Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Is McGill University Doing “Asbestos” it Can?

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Asbestos, which has been mined for more than 4,000 years, was not largely distributed until the end of the 19th century. Today, armed with the knowledge about the dangers to human health that asbestos poses, production in the modern world has been brought to a halt. However, in many developing countries, particularly in Asia, many are surprised to hear that the use of asbestos has been increasing.

The world’s largest asbestos mine was the Jeffrey mine in the town of Asbestos, Quebec. Because of the preciousness of asbestos to the Quebecois economy, when results began to show the toxicity of asbestos, the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association (QAC) needed to find a solution preventing the stoppage of asbestos use. They turned to McGill University.

Professor J.C. McDonald, working for McGill’s Department of Epidemiology, was funded by a front organization set up by the QAC to research the effects of asbestos. His findings, using outdated and inaccurate techniques, demonstrated that exposure to chrysotile asbestos could give protection against cancer.

Despite the fact that no other scientist has been able to replicate McDonald’s data – even McDonald himself refuting his own findings, going so far as to admit that some of the data taken was thrown away until specific results were found – many companies continue to use his research to support the use of asbestos.

As such, every year, two million tons of asbestos are being put into homes and schools, ultimately causing a public health catastrophe to come.

Kathleen Ruff, founder of the human rights website RightonCanada.ca, and senior advisor on Human Rights of Rideau Institute was joined by Professor David Egilman of Brown University, who is the President of Global Health through Education, Training and Service (GHETS), a NGO dedicated to improving health in under-served communities around the world, at a conference on October 1st at McGill.

Here, Egilman and Ruff addressed McGill’s “internal review” on McDonald’s study, which Abraham Fuks, McGill’s research integrity officer, concluded Professor McDonald to be “a pioneer in the demonstration of health hazards of asbestos.”

Fuks states that while it is true that McDonald’s project was funded by the asbestos industry, there was no collusion between the university and the asbestos industry.

Egilman contends noting, “[McDonald’s team] threw data out because it gave them wrong results.” And when they finally had data that matched up to what they wanted to prove, Ruff points out that “the industry [then] went on a mission to developing countries to get them to use chrysotile asbestos.”

The problems associated with asbestos-related risks are manifold. The previous installation and further dismantling of asbestos abroad lacks proper regulation and legislation, with many companies not respecting safety and proper execution. Consequently, exposure increases the risk of lung cancer, mesothelioma, and nonmalignant lung and pleural disorders.

Countries with economic ties to asbestos, such as Russia, India and Brazil continue to use McDonald’s information to lobby for increased use. Without an independent review of the research conducted and a final nay-say of McDonald’s results, it will prove difficult to put a stop to these organizations.

What started as a good PR strategy back in the 1960s has now exploded into one of the main justifications of continued global asbestos use.

GHETS, founded in 2002, places emphasis on “grassroot partnerships, sustainability and the development of primary healthcare infrastructure.” In association with many major institutions, GHETS funds training of local doctors and distribution of seed grants to for local business start-ups.

RightonCanada, an advocacy campaign to put human rights back on Canada’s political agenda, believes that Canada, when refusing to recognize the human right to water, aid in sabotaging a U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and block action to control export to developing countries of asbestos, among other things, has consequently become “a human rights saboteur.”

– Chloe Nevitt
Feature Writer

Sources: Rabble, McGill Daily,McGill Daily, Global Labour University, CDC, Right on Canada, GHETS
Photo: Wikimedia

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World Bank Risk Management Helps Reduce Poverty

Risk Management World Bank Development Strategy
In its annual World Development Report on October 7, the World Bank stated that successful risk management can be an essential tool for development.

Risk management in development involves policies that can help improve the negative effects of natural disasters, economic shocks or health crises. The World Development Report suggests that poor risk management has resulted in a staggering child mortality rate from injury and illness in low-income countries, one that is nearly 20 times higher than that in high-income countries. These slacking policies have also led to more deaths during droughts in Africa than from any other natural disaster. However, if governments and decision-makers can create more durable environments for managing risks, these trends can indeed be reversed.

