Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Startup Streamlines Health Care in Vietnam

Health care in VietnamVietnam has a notoriously fragmented, scattered and inefficient health care provider market. With more than 50,000 clinics across the country, it is difficult to book appointments or make accurate decisions about which doctors or clinics will best serve the health needs within a specific price range. The Vietnamese start-up, Docosan, provides customers with a single database of clinics filtered by the location and medical need.
Additionally, the app offers prices and reviews and gives customers the ability to book appointments. As a private firm, this startup streamlines health care in Vietnam and makes the health care market accessible to all.

A Notoriously Fragmented and Overextended Market

Before 1990, hospitals operated under a socialist model that discouraged any profit motive. However, after the early 1990 hospital reforms, hospitals began to charge private fees. The result was an improvement in the quality of health care in Vietnam. From 1990 to 2015, life expectancy increased from 71 to 76 and infant mortality decreased from 58 deaths for every 1,000 deaths to 18. In addition, underweight infants decreased from 37% of the population to only 14%.

Nonetheless, serious administrative problems remain. In Vietnam, a total of 1,531 hospitals exist with more than 50,000 clinics. This abundance of providers has resulted in a scrambled system that leads to overextension of resources and administrative capacity. Although an overflow of health care providers exists, the usage is concentrated. For example, private health care providers make up only 6% of all health care facilities while private health care providers provide 60% of outpatient services. Moreover, the private health care providers are almost exclusively located in urban areas. As a study on public hospital governance found, 48% of patients traveled from the provinces to the central providers.

As a result, the system is fragmented and overextended while most patients are concentrated in a minority of providers in the central and provincial hospitals. For instance, bed occupancy rates have reached between 120% and 160% in central hospitals. Three patients per bed is not an uncommon phenomenon.

Hospitals and Clinics

All of this begs the question, why do people choose hospitals much farther away than closer clinics to wait in long lines and receive only a portion of the required care? A part of the explanation can be simply that large national hospitals provide better care with more resources. Yet, a cultural explanation also provides insight into this question. By having an abundance of options and no central database to receive the necessary information to choose which doctor or hospital to receive care from, many Vietnamese rely on the recommendations of friends and families. The Vietnamese health care provider market is overextended and simultaneously concentrated in a select few hospitals. As a result, there are long wait times, resource scarcity in most hospitals and an overall lack of accurate market signals, which create inefficiencies in and of themselves.

Docosan

In other words, a need exists to consolidate the information and make booking appointments more accessible. However, many have responded to meet this need. In collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communication, the Ministry of Health launched a virtual platform to connect doctors and patients. Moreover, private start-ups like Pharmicity, Buy Med and e-Doctor have variations of a forum like this as each one seeks to streamline healthcare providers.

The Docosan application breaks down its search by both geography and health need. From there, it presents a set of doctors within the parameters for users to compare prices and reviews. Customers also have the opportunity to choose a doctor and set up an appointment. In essence, Docosan is significantly improving the market by centralizing the information, providing user-friendly access to the information and giving customers the ability to book appointments through a service that is free for users.

Although this may sound rudimentary, it is revolutionary. Now, customers no longer need to instinctively head to the large central hospitals with no appointment or idea if the hospital will provide the care they need. Customers can find the appropriate hospital or doctor and book an appointment. Meanwhile, doctors can reach a more extensive customer base while focusing more on patients by handing administrative tasks to Docosan. Beth Ann Lopez, a former Peace Corp and USAID worker who moved to Southeast Asia, founded Docosan in February 2020. As of October 2020, the platform had more than 70 doctors and 2,000 users. However, the numbers expeditiously increased to 50,000 users and more than 300 health care providers by April 2021. Therefore, scaling may be a problem as the number of users increases by 20% to 40% a month.

Looking Ahead

Nevertheless, Docosan received a massive boost in funding to help with this problem of scaling. In April 2021, Docosan received more than $1 million in seed funding that the Taiwanese-based firm, AppWorks, led. Docosan claims this is the largest seed funding for a Vietnamese health tech firm. With this boost, Docosan is looking to increase its specialized care options. This seed funding has brought high expectations. As Lopez, says, “Our long-term goal with Docosan is to transform how people access health care in Vietnam. We want it to be as easy as booking a taxi on an app.” Docosan is setting out to revolutionize health care in Vietnam by simply streamlining the decision process.

