Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Nasal Spray May Save Snakebite Victims

Researchers are working on a new nasal spray that could save thousands of people from severe snakebites in India. The nasal spray is the first attempt of its kind to save victims from one of the most unrecognized killers in the world.

Snakebites kill up to 84,000 people worldwide every year. They are most prevalent in South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. However, India has the highest number of venomous bites and deaths, with more than 75 percent of snakebite victims dying before they can reach a hospital.

Currently, the most popular treatment for snakebites is an injection of antivenom, but this method has proved to be unreliable. Antivenom can vary in effectiveness depending on the snake species, the snake’s diet, geographical location and the time of year.

The nasal spray is an attempt to standardize treatment for snakebites. If administered soon after the attack, the spray — which is extremely cheap compared to antivenom — could prevent paralysis that is caused by the bite. It is easy to use and can be self-administered, unlike the injection of antivenom.

The two researchers leading the development have high hopes for the nasal spray. Matthew Lewin from the California Academy of Sciences and Stephen Samuel from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland have worked tirelessly to test the spray on mice. The mice were injected with fatal doses of Indian cobra venom, and then some were treated with the spray while others were not. The study proved that mice given the spray outlived the control group. In many cases, they survived.

“It would be one ingredient primarily directed against rapid onset paralysis — one of the causes of fast death following snakebite,” Lewin explained. “It is inexpensive and available everywhere in the world.”

In general, snakebites are often an ignored health problem around the world. The numbers, however, indicate that some research should be going toward developing a treatment. If the nasal spray proves to be an effective treatment, then people around the world will have a much higher chance of surviving these attacks.

– Hannah Cleveland

Sources: The Guardian, Science Development
Photo: The Guardian

The Philippines’ Electric Transport Revolution

New modes of electric transport are being implemented in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. These new vehicles will cut down the length of citizens’ commutes, save the city from losing money and — most importantly — drastically reduce the air pollution that currently encompasses the city.

On workdays in a city like Manila, the population rises from 12 million to 15 million people. The majority of these people drive their own vehicles into the city, creating immense amounts of traffic. And what should be a 30-minute commute can take up to three hours.

Currently, the most popular mode of public transportation in this major city is the Jeepney, a large diesel-powered vehicle that contributes significantly to air and noise pollution. A new innovation, called the eJeepney, will instead run on electricity, reducing annual carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.

The eJeepney can travel up to 100 kilometers a day, going up to 60 kilometers per hour, and will only require a four-hour electric charge. The Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA) has calculated that with the current diesel Jeepneys, greenhouse gas emissions would increase to 5.72 million tons a year by 2030, compared with 4.7 million tons in 2012. eJeepneys will prevent this problem from getting worse.

Sigfrido Tinga, president of Global Electric Transportation, says, “Eighty-five percent of this Metro Manila pollution is vehicular… Just taking out the major part that’s causing that pollution, which is the jeep, is going to be amazing.”

The eJeepney is just the beginning of a revolution in the Philippines. Other modes of transportation are being evaluated to discover ways to reduce pollution in all areas, including reopening the use of a ferry system.

Executive Director of Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities Renato Constantino said, “We don’t see it, we inhale it. We definitely feel the effects of it in terms of local air pollution, pollution on the streets, and we also contribute in a big way to global climate change. Carbon dioxide is one of the leading causes of warming temperatures worldwide.”

By introducing these new vehicles, the electric transport revolution in the Philippines could change the way countries around the world provide public transportation.

– Hannah Cleveland

Sources: Channel News Asia, The Guardian
Photo: The Guardian

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Mexican Auto Industry Speeds Past Brazil

Brazil’s rule as Latin America’s auto king is coming to an end as Mexico positions itself for a dramatic increase in factory output over the next 10 years. Brazil has enjoyed its decade at the top of the auto industry in Latin America but is currently experiencing a slump in domestic consumer demand. A simultaneous boom in U.S. demand — the primary export market for the Mexican auto industry — has paved the way for Mexico to speed past Brazil in auto production.

