Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Yesterday in Yemen

yemen_malnutrition
“We are hungry and we need jobs,” says a Yemenis woman, who faces a recording camera while standing on the side of a dirt road. Her clothes are stained by sand and her eyes are bloodshot, but she responds with firm assurance to questions in a recent YouTube video composed by activists from Support Yemen, who aimed at facilitating dialogue in the capital city of Sana. Topics ranged from the ongoing political instabilities that the region faces to other matters, such as closing the gap between civilians, military, and tribal forces. These are not the only factors hindering Yemen’s economic and social progression, as high food prices, endemic poverty, diminishing resources and influxes of refugees and migrants are also damaging the region from within.

In hopes of relieving some of the hunger the Yemenis people are facing, much needed food support will be streamlined into the region thanks to recent contributions by the Government of India and the World Food Programme (WFP.) After a Comprehensive Food Security Survey was conducted in Yemen last year, WFP found 22 percent of the population was living under severely insecure food standards. This has led the WFP to set a new goal at providing five million people in 16 governorates with food assistance and programs to strengthen their community’s resilience.

It has also been announced that the WFP will be appropriating a budget of $495 million for programs and activities in Yemen, starting in 2014 and ending in 2016. WFP’s continued effort in Yemen has already provided assistance to 5 million children, pregnant women, and internally displaced persons (IDPs.) In a place where nearly half of children younger than five years old are malnourished and stunted, there is still much more that can be done.

Doing their part in combating hunger in the area is the Government of India, who recently contributed $1.8 million in an effort that will aid almost 121,300 people most in need of assistance over the next six months. Those funds were used to purchase approximately 2,600 metric tons of wheat, which will provide emergency food assistance for 3.5 million people, 600,000 IDPs, and other nutritional support for 405,000 children under the age of five. Mohammed Saeed Al-Sa’adi, a representative for the Government of Yemen, had this to say about the donation: “We are grateful to the government and people of India for providing this timely donation and we highly appreciate the cooperation between WFP and India in delivering assistance to those in need.”

Appropriated funds going towards Yemen will provide relief over the next few years, but it will only prove temporary if sustainability and community resilience aren’t increased in the area. With a growing deficit of $3.2 billion and poverty rates on the rise since 2011, it is important to realize the consequences which many men, women, and children will face after they have taken a toll. As donations come into the area from across the globe and programs are constantly being implemented into Yemen communities, it is hopefully a fruitful sign of things to come.

– Jeffrey Scott Haley
Feature Writer

Sources: WFP, WFP (2), Saba News, Yemen Times, Albawaba

, , , , , , ,

Food Aid in Puntland, Somalia

puntland_cyclone
On November 10, a deadly cyclone raged through the region of Puntland, located in Somalia’s northeastern coast. Though the cyclone has reportedly killed up to 300 people, the death toll has not yet been verified. Many of these victims were children and elderly, both of which are more vulnerable to hypothermia and exposure. Moreover, the United Nations says as many as 30,000 people are in need of food aid.

Whole villages have been washed away by the storm, thus forcing local aid workers to struggle to reach the stranded victims due to the damaged infrastructure. Furthermore, large portions of roads have been damaged, driving aid workers to deliver food aid on foot. Many people are also missing, especially in coastal towns where fisherman and their boats have been lost at sea.

Pastoralists have been hit the hardest since their livestock and poorly built homes and barns have been washed away. The region does not normally experience rain so the area’s infrastructure has not been built to withstand this sort of storm. In fact, some of the worst hit villages have lost 90 percent of their livestock to icy rain and flooding.

Moreover, areas infamous for pirates such as the port of Ely are some of the worst affected. This is worrisome as the 2004 Tsunami was considered one of the major triggers of the pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia where 736 people and 32 ships were held hostage.

The World Food Programme (WFP) recently arrived in Puntland and transported 340 metric tons of food including cereal and vegetable seeds to the worst affected areas of Bossaso, Banderbayla, Dongoroyo and Eyl. In total 27, 000 people have been given a month’s worth of food rations. In addition Puntland’s government sent 32 trucks of emergency supplies throughout the needed areas.

