Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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The High Cost of Treating Hepatitis C

High_Cost_of_Hepatitis_C
The Hepatitis C virus affects an estimated 180 million men, women and children worldwide. Patients in low to moderate income nations benefit from treatment at the same rate as those in developed regions. Yet, the high cost of this treatment prevents many from recovering.

One of the largest biopharmaceutical companies, Gilead Sciences, developed an $84,000 cure in 2013 with one pill priced at a thousand dollars. The total cost for a three-month regimen far exceeds most patients’ price range.

Solvadi, the pill, offers a solution to the pressing danger of this disease in developing countries. Egypt (22%), Pakistan (4.2%) and China (3.2%) rank the highest in disease prevalence, bearing most of the burden today.

How, though, can patients in these nations afford an $84,000 bill?

Gilead answered this question with a promising discount in sixty developing countries. Negotiating with generic drugmakers in India, the company plans to offer the treatment at 2 percent of the cost in the United States.

Rohit Malpani, a policy director at Doctors Without Borders, hopes for a more reasonable price. The company could produce Solvadi at a far lower cost, he contends. Malpani and other advocates estimate Gilead could cut the cost to $68 to $136 for a twelve-week treatment regime.

The company must revaluate how much the drug costs compared to patients’ ability to pay, Malpani asserts.

“If we want to see Hepatitis C treatment scaled up globally, we are going to need much lower prices in all countries with a high burden of the disease,” he remarks in a recent Doctors Without Borders statement.

Gregg Alton of Gilead reports future partnerships with three to five different companies. Gilead, he notes, plans to allow flexibility of price from the Indian companies. Alton also contends the starting point of $2,000 is “substantially less” that current costs in India – for inferior drugs. He promoted Solvadi in The Hindu Business Line, highlighting the drug as “more effective, less toxic…and without side-effects.”

Ideally, Alton remarks, the company signs voluntary licensing deals “in the next couple months” and market availability in two years. Last November, the Initiative for Medicines, Access and Knowledge(I-MAK) filed a legal challenge against its patent application.

I-MAK claims Solvadi relies on “on science” with a “known compound.” Voluntary licensure protects Gilead from patent problems, adds Malpani. These licensing agreements prevent generic companies from overturning patents. Without these agreements, the Indian manufacturers could sell Solvadi at any cost and without paying royalties to the company.

The company also plans to limit the scale of these licensing agreements, allowing generic drugmakers to sell in 60 countries. In contrast, Gilead sells HIV drugs in more than 100.

The pricing and limited access to this drug threatens the health of more than 180 million patients. Brook Baker, an advisor to the Health Global Access Project, sees delinkage as the solution. With this system, governments fund pharmaceutical research and development as a public service.

Today, pharmaceutical companies absorb about 60 percent of the total cost. Treating these drugs as a public good offers the most in need. And though these companies need to profit, Hepatitis C patients around the world also need treatment.

– Ellery Spahr 

Sources: NPR, WHO
Photo: Don’t Trade Our Lives Away

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Congressional Black Caucus Fights Income Inequality

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An event hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus has sparked a national effort to confront inequality around the world. As reported by the Baltimore Afro-American weekly newspaper, also known as the Afro, the National Day of Prayer to End Poverty and Income Inequality on February 6 was intended to bring awareness to high rates of poverty among African-Americans.

“The specter of poverty has long haunted communities of color,” reports the Afro. “Nearly 10 million African-Americans, including four in 10 Black children, live in poverty and almost 12 percent of African Americans are unemployed.”

While the event focused on African-Americans, 25.8% of whose income falls below the poverty level (just behind Native Americans,) it also investigated how global trends in wealth disparity negatively affects already disempowered communities around the world. The World Economic Forum’s “Outlook on the Global Agenda 2014,” published in November 2013, listed expanding income disparities as the second greatest trend facing the world today.

“Widening wealth disparity affects every part of our lives,” states the report. “It’s impacting social stability within countries and threatening security on a global scale [and] it’s essential that we devise innovative solutions to the causes and consequences of a world becoming ever more unequal.”

Oxfam Executive Director Winnie Byanyima underscores the importance of addressing global inequality and emphasized its relationship with reducing poverty.

“We cannot hope to win the fight against poverty without tackling inequality. Widening inequality is creating a vicious circle where wealth and power are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, leaving the rest of us to fight over crumbs from the top table,” she said.