Brazilian-made cars are typically not shipped abroad due to high labor costs and taxes, meaning that the South American giant’s auto market is driven mostly by domestic buyers. Output in Brazilian auto factories has fallen 17 percent this year already, and light-vehicle exports have fallen 52 percent since June 2013. Brazil‘s exports to its top trading partner Argentina plummeted nearly 30 percent in May, according to Anfavea, Brazil’s automaker association. Additionally, a weakened economy and tight credit are dissuading Brazilians from purchasing new vehicles.

On the other hand, Mexico’s promising growth in the auto sector is due in large part to its proximity to the United States. New and prospective plants in Mexico are predicted to add 1.5 million units of vehicle capacity through 2019, increasing vehicle production from nearly 3 million units in 2013 to almost 4.5 million units by 2019. Much of this 50 percent increase will be oriented toward U.S. consumers.

Auto companies Nissan, Mazda, Toyota, Honda, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti and BMW are all expanding into Mexico, drawn by cheap labor and available capacity for compact and subcompact car production. European companies are particularly lured by free trade agreements with Mexico that create favorable climates for export to Europe.

The real drive behind the Mexican boost in auto production, however, comes from across the northern border. Car makers in Mexico earn 20 cents for every dollar made by U.S. laborers.

Joe Langley, the chief analyst for North America vehicle production forecasting at IHS Automotive observes, “Because these new models are lower-priced vehicles, the factories need to be in a market where labor is inexpensive, which Mexico’s certainly is. But they still need to be very close to the main market, which is the United States.”

The surge in auto production in Mexico, fueled by U.S. demand for cheap labor and small cars, involves significant foreign investment and has the potential to boost Mexico’s economy tremendously. However, Mexican factories, known as maquiladoras, have a reputation for dropping the ball on worker’s rights. The debate continues on whether more jobs with meager pay, harsh hours and poor working conditions are better than no jobs.

– Kayla Strickland

Sources: BusinessWeek 1, BusinessWeek 2, Automotive News
Photo: The Detroit Bureau

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Alpha Kappa Alpha Fights Global Hunger

Carrying on a legacy that extends over a century, Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) joined forces with Stop Hunger Now on July 12 to do their part in the fight against global hunger. Gathering at the Charlotte Convention Center in North Carolina, over 2,000 volunteers gave their day to put together packages of food to be sent to West Africa.

AKA is the oldest sorority in the nation, comprised mainly of African American women, and was established at a time when the workforce was male dominated and segregation was the norm. The sorority served as a network of support for women at the time and has gone on to make a difference in civil rights movements and philanthropic efforts since it was established in 1908.

Carolyn House Stewart, the international president for the sorority, remarked on the generosity and strength of these women, explaining, “All of them helped change the landscape. All helped humanity.”

The sorority stands by the theme “Global Leadership Through Timeless Service,” and the event on Saturday was the epitome of these words, as the women worked tirelessly to make a difference.

Over the course the day, the women worked in one-hour shifts in teams of six to package 100,000 meals that will be sent to West Africa. The packages contain “highly nutritious dehydrated meals comprised of rice, soy, vegetables, flavoring and 21 essential vitamins and minerals.” At the end of the day, the volunteers had handled 7.5 tons of food, food that will go on to help thousands of starving people.

The sorority was joined by Stop Hunger Now, an organization that has been helping the world for 15 years now. Since its establishment, Stop Hunger Now has distributed 140,000,000 meals and other aid to 65 countries around the world. It has been very successful as an organization, working hard to mobilize necessary resources to assist those most desperate for help.

Rod Brooks, the president and CEO of Stop Hunger Now, explained the logic behind the organization, saying, “Hunger is solvable and is the common thread among the world’s most challenging issues. When hunger is targeted, you give leverage and hope to every other cause including poverty, disease, education and the welfare of women and children.”

Both organizations came together to honor Nelson Mandela for this event, and he will be internationally celebrated on July 18. Based on the success of their community service efforts, AKA and Stop Hunger Now suitably paid homage to Mandela’s memory.