– Vincenzo Caporale
Photo: Flickr

Doctors Without Borders’ Response to COVID-19

Response to COVID-19
Doctors Without Borders has aided more than 70 countries including Yemen, Syria and countries in Latin America throughout the COVID-19 pandemic by providing extra medical professionals to help ease overwhelmed medical facilities. The organization’s main goal is to ensure that medical services can continue to run while protecting vulnerable populations. Medical services could shut down in many developing countries without the help of Doctors Without Borders. The volume of COVID-19 infection rates across the world resulted in Doctors Without Borders’ intervention in countries that traditionally have not required assistance in the past, such as Italy, France and the United States. Doctors Without Borders’ response to COVID-19 has been crucial in fighting this global pandemic. 

About Doctors Without Borders

Doctors Without Borders began in 1971 after the war in Biafra, Nigeria and the floods in eastern Bangladesh. A group of French doctors and journalists created the organization because they aspired to make a change in the medical world. Since 1971, Doctors Without Borders has expanded globally and saved millions of lives.

Today, Doctors Without Borders continues to respond to emergencies such as natural disasters and wars. In 2010, the organization rushed to Haiti after an earthquake put millions of lives in danger. Its team began treating victims within minutes. It provided emergency kits to solve any condition that could potentially occur during a natural disaster.

The organization has expanded to contribute to more long-term medical aid projects. This includes providing renovations for existing clinics, creating treatment programs and setting up ambulance services.

Doctors Without Borders’ Response to COVID-19

The Guardian reported that Doctors Without Borders began implementing outbreak preparedness measures including creating training programs in prevention and spreading, helping health facilities adapt to COVID-19 patients and sending additional doctors wherever necessary to help ease surges in January 2020. In the U.S., the organization ensured that vulnerable populations had equal access to healthcare. Doctors Without Borders’ response to COVID-19 involved the creation of education programs about COVID-19. It also designed mobile testing for migrant farmworkers in Florida.

A complication that emerged around the world since the beginning of the pandemic was that other diseases and viruses took a back seat while COVID-19 soaked up all medical resources. As a result, Doctors Without Borders reinstated HIV services during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide antiretroviral therapy treatments. 

COVID-19 has created several different obstacles for Doctors Without Borders to operate efficiently. Some of the obstacles include travel restrictions, risk of viral transmission, loss of access to services and more. The obstacles have been difficult to overcome but the lack of vaccine supply has been the most challenging.

Doctors Without Borders has pleaded for the European Union, the U.S. and other wealthy nations to reconsider the stance on South Africa and India’s patent waiver proposal. South Africa and India’s patent waiver proposal would lend a hand to developing countries by allowing the manufacturing of generic COVID-19 vaccines. As the fight for immunity continues, Doctors Without Borders believes that without sharing, the world has no chance of creating global immunity. However, the E.U. and the U.S. remain set to allow vaccine production to remain in the hands of pharmaceutical companies opting for profit. 

Looking Ahead

Until every country has equal access to immunity, the whole world is still at risk. Doctors Without Borders has vowed to continue helping the world cope with the damages that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused.

– Jessica Barile
Photo: Flickr

Why Are Children in Pakistan Testing Positive for HIV?

Children in Pakistan
Pakistan is a mostly Muslim country between Afghanistan and India in South Asia. The country gained independence in 1947 and the government operates as a parliamentary democracy. In recent years, the country has adopted Sunni Islam’s essence, with Northern Pakistan facilitating a sanctuary for various Islamic extremist groups. The life expectancy in the country averages 67 years. In 2015, an Asian Development Bank report determined that 24.3% of Pakistanis live below the poverty line and UNAIDS claimed that 190,000 Pakistani are HIV positive. The organization also stated that the number of deaths from HIV cases has increased by 385% since 2010, with only 12% of patients receiving treatment. Unfortunately, the number of children in Pakistan with HIV has been significant.

Recent HIV Outbreak

Between April and July 2019, medical professionals diagnosed 735 children in Pakistan with HIV. The World Health Organization (WHO) has labeled the epidemic as a Grade Two Emergency. This implies a moderate approach to combating the problem since, according to WHO, Pakistan is one of the lowest spending countries when it comes to funding for health. Pakistan utilizes only 3% of its GDP for healthcare, whereas its neighbor, Afghanistan, allots 10%. Per person, Pakistan spends less than $45 on annual healthcare.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many essential health issues have received neglect. In September 2020, Lancet Global Health constructed an investigation around how the pandemic has affected other health crises. In its findings, reports determined that deaths for HIV have increased by 10% since the beginning of the pandemic. The medical system has been under stress due to the pandemic, leading to a decrease in medical support for HIV. During this time, a local reporter named Gulbahar Shaikh, who had been covering a story in Ratodero around this time, decided to have his children tested to be safe. He was reportedly stunned when his daughter, Rida, came back positive for HIV.

