Archive for category: Health

Information and stories on health topics.

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10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Poland

Life Expectancy in Poland

Of all the countries comprising the EU, Poland has one of the lowest life expectancy rates, ranking 22 out of 28. With a population of 38,420,687 people and an average life expectancy of 77 years, Poland has been facing healthcare problems for years. In the past two decades, several reform programs have been implemented to address these issues and life expectancy is on the rise. These top 10 facts about life expectancy in Poland describe the issues Polish citizens are facing and the lengths the Ministry of Health is going to in order to help.

10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Poland

  1. Life expectancy in Poland has risen consistently over the past several years. In 2014, the life expectancy for men was 73 years and for women it was 81 years. This is an increase of about four years for both men and women since the year 2000.
  2. Poland still ranks lower than average for life expectancy among other European countries. The average life expectancy of the EU is 78 years for men and 84 years for women. This discrepancy with the Polish population could be due to high tobacco and alcohol usage, obesity and various socioeconomic influences, with 36 percent of overall health issues being traced back to these factors.
  3. Polish people are 60 percent more likely to die from cardiovascular diseases than the rest of Europe. Among the population, cardiovascular diseases are responsible for 40 to 50 percent of deaths and cancer is responsible for an average of 25 percent. In 2015, Poland introduced a 10-year cancer strategy focusing on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and improving quality of life.
  4. With 6.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people, Poland ranks higher than the EU average for accessibility. However, there are only 5.2 nurses and 2.3 physicians practicing per 1,000 people, which ranks among the lowest in the EU (8.4 nurses and 3.6 physicians on average, per 1,000 people). In addition, healthcare services are divided by regional, county and municipal governments, making access and coordination among them difficult.
  5. The current unemployment rate in Poland is 3.5 percent, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. However, the CIA World Factbook lists the poverty rate at 17 percent, as recently as 2015. The difference in healthcare between the population with the highest income and the lowest income is a 20 percent gap, with 71 percent of the highest income population reporting good health compared to just 53 percent of those with the lowest income.
  6. Although the average GDP spending for health in Poland has risen from 5.3 to 6.3 percent over the last 20 years, it is still well below the EU average of 9.9 percent. Per capita, Poland spends an average of EUR 1,272, making it the fifth lowest in the EU for spending. Private out-of-pocket spending made up about 23 percent of health spending, versus the EU average of 15 percent.
  7. There is an inability to train and retain an adequate number of healthcare workers and providers. Family medicine is not popular due to poor working conditions, low wages and limited career options. To combat this, a policy (Directive 2005/36/EC) was implemented in 2014 allowing all pediatricians and internists to work as primary healthcare physicians as well, without requiring any additional education or experience.
  8. Poland ranks fifth lowest for eHealth adoption and utilization among general practitioners and second-lowest for information and communication technology in the medical field. On average, 1.5 general practitioners use eHealth resources compared to the EU average of 1.9. The European Structural and Investment Funds are aiming to help further digitize the healthcare system in Poland, which in turn will lower wait times and provide more opportunities and access to a healthcare provider.
  9. Between 2014 and 2020, Poland will receive EUR 3 billion to fund health-related programs. The focus will be on emergency medical infrastructure, long-term healthcare, tobacco/alcohol/obesity prevention programs and eHealth access. The Polish Ministry of Health is committed to increasing public spending on health by 35 percent by 2024.
  10. Poland implemented the National Health Programme in order to address public health issues and promote healthy behaviors and activity. By using mass media, government-funded programs, such as the National Programme for Prevention of Alcohol-Related Problems, and legal acts, such as the Act of Physical Culture, the National Health Programme is working towards halving the growth rate of obesity and diabetes and reducing the amount of alcohol abusers by 10 percent, both by 2025. It is also aiming to reduce the amount of tobacco use by two percent by 2020.

With Polish healthcare falling short compared to EU averages, the Polish government and Ministry of Health have acknowledged the problem and are in the process of refocusing efforts to improve the quality of medical care in the country. These top 10 facts about life expectancy in Poland show that there has been an improvement in overall healthcare and life expectancy, although efforts are still ongoing. Life expectancy in Poland has been increasing by an average rate of 0.21 percent and with these changes that growth will continue over the next several years.

– Jessica Winarski
Photo: Unsplash

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Top 4 Organizations Fighting Period Poverty

Organizations Fighting Period PovertyLack of access to menstrual products impacts many girls and women in both the developing and developed world. Having a period without access to proper sanitation products can hurt a girl’s educational and life opportunities. However, these four organizations fighting period poverty are providing access and empowerment to girls and women in need.