Worldwide, almost 870 million people lack access to the food and other resources they need to survive on a daily basis, and every day, 25,000 people die as a result. These conditions are fueled by extreme poverty and are also difficult to overcome while poverty still exists. Organizations like Alpha Kappa Alpha and Stop Hunger Now are able to bring some relief to this vicious cycle. They have recognized a need for international support for those suffering around the world, and for the time being, their efforts will help keep thousands of people alive in West Africa.

– Magdalen Wagner

Sources: Q City Metro, Lake Wylie Pilot, News West 9
Photo: Q City Metro

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India’s Universal Immunization Program

The Universal Immunization Program incorporated four new vaccines against polio, rubella, rotavirus and Japanese encephalitis into their program on July 3. By including vaccines against these four widespread diseases, the UIP hopes to reduce the high child mortality rate found in India.

With the addition of these four vaccines, a total of 13 vaccines will now be available in India for approximately 2.7 million children every year free of charge. According to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, “The government will now ensure the benefits of vaccination reach all sections of society, regardless of social and economic status.”

Not only do these four vaccines made available through the UIP represent a noteworthy achievement in public health, but it also shows the important role programs like this play in developing countries. According to a World Bank report on poverty, approximately one-third of the world’s poor currently lives in India, and the lack of proper medications contributes to this extreme poverty rate.

Polio, rubella and rotavirus are all three well-known diseases that greatly contribute to the high child mortality rate across the world, especially in countries like India where vaccines are extremely difficult to access. According to UNICEF, India is celebrating a three-year victory over polio since no cases of polio have been reported since Jan. 13, 2011. This achievement is particularly remarkable because until 2009, India was reporting more than half of the world’s polio cases. Although India has been able to achieve this landmark success, this injectable polio vaccine provided by the UIP will continuously provide protection against this virus.

Even though rubella, which is also called German measles or 3-day measles, is generally a mild viral infection, it can have serious health consequences when a pregnant woman is infected with the virus. Congenital rubella syndrome, or CRS, can cause congenital defects, such as deafness or blindness, and even fetal death, which is why the UIP focuses on delivering those vaccines to those in need to prevent further infections.

One of the most common effects of rotavirus is diarrhea, which causes approximately 334,000 out of the 2.3 million child deaths in India every year according to the World Health Organization. Especially when compared to other diseases, rotavirus typically affects more children than adults because water makes up a greater proportion of a child’s body weight.

The UIP’s fourth new vaccine against Japanese encephalitis will be introduced to adults in a total of 179 districts in nine states where this disease has been prevalent in India. Even though the severity of symptoms widely varies and there is no specific treatment for Japanese encephalitis, vaccinations are key in preventing the spread of this infection.

The U.N.’s fourth Millennium Development Goal is to reduce the under-5 child mortality rate by two-thirds. As the deadline for this and the other seven goals quickly approaches,  programs like UIP show the amazing progress that is possible among developing countries through widespread access to vaccinations.

– Meghan Orner

Sources: The New Indian Express, WHO 1, WHO 2, CDC, Silicon India News, UNICEF
Photo: The Hindu

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Nyaope in South Africa

nyaope
In 2010 the drug nyaope, also known as whoonga, first became widely popular and available across impoverished areas of South Africa. Ever since, these communities have seen dramatic increases in drug abuse and crime rates. Nyaope’s highly addictive nature has devastated these communities and has effectively prolonged their escapes from poverty.

The drug is cheap — it costs only 30 rand, or about $3, for a hit. The drug contains a dangerous cocktail of chemicals, purportedly including marijuana, heroin, rat poison and antiretrovirals, drugs used to treat HIV.

Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa, ominously calls users of the drug “slaves,” and blames the drug for increased crime and domestic violence in the area. Of the numerous case studies illustrating the pernicious effects of nyaope, one poignant study tracks a 17-year old South African named Sipho.

One year after beginning to smoke nyaope, a habit influenced by his friends, Sipho had dropped out of school and begun to act violently in hopes of perpetuating his access to the drug. To finance the addiction he would steal from his already poor neighbors. Sipho is now being treated at Horizon Clinic, one of the many rehabilitation centers working to stifle drug abuse and its effects.

