Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Providing Diagnostics to All

diagnostics
While medication treats an ailment, it is the rapid diagnosis of the ailment that is critical to saving many lives. With the rising rate of antibiotic-resistant infections, the need to diagnose quickly and correctly to facilitate accurate choice of medication has grown exponentially. The rapid diagnosis issue is compounded in resource-poor settings that are mired with lack of easy access to affordable healthcare and infrastructure.

Consider the example of tuberculosis (TB), a deadly infectious disease that can take up to six months or more to treat completely. In 2013, there were more than nine million new cases of TB. Most of these occurred in Africa and Asia. The standard-of-care diagnostic, a sputum smear, is slow and can take multiple health visits, which many people can ill afford. Additionally, the sensitivity of the test is variable and is worse when the patient is HIV positive, which almost 13 percent of TB patients are.

Now multiple-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) infections, where most of the available antibiotics are no longer effective, are a huge concern. MDR-TB develops because of the incorrect use of antibiotics. The more rapidly TB is diagnosed and the more often correct treatment is prescribed, the less the incidence of MDR-TB and the less the chance of it spreading. As the ceiling of new antibiotic development is being pushed, drug-resistant infections urgently need to be controlled.

Rapid and accurate diagnosis is a necessity not just for TB but for everything ranging from malaria to diabetes. Both academics and the industry are hard at work to develop techniques that can provide results in a matter of hours. Some, especially those related to telemedicine like new iPhone blood glucose testing, can do this from the convenience of one’s home. However, the real conundrum has been how to make this cheap to manufacture, affordable to buy for resource-poor populations who need it and easy to use when there is no infrastructure in place.

Diagnostics For All is a nonprofit organization that aims to produce technology particularly for the 60 percent of the developing world that lack easy access to healthcare. Its projects range from a simple, easy-to-use liver function test to monitor the efficacy of HIV anti-retroviral therapy, to detecting micronutrient levels in children so that appropriate nutritional supplements can be provided. Its systems are based on a patterned paper technology developed at Harvard University. Since the paper takes up the test sample easily and micro channels made on the paper allow the sample to flow into tiny wells of chemical indicators, there is no need for any external power. The indicator changes color based on a component in the sample, allowing an easy read out. The patterned paper can be manufactured cheaply on large scale. Diagnostics For All supports its work with philanthropic grants and partnerships with the for-profit sector.

Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) is another international nonprofit organization that builds partnerships with enterprises and assists in developing novel diagnostic techniques through expertise and capacity building. It supports the discovery and scale-up of diagnostic tools bridging the gap between development and delivery, and ensures that these technologies are made available to high-burden countries at preferential pricing. It has developed several techniques among which are an HIV viral load detection system co-developed with California based, Cepheid and malaria and sleeping sickness diagnosis methods with Massachusetts based, Alere.

There are several other organizations out there, including those making strides in telemedicine, that are working to make diagnosis faster, cheaper and more accurate. As science makes progresses towards developing these new techniques, markets, nonprofit and for-profit business models, and governments all have to play their part in keeping up with strides being made and ensuring that these new methods are realized in practice.

– Mithila Rajagopal

Sources: Alere, NCBI, Sanofi, San Francisco Business Times, WHO 1, WHO 2
Photo: Fashion For A Cause

NIUA Helping Out Hyderabad

The capital city of the state of Andhra Pradesh in India is living with a rather stark problem. Poverty in Hyderabad is becoming a serious problem. Hyderabad has about 540,000 people—around 13 percent of the population—living under the poverty line. The city is characterized by its large number of slums.

The main issues of urban poverty reduction in Hyderabad are slum-based, some solutions would be to:

  • Build low-income settlements of a sizable number
  • Notify slums which are doing well
  • Recognize the homeless population which is not getting counted
  • Inform people about gender issues making women vulnerable
  • Address the community organization that is skewed.

By addressing these problems, Hyderabad can start to see some turn around.

The National Institute of Urban Affairs, or NIUA, has created a special strategy just for the city of Hyderabad. The strategy is called the Urban Poverty Reduction Strategy, or UPRS. With this strategy Hyderabad can start having its problems recognized and diagnosed.

The broad objectives of the UPRS are to develop sub-sectoral strategies aimed at leveraging resources for addressing the needs of the urban poor, to promote participation of the urban poor in the UPRS and to promote pro-poor institutional reforms. Some of the pro-poor policies and programs include initiatives like the Slum Improvement Act and the Strategy Papers for Poverty Alleviation Andhra Pradesh.