Top 4 Organizations Fighting Period Poverty

  1. PERIOD
    Highschoolers Nadya Okamoto and Vincent Forand founded PERIOD in 2014 to combat period poverty and period stigma. Okamoto was inspired to help launch the nonprofit after dealing with homelessness as a teen. Homeless women often lack access to menstrual products because they cannot afford them or because shelters do not have enough products to go around. Today, PERIOD has more than 300 chapters that help distribute period products around the world, and so far, 510,181 women have been served by PERIOD’s work. The nonprofit is also fighting to eliminate the luxury tax on tampons and pads in the U.S. and abroad.
  2. Freedom4Girls
    Founded in 2016 by Tina Leslie, Freedom4Girls was inspired by Leslie’s experience working with the charity Maji Safi Projects in Kenya. During her time there, Leslie helped with Maji Safi Projects’ period poverty campaign, which consisted of creating sewing workshops for local women, making washable, reusable menstrual pads and delivering the pads to schools in the semi-rural area of Mombasa. The project also provided reproductive and menstrual education to girls and women in the community. Currently, Freedom4Girls provides menstrual products to 30 schools in the U.K. in order to increase girls’ abilities to go to school and participate in extracurricular activities while on their periods, since often, teachers are tasked with supplying menstrual products to their students. Freedom4Girls also works with community groups and other organizations fighting period poverty to host “Donation Stations” in order to collect menstrual products for other vulnerable groups, such as refugees.
  3. Dignity Period
    Dignity Period is a prime example of women’s empowerment and women’s health coming together to improve lives. In 2014, Fulbright Scholar Dr. Lewis Wall spent eight months improving residency education in gynecology and obstetrics at Mekelle University’s College of Health Sciences in Ethiopia. During his time there, he and his wife met Freweini Mebrahtu, owner of the Mariam Seba Sanitary Products Factory. Seeing that period poverty was an issue that could be resolved through outreach, education and empowerment, Wall and Mebrahtu partnered to create Dignity Period. Today, Dignity Period partners with Mekelle University to conduct studies about the socioeconomic and cultural impact of periods and to provide education; at the same time, the nonprofit provides reusable menstrual pads to community members through Mebrahtu’s factory, which trains and employs women in the area.
  4. Days for Girls
    Days for Girls (DfG), like other organizations fighting period poverty, provides reusable menstrual products for girls in need. However, it is unique in the way its menstrual products are created and how they impact communities. Days for Girls has developed menstrual product kits that are provided to women and girls in need. Each DfG Kit is sewn by volunteer individuals or chapters and begins as a Portable Object of Dignity (POD). PODs include one waterproof shield and two absorbent liners and serve as gateways to the creation of small businesses for local women. PODs are extremely affordable and can be easily adapted to the needs of the customer, meaning that women in developing countries can use PODs to start and grow their own micro-enterprises selling DfG Kits. There are five kits currently distributed by Days for Girls: the POD, DfG POD Plus, Supreme DfG Kit, Heavy Flow DfG Kit and the Menstrual Cup Kit. Each kit contains reusable menstrual pads, a washcloth, a drawstring bag, panties and other essentials for a dignified period.

Women and girls around the world face the impacts of not having access to menstrual products and reproductive education. Absences from school, decreased opportunities for socioeconomic mobility and loss of dignity are only a few of the struggles faced by those living in period poverty. As a result, organizations fighting period poverty are taking a stand to empower these women and improve their futures.

– Shania Kennedy
Photo: Pixabay

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Top 10 Facts About Living Conditions in Bahrain

Living Conditions in Bahrain

Bahrain is an archipelago made up of 33 small islands located between Saudia Arabia and Qatar in the Persian Gulf. In 1971, Bahrain declared its independence from the United Kingdom and then in 2002, they established themselves as its own kingdom. Known for its petroleum exports, they were the first Arab country to discover it in 1932. These 10 facts show what living conditions are like in Bahrain.