Instead of stealing the funds to finance their drug use, many addicts cut out the middlemen and steal the ingredients. But because nyaope is an assortment of ingredients, many of which are controversial, the actual contents are often disputed. For example, many believe that antiretrovirals are not used at all, or if they are, they have no more than a placebo effect.

According to HarmonyGroup, an online addictions clinic, “Smoking or injecting crushed antiretrovirals won’t make you high. The reputation of the drug could therefore be nothing more than a myth based on distortion by the media and the incorrect data supplied by users who don’t know any better.”

Thus, the risks these addicts are taking to find these supposed ingredients, may in fact be complete wastes of time with potentially colossal consequences.

The crime caused by this drug is prolonging and deepening poverty in South Africa — it raises generations of thieves and addicts while leaving reconstruction to others, often outsiders. If the grasp of poverty is to be weakened, South Africans must first divert their own attention to the widespread, recreational and pernicious drug abuse.

– Adam Kaminski 

Sources: Global Post, Harmony Group
Photo: The Public News Hub

Gemalto and mHealth Initiative

Gemalto and mHealth
Gemalto, the world’s leader in digital security, has pledged its support to the GSMA pan-African mHealth Initiative (PAMI). PAMI is a network of mobile and health industries. Gemalto and mHealth will improve nutrition and maternal and child health throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Gemalto is providing its expertise for two mHealth programs that are part of PAMI, the United Nations Every Women Every Child Global Strategy and the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact.

Gemalto will educate its users in a compelling manner through the use of its advanced SmartMessage interactive messaging platform. The technology’s objective is to break down barriers that often hinder relationships between patients and health providers, in order to deliver important health information through cellular phones.

PAMI is a part of GSMA’s “Mobile for Development mHealth” program that utilizes a wide range of communication tools to provide support for a variety of mHealth services. The project’s aim is to reach over 15 million pregnant women, and mothers with children under 5 years old throughout the African continent.

PAMI will be initiated in seven countries, including the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia, in September 2014. The second phase of the program will begin in early 2015 by expanding to Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.

Additional partnerships involved in the initiative include South African based telecommunications company MTN, Samsung, Omega Diagnostics, Hello Doctor, Lifesaver, Mobenzi and Mobilium.

According to a study conducted by GSMA in 2013, sub-Saharan Africa has the fastest growing, unique mobile subscriber rate in the world. Over the past five years, the region’s subscriber base has increased at an annual rate of 18 percent.

These promising figures have fueled the relationship between GSMA and Gemalto.

Gemalto’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Philippe Vallée, emphasizes the importance of the collaboration, stating “As the world is becoming ever more digital and wireless, we are thrilled to see our solutions being used to support a noble social cause with this initiative. There can surely be no clearer illustration of the potential of mobile solutions to fundamentally change the expectations and outcomes of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.”

– Talia Langman
Sources: ITWeb Africa, Market Watch, IT News Africa, Guardian News
Photo: Apps World

Design for Extreme Affordability

Design for Extreme Affordability, a graduate course offered by Stanford University, aims to give students the tools needed to “design products and services that will change the lives of the world’s poorest citizens.”

Offered by the university’s Institute of Design, 40 students from a variety of different disciplines complete the course each year, producing ten final projects that aim to achieve cheap solutions to serious global problems.

They are taught design and marketing principles, form student teams, collaborate with local partner organizations, travel to their project sites, prototype and test their products and present their final projects product proposals. According to the Stanford course website, emphasis is placed on “design for the developing world, including economic, technological and cultural considerations.”

When the course is completed, many students actually fulfill their proposal and see their idea through to completion. In fact, a considerable number of Design for Extreme Affordability projects have found global success.

For example, Embrace, an international nonprofit maternal and child health organization, was created as a result of the course. The Embrace Warmer, the organization’s central product, is a low-cost innovation to help care for premature infants in developing countries.

Usually, the solution for premature infants is to place them in an incubator until they are able to regulate their own body temperature. However, incubators are expensive and require electricity, training to use and maintenance. Consequently, mothers in less-developed countries must find different methods to save premature infants from hypothermia. They often resort to using fire, light bulbs or hot water bottles, all of which are dangerous and ineffectual. There was a clear need for an affordable, non-electric and safe method to keep infants warm.