Once emergency aid has been distributed and the region is no longer in a state of disaster the WFP will begin recovery work to rebuild the infrastructure of the area. The Food-for-Assets initiative is a recovery program run by the WFP that assists communities in rebuilding their infrastructure in a way that would better withstand a future natural disaster. Moreover, community workers are paid in food rations for assisting with the development.

Further south in Middle Shabelle, flooding has devastated the town of Jowhar and surrounding areas, pushing over 10,000 people to flee their homes. Their water supplies have, furthermore, been contaminated increasing the risk of waterborne diseases, while all standing crops and livestock in the area have been destroyed or lost. The International Committee of the Red Cross has provided 25,800 people with emergency essentials such as kitchen sets, clothes and sleeping mats.  They have also been able to stop flooding and repair riverbanks in five locations and distributed emergency food aid and water.

– Lisa Toole

Sources: AllAfrica: Food Aid, AllAfrica: Twin Natural Disasters, Yahoo, World Food Programme, Aljazeera

Mining in Zambia and Canada

There are many aspects of sustainable development methods that are required to evaluate. In the developing world such as Zambia, few regard the issue of the environment seriously. On average, lead concentrations in children are five to 10 times the permissible United States Environmental Protection Agency levels, and can even be high enough to kill.

It has over the years left huge effects that can now be felt for many years to come. One of the most prominent environmental issues was the discovery of high levels of lead in the town of Kabwe. The Canadian oil sands provide another example of the need to make sure development is anchored by principles that are sustainable. Politicians mostly see votes and with little focus on effects of unregulated massive development such as pollution in the rivers as the case in Alberta, Canada. According to investment for this region of Canada oil companies will spend nearly $200 billion over the next decades.

In this regard it is important to know what is required to balance needs and realities of the effects on the activities of development. Sustainable development methods are plans that meet the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It contains within it two key concepts: the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor to which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs (WCED, 1987:43.)

This way small economic focus approach has several unwanted side effects. For example, the solution to one problem may make another problem worse. Moreover it tends to focus on short-term benefits without monitoring long-term effects. GDP only reflects the amount of economic activity and can rise when the overall community health is being impaired.

The Alberta Oil Sands is the largest energy project on the planet, lying beneath 140,200 square kilometers of northern Alberta forest, an area almost as large as the state of Florida. With estimated $20 billion revenue coming to Canada each year from this project in Alberta, sustainable development with a broad focus is not a huge priority. Even the currently developed portion of the Oil Sands region is already experiencing severe fragmentation effects on the ecology of the boreal forest.

Remarkably one respected scientist from Canada did a report about this dilemma instead the government went on the defensive despite obvious problems in many areas. These include pollution in the Athabasca River affecting aquatic, plant, human and wildlife. This study was conducted by Dr. David Schindler a renowned academician with impressive pedigree such as the acid rain discovery. According to his report, white fish was caught in Lake Athabasca, near Fort Chipewyan, higher cancers than usual (including rare forms of cancer) in adjacent populations to the project.

It now well known that there many methods to sustain development. These are designed to measure and communicate progress towards of human endeavours across the world.

— Alan Chanda

Sources: Time 1, 2, CBC, Green Party of Canada
Photo: Wikimedia

Ethiopia’s War Against its LGBTQ Citizens

“Africa will become a graveyard for homosexuality!”

This is the rallying cry of Seyoum Antonius, president of United for Life, an NGO self-described as Christian, pro-life and backing the sanctity of marriage. He was the organizer of a national conference titled “Homosexuality and its associated social disastrous consequences” held in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa in June.

At the conference, Antonius presented his findings from a “study” that “proved” homosexuality leads to STDs, HIV and “severe psychological disorders.” His “findings” were received among wide condemnation of homosexuality from Ethiopian officials, religious leaders and civil representatives as a “western epidemic.”

Seyoum Antonius is only one of a number of reasons that Newsweek, in its recent investigative report, asserts that where life is getting better for many countries’ LGBTQ communities, “in Ethiopia, it’s getting worse.”

Prior to Antonius’s horrifying and detrimental conference, life was already bleak for Ethiopia’s LGBTQ community. Homosexuality is illegal in Ethiopia. Sentences for “homosexual activity” range on average from ten days to three years but can be as high as ten years in prison under certain circumstances.

