dysentery and guinea worm disease are common diagnoses for those who consume dirty water. In fact, diarrhea is the third leading cause of death in Kenya.

Vestergaard, a Swiss global health company, created a water filtration system called LifeStraw to put an end to these water-related infections. LifeStraw is a lightweight, portable filter that uses hollow fiber technology to filter up to 1,000 liters of water. The filter is also chemical-free and does not require any electrical power — instead, it depends on the suction generated by its user.

Water enters the plastic container and flows through narrow fibers under high pressure. These fibers then trap bacteria and other toxins that are flushed out of the water via backwashing. The clean water travels through pores in the walls of these fibers.

With LifeStraw, households in these regions will no longer have to boil contaminated water to make it drinkable. As a result, there will likely be a reduction in indoor pollution and house fires. People will also burn less firewood, which helps lessen deforestation. According to Vestergaard, the use of LifeStraw reduces carbon emissions by nearly three tons per year, per filter.

Of note, luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) invested in LifeStraw in 2013 in support of sustainability. In partnership with the carbon-offset company ClimateCare, the LifeStraw Carbon for Water project was born. This partnership has provided 1,900,000 people in western Kenya with LifeStraw filters.

Within the next few years, this investment will also provide 300,000 Kenyan schoolchildren access to safe water and filtration training programs. Once LifeStraw filters are installed at a school in Kenya, a JLR team will monitor its use once every term for five years. Teachers and students will also complete training to learn about the significance of clean water.

In 2014, the Follow the Liters campaign was created by 80 LifeStraw volunteers to provide schoolchildren with safe water. If a person purchases one LifeStraw water filter, the company will provide a child from the developing world with clean drinking water for an entire year.
Last year, 158,000 African students were provided with a LifeStraw filter and 300 more schools in western Kenya also received filters.

– Kelsey Lay

Sources: Business Fights Poverty, Jaguar Land Rover, LifeStraw, The Examiner
Photo: Flickr