These answer a lot of the problems of Hyderabad. Executing all of these functions would allow the city to have a sustainable functionality, which is what is sought after when fighting poverty. The community needs to be able to work for itself and be able to provide the basic needs, and then a little more, in order to grow.

The leveraging of resources that was mentioned above in the broad objectives refers to the actions of the UPRS that would allow the city to break some ground on the movement and then create momentum with these actions. Some of the actions that they believe will provide ample leverage are:

  • Adequate living conditions for the urban poor to provide basic needs so they can perform everyday tasks and earn an income.
  • Adequate economic opportunities for the urban poor for those who are ready to take on a job to ensure sustenance.
  • Improved local governance through partnerships for urban poverty reduction so that regulations for improvement can be enforced.

By bringing out these actions, poverty in Hyderabad can start to dwindle. The UPRS is basically planting a seed and then reinforcing the ways to make sure that seed will grow. If the seed receives the nourishment (all the leverage) it needs and does grow, poverty in Hyderabad may see the end of its days.

– Erik Nelson

Sources: Centre for Good Governance, RUAF, NIUA
Photo: Common Floor

Progress in Nicaragua’s Green Energy Production

Even though it is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, Nicaragua’s green energy production is recreating the country as a regional leader. Nicaragua has quickly gone from being one of the most fossil fuel-dependent countries in the world to one of the least.

Since it has no fossil fuel reserves, Nicaragua used to have to import all of its energy resources. The lack of sufficient facilities to convert fossil fuels into electricity led to frequent and prolonged blackouts. That started to change in 2006, when rising oil prices placed a serious strain on the country’s economy. To combat the energy crisis, the government decided to make use of its natural energy resources.

Nicaragua has windy shores, rivers, waterways and numerous volcanoes which provide it with a wide array of resources to produce wind, hydro and geothermal energy. Since 2006, 1.5 billion dollars have been invested in clean and renewable energy. It now produces nearly 60 percent of its energy from renewable resources but has only tapped five percent of its clean energy potential.

The government is aiming to attract 4 billion dollars more in investment to tap more of its renewable energy resources. It is working on building solar plants to tap its solar energy potential. It is also working hard to make use of its geothermal energy potential, which is currently its biggest source of clean energy, followed closely by wind power.

Nicaragua is thought to have the highest levels of geothermal energy in Central America, being one of the most geologically active regions in the world. The Polaris geothermal plant is one of Nicaragua’s biggest energy projects. It is being built at the foot of an active volcano, and by the time it is finished, it is expected to produce 20 percent of the country’s electricity.

Government officials expect renewable resources to account for 80 percent of Nicaragua’s green energy production within a few years, and they are aiming for 90 percent by 2027. Many expect this target will be reached well before then. Nicaragua also has plans to export clean electricity to neighboring countries.

This could become an important source of revenue, through which clean energy could become a major economic industry for Nicaragua. Clean energy projects create more job opportunities, which is something the country needs. As the world drains its oil reserves, more countries are likely to look to clean energy producers like Nicaragua, which could become one of the world’s top suppliers of energy in the future.

– Matt Lesso

Sources: NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, The World Bank
Photo: Seeking Santosha

Hunger in Kiribati

hunger_in_kiribatiKiribati has made great strides in combating hunger; however, the growing issue of climate change is drastically affecting food sources and slowing the achievement of hunger reduction goals.

In 2014, Kiribati was one of 13 countries recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization for their progress in eradicating hunger. Through developing quality food systems, bolstering rural development and income, increasing production, improving food access and reinforcing social protection, the hunger target of halving the number of hungry people was achieved.

Additionally, social protection programs, along with agricultural intervention and development, have provided hunger relief to villages throughout Kiribati.

According to World Bank, Kiribati imports most of its food; however, high food prices have drastically affected hunger and poverty. In 2011, Kiribati received an emergency grant of 2 million dollars to aid with the existing food crisis. In recent years, similar funding projects have helped combat hunger in Kiribati; nonetheless, the issue of hunger as a result of climate change is fluctuating. Without financial support, the cost of food will continue to increase, leaving thousands of people at risk of food insecurity.