Top 10 Facts About Living Conditions in Bahrain

  1. The International Labour Organisation states that Bahrain’s unemployment rate is at 7.5 percent based on its econometric models. The majority of its unemployment comes from both the female and male age group of 15-24 where it is 25.4 percent and 32.3 percent. The government has adopted policies such as the National Employment Scheme of 2006 focusing on broader labor reform by covering all workers to improve its living conditions in Bahrain.
  2. Shiites, a group of people in the Bahrain society who make up 75 percent of the Muslim population, claims that the government is discriminatory against them. They are apart of the poorest population of the Bahrain society. One of the reasons behind this group’s poverty was that when the oil boom occurred, the country employed these foreign Shiites because they were not formally educated and the ruling Sunni treats them with suspicion.
  3. The adult literacy rate has risen from 69.8 percent in 1981 to 95.7 percent in 2015, which shows an annual growth rate of 8.49 percent. This is a result of the government’s focus on education and growth in the economy during those years. The country has benefited from its education growth, as it has improved the living conditions in Bahrain.
  4. The oil and natural gas industries play a huge role in boosting the country’s economy and thus, the living conditions in Bahrain, as it is involved in 85 percent of its budget revenues. The country’s oil refinery was opened in 1935 and has a capacity of around 250,000 barrels a day.
  5. Although Bahrain does not experience extreme poverty, around 12.2 percent of its population lives on less than $5 per day. There is an income inequality where the wealthiest 20 percent own 41.6 percent of the population’s income. Bahrain’s policies that they have adopted were recognized by UNHABITAT, who saw its efforts in alleviating the poverty of the urban poor through legislation that creates jobs.
  6. Bahrain’s health insurance policies have resulted in universal health coverage for the whole country. In 2018, the government passed the Health Insurance Law (“The Law”) that provides both non-government and government coverage in hopes to create a more competitive economic place.
  7. Bahrain has a problem with childhood obesity, as 35.3 percent of children aged 5-19 are determined obese according to the Nutrition Landscape Information System’s 2015 report. This is alarming, considering that there a lot of negative health qualities associated with obesity such as high blood pressure and heart problems.
  8. It is reported that Bahrain will be facing a water crisis by 2040 because of the handling of its water sources. Between its shortage in freshwater resources and its wells drying up, in the near future, Bahrain might experience challenges in acquiring drinking water and sanitation.
  9. The education system in Bahrain is considered to be one of the highest levels in the Persian Gulf. Not only is education free for all children living in Bahrain, but the Ministry of Education also provides textbooks in each subject for every student enrolled in public schools at no cost. Public education is segregated in terms of gender, and boys and girls are taught by a staff of the same gender.
  10. Women face discrimination in the workforce as they only make up 33 percent of the private workforce in Bahrain. Even though the country has high graduation rates of 60 percent in 2013-2014, women also see discrimination in terms of its bonuses and pay compared to men in the same positions.

For Bahrain, its petroleum exports have benefited the economy as it results in 70 percent of the government’s revenues and 11 percent of its GDP. Along with its petroleum exports, they have heavily invested in tourism and financial sectors in its city in the past decades. Bahrain is a country that is on the up and coming, but it still needs to address water shortage in its future and discrimination toward women.

– Nicholas Ponzio
Photo: Flickr

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Ways to Improve Health in Zimbabwe

Ways to Improve Health in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s healthcare system is in need of reformation. Since 2000, approximately three million health workers have fled the nation, and the health of the society has suffered since then. Non-governmental organizations around the world are currently working together to improve healthcare in Zimbabwe.

NGOs are working hard to fix the issue of lack of adequate healthcare; here are ways to improve health in Zimbabwe.

Ways to Improve Health in Zimbabwe

  • Investing in disease treatment and prevention: Zimbabwe suffers from a lack of health workers; there are only about 1.23 health workers per 1,000 citizens. Because of this, it is difficult to treat epidemics of communicable diseases like cholera and HIV. A cholera outbreak in 2008 killed 4,000 people due to the small number of available doctors. USAID recognizes this as a problem, and every year, the organization donates nearly $100 million to disease treatment programs in Zimbabwe.  The prevalence of HIV has lowered from 14 percent to 13.3 percent in one year, but more can be done to treat other infectious diseases.
  • Improving clinics: Another way to improve healthcare in Zimbabwe is to invest in the advancement of medical clinics. Most clinics in Zimbabwe are overcrowded and undeveloped, but the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) plans to renovate 52 clinics in the region. The renovations include storage for crucial medications and space for sanitation and hygienic facilities. Additionally, UNDP’s Global Fund implemented a new health information system to hasten responses to outbreaks and epidemics. These positive changes have contributed to steady rates of health workers’ job retention.
  • Aiding expectant mothers: Pregnant women are one group that is most reliant on Zimbabwe’s healthcare system. Since 2014, World Bank’s Global Funding Facility has helped rebuild the deteriorated system. One revamping program, the Urban Voucher Program, provides free maternity care to women living in the bottom 40 percent of average annual income. Before the UVP, women would have to pay a $25 fee to visit a health clinic, and most of them were not able to afford it. After the implementation of the vouchers, family planning and neonatal services have strengthened in low-income communities, significantly reducing the amount of money that families spend on healthcare. While maternal mortality rate was 614 deaths per 100,000 births in 2014, it decreased to 443 deaths per 100,000 births during the first year of the UVP.