Solutions

In November 2019, cases of HIV-positive children in Pakistan started to emerge in Ratodero, a city just north of Larkana. In fact, reports stated that 1,132 children had HIV in Ratodero. As soon as possible, the local government sent experts to respond. During their investigations, it came to light that many of the patients did not have infected parents, which set off a red flag to officials. They later found that many of the infected children saw a doctor named Muzaffar Ghanghro. He was a cheap, in-town physician working primarily with children. Finding this, officials made Ghanghro obtain a test for HIV too. Even when his results came back positive for HIV, he denied the results.

The officials found Ghanghro fully responsible for the increase in outbreaks within children in Ratodero, and police arrested him. He spent about two months in jail but the pediatrician has not received any charges.

In 2019, $6.3 million went into funding investigations for children in Pakistan with HIV, resulting in the shutting down of 300 medical facilities in Ratodero. However, unlicensed private clinics still function on “nearly every block,” and several facilities do not even have a place for physicians to wash their hands.

Save the Children

In 2020, UNAIDS and the United Nations HIV program reported that 2.8 million individuals under 20 were living with HIV. Additionally, over 50% of those individuals were under 10 years old.

An organization fighting for the betterment of children named Save the Children works in Pakistan. Together with the National Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Network, the organization provides reputable health facility managers to implement more humane health responses. The Mothers, Newborn and Child Health Program (MNCH) is an integral part of what Save the Children offers for healthcare. The program provides improved services from households to hospitals to moms and their children. The program’s focus is on the already existing primary healthcare facilities within areas of poverty in Pakistan. The program ensures a healthier emergency and medical experience for children in Pakistan.

Save the Children also has an initiative explicitly targeting individuals with HIV/AIDS. The project consists of providing more support to the physicians practicing in Pakistan. This program provides care to People Living with HIV (PLHIV) through Community and Home-Based Care services. The service actively raises awareness on transmission causes along with referring cases to further investigations. Together with the other efforts, Pakistan hopes to change the trend of rising HIV numbers.

– Libby Keefe
Photo: Flickr

,

A4AI: UN Joins the Alliance for Affordable Internet

Alliance for Affordable InternetAs social distancing measures and lockdowns isolated people, the internet helped keep communities connected and functioning. Households ordered groceries online, adults telecommuted to work and students attended school via distance learning. The internet asserted itself as a necessary utility. However, affordable internet access is far from universal. The United Nations has partnered with the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) to address this by increasing affordable internet access in developing countries as a means of reducing global poverty.

The UN Partners With A4AI

On January 26, 2021, the U.N. Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) announced its partnership with the Alliance for Affordable Internet. The Technology Bank works on a regional and national level to help countries identify and utilize relevant technology and foster partnerships to advance economic development. A4AI advocates and researches policy and regulatory reform with the aim of increasing affordable internet access worldwide. Together, the organizations are using their connections to build an even stronger and more influential network.

The Benefits of Internet Access

The partnership is timely as the COVID-19 pandemic, despite its negative impact, has opened policymakers’ minds to new strategies for reaching the 2030 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. The U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs wrote in its 2021 World Social Report that efforts to improve internet access are high-priority because the connectivity will help achieve multiple Sustainable Development Goals at once.

The report notes that increased internet accessibility has started to shift economic dynamics between rural and urban areas. The internet has enabled rural inhabitants to pursue traditionally urban work opportunities through remote work. Using the internet, “E-commerce makes it possible for goods and services to be sourced and provided directly in rural communities.” Farmers and other business owners can receive mobile payments and access mobile financial services. This urbanization defies traditional migration patterns, thus allowing rural communities to improve their quality of life more sustainably.

The report describes affordable internet access as necessary infrastructure, similar to roads and bridges. Without reliable internet, rural populations will be unable to partake in technological and economic innovation. This is why policymakers must tackle regulation and implementation of broadband infrastructure, including cables and satellites.