“Without a concerted effort to tackle inequality, the cascade of privilege and of disadvantage will continue down the generations [and] we will soon live in a world where equality of opportunity is just a dream,” she added. “In too many countries, economic growth already amounts to little more than a ‘winner takes all’ windfall for the richest.”

– Emily Bajet

Sources: Census, Afro, World Economic Forum, Daily Mail

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2014 Justice Conference in Los Angeles

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Possibly the most globally conscious conference in the world, the Justice Conference brings together hundreds of equality minded people, humanitarian organizations, peace workers and charities alike.

This year, the speakers gather at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles in February to reach out to tens of thousands of viewers. Entrepreneurs, artists and speakers discuss issues of poverty, education, hunger, government policies and more. Inspiring and moving, viewers can learn about all of the issues facing the world today and how they can help to solve them.

The 2014 Justice Conference covers everything from organizations benefiting refugees of national disaster and war crimes to societies suffering from hunger and disease.

Entrepreneurs are popular at this conference especially now that business is currently being considered as a real solution to ending poverty. Mutually beneficial business practices that supply a market of poor people with a way to increase their income could increase the quality of life of billions of people.

Guests can participate in both the conference and the accompanying film festival taking place at a hotel nearby. Documentaries about those suffering from poverty and oppression are featured as well as films about the people who help them.

The conference is slightly religious and has a base in theological justice. Their values and mission are to promote global justice and bring together like minded organizations to better the societies both in the United States and all over the world. Educating and collaborating with artists, businesses, charities and other foundations to help solve the world’s problems are the main issues discussed at the conference.

Ideas are generated and complex concepts of hunger, health, and equality are discussed in depth.

The Justice Conference Twitter shares tweets, articles and videos from appearing artists and more. Inspiring articles and videos filled with facts about social inequality are common among the Twitter feed. Anyone with a desire to learn about problems facing the world today, including causes and effects as well as potential solutions, should tune into the Justice Conference of 2014.

The next generation can eradicate poverty for good. Knowledge is power, and the more people know and understand about what works and what doesn’t in the fight against suffering and corruption, the more help they can lend and the quicker things can get done.

Talking only does so much, it is the actions of everyone involved that truly matter.

– Kaitlin Sutherby

Sources: The Justice Conference, Facebook, Twitter
Photo: The Justice Foundation

Powerful Women That Have Overcome Poverty

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Women have overcome many obstacles since the beginning of time. Gaining equal rights, balancing career with children and battling insecurities with self-image and self-worth are just a few of the battles that women continue to fight. It is no secret that women are strong and capable of changing not only the path of the world, but their own paths. The stories of these three powerful women that have overcome poverty could belong to any woman.

Oprah Winfrey

Winfrey grew up in the small town of Kosciusko, Mississippi. Her family was extremely poor and Winfrey sometimes had to wear potato sacks because of lack of clothing.

After living in Mississippi with her grandmother, Winfrey was sent to live with her mother in an even more extreme state of poverty. During her time there, she was subjected to child abuse and rape. She also became pregnant. However, her baby boy tragically died due to complications after she gave birth.

Winfrey eventually went to live with her father, where her life improved. She attended college and pursued journalism. Her television career soon took off with a job as an anchor; after this, she hosted her own TV show. Through all of Winfrey’s trials in life, somehow she was able to persevere and overcome poverty. Winfrey is quoted saying, “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change their future merely by changing their attitude.”

J.K. Rowling

The billionaire author of the iconic “Harry Potter” series struggled with finances at one time. Living in a two-bedroom house with her daughter, the newly-divorced Rowling struggled to survive on state assistance.

“…I was jobless, a lone parent and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.”

However, through this time of great struggle, Rowling pushed through and decided she would make her dreams a reality on her own terms. She reflects on this time during a documentary with ITV. “I feel I really became myself here, in that everything was stripped away, I’d made such a mess of things. But that was freeing, so I just thought, well, I want to write, and I wrote the book. And what is the worst thing that can happen? It gets turned down by every publisher in Britain, big deal.”

The determination and fight to never give up led Rowling out of poverty. At a commencement address to Harvard graduates Rowling states, “Poverty entails fear, stress and sometimes depression. It means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty on your own effort that is on which something to pride yourself…”

Sonia Sotomayor

The first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, grew up in the housing projects of South Bronx. She was repeatedly witness to drug deals and gang crimes. Having an emotionally detached mother, Sotomayor learned to entertain herself with books. Despite with her love of stories and knowledge however, she still found herself slightly behind educational standards.