More can be done to improve healthcare in Zimbabwe. The success of these NGOs can mobilize others to join in on the efforts against disease and poverty.

– Katherine Desrosiers
Photo: Flickr

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Top 10 Facts About Period Poverty in the U.K.

Top Ten Facts about Period Poverty in the U.K.
Nearly 800 million women and girls menstruate daily. Period poverty encompasses the shame, guilt and cost barriers around access to sanitary products. One in 10 girls in the United Kingdom is unable to afford sanitary wear, resulting in detriment to their self-esteem, education and overall quality of life. Eliminating period poverty has often been the focus of nonprofits and the U.K.’s government. Below are the top 10 facts about period poverty in the U.K. that are important to know.

Top 10 Facts About Period Poverty in the U.K.

  1. An estimated 49 percent of girls have missed a day of school due to their periods. One in five girls surveyed in a 2019 study reported being a victim of bullying and teasing because of their periods. Girls faced increased feelings of shame and embarrassment when on their periods or discussing their period in an academic setting. This resulted in absences from school and led female students to struggle to keep up with their schoolwork.
  2. Women in the U.K. spend as much as 18,450 euros ($20.744 USD) due to their period across their lifetime. The total accounts for the costs of sanitary items, pain relief for cramps, new underwear and other period-related costs such as sweets or magazines. Of those interviewed, 91 percent purchase pain relief to ease the symptoms of periods on a regular basis. All of the 2,134 women surveyed responded that feminine hygiene products should cost less money, and some added that the government should remove its tax on those products.
  3. Free Periods is a campaign supplying low-income girls with menstrual products. Amika George, a 19-year-old student studying at Cambridge University, founded Free Periods. George called on the U.K. government to assure sanitary products are widely available in educational settings. The campaign also held a protest in London to bring attention to the ongoing issue.
  4. Plan International UK found that 10 percent of girls are unable to afford sanitary products. The cost of sanitary products has led 14 percent of girls to borrow sanitary products from friends, 12 percent to improvise sanitary products and 19 percent to change to less suitable products.
  5. Bloody Good Period, created by Gabby Edlin in 2018, supplies 25 asylum seeker centers in the U.K. with a flow of menstrual products. The growing initiative aspires to supply more food banks and centers in its mission to end period poverty.
  6. Girls throughout the U.K. not only miss school but often improvise sanitary products to use during their period. Girls have shared their stories of wrapping a sock around their underwear to control the bleeding. Others have wrapped rolls of tissues or newspapers in order to prevent leakage through their uniforms.
  7. In 2018, the Scottish government rolled out a plan to provide free sanitary products to women unable to afford them. Projections determine that it will reach approximately 18,800 low-income women and girls in an attempt to combat period poverty.
  8. The Gift Wellness Foundation provides non-toxic sanitary pads to women in crisis throughout the U.K. The Foundation relies on donations and the generosity of local community businesses. Donated sanitary products contain all-natural ingredients to ensure they are free of harmful chemicals.
  9. As of 2017, an estimated 68,000 women lived on the streets in temporary housing or shelters. These women have to make decisions that often leave them without sanitary products due to their financial situation. Each year, shelters get an allowance for condoms but not for sanitary products.
  10. Three individuals who met as interns at a London advertising agency founded #TheHomelessPeriod. Inspired to minimize the hidden side of an inequality, #TheHomelessPeriod aims to have tampons and towels available in homeless shelters through donations, crowdfunding and fundraising.

The top 10 facts about period poverty in the U.K. show the frequent inaccessibility of sanitary products to girls and women throughout the nation. While the Scottish government leads the way in the efforts to end period poverty, other governments have yet to replicate its actions. Individuals within the U.K. have taken it upon themselves to create campaigns to combat the hidden inequality and have seen success in their efforts.

– Gwen Schemm
Photo: Unsplash

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3 Major Health Problems from Water Pollution

Health Problems from Polluted Water

Water—our lives depend on it, but for many people around the world, this essential, life-giving liquid brings disease and even death. Today nearly one billion people have limited access to safe, clean water because of pollutants from inadequate sewage systems, industrial dumping, agricultural run-off and irresponsible manufacturing practices. The result? More people die every year from water contamination than war and other forms of violence combined. Each year, around 840,000 people die of health problems from water pollution.