However, Kiribati is expected to face a much larger problem than hunger or poverty—climate change. With a total population of 102,400, Kiribati is still viewed as one of the least developed countries in the world. Eroding shorelines and flooding is causing extensive damage to the everyday lives of the people of Kiribati. Roads, utilities, villages and households as well as food and water supplies are being impacted. There has been and continues to be damaged crops and contaminated fresh water due to excessive salt-water. A consequence of the climate change is that it leads to serious food and water deficits, and thus increasing hunger in Kiribati.

Additionally, the concentration of resources has shifted from developing economic stability in Kiribati to building sea-walls in an attempt to fight the consequences of climate change.

For example, according to the government of Kiribati, an estimated two billion dollars is needed to protect the inhabited islands of Kiribati from the effects of climate change.

Unfortunately, a looming natural adversity threatens food supplies for people living in Kiribati. Contaminated crops, water and resources influence hunger and poverty in Kiribati.

Despite consequences of climate change on hunger and poverty in Kiribati, there is still good news: extensive aid programs are focusing on preserving water and food supplies as well as combating the threat of climate change.

Adaptation programs and rehabilitation projects, including the Rain Water Harvesting Contract—producing reserve fresh water supplies—and global aid of 23 million dollars provided by the European Union are some of the aid being implemented. These government plans and development aids are expected to alleviate hunger and poverty. Furthermore, through the Kiribati Development plan, arrangements are being made to continue enhancing economic growth, securing food and reducing poverty.

Although hunger in Kiribati seems to be fluctuating due to climate change, aid and assistance is being provided from around the world to combat climate change, hunger and poverty in Kiribati.

– Nada Sewidan

Sources: Food and Agriculture Organization, The Hungry Tide, The World Bank
Photo: Live Mint

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World Renew Tackles Global Poverty

From Asia to Uganda, World Renew, formerly known as The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, is addressing the problems facing the most impoverished of communities all over the world. The name-change came in 2012 after the organization felt that that the work being done was growing larger and more significant. “The name better reflects who we are and what we are about as a trusted, established non-profit that is working to help eradicate the root causes of extreme global poverty through the renewal of relationships with God, neighbor, and the environment,” says World Renew’s Canadian director, Ida Mutoigo.

It is estimated that World Renew works with 1.86 million people who live in poverty in 35 different countries. This organization is known for its advocacy and quick responses to disasters like the 2011 earthquake in Japan or the conflict that currently exists in Syria. World Renew is also known for aiding with the systemic problems that affect the world’s poor. By focusing on things like AIDS, agriculture, literacy, health, the environment, sanitation and gender equality, the organization helps communities develop and thrive.

There are also unique programs where one can sponsor a refugee or “Free A Family,” where the charity works with a specific family with the help of a contributor’s donations and periodically gives the contributor updates on the family throughout the year. This program intends to provide a family with “nutritious food, clean water, improved health, and increased income.” Another interesting way World Renew helps is by providing materials for someone to throw his or her own “National Baby Shower,” an event where attendees can learn about child and maternal health.

World Renew also encourages individuals to create a campaign of their own by coming up with a “Passion Project.” In addition, there are 24 individual blogs on the World Renew website where volunteers focus posts updates on a specific country.

World Renew’s dedication to advocacy, disaster relief and community development has made change throughout the world. “Sometimes that change is as small as a baby chick, and sometimes it’s as big as community-wide peace-building and reconciliation between ethnic or religious groups,” says World Renew. Either way, its efforts have impacted the global poverty cause.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: Give.org,  The Rapidian, World Renew

Americas Relief Team

americas relief teamHurricane season is peculiar season. Some show precaution, warning everyone to evacuate. Storm chasers show appreciation, drooling over the site of swirling super cells that could create awe-invoking spectacles. Some show helplessness; some aren’t awarded the luxury of mobility and are left to their homes to take on a monsoonal fate. Americas Relief Team is there for those who feel helpless when danger is imminent, especially around hurricane season.

ART is a nonprofit organization that focuses on preparing, responding to and assisting those who would be affected by critical events. More specifically, ART focuses on disaster preparedness by conducting disaster prevention programs in urban centers and ports in Latin America. They focus on disaster response and aid by collaborating with partners to stage and deliver humanitarian aid after a crisis occurs, and finally they focus on humanitarian assistance to alleviate human suffering in the Americas.

ART accomplishes its mission of providing humanitarian logistics assistance by creating strategic agreements with key nonprofit and corporate partners—nearly 20 other influential organizations. SeaFreight Agencies is one of many of the companies that ART collaborated with. SeaFreight Agencies, teaming up with ART, provided excellent assistance to the Caribbean, especially Haiti, during the 2008 Hurricane season.