“Risk management can save lives, avert economic damages, and can provide resilience and prosperity by allowing people to undertake new endeavors,” said Norman Loayza, director of the 2014 World Development Report.

The World Development Report has been released annual since 1978 and is the World Bank’s most comprehensive publication. As inferred, this year’s report looked at how managing risks can end poverty and increase equity.

As of now, many societies and individuals fail to tackle risk successfully because of lack of resources and information, missing markets and public goods and even more, social exclusion. “We’re advocating a sea change in the way risk is managed,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said. “Our new approach calls for individuals and institutions to shift from being ‘crisis fighters’ to proactive and systematic risk managers.”

The report tells us that because most individuals remain ill-equipped to confront many shocks and disasters, they must instead depend on shared action and responsibility. Without coherence from the international community, individuals, states and nations will continually be unable to handle problematic events on their own terms.

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: Global Issues, World Bank, Topix
Photo: World Bank

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“The Space Between” Documents Kenyan Healthcare

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“The Space Between,” a documentary co-directed by Travis North and Kimberly Nunez-North, traces the lives of four perilously ill individuals in Kenya, shedding light on broader issues of poverty and healthcare along the way.

In “The Space Between,” the audience is introduced to four Kenyans currently being treated at the Living Room Hospice, an organization founded by nurse and HIV volunteer, Juli McGowan Boit. Working to improve medical conditions across the country, the hospice treats those living in extreme poverty, who do not have the means to afford adequate healthcare.

The first, Maggie, is a young mother with cancer. As she deals with her deteriorating health, she worries about her four children. With Maggie’s husband working 12 hours a day and earning around $7 a week, the children have no caretaker other than Maggie.

The second individual, Jacob, is a teacher who was paralyzed by a gunshot wound inflicted during a robbery. While receiving treatment in a Kenyan hospital, he developed four bedsores. The wounds are so deep that they are unable to heal, a condition that causes pain, fever and potentially fatal infections.

The third interviewee is Barnabas, an older gentleman who is in the final stages of throat cancer. He is living his last days in an impoverished hospital that lacks morphine or any other painkillers. His greatest hope is to return home, where he can die in comfort, surrounded by family and friends.

The last Kenyan is James, a young man who has contracted HIV, but is afraid to seek treatment because of the subsequent social stigmatization. He has been largely incapacitated by the illness, and thus, is under the care of a hospice.

Describing the process of filming, Nunez-North said: “During our 16 day shoot in Kenya, we received unprecedented access to HIV clinics and hospitals.  We engaged in-depth conversations with physicians whose primary focus is on relieving and preventing patients’ suffering, an area of healthcare referred to as Palliative care.” As “The Space Between” unfolds, the intimate nature of the crew’s interactions with patients and doctors reveals itself clearly and magnificently.

“The Space Between” narrates an important struggle between life and death, illness and health, in a healthcare system that lack supplies, funding and trained personnel. However, telling a story can be the first step toward transformation and reform. By documenting the lives of these four individuals, “The Space Between” creates a space for change.

– Anna Purcell

Sources: Indiegogo, Ezra Winton

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Where Walmart Won’t Win

Walmart Failing India Russia Asia
Walmart has sales reaching over $135 billion in 26 countries outside the United States making it the world’s biggest retailer. It’s also the world’s largest public corporation when ranked by revenue.

It has shattered the expectations of many small businesses that have either opened in a Walmart’s vicinity or have had a Walmart take over the local community. It’s a seemingly unstoppable force in the retail business. But looking abroad to several of the world’s largest economically sound countries, not a single Walmart store can be found.

On October 9, 2013, Walmart announced that it was breaking up its corporate partnership with Bharti Enterprises, which hints to the dissolving of its vision of opening up hundreds of stores throughout India. Scott Price, head of Walmart Asia, referred to the breakup being fueled by “poor investment conditions.”

This is a deeper issue than pro-small business owners and supporters celebrating over this breakup. When an individual, group, or corporation ascends to the heights that Walmart has in its respective niche, competition has no choice but either to compete and take a tiny share of the market or to hope that the empire crumbles.