3 Health Problems from Water Pollution

1. Diarrhea: The most common health problem from water pollution, diarrhea causes loose, watery stools, abdominal pain, dehydration and even death. Diarrhea is commonly caused by drinking, cooking or cleaning with water contaminated by feces. In India, a country where roughly half the population practice open defecation, diarrhea is the third leading cause of death in children under the age of five. In 2015, diarrhea killed an estimated 321 children every day in India. However, India is making efforts to prevent and treat diarrhea. In 2014, the country approved the Integrated Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhea (IAPPD), with one of its main focuses being to provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation to Indian households. Since its adoption of IAPPD, India has improved treatment cover to those with diarrhea, launched immunization campaigns to treat diarrheal disease, and as of 2018 constructed household toilets in 52.16 percent of the IAPPD’s targeted 12 million rural Indian households. Because of these efforts, deaths of children below-four children in India have decreased by 52 percent over the last several years.

2. Cholera: Contracted by consuming contaminated water or food, cholera’s main symptoms are severe diarrhea and vomiting which leads to dehydration. There are an estimated 3-5 million cholera cases every year and the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 54 percent of all cases are from developing countries in Africa whose inhabitants lack access to safe water, basic hygiene and sanitation facilities.  The Lake Chad Basin, which includes Nigeria, Niger, Mali, and Cameroon, reported that in 2018 there were eight times as many cholera cases compared to the previous four years in that region, with more than 23,000 people affected and over 388 deaths. In response to the increased cholera outbreaks in Africa, GAVI the Vaccine Alliance, along with WHO and the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC), launched a massive vaccination drive throughout five African regions to help treat and extinguish further epidemics. Between 1997 and 2012 only 1.5 million doses of cholera vaccines were administered worldwide, but thanks to the vaccine drive, in just the first four months of 2018, 15 million cholera vaccines were approved for administration. The vaccine drive is part of a global initiative to reduce cholera deaths by 90 percent by the year 2030.  Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI the Vaccine Alliance, shares that despite the vaccine drive’s importance in addressing the outbreaks, improved water and sanitation is “the only long-term, sustainable solution to cholera outbreaks.”

3. Dysentery: Dysentery is an inflammation of the intestines. Its symptoms include bloody diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps and even excreting large portions of the intestinal membrane. Like many other health problems from water pollution, dysentery is spread through fecal-polluted water, and mainly impacts impoverished communities who rely on makeshift sewage systems and contaminated water sources for sanitation and drinking. Dysentery can be a major concern in refugee camps where insufficient and overwhelmed sanitation facilities and open-air sewage dumping become a breeding ground for water pollution diseases like dysentery, as the recent Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh revealed. Dr. Samir Howlader, National Program Officer for Migration Health at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that when the Rohingya refugees—over a million people have fled their homeland of Myanmar to seek refuge in Bangladesh—first arrived in the Bangladesh camp of Cox’s Bazaar in 2017 there were “effectively no facilities” for the new arrivals and dysentery was a common concern. In 2019 however, the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, made it possible for the largest-ever refugee camp sewage treatment plant to be constructed in Cox’s Bazaar. The now-operating plant treats the human waste of 150,000 people every day, protecting the refugee community from the previous dangers of sewage-contaminated water. Medical clinics set up in the camp by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have also helped treat and eliminate dysentery from the community. Since 2017, over one million refugees have received consultations at IOM clinics, and Rick Brennan, director of emergency operations for WHO states that there has not been any significant increase in disease thanks to these diligent efforts.

Though health problems from water pollution claim too many lives each year, great progress is being made towards a solution. The UN reported that over the last two decades, 2.6 billion people gained access to an improved drinking water source.  Now more than ever there is hope as the global community and developing nations work together to address water pollution problems and create a world where everyone has access to safe, clean water.

– Sarah Music
Photo: Flickr

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Five Benefits of Needle-Free Vaccines

Benefits of Needle-Free VaccinesThere are many different methods of non-traditional vaccines or needle-free vaccines that are being produced and becoming more available every day. For example, these include dry powder vaccines or patches. Most notable are jet injectors. Jet injectors use a large amount of pressure and fluid to breach the skin in a very fast motion. These vaccines are effective for usage in countries with extreme poverty because traditional vaccines need to be refrigerated. They also require a way to keep needles sterile. These five benefits of needle-free vaccines detail on how to solve these problems and more.