Backed by a good history, ART has been aiding the Americas for over a decade now. In 2004, ART responded to Tropical Storm Jeanne, which wreaked havoc on the Caribbean. The next year, they delivered millions of pounds of humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean region as a response to Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan.

In 2010, 36 NGOs, along with ART, joined to create the largest long-term, single-country reconstruction project in Haiti as a response to the major earthquake that took place. Nearly 20 million pounds of humanitarian assistance was provided.

One of ART’s most recent developments is the Port Resiliency Project. PReP, started in 2013, will prepare airports and seaports in the Caribbean and Latin America to be more resilient in the face of natural disasters by applying the best practices learned from Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti.

Hurricanes and natural disasters can extract many emotions from the human mind; depending on what type of person you are, you will do something different about it. Americas Relief Team prepares, responds and assists. Along with a conglomeration of teammates, ART aims to help alleviate the suffering found in the Americas.

– Erik Nelson

Sources: Americas Relief Team, Global Hand, SeaFreight Agencies
Photo: Family Now

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Students Aim to End Global Poverty for Hult Prize

hult prizeWhat would you do if you were awarded one million dollars? Winners of the Hult Prize use the money to help alleviate global poverty. College students compete for the prize by coming up with innovative ways to solve the world’s biggest problems. A student at Hult International Business School, Ahmad Ashkar, came up with the idea to have teams of students from around the globe attempt to come up with a solution for particular issues. For 2015, the issue is “early childhood education.”

Hult International Business School, having partnered with former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative, held the first competition in 2010. The competition starts on a local/regional level with competitions being held in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai. Winners then go on to a six-week program packed with seminars on innovation and entrepreneurship called “The Hult Prize Accelerator.” Afterward, six teams go on to the Global Finals, where one team with an impactful idea is decided on as the best. The winning team then gets the opportunity to put their plans into action.

Last year, the issue to focus on was “non-communicable diseases in urban slums” such as diabetes or heart disease. A team of students from the Indian School of Business were declared the winners for their business concept “NanoHealth,” where a group of doctors receive a “Dox-in-Box,” a diagnostic tool that will help identify those at risk of disease. The goal is for NanoHealth to help up to 25 million people currently living in slums. Other finalists came from the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, HEC Paris, ESADE Business School and York University, and many of them are known to continue going forward with implanting their idea despite not winning.

The Hult Prize has been referred to as the “Nobel prize for students” by Muhammad Yunus, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

“If you can create a real business, the beginning of a prototype, you can change the world,” he said.

This year’s winner will be decided on at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in the fall.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: Huffington Post, Hult Prize, New York Times
Photo: NPR

Index Insurance Reaps Benefits for Female Farmers

index insuranceThe concept of crop insurance is a well-established practice in developed countries: in anticipation of natural disasters or other impediments to good crop yields, farmers purchase insurance to cover the cost of lost revenue.

Yet traditional agriculture insurance is either unavailable or overly expensive in many developing countries, leaving small-scale farmers, particularly women, vulnerable to natural disasters.

Nevertheless, recent expansions of index insurance programs, in particular the Global Index Insurance Facility, are enabling small-scale women farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean to adequately ensure their crops at affordable prices.

Unlike traditional insurance, index insurance “pays out benefits on the basis of a predetermined index for loss of assets and investments … without requiring the services of insurance claims assessors,” the World Bank reports.

More specifically, “a statistical index is developed before the start of the insurance period to measure deviations from normal for such parameters as rainfall, temperature, seismic activity, wind speed, crop yield or livestock mortality rates.”

Since 2009, GIIF, a program managed by the World Bank Group, has been leading and supporting index-insurance programs across the developing world. In collaboration with partners like MicroEnsure and Kilimo Salama (now ACRE), GIIF often aggregates farmers into groups and enrolls them into insurance programs—an approach both commercially feasible for insurers and empowering for women farmers.

Recent statistics indicate that women farmers in the developing world are at particular risk for agricultural instability. A recent study by the World Bank Group and the ONE Campaign found that although roughly half of the farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa are women, women farmers in Africa produce between 13 and 25 percent less than their male counterparts.

The World Bank Group and the ONE Campaign attributed this difference largely to women farmers’ lack of access to credit and other financial tools.