Ethiopian daily newspaper Yenga had described homosexuality as a “rapidly growing ‘infestation’” whose “carriers” were “estimated to have reached 16,000.” Yenga also asserted that gays have an average of 75 partners a year and that their inherent promiscuity drives them to have between “seven and nine partners a day.”

Further, a 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project reveals that 97% of Ethiopians believe that homosexuality should be outlawed.

But this isn’t enough for Antonius. A representative from the Ethiopian Inter-Religious Council Against Homosexuality claimed that the council was making “promising” progress in its efforts to sway the government toward implementing the death penalty for “homosexual acts.” Antonius has been clear that he won’t give up his efforts until this happens, hence his chilling rallying cry.

Two laws in Ethiopia in essence completely bar any health centers, charities, or publications in service of Ethiopia’s LGBTQ community. One, Ethiopia’s strict anti-terrorism law, allows the government to prosecute any person who “writes, edits, prints, publishes, publicizes, [or] disseminates” statements the government considers terrorism. This translates to the police being able to search and arrest anyone they want — without a warrant.

Another pivotal law is the one that bars all charities and NGOs that receive more than 10% of their funding from abroad from engaging in activities that further human rights or promote equality.

The result of these laws, both adopted in 2009, is that the few reputable organizations doing work on human rights within Ethiopia have been either closed or coerced to wipe any mention of human rights from their mission statements.

Leslie Lefkow, Human Rights Watch’s deputy editor for the Africa division describes Ethiopia’s restrictive approach as a “two-pronged strategy that results in a climate of fear and self-censorship. The government has effectively closed off the country in terms of independent investigation. They’ve eviscerated the civil society.”

That strategy is so effective that not even major international organizations like the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria have had any success funding programs that educate men who have sex with men about HIV prevention or treat those that are inflicted with the disease.

Further, according to Amnesty International’s Claire Beston: “The U.S., U.K. and other governments give huge amounts of aid to Ethiopia while remaining tight-lipped about the extensive violations of human rights happening throughout the country.” Human Rights Watch, which used to research LGBTQ issues in Ethiopia, has found it “increasingly challenging” to do that work, given that it calls for undercover work.

Life is getting worse for the LGBTQ community, indeed.

– Kelley Calkins

Sources: Newsweek, Pink News, UNHCR, Pew Global
Photo: Rainbow Ethiopia

,

Social Determinants of Health

Medical Tourism
When most people think about the health of individuals, communities, and populations they think of access to healthcare. People in developing countries have a definite lack of access to doctors, nurses, drugs, and the latest medical technologies.  It is important to remember that the conditions people are born into also have a significant and lasting affect on their health. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of power and resources both globally and locally. These factors are known as the “Social Determinants of Health”

The social determinants of health are the social, economic, and political factors that shape the health of individuals, communities, and nations. Social determinants of health include both environmental resources such as housing, income and income distribution, unemployment, early life, education, and food insecurity.  They also include gender, ethnicity, class, and race.

The social determinants of health are responsible for health inequities. Health inequities are the large discrepancies in health status seen between countries and within countries. Wealthier countries in the developed world have much lower rates of infant mortality. The infant mortality rate is the number of infants who die before they reach age one, per 1000 births in any year.

The World Bank reports that Sweden, Norway, and Japan have an infant mortality rate of only two in 2012. The US is three times higher at six deaths per 1000 live births. Unfortunately, in many countries in sub Saharan Africa approximately 10% of children die before their first birthday. The infant mortality rate in Sierra Leone was 117 in 2012.

Another factor used to measure the health of nations that is largely impacted by the social determinants of health is life expectancy at birth. Countries in sub Saharan Africa fare the worst; Sierra Leone has a life expectancy of 45 years and Mozambique has a life expectancy of 49 years. High-income countries fare much better; Japan and Switzerland have average life expectancies of 83. The United States has an average life expectancy of 79 years.  Inequality within a country also has a large impact on the overall health of a nation. The U.S. has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world. This is why the US does not fare as well as other developed countries in infant mortality rates and life expectancy.