While this decision by no means points to Walmart losing its stranglehold on the retail market, it sends a sign to most investors looking to put money in Southeast Asia. If Walmart is backing out and cannot make a steep, yet potentially rewarding investment, how can others?

Russia is another market Walmart has not tapped. For six years, Walmart has been in talks with a Russian-based company to join a partnership that would ease Walmart’s entry into the bureaucratically strict nation. Germany and South Korea are without Walmart stores, as well. Walmart was present in both nations until 2006 when it shut down all operating stores.

For Germany, it was a rather strange issue that possibly stems from cultural and sexual repression. German men did not like when Walmart clerks handed their groceries to them and smiled as they were leaving the store. They believed the friendliness was a sign of flirting which made them uncomfortable. South Korea has also found it hard to house a Walmart chain, as it preferred to stock electronics and clothing as opposed to food and beverages, which can be bought at local markets.

This is not a loss for Walmart as much as it is a rattling in its marketing process. This shake up abroad almost seems like collusion between governments not wanting to take away domestic profits from local businesses, and can anyone blame them?

– Sagar Jay Patel

Sources: Business Week, New York Times
Photo: Chieforganizer.org

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5 Quotes about Diplomacy

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Tool of war or a path to peace? Art of compromise or art of deceit? Over the years, diplomacy has been viewed in many different ways. Below are quotes about diplomacy from five famous individuals, who each had their an opinion on diplomacy and its role in international relations.

 

5 Inspirational Quotes about Diplomacy

 

  1. “Diplomacy: the art of restraining power.” – Henry Kissinger, 56th U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. National Security Advisor and winner of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize
  1. “Part of diplomacy is to open different definitions of self-interest.”- Hillary Clinton, 67th U.S. Secretary of State, former New York senator and former First Lady
  1. “Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.”- Winston Churchill, U.K. Prime Minister during World War II and recipient of the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature
  1. “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”- Sun Tzu, Chinese general and author of “The Art of War”
  1. “To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.”- Will Durant, author, philosopher and historian

–  Jordanna Packtor

 

Read global poverty quotes

Sources: Brainy Quote, Good Reads, HISTORY.com, Encyclopedia Britannica, Nobelprize.org
Photo: History Today

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Child Poverty in Africa

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The state of many developing countries in Africa is no secret. Africa has been deadlocked in extreme poverty for an extended period of time. However, recent trends have shown that the poverty situation worldwide is slowly improving. Despite these various improvements, much more can be accomplished in the poverty-stricken continent of Africa. African children in particular are still mired in terrible situations, causing quite a predicament. While every life is worth saving in Africa, the lives of the children are crucial to the future of developing countries.

The issues have abundantly mounted to oppose healthy children in Africa. Lack of suitable food plays a major role. The world in general produces enough food to feed these children, yet they have no access to a consistent food supply. The key to eradicating the hunger crisis is providing an outlet for starving people in Africa and other poverty-stricken locations worldwide.

However, food is not the only major problem for African children. Other issues, such as slavery, armed forces participation, and the inability to prevent disease all stake a claim to the death toll of African children.

Learn more about poverty in Africa.

An estimated 200,000 children are sold into slavery yearly in Africa. This has become a major problem for developing countries–how can a country grow and learn if the children are routinely captured and used as slaves? Without any children learning and growing in a safe environment, the developing countries do not have much hope for a productive future, instead they are mired in the darkness that child slavery provides.

Not only is child slavery a major issue but children being forced to participate in the armed forces also causes another dilemma. An estimated 12,000 children are participating in the armed forces, further halting the advancement of African economies. The children are being trained and deployed in military situations instead of learning and cultivating the land, leaving fewer able bodies and even fewer educated people to grow and produce for their country.

Child participation in armed forces and slavery are major hindrances to furthering child development. However, the problem of disease also runs rampant among the children. Measles, malaria, and diarrhea are the three biggest killers of children, yet all three are preventable or treatable. Children lack access to proper treatments and vaccinations, resulting in deaths that could have been prevented. If these children could be immunized or properly treated, the number of deaths would exponentially drop.