A4AI 2021 Strategy

A4AI emphasizes networking and knowledge-sharing in its 2021 plan for increasing affordable internet access. The plan features four strategic focuses.

  1. Advocate for Cost-Effective and Meaningful Connectivity: A4AI advocates for affordable internet access at the regional, national and international levels, partly through knowledge-sharing programs. The programs share resources and tools for the adoption and implementation of affordable internet policy with policymakers and other stakeholders. However, knowledge-sharing efforts go both ways. A4AI seeks to learn from the experiences of others as much as it seeks to recruit new partners to its cause.
  2. Boost Country and Regional Engagements: A4AI uses its partnerships to promote policy and regulatory reform on a regional level. Its flexible coalition model emphasizes “bottom-up policy change” in currently engaged countries. A4AI will tackle policy issues such as taxation, rural broadband and infrastructure sharing. A4AI seeks to broadcast past regional successes as an advocacy strategy. With the help of partners such as Smart Africa, A4AI will promote similar policy reforms elsewhere in respective regions. Partner organizations, like the Women’s Rights Online network, help A4AI promote a gender-inclusive policy framework. Expert and stakeholder input on policy across sectors is an overall priority.
  3. Develop and Democratize Knowledge: A4AI strives to produce evidence-based research focusing on “affordable access, meaningful access and sustainable access.” Research efforts include monitoring internet access and innovations in affordable internet policy worldwide. Sustainable access is a new focus for A4AI. It seeks to examine affordable internet access in the context of climate change and sustainability.
  4. Strengthen A4AI Engagements and Strategic Collaborations: A4AI boasts more than 100 members with whom it seeks to deepen its partnerships through greater technical assistance and other complementary opportunities. This includes a study in conjunction with the Internet Society Foundation on “the economic impact of the digital gender divide on digital economies.”

Looking Forward

The pandemic reinforced the importance of universal internet accessibility in the 21st century. As a result, A4AI and its partners increased advocacy efforts on the benefits of internet access to policymakers worldwide. In order to close the digital and economic divides between developed and developing economies and between rural and urban areas, the Alliance for Affordable Internet aims to achieve universal internet access.

– Mckenzie Howell
Photo: Flickr

, ,

The Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Jamaica

Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Jamaica
The impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Jamaica has been immense since the pandemic began in 2020. Jamaica has always been a popular vacation destination for people to enjoy the sun, beaches and culture. In fact, according to the World Bank, the country’s yearly tourism numbers reached 4.2 million in 2019, twice the numbers from two decades before. However, since COVID-19 struck the world, the country’s tourism industry fell downward as fewer persons could travel to Jamaica.

Businesses, such as eateries and resorts, have experienced a significant decline in business. As a result, 50,000 Jamaicans working in tourism lost their jobs, illustrating the substantial impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Jamaica. Thus, many persons that finally overcame poverty will most likely face this reality again. Before COVID-19, the World Bank’s graph depicted Jamaica’s poverty rate at around 19% in 2018 and 2019; however, it increased to about 23% in 2020.

COVID-19 Effects on Working Women

According to the World Bank, like other nations, the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Jamaica has had a tremendous effect on working women. About 78% of healthcare and humanitarian employees and 55% of staff in industries highly susceptible to COVID-19, such as commerce, resorts, restaurants and schooling, are women.

The Inter-American Development Bank stated that women have always had lower-income and less stable employment than men in Jamaica. Now, females are suffering more than males once again, because of higher unemployment rates and business closures. Also, the need for free healthcare has risen due to school closures and households staying indoors. In addition, with less money, more single mothers are unable to purchase sufficient meals compared to males.

How COVID-19 has Impacted Jamaica’s Economy

The Inter-American Development Bank stated that before the pandemic, it expected GDP for FY2020/21 to increase by 1.1% due to more tourist visits and sales of products like bauxite. However, the impact of COVID-19 on poverty has changed this scenario.

Also, the International Monetary Fund projected Jamaica’s economy to decline by more than 5% in 2020. It also forecasts government income to continue to fall twice as much as medical, societal and commercial costs increase. According to the World Bank, GDP declined from around 310,000 in 2019 to 280,000 in 2020, showing an actual reduction of 9.67%.

Recovery Strategies

The Jamaican public system has implemented various strategies to combat the impact of COVID-19 on poverty. The World Bank states that the country has reduced taxes to around 0.6% of GDP and has limited expenditures to 0.5%. Also, the government has diminished General Consumption Taxes for smaller-scaled businesses along with mandatory costs for farming products. Jamaica also relinquished some expenses for tactical gear and cleaning supplies.