According to estimates by the Food and Agricultural Organization, if women farmers worldwide had the same access to resources as their male counterparts, “their yields could increase by as much as 30 percent, resulting in 150 million fewer people going hungry.”

GIIF’s index insurance programs are already reaping benefits in many developing countries. In Kenya, a payout initiated by the GIIF program during a drought kept thousands of women farmers in business, allowing them to purchase seeds and fertilizer for the next growing season.

In Haiti, a GIIF partner is offering weather index insurance to 70,000 clients, mostly women farmers who provide essential goods and services to communities.

The World Bank reports that overall, these index insurance programs have helped close the gender gap for farmers in the developing world—a critical step in fighting hunger, tackling malnutrition, and boosting global food security.

– Katrina Beedy

Sources: World Bank 1,  World Bank 2
Photo: Siani

Improving Indonesia’s Infrastructure

indonesia's infrastructurePresident of Indonesia Joko Widodo, who was elected last year, is making Indonesia‘s infrastructure a priority. He is putting the equivalent of $22 billion U.S. toward improving the country’s infrastructure. This number is 53 percent larger than last year. President Widodo is also dedicating an additional $3 billion to state firms and companies that are involved with infrastructure improvement.

Improving Indonesia’s infrastructure could have long-term benefits that could help people affected by poverty. According to the Copenhagen Consensus Center, anywhere between 10 to 50 percent of crops are wasted while traveling from the farm to consumers. If there was a way to make this number smaller by a mere 10 percent, prices could be reduced; if prices are reduced, 60 million fewer people would go hungry.

President Widodo plans to invest in infrastructure by scrapping subsidies on fuel and providing subsidies for farmers to use on fertilizer and seeds. He also wants to improve irrigation systems for farmers, improve roads and land and provide more forms of communication. In the long run, this can improve overall food distribution.

This tactic has been proven effective in the past.

“Indonesia experienced rapid agricultural growth in the 1970s and 1980s together with reductions in malnutrition and poverty,” Mark W. Rosegrant, director of the Environment and Production Technology Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute, said.

Rosegrant was also involved in the Copenhagen Consensus Center study. “This growth and improvements in food security were significantly driven by increasing investments in rural infrastructure and in agricultural research and development,” he said.

Rosegrant and others behind the Copenhagen Consensus study are suggesting that there are even better ways for President Widodo to reach his goal. The study concluded that it would also be beneficial for President Widodo to invest in agricultural research along with infrastructure. Even if only $6 billion is devoted toward researching how to increase crop yields, the result could be 79 million fewer hungry people around the globe.

President Widodo is hopeful that improving power plants and rural roads will help the people of Indonesia and around-the-world significantly. This is excellent news, and perhaps President Widodo will look into the benefits of agricultural research and save even more lives.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: The Australian Business Review, The Wall Street Journal
Photo: MTCP2

Ghana Climate Innovation Center Sponsors Clean Tech

In early March, twenty Ghanaian start-up companies completed the first national boot camp designed to promote “local entrepreneurship and innovation in clean technologies.” The boot camp, sponsored by the new Ghana Climate Innovation Center, aimed to highlight Ghanaian entrepreneurs who have been active in developing locally feasible solutions to global climate change.

If current climate trends persist, experts predict dire consequences for Ghana’s economy, people and overall development. According to the World Bank’s report, “Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change” and Ghana’s National Climate Change Policy Framework, crop yields “are predicted to decline by 7% by 2050 due to higher temperatures.”

Meanwhile, the reports predict that sea levels are expected to rise over one meter over the course of the 21st century, “causing the erosion of 1,120 square kilometers of land.”

The boot camp followed a rigorous nation-wide application process overseen by the World Bank and its global grant program Information for Development, the sponsors of the Ghana Climate Innovation Center. According to the World Bank, only the companies with the “highest level of innovation, technical expertise, and potential for commercial success” were invited to the boot camp.

The boot camp participants are pioneers in some of Ghana’s most prosperous green technology sectors, including biofuels, solar energy and waste and water management.

The boot camp represents the first project for the Ghana Climate Innovation Center, a newly implemented institute that draws support from the World Bank, InfoDev, and the Danish International Development Cooperation Agency.

In the future, the GCIC hopes to “assist more than 20,000 households to increase resiliency to climate change through improved access to potable water, availability of clean energy, and more sustainable agriculture techniques.”

– Katrina Beedy

Sources: InfoDev 1, InfoDev 2, World Bank
Photo: Green Ghanaian