Archive for category: Health

Information and stories on health topics.

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How the UNGA is Responding to Global Health Challenges

Global Health ChallengesEvery September, one of the most important days on the foreign policy agenda is the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). World leaders and representatives of all United Nations member states gather to tackle pressing global issues. 

As we approach the midway point of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set for 2030, the 78th UNGA session has emphasized rebuilding strong international agreements to address global safety, health and peace concerns. Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly, declared the UNGA will work toward “rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.” Here is how the UNGA is responding to global health challenges.

UNGA’s Response to Global Health Challenges

The World Health Organization (WHO) urged leaders and members of the UNGA to prioritize global health as an urgent topic requiring immediate attention. UNGA scheduled three high-level meetings on global health: Pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR), Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the fight against tuberculosis (TB). 

Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR)

Under the overarching theme of “Making the World Safer,” the PPPR, buoyed by the momentum from the COVID-19 pandemic, has been met with greater urgency and prominence. UNGA structured the discussion of PPPR in two distinct panels: one focused on governance and accountability, ensuring all stakeholders, both public and private, uphold their commitments to PPPR; the other centered on building capacity and securing innovative and sustainable equity in the PPPR process. These themes address different facets of the broader PPPR framework, contributing to a holistic and equitable recovery strategy. The outcome of this meeting was a declaration mobilizing political commitment at local and international levels to address pandemic risks and responses. 

Universal Health Coverage (UHC)

The document outlining the UNGA agenda covered health outcomes, primary health care–oriented systems and essential public health functions. It renewed the declaration of 2019: “Universal health coverage: moving together to build a healthier world.” The existing agreements to further UHC have made huge impacts — between 2013 and 2020, health care workers increased by 29% globally. The 2023 meeting identified steps toward meeting the goal of universal health coverage by 2030. 

The Fight Against Tuberculosis (TB) 

UNGA holds this meeting with the goal of “advancing science, finance, and innovation and their benefits to urgently end the global tuberculosis epidemic, in particular, by ensuring equitable access to prevention, testing, treatment, and care.” The UNGA revisited the 2018 tuberculosis target declaration of the first General Assembly high-level meeting. Attendees brought forward plans to advance and end the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030. With 1.6 million deaths annually, the discussion highlights the need for stronger integration of affordable access to TB services. 

Health as an Investment

The World Health Organization advanced the principle that “health is an investment, not a cost.” Embracing this notion carries profound implications, especially for those living in poverty. The 78th UNGA addressing global health equity represents a change within the global agenda. By recognizing health as an investment, global governance takes a more holistic approach to discussing global health equity, contributing to broader health goals and addressing global health challenges. A healthy population can participate in education, employment and community — fostering economic growth. Commitment to this principle is vital to navigate the path toward a healthier future for all.

– Bella Oliver-Steinberg
Photo: Flickr

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Aid Groups Support Maternal and Child Health in Afghanistan

Child Health in AfghanistanWidespread poverty, changing weather patterns, economic crisis, restrictions to gender rights and a broken health care system have left Afghanistan in a dire humanitarian crisis. The region’s most vulnerable population — mothers and their children — are suffering the most. For example, in 2018, 4 out of 10 children died before their first birthday. Amidst this ongoing crisis, droves of humanitarian workers supported by several aid groups are rallying for maternal and child health Afghanistan. 

Three aid groups in particular, The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), are taking action to keep mothers and children from suffering and dying from preventable causes.

Crisis for Child Health in Afghanistan 

UNICEF recognizes that Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a baby, child or mother. Afghanistan has one of the highest infant mortality rates, and thousands of Afghani women die every year due to preventable pregnancy-related causes. According to the 2020 Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Afghanistan ranked 169 on the gender inequality index. 

Access to health care remains low for women. Between 2000 and 2015, only 59% of women received natal care from a skilled health care provider, and only 53% of births were protected against neonatal tetanus — a life-threatening, vaccine-preventable bacterial infection in newborns that is typically caused by non-sterile instruments and an unclean environment during the birth process. Of those babies that make it past the first critical months of development, less than half are fully vaccinated between the ages of 12 and 23 months.

Malnutrition is another critical risk factor for infants and young children. Only 16% of children between the ages of 6 and 23 months meet minimal dietary standards, contributing to high levels of malnutrition-related developmental issues. About 10% of young children suffer from childhood wasting, where the weight or height is less than two standard deviations from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards. The percentage of underweight children is 41%, and child stunting, a condition where a child is too short for their age due to chronic and recurrent malnutrition, affects 41% of Afghani children.