This was the challenged posed to one team of graduate students taking the Design for Extreme Affordability course, and the Embrace Warmer was its result. The price tag is under 1 percent of the cost of a standard incubator, and its wraparound design is durable, portable, safe, hygienic and very effective.

The Embrace team’s idea has blossomed into an international organization that has reached over 50,000 infants across the world and made a real impact.

Stanford’s Design for Extreme Affordability is not just another school project. It is an intensive year where dedicated and motivated students–with support from expert staff–create practical solutions to life-threatening global problems.

With the courses direction, students have been able to consistently create innovative products that are making a difference in the world today. Hopefully the course will continue to inspire the university’s gifted students to direct their talents toward the global community.

– Emily Jablonski 

Sources: Embrace Global, Huffington Post, Stanford
Photo: Stanford Daily

10 Quotes about Life

Presented here are 10 quotes about life and its values:

1. “The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
~Mitch Albom

2. “I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws will be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings … If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
~Henry David Thoreau

3. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
~Aristotle

4. “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”
~Ann Landers

5. “In the end, no thought is unthinkable, no problem unshrinkable, no two strangers unlinkable.”
~Robert Brault

6. “With patience you can even cook a stone.”
~Anonymous

7. “You can close your eyes to things you don’t want to see, but you can’t close your heart to the things you don’t want to feel.”
~Anonymous

8. “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.”
~Anonymous

9. “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations.”
~George Bernard Shaw

10. “The ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As members of this society, we are challenged daily to remember inspirations like these and to value and respect the existence of every human life.

– Ashley Riley

Sources: motivationgrid 1, Quote Garden, Thinkexist, Brainy Quote 1, Brainy Quote 2, iz quotes, Flickr, Brainy Quote 3, Brainy Quote 4
Photo: Quantum Life Skills

The State of World Affairs

Following a methodological review of great transformations in the past 500 years, Professor Nicholas Boyle of Cambridge University advances that we are at the brink of another “great event.” Boyle’s prognosis is the result of establishing a correlation between “great events” that took place in the second decade of each of the last five centuries and our current state of world affairs.

In 1517, it was The Reformation of churches and the rise of Protestantism. 1618 marked the beginning of the 30 years war and decades of religious unrest in Western Europe. In 1715, the Hanoverian and British rule were established. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna took place, and thus began decades of relative peace. In 1914, Wold War I began. Today, the end of one of the worst financial crises to date may mark the beginning of another “great event.”

In light of these events, Boyle claims that “the character of a century becomes very apparent in that second decade,” later adding, “so why should ours be any different?” This argument establishes a strong correlation between chronology and world events. However, is this sufficient enough to make such a drastic claim about world affairs?

According to Gareth Evans, former Foreign Minister of Australia (1988-1996) and President of the International Crisis Group, there is certainly a wide array of events that point to a breakdown in the international system. However, as bad as things seem, they are not bad enough to warrant a doomsday event.

Evans gives several reasons why we should not lose our sleep over the state of current world affairs. First, we are not really at the brink of another world war. While countries like the U.S., China and Russia are periodically competing and sometimes refuse to cooperate, they are widely integrated and dependent on each other for progress. In regard to each country’s desire for influence, Evans adds, “they want greater influence in international institutions, not to overturn them.”

Second, the decline of U.S. influence is not a matter for concern. In the big picture, great imperial powers are bound to slow down at some point, especially when there are other powerful and developed countries. This brings forth a third reason: the struggle for influence does not have to take a military form. While exercising dominance will continue to be something countries compete for, the way in which this takes place can be as much a matter of cooperation as of coercion.

It is undeniable that stability in the international system is a moving target. However, alarmism only leads to further pessimism. As a society, we have learned from past mistakes, and we must acknowledge the fact that the international system has become much more effective in solving problems.

– Sahar Abi Hassan

Sources: Project Syndicate, Daily Mail
Photo: Baylor