Health inequities are considered to be unfair and avoidable. It is widely considered that health inequities could be abolished with improved social policies and programs and great income iquality. At the World Conference on the Social Determinants of Health in 2011 the WHO developed five action areas for improving health equity:

1.    Adopt improved governance for health and development

2.    Promote participation in policy making and implantation

3.   Further reorient the health sector towards promoting health and reducing health inequities

4.   Strengthen global governance and collaboration

5.   Monitor progress and increase accountability

– Lisa Toole 

Sources: The World Bank, WHO, CDC, NCBI

, ,

Drones Impact on Mental Health in Pakistan

The United States has waged a drone campaign in Pakistan since the early 2000’s. The Waziristan region in northern Pakistan has been a specific target due to the major presence of the Taliban in the area. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London released a report indicating that drone strikes carried out by the U.S. have killed 3,581 people since 2004. That number includes 884 civilians and 197 children. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a rise in mental health issues.

The Huffington Post reported a story of a man who lost nine friends and relatives in one attack in 2009. While Mohammed Fahim was in another room, a drone hit his house, killing everyone else instantly. Fahim insists that his family had no ties to Islamist militancy, but instead that this was an attack that went astray.

Residents in Waziristan complain of living in a constant fear of drones, specifically citing the buzzing sound they emit when they fly overhead. This fear is leading to a rise in depression, anxiety, and in some cases psychotic episodes. Doctor Muktar ul-Haq is the head of psychiatry at a government hospital in the city of Peshawar. He told a story of a man who had a full blown psychotic episode after he found a SIM card outside of his house. A common rumor in Pakistan is that SIM cards emit signals to drones, guiding their attack. Haq said when the man was admitted he was “aggressive and paranoid.”

The social problems that plague Pakistan, such as poverty, Taliban violence, and unemployment, contribute to the rise in depression and anxiety. With all of these other problems, mental health falls to the bottom of the list. There are no official statistics about the rise in mental health issues, but some psychiatrists treating people in the region estimate that rates psychological illnesses have risen three fold.

– Colleen Eckvahl

Sources: Huffington Post, The Atlantic
Photo: CS Monitor

Zimbabwe’s Dam Project Displaces Families

Human Rights
In October, 400 families (approximately 2,500 individuals) were forced out of their village and homes in Southeastern Zimbabwe in order to make room for a new dam. The Tokwe-Mukosi dam is being constructed by Sanlin, an Italian company, with funding from the Zimbabwean government.

The dam is intended to provide irrigation to the local area of Chibi where people have been vulnerable to famine and food insecurity as a result of little rainfall. The dam will also provide irrigation to the nearby city of Masvingo where water shortages have caused problems in recent years.

The construction of the dam began in the 1990s but was abruptly halted because of Zimbabwe’s economic hyperinflation. The construction resumed after the formation of the government of national unity in 2009.

The families that were displaced as a result of the construction were moved from Chibi to Nuanetsi Ranch, an area located in the Mwenezi district 100 kilometers away. Each household was given a four hectare plot of uncultivated land that is worth between $3000-$8000 as compensation.

Many families believe that this compensation is not enough to make up for the loss of land they have owned for generations. Richard Tarunvinga, 66, stated “[that was] my ancestral home and not even any amount of compensation will make me happy.”

The newly inhabited area does not have reliable access to water and the displaced families are forced to live in mud huts. The families are also busy clearing the trees from their land instead of planting maize, their staple crop, during prime planting season.  The new location is said to be a location unsuitable for anything except livestock farming. The relocation has also had a negative effect on children in these families are they are not going to school and unable to receive an education.

It is undetermined when the dam’s construction will be completed.

– Lienna Feleke-Eshete

Sources: All Africa, World Food Report

USAID Funds Innovation in Agriculture

World map
This past week, USAID, the Swedish government, Duke Energy Corporation, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and more teamed up to fund organizations with agriculture and clean energy related innovations. The partners challenged organizations to invent new technologies that could implement clean energy and agriculture solutions in developing countries. Of the 475 applicants, 12 organizations were chosen and awarded $13 million in funding to implement their ideas into the developing world.

These technologies aim to help farmers increase production of crops by improving current irrigation, mechanization, agro-processing and storage systems. Among the winners were International Development Enterprised (iDE), The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Camco Advisory Services, Motivo Engineering, African Bamboo, Promethean Power Systems, University of Georgia Research Foundation and more.