CARE Programme

Jamaica has implemented its CARE Programme, which provides monetary compensation for the country’s neediest citizens. The Jamaican government implemented this program on March 24, 2020. So far, approximately 500,000 Jamaican citizens have benefited from this initiative, especially individuals who became jobless due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jamaica Information Service reported that these qualified persons received $9,000 bi-weekly every month.

According to the IMF, this strategy also includes:

  • Considerate contributions to persons without work or with casual employment before COVID-19.
  • Provisional allowances to persons who were working but lost their jobs due to COVID-19.
  • Funding to freelance workers whose income reduced due to the pandemic, as well as small-scale companies.

The program also assists senior citizens and persons who are ill or incapacitated.

Financial Budget Changes

Jamaica is also adjusting its financial plan to fit with reduced income, more medical expenses, changes to initial spending plans and the use of monetary supplies. For instance, the government has suspended import tariffs for essential healthcare materials. In addition, the Central Bank of Jamaica has reduced its required reserves for funds while keeping the rate at 0.5%. Doing so has helped to increase the amount of money in the economy. Also, the country has asked the IMF for $520 million to help them recover from the pandemic.

Strategy Results

These various government initiatives have significantly helped to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Jamaica. The CARE Programme donated $25 billion Jamaican dollars to assist the economy, which is the most significant accomplishment the country has achieved thus far in fighting the economic effects of COVID-19.

Nigel Clarke, Jamaica’s Minister of Finance and the Public Service, said that due to these strategies, the country has a lesser deficit than it did a decade ago with the global financial crisis. “In addition, we had accumulated cash resources of over [3%] of GDP through public body reform, inclusive of divestment of state enterprises, and fiscal over-performance,” he stated. Also, by controlling prices, the country now has more than $1 billion in reserve funds that it did not borrow. As a result, Jamaica is now in a better place with more possibilities for recovery.

Loop, a Jamaican News Website, reported that the Minister also said that some persons have returned to work due to various government initiatives. As a result, the rate of unemployed persons dropped from around 12% in July 2020 to 10.7% in October 2020. However, it will take two to four years to get back to the pre-pandemic rate of 7.2%.

According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, as of January 2021, the percentage of persons unemployed was 8.9%, which is an improvement from the previous year. However, the Jamaican government must continue developing innovative strategies to economically recover and reduce the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Jamaica.

– Jannique McDonald
Photo: Flickr

,

UNAIDS’ Strategy to End AIDS

In 2020, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) undisclosed its global strategy to end AIDS by 2030. The strategy, which started in May 2020 and will continue for the next decade, is a complex global program. This strategy defines AIDS as a public health threat and its main goal is to end it.

A Complex Timeline

UNAIDS’ global strategy is based on equity and human rights. Consequently, it aims to increase public awareness about AIDS, end discrimination toward those infected and improve access to treatments. This plan focuses on increasing the international response to people with AIDS to end the active transmission of the virus.
The ten-year-long plan contains various steps and phases. UNAIDS’ strategy includes meeting different targets inside these phases. For instance, within the ten-year plan, the 2025 target focuses on the need for global social and health services for infected people. By 2025, UNAIDS intends to improve the global response to poverty, discrimination and treatments to people living with AIDS.

Past Targets and Current Phases

Phase one of the long-term strategy began in May 2020 and ended in August of the same year. It consisted of quantitative surveys, interviews, consultations and discussions with stakeholders. The goal of these discussions was to gather data on the last UNAIDS strategy (2016-2020).
In 2020, UNAIDS discussed different issues concerning HIV with more than 10,000 stakeholders. They considered crucial topics such as political leadership, partnerships, COVID-19 and health coverage about AIDS.
The second phase of the UNAIDS plan is still in progress. During phase two, UNAIDS focused on analyzing and synthesizing the data gathered in phase one. In March 2021, UNAIDS introduced the results and new strategy to the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB). Reviews represent an essential part of UNAIDS’ strategy development process.