Again, this set back did not stop her determination. She studied and learned around the clock in order to be on top. Needless to say, Sotomayor continued to fight her way out of poverty. She fought hard to overcome obstacles thrown her way due to her poor upbringing.

Sotomayor managed to excel in academics and eventually went on to attend Princeton University and Yale Law. She is now a federal judge.

Hopefully these women will inspire people that are fighting their own way out of poverty today.  These stories reveal hope and highlight the importance of determination, while revealing the crucial community obligation to ensure that all have the opportunity to overcome poverty.

– Amy Robinson

Sources: The Telegraph, Harvard Magazine, Biography Online, Indian Country Today, NPR
Photo: The Telegraph

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Neil Gaiman Reads Dr. Seuss for Charity

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Many describe author and writer Neil Gaiman as a new age rock star of the literary world. Not only is he married to activist and punk princess Amanda Palmer, but Gaiman is responsible for creating one of the most influential comics books series of all-time, Sandman, and is also the author of two best-selling novels, “American Gods” and “Anansi Boys”, which are currently being adapted into television shows.

There is little that Neil Gaiman hasn’t accomplished and recently, Gaiman used his celebrity status to help raise money for Heifer International through Worldbuilders, a collective power of readers, authors, and fellow book lovers who care about making the world a better place.

Joining forces with founder and fellow fantasy author Pat Rothfuss, Neil Gaiman recorded himself reading a live version of Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham in playful voices as a reward for those who helped Worldbuilders raise $500,000 through Heifer International.

“Heifer International is my favorite charity. It helps people raise themselves up out of poverty and starvation. Heifer promotes education, sustainable agriculture, and local industry all over the world. They don’t just keep kids from starving, they make it so families can take care of themselves. They give goats, sheep, and chickens to families so their children have milk to drink, warm clothes to wear and eggs to eat,” said Rothfuss.

Fellow fantasy authors contributing in raising awareness and donations for Worldbuilders included Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, and John Scalzi. Other musicians and actors also supported the cause including Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Amber Benson who will record herself and Rothfuss reading urban fantasy fiction if the charity raises $700,000 by the fundraisers end.

The money received through Worldbuilders will be used to empower families and their communities on a “teach a man how to fish” philosophy which aims at ending poverty through increasing opportunities. Heifer International’s core model, Passing on the Gift, sets out to bring sustainable agriculture and revenue to areas plagued by years of poverty.

By providing animals to communities and teaching their members how to utilize such resources, Heifer International works to help the recipient benefit from the knowledge and products the project and animals produce. After specific techniques are learned, the recipient than becomes the donor and teaches other members of the community the same values they were taught.

After that training is passed on, so is the first female offspring of the original gift, which starts the cycle all over again. Nearly 70 years later, this process is not only a success, but is also creating opportunities for building schools, creating agricultural collaborations, and boosting the local economy.

– Jeffrey Scott Haley
Feature Writer

Sources: Patrick Rothfuss, A.V. Club, World Builders, Heifer International
Photo: Entertainment Weekly

20 Influential MLK Quotes

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As an influential leader and a revolutionary of the Civil Rights movement, the various wise words of Martin Luther King Jr. still ring among us today. His actions were an aiding pendulum that help set in motion the equal rights of all races.

50 years following his “I Have a Dream” speech, the words still resonate a powerful meaning amongst society, and the effects of his speech are felt even to this day.

Comprised below is a list of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quotes:

1. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

2. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude.”

3. “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

4. “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

5. “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

6. “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

7. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

8. “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

9. “We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely being to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.”

10. “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”

11. “Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”

12. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

13. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

14. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

15. “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”

16. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

17. “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

18. “We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace.”

19. “The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.”

20. “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

– Samaria Garrett

Sources: MLK Day, Parade
Photo: Seattle Times

2014 Presidential Election in El Salvador

2014 Presidential Election in El Salvador
The recent Presidential election in El Salvador failed to draw in enough votes to avoid a runoff election in March. There were two main contenders in El Salvador: Salvador Sánchez Cerén of the left-leaning Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) and Norman Quijano of the right-leaning Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA.)

Sánchez Ceren won 48.9 percent of the vote, just shy of the 50 percent mark needed to avoid another election. On the other hand, Quijano won 38.95 percent of the vote. A distant third candidate, former President Antonio Saca, won only 11.4 percent support.

The FMLN formed following the end of the El Salvadorian civil war in 1992 and first gained power in 2009. The FMLN has been popular because of its welfare policies, including free school supplies and pensions. Quijano and ARENA promise to increase security by deploying the army to fight the gangs wreaking havoc in the region.