The high mortality rate of children in Africa plays a significant role in the African poverty situation. The deaths related to child slavery, child participation in armed forces, and treatable diseases can be reversed. These problems can be solved; they require continued aid from outside help, but also a stand to fight for the lives of children. Without growing children, there is no growth for the future.

– Zachary Wright

Sources: CARE, Fight Poverty Pravda, Pravda
Photo: The Telegraph

 

What The Top 10 Searched for People Tell Us About Humanity

Top Ten Most Searched People Google Morgan Freeman
Who is the world intrigued with? Look no further than the top searches on Google. The top 10 searched for people provides a very interesting sampling of who represents humanity.

1. Whitney Houston. She became a beloved artist, actress, producer, and model. Guinness world records called her the most awarded female of all time. In later years she had a drug problem but recovered. She was posed to become the next judge on the show “The X-Factor” and revive her career right before she died.

2. Kate Middleton. She is a modern day Cinderella. Now Kate has been voted number one on the Vanity Fair’s best dressed list for three years in a row. Before she won the prince’s heart, she was considered simply “a beautiful commoner.” Today she works closely with five charities which mainly work with children.

3. Amanda Todd. Released a YouTube video about how she was bullied before she committed suicide. The video went viral and is now used to support anti-bullying movements.

4. Michael Clarke Duncan. Became famous when appearing in “The Green Mile” which won him an Academy Award nomination. He was an avid advocate for PETA. Michael died at age 54.

5. One Direction. Popularized by the show “The X-Factor,” the boy band has sold over seven million records. The teenage heart throbs are avid advocates for the organization Comic Relief.

6. Felix Baumgartner. Broke the world record height for sky diving. During his decent, he became the first person to break the sound barrier without using mechanical power.

7. Jeremy Lin. A lesser known professional basketball player until he led a winning streak for the New York Knicks.

8. Morgan Freeman. He acts, directs, and narrates. Some of his recent films include Oblivion, Now You See Me, and The Dark Knight Rises.

9. Joseph Kony. Leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army. He was made famous by an Invisible Children documentary that went viral.

10. Donna Summer. Known as the “undisputed queen of the Seventies disco boom.” Four of her singles topped the billboard chart within a thirteen month period. She held five Grammy Awards.

How can this diverse group of people be summarized? They usually come from the entertainment business. The good outnumber the bad. They are overwhelmingly represented in the media. When given power or influence most chose to represent the underprivileged and fight for inequality. Many gain a following in the wake of their death. Their lives read like a very dramatic story. The kind of story that gets them on the top ten Google searched list.

– Nicole Yancy
Sources: Biography, Wonder’s List, Fox News, E Online
Photo: LoL Forum

Vindhya Offers Employment to the Disabled

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For many people living with disabilities, seeking employment is often a grueling process. Sometimes, despite their qualifications, those with disabilities are denied jobs, because employers fear that job performance will suffer. While disabled people are awarded equal opportunity employment in theory, this is not always the case in reality. Unable to find employment, the disabled can end up in a perpetual state of poverty, unable to remedy the situation.

Companies like Vindhya are slowly changing this trend. A global IT company located in India, Vindhya is primarily staffed by those with disabilities, who are referred to as “different-abled” rather than “disabled.” It is a title that recognizes that certain physical disabilities don’t necessarily make someone entirely “disabled.”

Though in many ways Vindhya is like any other company, working to ensure the quality of its products and fulfill the demands of companies like Yahoo!, Metlife and Wipro. It offers its “differently-abled” employees an important opportunity: the chance to be self-sufficient.  Without such opportunities, it is hard to imagine where the “differently-abled” would find recourse. Employment at Vindhya opens many doors its workers, including the chance to improve their economic status.

Giving employment opportunities to groups that are often discriminated against, such as the disabled, is the first step to liberating generations from the ugly cycle of poverty.

– Aalekhya Malladi

Sources: Vindhya, Next Billion
Photo: LOREWO

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Villgro Addresses Rural Agricultural Needs

Many farmers in rural India are unaware of the newest innovations in agriculture. There are many possible causes for this, including lack of marketing, lack of access to information regarding advancements, and a farmer’s financial inability to buy new products. According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research, only 40-45 percent of farmers know about these new technologies, and fewer than that have the financial ability to access the new advancements.