UNICEF’s Work to Save Maternal and Child Health in Afghanistan

UNICEF is working with existing health care facilities to expand services and reach children and mothers in remote villages who could not otherwise afford to travel and receive the lifesaving health services they need. By providing training and essential equipment for newborn care, deploying mobile health care outreach teams to these rural and isolated communities, and supporting specialized maternity waiting homes and rooms, UNICEF hopes to empower existing health facilities to support Afghanistan’s most vulnerable and impoverished women and children.

UNICEF also works with the Ministry of Public Health, developing and rolling out standardized national guidelines for newborn care in an effort to reduce preventable illnesses and deaths in newborns. This includes providing zinc and rehydration solution co-packs for treatment of diarrhea, a widespread and preventable cause of illness and death in infants and children.

MSF’s Efforts

Since MSF began its work in Afghanistan in 1981, they have built seven health facilities and clinics in the region. MSF staff has assisted in more than 42,800 births, including more than 2,100 cesarean sections, and has admitted more than 9,100 children into their facilities for inpatient feeding programs in an effort to combat the effects of severe malnutrition. While these efforts have had an incredible impact on the lives of impoverished and malnourished Afghans, more work is necessary.

“Sometimes, mothers are so malnourished they can’t produce milk,” said a member of MSF’s medical staff in Herat Regional Hospital. “We see them putting tea in bottles to give to newborn babies—only seven or eight days old — which can be very dangerous.”

How WHO is Helping

In August 2023, WHO released an alert highlighting the importance of increased investment in Afghanistan’s severely under-resourced health care infrastructure. Recognizing the current health emergency in the region, WHO has targeted 7.5 million children and 3.1 million women for health assistance. 

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, stated: “The situation in Afghanistan is grave, and the lack of resources and funding to support health workers and facilities is putting countless lives at risk. Women and children are suffering the most.”

– Ann-Jinette Hess
Photo: Flickr

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How 4 USAID Programs in Laos Fight Poverty

USAID Programs in LaosIn the heart of Southeast Asia lies a landlocked country, once known as the land of a million elephants: Laos. Yet this country, rich in culture and history, suffers from the abject misery of poverty. As part of the vast array of nations it supports, USAID provides comprehensive assistance to combat economic challenges and help Laos achieve its various development goals. Here is how four USAID programs in Laos are eliminating poverty.

History

Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a bustling nation bordered by Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Myanmar. Officially becoming the Lao People’s Democratic Republic on December 2, 1975, the country has become an integral Southeast Asian nation with 7.5 million people. Despite making strides in development in the last two decades, the country faces numerous challenges stemming from an unskilled workforce and economic hurdles. These challenges have caused Laos to remain one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia, with 18.3% of people living below the poverty line and 10% of employed people on only $1.90 a day.

Here are the four USAID programs in Laos that help support its economic reforms and sustainable growth.

1. Backing Businesses

The Laos government emphasizes a diverse economy with room for jobs in numerous sectors to improve the country’s economic conditions. USAID directly assists two key enterprises to support their endeavors: the Laos Business Environment (LBE) and the Laos Micro Enterprise (LME). The LBE helps business operations in the private sector. At the same time, the LME is a thorough support system for the rural markets. Together, these two enterprises create a backbone by which the Laos government can enhance its economy.

2. Educating Youth

To lift a country out of poverty, its population needs to be provided with a proper education. The Laos government and USAID understand this and have created critical programs to facilitate mass education. Learn to Read teaches reading skills to Lao children, especially those who are not native speakers or have disabilities. All Children Learning has similar goals, though it narrows the focus on providing vital recovery for education sectors hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Harvesting Energy

Reducing greenhouse gasses is a significant part of USAID’s bracket in Laos. Working together with the Laos government, USAID has established The Regional Southeast Asia Smart Power Program. It involves USAID directly assisting the Mekong’s transition toward energy security by partnering with organizations such as Japan U.S. Mekong Power Partnership (JUMPP). USAID helps Laos manage its electricity more efficiently by providing this support system, allowing it to be used more frequently for various projects. In addition, USAID partners with Électricitédu Laos (EDL) to help strengthen assets and manage the grid.

4. Improving Health Care

With 43 out of 1000 newborns perishing before their 5th birthday, USAID partners with the Laos government in essential health-related services to boost the nation’s health care systems. Regarding COVID-19 assistance, USAID provided 3 million vaccine doses to the Lao people while improving treatments and detection. Another program, the Capacity Strengthening on Maternal Child Health and Nutrition Project (LMCHN), improves new mothers’ and children’s well-being, nutrition and maternal health. USAID also provides strategic support to the country’s fight against HIV, malaria and other infectious diseases.

Without a doubt, Laos is developing rapidly. According to the World Bank, the poverty rate in Laos has halved from 46% to 18%. However, there is still a long way to go. USAID’s work through its programs in Laos is a testament to the country’s desire to improve the living conditions of its population and lift the Lao people out of the trenches of poverty.