El Salvador remains impoverished and crime-ridden, with remittances from the United States totaling about 20 percent of its gross domestic product.  Sánchez Ceren says he will fight to increase economic growth by introducing tax incentives to increase investment in important areas such as energy and to improve the country’s hard infrastructure to increase the ease of transportation for goods such as ports.

Sánchez Ceren has also said he would seek to join Venezuela’s Petrocaribe oil bloc, which gives allies, mostly other leftist countries, with cheap energy. This Salvadoran reliance upon Venezuelan oil will create a bigger economic and political tie with the left-wing country; it may also increase further cooperation across other areas.

Both candidates come from very different backgrounds: Sánchez Ceren is a former guerilla commander and current Vice President who has promised to expand welfare programs and benefits. Quijano is the former mayor of San Salvador and has been critical of the wary truce between gangs achieved under the administration of current President Mauricio Funes of the FMLN.

– Jeff Meyer

Sources: The New York Times, Reuters, Aljazeera
Photo: El Tiempo Latino

Poverty in Kyrgyzstan

Poverty in Kyrgyzstan
Poverty in Kyrgyzstan remains a major issue. Kyrgyzstan is a former Soviet Republic located in Central Asia, having gained independence in 1991. The Kyrgyz Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world with a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita amassing $440 according to measures from 2005.

Since then, the economy of the nation has managed to stabilize slightly, but almost half of the civilian population continues to live in conditions far below the poverty threshold.

The majority of individuals in Kyrgyzstan dwell in rural locations with most of these rural workers engaging in livestock breeding in order to make a living. Furthermore, these rural populations constitute almost 3/4th of the country’s poor.

The livelihood of these farmers hinges on the quality of pastures, which are unfortunately a deteriorating resource in Kyrgyzstan. According to IFAD, winter pastures are overused while summer pastures are underused. A more even distribution of pastures would help curtail this issue of misuse and underuse.

One reason for the persistent rural poverty in Kyrgyzstan is the resounding effects of the economic transition during the 1990s where the Kyrgyz economy shifted from a command economy to a free market economy promoted by the collapse of the Soviet system. Recovery has been markedly slow with rural populations still lacking access to quality drinking water, infrastructure and education.

Many of these individuals have difficulty transcending poverty due to multiple factors. For example, farmers do not receive adequate training in land management and farming.

As a result, these farmers often unknowingly engage in defective farming practices contributing to the degradation of natural resources, such as pastures, which are essential for the Kyrgyz livestock and agricultural economy.

Furthermore, farmers do not have access to financial assistance that would ultimately allow them to invest in more efficient farming equipment and practices. Therefore, many farmers are stuck in the cycle of poverty.

In addition to agricultural troubles, many individuals in Kyrgyzstan also suffer to secure a sufficient amount of food. An unstable economy and widespread hunger almost always go hand in hand.

Often, the hunger crisis in Kyrgyzstan is exacerbated by natural disasters. For example, in 2008, a severe drought destroyed crops was followed by a brutal winter, contributing to national food insecurity.

However, the World Food Programme (WFP) is attempting to assuage the hunger crisis in Kyrgyzstan.

One program provides seasonal food assistance in the form of staple foods and general food assistance that provides immediate assistance to those in need. Rather than just providing emergency food funds to the nation, WFP has also offered an initiative that supports the improvement of infrastructure, disaster response, and environmental preservation.

Through these programs the WFP is attempting to help Kyrgyzstan sow the seeds of its own prosperity rather than providing temporary relief without any improvements in underlying conflicts.

– Phoebe Pradhan 

Photo: The Hindu
Sources: WFP, Rural Poverty Portal

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Hunger in Ethiopia

Hunger in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is a Sub-Saharan African country fringed by Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Eritrea. For the past few decades, the Ethiopian government has implemented institutional reforms in order to transition to a stable market economy. This transition would also reduce poverty, improve health, education and infrastructure in the endeavor to establish a stable economy.

Although Ethiopia has made remarkable economic strides and has secured its position as one of the most efficient economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is still one of the poorest nations in the world.

In order to raise awareness of the severity the epidemic hunger in Ethiopia, the World Food Programme has complied a comprehensive list of facts that every global citizen should know regarding the hunger crisis in Ethiopia.

As mentioned above, Ethiopia has taken steps to improve its economy, an endeavor that in turn has also improved nutrition within the nation. Yet, despite this marked progress, Ethiopia still remains embattled by malnutrition.