Five Benefits of Needle-Free Vaccines

  1. Jet Injectors Have Been Around for a Long Time: Jet injector technology might sound new, but it’s not as new as one would think. These kinds of shots were administered back in World War II. In fact, they were actually used through the 1980s until it was discovered that they were spreading diseases. This was due to the fact that the technology hadn’t been developed enough. Until it could be, the jet injectors had to stop being used. Now they have made jet injectors to be single-use, so there is no risk of spreading diseases between patients.
  2. They Require Fewer Resources: Jet injectors have been the most popular method of needle-free vaccines as they tend to use far less of the actual vaccine. This is arguably one of the most important benefits of needle-free vaccines. Jet injectors use up to 60 percent less vaccine than traditional needle vaccines. This is particularly helpful when there are shortages. Because jet injectors use a significantly less amount of the vaccine, it is also a cheaper option. For instance, the cost is $3-4 per vaccine or even $900 for 500 vaccines.
  3. They Are Less Painful: Another problem with the traditional vaccine is that it can cause pain in patients. This can become especially difficult when patients need multiple shots. Furthermore, those who fear needles are less likely to get a vaccination. On the pain scale, a pain score of three is when a person indicates that they are in some pain. This is important to know because when 100,000 subjects were given the jet injection, they had a pain score of zero. This painless injection allows for an alternative to the needle as it can easily administer multiple shots without pain. Lower pain scores are one of the key benefits of needle-free vaccines, as they allow the device to reach the broadest swath of patients possible.
  4. Less Risk of Injury After Disposal or Use: Needlestick injuries are another key problem with traditional vaccines. Needlestick injuries are injuries that happen when a needle accidentally penetrates the skin. The people that are exposed to these injuries are people who work with and around needles. Additionally, this can also happen to people like garbage-men when needles are not disposed of properly. When this kind of injury happens, they can transmit: HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and AIDS. With the invention of jet injections, the risk of these injuries is reduced to nearly impossible as these injections need intense pressure to be administered.
  5. They Are More Efficient: The reason these jet injectors were being used in wars was that they are a faster and more efficient way of administering vaccines. Now that the technology has advanced over the last 70 years, these injections are less painful, more sanitary and now even faster. The injection lasts 1/10th of a second. It’s actually so fast that patients can barely feel it. This is helpful for those people in countries with extreme poverty as they are able to administer a lot of vaccines in a short amount of time.

With these benefits of needle-free vaccines, it’s clear this is the direction that the world should be headed in. They are cost-effective, sanitary, fast and nearly painless. As a result, access to vaccines could be provided to third-world countries at a more effective and reliable rate as they don’t need refrigeration and clean water.

– Ian Scott
Photo: Flickr

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Improving Quality of Life for Disabled Persons in Vietnam

Disabled Persons in VietnamIn Vietnam, 5.8 percent of the population is considered disabled. For a country home to 95 million individuals, this equates to more than 5.2 million people. Often, those with disabilities face circumstances that challenge their quality of life, such as limited access to education, fewer work opportunities and difficulty with transportation and self-care. This article discusses three ways quality of life is improving for disabled persons in Vietnam.

USAID Assistance

Assisting disabled persons in Vietnam has been a top priority of USAID since the 1990s. Since then, the nation has made great progress in establishing equal rights for disabled people, whether their disability is classified as visual, auditory, mobile, speech-based or cognitive. The U.S. government has allocated more than $100 million to the disabled population and 30,000 individuals have received direct hands-on assistance, including vocational training, independent living assistance and job training. Several laws and amendments have been passed, all designed to improve the quality of life among the disabled population, including:

  • 2001: Amendment to the Constitution of Vietnam
  • 2006: Vocational Training Law
  • 2010: National Law on Persons with Disabilities
  • 2012: National Action Plan to Support People with Disabilities

The 2017 USAID report breaks down the types of assistance offered and the impact they have had. Over the course of the year, the organization met a variety of policy milestones, including the development of city construction projects to improve transportation and create sustainable housing for families. More than 9,000 people with disabilities received direct assistance, increasing the number of people with access to services by 29 times. As a prevention tactic, 62,000 children between the ages of one and six were screened for signs of future development of disabilities. In the towns of Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh, 17 rehabilitation units were set up and provided training for medical professionals.