A Global Effort on Different Levels

UNAIDS intends to build programs that will help support everyone infected with AIDS. The internal units of UNAIDS work together to achieve both secondary and primary goals toward ending AIDS. For instance, UNAIDS staff, secretariat and advisory group cooperate to reach marginalized people.
In addition to internal collaboration, UNAIDS works on a global scale. For instance, UNAIDS works jointly with civil society organizations, individual experts, academia and research experts, development agencies, marginalized and key individuals or communities and inter-governmental organizations. UNAIDS staff collaborate with the private sector, associations, PCB partners and member states. This complex and effective system enables UNAIDS to achieve its goals, get international support and reach people on a global scale. UNAIDS embodies collaboration at international levels.

HIV Organizations Intensify their Efforts

Local non-profit organizations are part of the global effort to end AIDS. When UNAIDS revealed its next strategy to end AIDS, local HIV organizations intensified their efforts to work conjointly with UNAIDS. One organization, Together! ACT Now, a local HIV non-profit organization, stepped up to reach the UNAIDS 2030 commitment. This non-profit focuses on raising awareness in Malawi through education, theatres and group discussions. For instance, the organization put together a program called “Stronger Together! Community HIV Village Group”. This program provided workshops with AIDS experts, art sessions to express creativity and mobile clinics.
Together! ACT made progress in Malawi: it helped 90% of seropositive people aware of their status. 87% of these people are now receiving treatment.
UNAIDS’ next strategy to end AIDS by 2030 shows promise as it considers past failures, reviews and adapts to the current challenging sanitary context. To efficiently fight stigma, discrimination and virus transmission, it remains crucial to work on all levels simultaneously.  International collaboration coupled with national processes and local fieldwork is essential in fighting a global health issue, especially during a global pandemic.

-Soizic Lecocq
Photo: Flickr

Tourists Flock to Dagestan During COVID-19

DagestanOnce seen as a dangerous and violent place, the Republic of Dagestan in Russia has recently experienced a dramatic shift in visitation. Amid a strict lockdown, Russian tourists have swarmed to Dagestan during COVID-19. Although the republic remains one of Russia’s poorest regions, its tourist sector has thrived under pandemic conditions while Russian tourists scour for affordable trips and avoid capricious international borders.

A Brief History of Dagestan

Two consecutive wars in its neighbor region, Chechnya, greatly afflicted Dagestan. The Chechen revolution produced a “breeding ground for latent animosity” for both Chechnya and Dagestan. The spillover from the Chechen wars scarred Dagestani territories.

In the late 1990s, many Dagestani villages seceded from Russia and established Islamic law. The ensuing deployment of Russian troops to Dagestan resulted in 10 years of fighting.

Today, Russian soldiers are still present in Dagestan. However, the insurgency that gave the republic its fearsome reputation has been mostly suppressed.

Dagestan and COVID-19

From the beginning, Dagestan was an easy target for COVID-19. Many Dagestani men are truck drivers who travel across Russia to Iran and beyond. Furthermore, many citizens of Dagestan returned to villages unchecked when the lockdown was first declared in March 2020.

Low resources plagued Dagestan during COVID-19. The republic suffered from poor COVID-19 testing capacity, little to no PPE and a shortage of medicine/medics. In the summer of 2020, the immediate crisis had lightened and volunteers were a huge help, saving villages from turmoil.

However, Dagestan did its best to fight COVID-19. A new hospital in Gurbuki, Dagestan, opened in December 2019 and 50% of medical personnel fell ill. Instead of waiting for the government to provide aid, locals rounded up volunteers who began working in the wards. Additionally, volunteers set up checkpoints at the village’s entrance, attempting to control the spread of COVID-19. When the hospital started running low on oxygen, volunteers trekked 75 miles round trip to Makhachkala, Dagestan’s capital, to refill gas canisters. Dagestan’s efforts proved worthwhile as the region became attractive to tourists during the pandemic.

The Effects of Tourism in Dagestan

Dagestan has benefitted from the recent influx of visitors. Tourism brings in revenue and the increasing popularity of the region might save its culture.

In recent years, thousands of young people have left the isolated mountain villages of Dagestan to live in towns and cities. The departure of this many young people is enough to worry about the survival of villages in Dagestan. The abandonment of the ancient mountain villages, or auls, inevitably leads to the disappearance of the village altogether. Additionally, with the loss of the villages comes the loss of culture.

Chokh villager, Zaur Tshokholov, came up with the idea to save the villages using income from guesthouses. After gaining some fame from a documentary, Man of Chokh, Tshokholov’s guesthouse is now almost always full. Recently, more rooms have been added and other buildings have been renovated.