The true extent of this malnutrition is appalling. According to the report “Cost of Hunger in Africa”, child malnutrition costs Ethiopia 16.5 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year.

Furthermore, nearly 40% of Ethiopian children are underdeveloped, suffering from a condition known as “stunting”, which arises when individuals miss critical periods of development due to a lack of a proper diet.

Not only are these children physically stunted, they also experience a stunt in academic achievement. For the individuals who survive the complications of childhood malnutrition, stunting persists throughout adulthood as well.

As approximately 67% of adults in Ethiopia experienced stunting as children,  the majority of Ethiopians are not able to reach their maximum physical or educational potential in part due to hunger.

Additionally, nearly half of health issues arising from malnutrition manifest themselves before the child has lived to see his or her first birthday. Unfortunately, this early onset of malnutrition related health issues has also contributed to nearly 30% of child fatalities in Ethiopia. These child fatalities in Ethiopia have contributed to an approximate 8% reduction in the total Ethiopian workforce.

The cycle of poverty, hunger, and death in Ethiopia ensnares the nation in a stage of underdevelopment. Poverty and hunger in Ethiopia simultaneously attacks the population, holding the nation back from its full potential.

However, food programs and continued economic expansion can help the nation become not only one of the most stable economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also become a global competitor.

– Phoebe Pradhan

Photo: Action Against Hunger
Sources: Info Please, WFP, Rural Poverty Portal

Rape in Somalia: HRW Releases 5 Point Prevention Plan

Human Rights Watch released a report on February 13th 2014 entitled, “Here, Rape is Normal” A Five-Point Plan to Curtail Sexual Violence in Somalia. Rape is rampant in many parts of Somalia, especially in the capital city of Mogadishu. Here women and girls live in constant fear of rape and sexual assault, which are considered a normal parts of life. The report outlines strategies and interventions for the government and donor agencies to prevent sexual violence and provide support to victims. The research for the report was qualitative in nature. Human Rights Watch interviewed 27 women in Mogadishu who survived rape, often several attacks. Maryam, a 37-year-old single mother had been gang raped twice while staying in a shelter in the Wadajir district. She was pregnant during one of these attacks and when she went to report to incident to the police the next day she was miscarrying and bleeding heavily. Instead of helping her police handed her a mop to clean the blood off of the floor and told her to go home and clean herself. Rape is common in the camps for displaced persons in Mogadishu. Maryam commented that just the night before her interview she had listened to a woman in her camp being attacked. She told researchers that when women in her camp greet each other they say “Were you raped today?” Two decades of civil war and state deterioration have left Somali women very at a high risk for sexual violence. Displaced individuals and marginalized minority groups are especially vulnerable to rape. Police and government armed forces sexually assault, rape, beat and stab women and girls living inside camps and go unpunished. Women report that they are afraid to report these attacks to authorities because of fear that they will be stigmatized and the knowledge that nothing will come of their reports as rape perpetrators are rarely charged or prosecuted. In December of 2013 a 19-year-old female reporter of the UN-funded Kasmo radio station in Mogadishu was sentenced to a six-month sentence after she reported that journalists at the state owned radio station Radio Mogadishu had raped her at gunpoint.  She was interview by a journalist from Radio Shabelle. The woman, the journalist and the director of Radio Shabelle were all charged with defamation. The woman was allowed to serve her jail time at home but the journalists were sentenced to twelve months in jail. The United Nations estimates that 800 women were raped in Mogadishu alone in the first 6 months of 2013. There were at least 1700 attacks on women in internally displaced persons settlements in 2012. 70 percent of these attackers were armed men wearing government uniforms.  Girls as young as 13 years old are being raped, a third of rape victims are under the age of 18. These women and children have already fled their homes because of armed conflict and drought and are living in with sheets of plastic for walls. Now they are being further traumatized by the threat and occurrence of sexual violence that no one is willing to do anything about. Human Rights Watch suggests a five-point roadmap for prevention and intervention of rape in Somalia:

  1. Physical prevention – Increased security for women in displaced communities
  2. Emergency health services – Medical, psychological and social support for victims of gender based violence
  3. Access to justice – Women should have access to a justice system that meets international standards
  4. Legal and policy reform – The government should enforce laws prohibiting violence against women
  5. Promotion of women’s equality – Equality should be promoted through education, political participation, and women’s social and economic equality

Rape should not be normal anywhere. – Elizabeth Brown Photo: Genocide Memorial Project Sources: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Al Jazeera