While the 2018 report has not been released yet, USAID is carrying out a number of additional projects, with completion goals set in 2020. Among those is the Accessibility for Inclusion Project, a mission designed to not only raise awareness regarding basic rights of those with disabilities but to increase access to public buildings, ultimately expanding their social and physical capabilities. By the time the project is completed in 2020, research projects that at least 1,800 people will receive formal training to advocate for physical accessibility, and approximately 50,000 people with disabilities in Vietnam will have improved accessibility rights.

Global Disability Rights Now: The Impact

The Global Disability Rights Now! organization is focused on enforcing 10 specific disability rights in impoverished countries, ultimately putting an end to discrimination based on capability. Some of the principles include creating reasonable accommodations, changing the concept of defining disability and encouraging full participation in society. Global Disability Rights Now! carries out projects in Armenia, Guatemala, Kenya, Vietnam, Mexico and Peru.

One of the most successful projects to improve the lives of disabled persons in Vietnam was the mission to move towards disability inclusion in employment, a program that provided Disability Equality Training (DET) to the non-disabled community. It was designed to raise awareness towards potential barriers in employment that the disabled community in Vietnam face and to provide them with the resources they need to understand how to treat them as equals.

U.S. and Vietnam Partnership

On April 20, 2019, the USAID signed a memorandum of intent that was designed to drastically improve the quality of life for disabled persons in Vietnam. Specifically, the memorandum targeted seven Vietnamese provinces, including Quang Tri, Hue, Quang Nam, Binh Dinh, Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh. It is working to provide direct care to disabled individuals, along with expanding rehabilitation centers and developing community-level social services. USAID showed its support for those living with disabilities through celebrating Vietnam’s National Disability Day on April 18, 2019. More than 600 participants attended the “Run For Persons with Disabilities – No Distance, no Limitation” event, both with and without disabilities.

Although living conditions are still not ideal for individuals with disabilities in Vietnam, the programs and advocacy efforts being put in place by USAID are projected to drastically improve their lives. Efforts such as DET and the Accessibility for Inclusion Project are being implemented to equalize the two demographics, and in doing so, the nation expects to see an increase in opportunities and fair treatment among the disabled population in Vietnam by 2020.

– Anna Lagattuta
Photo: Flickr

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Fighting Breast Cancer in Developing Countries

Breast Cancer in Developing CountriesWomen in developing countries lack access to safe and cost-effective breast cancer screening practices, leaving cancer frequently undetected. As a result, three times as many women in low-income, developing countries die each year due to breast cancer compared to developed countries. A team of young women from John Hopkins University is working to change this disparity and save lives through the creation of a new biopsy device.

Early Detection: A Better Chance for a Cure

Great strides have been made in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer in developed countries. More than 80 percent of women diagnosed in North America, Sweden and Japan survive. However, the situation is far different for women in the developing world. Less than 40 percent of women diagnosed in developing countries survive the disease, according to the WHO. This disparity in fatalities can be attributed to a lack of early detection. Studies in Europe and Canada found that the risk of breast cancer death decreased by more than 40 percent among women who underwent early diagnostic screening. In the U.S., data reveals the widespread use of early detection procedures and a 39 percent decrease in U.S. breast cancer fatalities after the 1990s.

Screening for Breast Cancer in Developing Countries

In 2003, the World Health Survey found that only 2.2 percent of women aged 40 to 69 years received breast cancer screening in low- to middle-income nations. More than half of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer in those nations have already progressed to stage III or IV disease. In the United States, 71.5 percent of women aged 50-74 have been screened within the past two years and over 90 percent of recently-diagnosed women have locoregional breast disease.

Why Aren’t Women Screened?

One of the main factors preventing women in low- to middle-income countries from early breast cancer detection is the high cost of screening procedures. Core needle biopsy (CNB) is a common diagnostic procedure that allows doctors to test a sample of breast tissue from the area of concern. In high-income countries, doctors use efficient and expensive disposable CNB drivers for breast biopsies. Low-income countries often cannot afford the same expense, relying instead on reusable drivers. These drivers are easily contaminated and the cleaning process is extremely time-consuming and costly, rendering breast cancer biopsies unavailable to most women in developing countries.

Ithemba: Hope for Women with Breast Cancer

A group of Johns Hopkins undergraduates won a 2019 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for their creation of a safe, low-cost, reusable breast cancer biopsy device. After learning of the unsafe and inefficient diagnostic methods in developing countries, the team of four young women set out to create a safe and cost-effective CNB driver. Their device is named Ithemba, the Zulu word meaning “hope.” the CNB driver is centered around increasing women’s access to early breast cancer diagnosis. The device’s disposable needle contains a chamber that traps contaminants and is easily sterilized with a bleach wipe, ensuring safe reuse. Ithemba is expected to last up to 20 years before replacement is necessary.