Without the ability to access or buy these products, farmers continue to use obsolete technology, which is not only inefficient, but also more expensive, due to repairs and replacements. Over time, lack of access to the best technology will keep the rural farmers from improving their financial situation.

Villgro Innovation Marketing, recognizing that Indian rural farmers need information about, and access to, the most recent technology, has decided to address the situation.

It has developed a “low cost distribution method” that will send salespeople to rural locations to inform farmers of technologies that could significantly increase their crop yield and, in turn, their annual revenue. In the long term, this could help farmers rise out of relative poverty. Additionally, because Villgro hires salespeople to visit various villages and rural areas, it also offers employment opportunities to the surrounding area.

By addressing the needs of poor rural farmers, organizations such as Villgro give them the chance to overcome poverty. Moreover, the improved economic status of rural farmers would, in turn, advance the regional and national economy of India. Villgro, therefore, has the potential not only to change the lives of individual farmers, but to help a wider community as well.

– Aalekhya Malladi

Sources: Unitus Seed Fund, Villgro
Photo: Baltimore Sun

The House of Saud is a Hotbed for Poverty

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When we think of ruling families in a monarchist state, the pre-modern design points to the United Kingdom and Vatican City as “successful” post-modern governance. The UK employs what we call a Constitutional Monarchy, in which the title of King or Queen undertakes various ceremonial and diplomatic duties, while an elected Prime Minister holds most executive power.

The Vatican as we know constitutes an Absolute Monarchy in the form of an appointed Catholic Church official declared as Pope, meaning father. Western media gives heavy precedence to these forms of monarchist states, one being religious, the other hereditary, while dissipating the absolutist power of several other governing states in the Eastern world. The monarchy wielding the most absolutist power for the past 80 years has been the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia became a kingdom in 1932 as King Abdulaziz, also known as Ibn Saud, conquered most of Arabia following his capture of Riyadh in 1902. This led to the Saud family regaining power and controlling Arabia until this day. Unlike the UK, which has about 50 hereditary options in the line of succession for King or Queen, Saudi Arabia’s House of Saud has an estimated 15,000 members of the royal family vying for the throne. 2,000 of these family members control a vast majority of the wealth and power in Saudi Arabia. Here, the king holds absolute political power.

In most political states, corruption occurs in the form of politicians taking advantage of the state and, in a sense, stealing from the state. Here, the king is the state, so he does not have to “steal” from what is already under his power and ownership. This leads to corruption being a part of the inherent structure of its monarchist system, as opposed to a form of political undertaking.

Estimates of the royal net worth are around $1.4 trillion, which the over 10,000 princes use as a means for political influence to keep the commoners at bay, while there is a new form of dissension brewing between the state and the people. The inevitable attack against the state is being constantly postponed by paying commoners to favor the state, while distrust among the people grows even larger.

Given the exorbitant amount of wealth Saudi Arabia possesses, poverty should not be an issue.  However, about a month ago, a twitter campaign with the Arabic hashtag,  #الراتب_مايكفي_الحاجة, meaning “The salary does not meet my needs,” reached over 17 million tweets in the first two weeks. At its peak, it reached 1.2 million tweets a day and was the 16th most popular hashtag around the world, while being the most popular hashtag in Arabic.

This is a massive online demonstration that shows Saudi Arabia’s wealth (precisely allocated to the royal’s) is not allowing for its common citizens to live a genuinely comfortable life. Meanwhile, the House of Saud is paying handouts that amount to about a third of the government budget to countries like Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, while also paying for the new Riyadh Metro “mega project.”

The online protests against the disparity of wealth distribution are a sign of small demonstrations that have already been taking place in Saudi Arabia against the House of Saud. People are realizing the more they delay this process of rebellion, the more self-destructive this so-called revolution could be.

Change is occurring in Saudi Arabia, and a paradigm shift in this absolutist monarchy is seemingly shifting, albeit gradually.

– Sagar Jay Patel

Sources: CNN, Independent, Royalty, Borgen Project
Photo: Kings of the World