The African Bamboo, for example, is an invention by Heartland Global that aims to make Bamboo, a common resource in Ethiopia, easier to process and utilize for construction and furnishing. Another innovation aims to improve the refrigeration and production of dairy products in Kenya. SunDanzer Refrigeration will use a battery-powered, portable refrigeration system to form “milk packs” that will remain chilled when being transported.

The announcement of the winners took place at the Development Exchange in Washington, D.C. All 12 chosen organizations had the opportunity to discuss their plans and the impact of their innovations. The event included speeches by USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah who stated that the event “demonstrates how we can harness ingenuity and entrepreneurship to generate and scale real solutions in our fight to end extreme poverty.”

– Lienna Feleke-Eshete

Sources: All Africa, Power Agriculture

Food Dumping: Is It Necessary?

Poverty is the lack of basics needs such as food, water, shelter, and healthcare. Food is one the most critical issues to end poverty. Many people think that food support (when not for emergency relief) is a big help to impoverished nations. However, the effect might be the opposite. By providing excessive food support or food dumping, rich countries are undercutting the core of third world countries’ economy.

In poor countries, agriculture is the biggest economic factor. “In developing countries, agriculture continues to be the main source of employment, livelihood and income for between 50-90% of the population,” and in Africa, almost 70% of people rely on farming as their main source of income.

If third world countries want to erase poverty, investing and stabilizing agriculture are extremely important. When other countries are providing excessive food support, they increase the food supply when food demand remains the same. This situation decreases the food price in the local market because local farmers have to compete with foreign food aid in the market. Since the price for food decreases, the farmers do not have the ability to reinvest the profit into their land and their crop.

In addition, many developed countries have moved away from agriculture to focus on their competitive advantages (technology and service sectors). Therefore, they are in need of food supply. Since most of the food supply comes from developing countries. If these countries do not have the capability to provide, the world can experience a food shortage.

The beneficial solution is to help the poverty farmers with farming education, not food dumping. The more they produce, the more money they will obtain, the more like likely they are to get out of poverty. In addition, poor farmers will have to use cheap and unsafe farming treatment to their plants and cause health issues globally. According to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the key factors for farming supports are (1) listening to their needs, (2) increase farm productivity, (3) fostering sustainable farming practice.

– Phong Pham

Sources: Gates Foundation, Shaebia, T.R.A.D.E.
Photo: Stephen Raburn

, ,

Universal Access Project

The Universal Access Project’s mission is to achieve the fifth Millennium Development Goal to provide universal access to reproductive health care by 2015.

Today, roughly 222 million women lack the simple luxury in their lives of family planning services. To provide such services would not only help these women; it would improve overall global health, strengthen communities, decrease death rates of mothers and newborns and help alleviate global poverty.

The choice and the freedom to decide if and when to bear a child belong in the category of basic human rights. Providing easy access to contraceptives for women in third-world countries ensures that everyone may enjoy the same rights, and is predicted to reduce the amount of unwanted pregnancies worldwide from 7.5 million to 22 million.

The Universal Access Project is chiefly focused on informing and mobilizing U.S. policy makers to support international reproductive health as a major element of U.S. foreign development assistance.

Although often overlooked in the shadow of seemingly more important and immediate issues, universal access to reproductive health care deserves attention. Studies conducted in Zambia have shown that one dollar invested in family planning saves four dollars in other health related issues over time; it also reduces newborn deaths by 44%.

Annually, about 350,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth complications, making it the leading cause of death for women in developing countries. By providing them with family planning options, this number may be reduced by one-third – over 100,000 deaths prevented each year.

A website has been created in affiliation with the Universal Access Project – WhyWeCare.org – which compiles essays by 15 prominent leaders from different fields across the globe who support the initiative. Their stories are personal, touching and motivational, giving readers an accurate and related sense of urgency in regards to this project.

Although 2015 is a little more than a year away, founders of the project and members of the UN Foundation remain confident in its future success. Since the initiative’s start in 2008, U.S. funding for family planning has witnessed a 30% increase.

In the words of CNN news network founder and philanthropist Ted Turner (who is also a contributor to WhyWeCare.org), “Complications from pregnancy are the leading cause of death of women in their reproductive years, killing an average of 1,000 women per day. That number is just plain unacceptable in this day and age.”

– Natalia Isaeva

Sources: UN Foundation, K4Health, WhyWeCare.org
Photo: The Trenches