The guesthouses have sparked tourism potential across Dagestan. Tourism has provided income and job opportunities. Additionally, tourism has the potential to break down past political barriers that were put up by terrorist attacks from a different era. Not to mention, the increased interest in Dagestan could help save many villages. Dagestan during COVID-19 has been revitalized in a way once thought impossible.

– Addison Franklin
Photo: Flickr

Renewable Energy in Thailand

Renewable Energy in Thailand
Championed as a success of development in the region, Thailand has achieved upper-middle-income country status due to a steadily increasing economy and substantial reductions in poverty. Thailand’s energy consumption has grown rapidly in line with this development. It has seen an 18% increase in energy consumption in the last decade. The industrial and transport sectors account for the majority of national energy consumption. Furthermore, Thailand strives to meet its energy demands through the use of emergent renewable energy technologies. 

A Burgeoning Industry

The country has increasingly relied on renewable energy sources to ensure that its steady development is sustainable. Renewable energy accounts for a whopping 10% of the country’s energy usage. This number is comparable to the U.S. rate of 12% of total energy consumption from renewable sources. Thailand is on track to surpass the U.S. in just 10 years. Renewable energy in Thailand comes from diverse sources, relying equally on hydropower, solar, biomass and wind-generated power.

Thailand imports much of its renewable energy technology from overseas. However, future emphasis on domestic manufacturing of these technologies would create jobs. This emphasis will eventually position Thailand as a world leader in the use of renewable energy. The biofuel industry alone employs more than 102,000 people in Thailand, making Thailand the fifth largest employer in the liquid biofuels industry internationally. Thailand’s unemployment rate is meager at just 1%, but a large portion of these jobs are low-paying. Renewable energy jobs have the potential to create higher earners and address Thailand’s 10% poverty rate.

How Energy Access Alleviates Poverty

In addition to the thousands of jobs in the renewable energy sector, renewables are becoming more cost-effective than other sources like natural gas, so that more people have access to cheaper electricity than ever before. In fact, the World Bank states that nearly 100% of Thailand’s population has access to electricity, up from 82% in 2000.

However, this universal access to electricity comes at a cost: energy consumption makes up 10% of household spending per month, which qualifies Thailand as energy-poor. Paired with the fact that the cost of natural gas has been increasing recently, renewables are the affordable choice for decreasing the financial burden of energy on individual households.

Electricity access is vital when it comes to improving the living conditions of those in poverty. Electricity can enhance quality of life by providing refrigeration of food and increasing educational outcomes due to lighting at night, among other benefits.

The Future of Renewable Energy in Thailand

As Thailand’s demand for energy increases, it is essential that its development stems from a sustainable core. The Thai Ministry of Energy set a goal to reach 30% reliance on renewable energy by 2036. This would save an estimated $8 billion annually when considering the environmental and health costs of fossil fuel consumption.

Thailand must keep in mind the needs of its low-income citizens as it continues to integrate sustainable energy into its power grid. Further, renewable energy in Thailand should not be the only focus of sustainability initiatives. The focus should also be on reducing pollution and carbon emissions. With these accomplishments, Thailand is in an excellent position to secure a better economic future for its citizens.

– Helen Spyropoulos
Photo: Flickr

, , ,

Women’s Rights in France: Activism and Efforts

Women’s rights in FranceWith the rise of women’s rights movements in recent years, French citizens have mobilized to address gender issues, especially the prevalence of femicide and domestic violence. France has made much progress in the realm of gender equality, including the establishment of policies and programs promoting women’s rights in France under the Macron administration. However, there is still much to be done to reach true equality and to end gender-based violence.

Violence Against Women

In France, femicides —  the killing of women by a relative or significant other — have been a significant reason for protest in recent years. La Fondation des Femmes, or the Women’s Foundation, is one protest group that has formed around the issue as it believes government efforts to curb the violence are not enough to keep citizens safe. In a recent article from the BBC, the Women’s Foundation criticized the lack of adequate gun policy as firearms are one of the most common weapons used in femicides.

Additionally, pandemic-induced lockdowns have forced many women to be confined in the same space as abusers, resulting in a 30% increase in domestic violence reports, according to France24. Due to its continued prevalence, gender violence is a central concern for activists advocating for women’s rights in France.

The #MeToo movement also gained traction in France in 2017 under the French name #BalanceTonPorc. Though there were no significant convictions or resignations of perpetrators of sexual violence at first, the rise in protests and social media movements greatly increased the visibility of victims in 2020.