The Johns Hopkins students have conducted over 125 stakeholder interviews. They predict that within the first five years on the market, Ithemba will impact the lives of 300,000 women in developing countries. In May of 2018, the team filed for a patent and are now searching for low-cost manufacturing methods and finalizing estimated costs.

Valerie Zawicki, one of the four undergraduates on the team, insists that the location of a woman’s home should not determine her odds of surviving cancer. The mission of Ithemba is to give all women—no matter where they live—hope with the chance to fight and survive breast cancer.

– Sarah Musick
Photo: Wikimedia

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Kenya Eliminates Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus

Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus
The silent killer, otherwise known as maternal and neonatal tetanus, is a life-threatening bacterial infection in newborns and their mothers that is associated with nonsterile delivery and cord-care practices. Although it is vaccine-preventable, when tetanus develops, mortality rates are extremely high. This is especially true when the appropriate medical care is not available, which is often the case in low-income counties. In 1999, there were 57 countries where tetanus posed a considerable risk for women giving birth. Today, that number has dropped significantly, but maternal and neonatal tetanus remains a public health threat in 13 countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.

Kenya has put in great effort to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus where it once was a common problem. The commitment the country made has drawn global attention and is inspiring other countries to do the same.

Kenya’s Initiative

As of 2018, Kenya has been removed from the list of countries that sees maternal and neonatal tetanus as a public health threat by attaining elimination status. Elimination is only attained when there is a reduction of neonatal tetanus incidences to below one case per 1,000 live births per year. Kenya’s progress towards achieving this important public health milestone began in 2001, proving that this process takes time. A pre-validation assessment took place in Kenya in September 201 by the Ministry of Health with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. A WHO-led validation process took place in 2018 to confirm the elimination of the disease.

Eliminating maternal and neonatal tetanus takes a lot of planning, and Kenya has set a great example. In 2002, Kenya introduced a five-dose tetanus toxoid vaccination schedule and in 2003, the country began to implement immunization campaigns in high-risk areas. Kenya also focused on providing free maternity services to increase skilled birth attendants. Over time, they began including tetanus toxoid vaccines into the routine antenatal care packages. Today, Kenya is still working on strengthening health facilities and resources and plans to provide free medical care to children under five years of age.

The involvement of schools is another factor that helped Kenya eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus. Aliaphonse’s Katuit primary school is a prime example of the success seen from the campaign. Ann Talam, one of Katuit primary school’s teachers, explained in an interview with UNICEF that the campaign not only reaches members of the student body but also their sisters or relatives who may not attend school. Education ensures that all girls, even those from poverty-filled communities, are immunized.

Kenya’s Impact

Reducing deaths from neonatal tetanus is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to reduce the neonatal mortality rate. As of 2012, Kenya’s immunization coverage for newborns protected against tetanus reached 73 percent — and it continues to rise. WHO estimates a 94 percent reduction in neonatal deaths from 1988, when an estimated 787,000 newborn babies died of tetanus within their first month of life.

As Kenya eliminates maternal and neonatal tetanus, it has inspired the country to combat other diseases as well. They plan to identify the unreached and design an innovative approach to reach these populations with immunizations. On February 22, 2019, WHO representative, Dr. Rudi Eggers, addressed the recent measles outbreak in the country, attributing it to lapses in the routine immunization system since the previous measles and rubella outbreak in 2016.

“There is an urgent need for all stakeholders to come together and work to increase immunization coverage and address inequities,” Eggers said.

The Kenya campaign also aims to vaccinate nearly 14 million children between the ages of nine months and 14 years — nearly 40 percent of the population — for other common viruses.

Since Kenya’s elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus, more than 153 million women around the world have been immunized with two or more doses of vaccines fighting against tetanus. The Eliminate Project, funded by the Kiwanis Children’s Fund, plans to learn from Kenya’s success and use it to inspire other countries to follow their lead. In 2018, The Eliminate Project raised a total of $502.282.72 to save and protect mothers and their babies worldwide.

Along with planning and taking initiative, Kenya recommends planning outreach activities for remote places, promoting delivery in health facilities and strengthening knowledge of health workers on the immunization schedule. Kenya sets an example of how small changes can overcome the silent killer of maternal and neonatal tetanus.

– Grace Arnold
Photo: Flickr