Efforts to Combat Gender-Based Violence

President Emmanuel Macron’s emphasis on gender equality provided much hope for feminist voters during his 2017 presidential campaign. As part of his pledge to support women’s rights in France, Macron implemented protective policies for women and has established the position of Secretariat of Equality between Women and Men, a role currently held by Marlène Schiappa. Under Macron’s administration, France scored 75.1% in 2020 in terms of the Gender Equality Index, ranking third-best among all members of the EU.

In response to protests and the advocacy of groups such as the Women’s Foundation, the French government implemented several pieces of legislation addressing gender violence. According to the BBC, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe held a domestic violence conference in 2019, during which he pledged to increase the number of temporary shelters for victims, improve the procedures of domestic violence cases and contribute more than $6 million to the cause. French parliament added to these measures by approving a law permitting doctors to reveal the identity of a patient if domestic violence is putting the patient’s life at risk.

Women’s Rights Progress

There has been some improvement as between 2019 and 2020 the number of domestic murders of women decreased from 146 to 90, a historically low number that the government believes to be a result of the work of its policies and law enforcement.

Despite government efforts to decrease gender violence, many individuals are still concerned by the alarming numbers of femicides. Protest groups in France are creating street collages highlighting femicide and sexual harassment. Caroline De Haas, the founder of the feminist movement NousToutes, told the Guardian that “nearly 100 deaths is no reason to celebrate.”

There are several hopeful developments for gender equality in France. However, despite an explicit government commitment to equality, the government must take additional steps to conquer disparities in female employment and leadership, gender violence, harassment and wage gaps. The continued protests asserting an end to violence against women demonstrate the need for more policy and execution of legislation for women’s rights in France.

– Sarah Stolar
Photo: pixabay

,

Costa Rica’s Success as a Nation

Costa Rica’s SuccessWhile numerous well-publicized problems plague many Latin American countries, especially in Central America, Costa Rica’s success as a nation stems from several factors. For decades, Costa Rica has had a more open political system and provided a better quality of life than its neighbors. Costa Rica is considered one of the happiest and most sustainable countries in the world. As news stories of Central America are often negative, Costa Rica provides a success story that inspires hope.

Political Stability and Representation

Since 1949, Costa Rica has maintained a stable and democratic government. Therefore, Costa Rica has avoided the political and gang violence that other Central American countries struggle with. Costa Rica has a strong constitution that enshrines many democratic rights, ensuring that rights are not eroded and that Costa Rican people are represented. Many people credit democratic values for Costa Rica’s success.

Costa Rica’s government has gained a reputation in Latin America for its socially progressive policies. Moreover, these politics led to much greater female representation in government than in many comparable countries. The nation has had a female president and has a very high proportion of women in its legislature. Women now comprise 45.6% of the legislature, which is the ninth-highest in the world.

The Economy, Education and Healthcare

Costa Rica has one of the most developed economies in Latin America. The economy is generally stable and had not experienced a significant downturn in decades until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The poverty rate halved in the past two decades and the country maintains a strong export economy. The country grows at an economic rate of 2.5%  annually. Costa Rica’s success in the economic realm is also because the government does not have an army, freeing up funds to spend on social programs and development.

Costa Rica is considered an upper-middle-income country with the lowest poverty rate in Central America. About 20% of the country earns less than $155 a month, pushing them into the poverty category. In terms of the international poverty line, less than 2% of Costa Ricans are considered impoverished —  an impressive accomplishment.

Costa Rica has a high-quality education system and its citizens have a high reputation for being well-educated. Education in the country is sufficiently accessible. Furthermore, according to the World Economic Forum, Costa Rica invested 8% of its GDP into education in 2019. Costa Rica has the second-highest life expectancy in North America, just behind Canada. Furthermore, the country’s robust healthcare system is considered to be one of the best in Latin America.

Happiness and Sustainability

Costa Rica was ranked the most sustainable and happy country on Earth by the Happy Planet Index. The country’s commitment to green energy and environmental sustainability can provide an example for the rest of the world. Costa Rica generates more than 99% of its energy from renewable sources, primarily relying on hydropower. It has also reversed deforestation and designated one-third of its land as protected natural reserves. This environmental protection preserves the country’s beauty and supports the tourism industry, a vital part of the economy.

– Clay Hallee
Photo: Flickr