– Atheeth Ravikrishnan
Photo: Flickr

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How Air Pollution Affects the Impoverished

Air Pollution Affects the ImpoverishedAir pollution is a global problem, but it disproportionately impacts impoverished communities. According to the World Bank, approximately 10% of people living in poverty experience poor air quality. This affects at least 70 million individuals, who must contend with air pollution alongside other challenges associated with poverty.

Lower-income communities often face significant disadvantages due to their location and economic circumstances. This can result in a range of issues that may persist for generations. According to Professor Robert Shorten, there is a notable relationship between poverty and environmental pollution, where poverty can lead to increased pollution, and environmental pollution can, in turn, exacerbate poverty. Here is how air pollution affects the impoverished.

The Way Air Pollution Affects the Impoverished

When pollution affects an area, it often leads to a decrease in house prices. This happens because fewer people want to live in polluted areas, so the demand for homes there is lower. As a result, individuals with limited financial resources may find it easier to afford housing in these areas due to the reduced property costs compared to less polluted regions.

While industrial areas and factories contribute significantly to air pollution, households also play a role. In many developing countries, impoverished families use inexpensive but harmful energy sources that pollute the air. Fossil fuels, in particular, are often to blame due to the unhealthy levels of nitrogen oxide emissions they produce.

The switch to less harmful energy sources, such as renewable energy sources, is difficult for impoverished households. Renewable energy infrastructure involves costs that people in poverty simply cannot afford.

The Effects of Air Pollution

Air pollution significantly impacts human health as the harmful particles damage the lungs and puts people at risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke. For people in impoverished communities, quality health care is scarce, meaning people struggle to access medical services when they need to.

The lack of proper health care facilities leads to delays in people returning to work when they are sick, resulting in reduced income. Even worse, air pollution can lead to serious health issues and, in some cases, premature death.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 7 million people, primarily in developing countries, die each year due to the effects of air pollution. Moreover, an alarming “nine in 10 people on the planet live with poor, even dangerous, air.”

Devastating Consequences

Children are the most vulnerable group in this situation. One study revealed that children from lower-income neighborhoods suffer from brain damage due to exposure to neurotoxic air pollutants. These pollutants negatively affect the development of their brains, hampering their cognitive growth. This is a significant issue because research indicates that children with impaired neurological development often face difficulties in school.

Children from lower-income backgrounds face educational disadvantages due to pollution, which can trap them in poverty. This situation can hinder their ability to complete their education or attend prestigious colleges, resulting in reduced income. Furthermore, neurotoxic air pollutants may also affect their offspring. Research from the Institute of Labor Economics supports this, which indicates that lower-income children living near industrial facilities releasing toxic chemicals experience, on average, 1.252 fewer years of education and a 13.9% reduced likelihood of graduating from high school. Additionally, forecasts suggest that about 9.3% of these children could develop cognitive disabilities as adults.

Ongoing Efforts

BreatheLife mobilizes communities to reduce the impact of air pollution on human health and the environment. In 2019, BreatheLife, a campaign by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, WHO and the UN Environment, implemented initiatives in 55 cities and countries, positively impacting more than 153 million people. The campaign convinced 55,000 people to travel regularly via bike or on foot in order to reduce air pollution from vehicles. BreatheLife’s efforts continue to impact. The organization is active in 79 cities, regions and countries, reaching nearly 500 million people.

WHO has developed an entire guidebook on how countries can monitor their air quality. “The overall objective of the updated global guidelines is to offer quantitative health-based recommendations for air quality management, expressed as long or short-term concentrations for a number of key air pollutants.”

Hopes for the Future

While the fact that air pollution affects the impoverished is a concerning issue, there are ongoing efforts to address this problem. Initiatives like BreatheLife are making a positive impact by mobilizing communities to reduce air pollution’s effects on both human health and the environment. Additionally, WHO has provided guidance on how countries can monitor and manage air quality to protect their citizens. These efforts offer hope for a healthier and more equitable future, where the burden of air pollution on impoverished communities can be alleviated.

– Uzair Khan
Photo: Flickr

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Poverty Reduction in the Philippines

Poverty Reduction in the Philippines 
In a world where news too often reports problems rather than progress, it is essential always to have news that highlights the progress and accomplishments made to fix the problems. One piece of good news is the efforts and accomplishments aimed at poverty reduction in the Philippines. The Philippines has been making steady progress and gains towards poverty reduction as the country works towards its goal of eliminating poverty in the middle class entirely by 2040.

What Has the Philippines Accomplished?

The World Bank released a report on November 24, 2022, entitled “Overcoming Poverty and Inequality in the Philippines: Past, Present, and Prospects for the Future.” In this report, the World Bank highlighted how the Philippines have been making critical gains in their fight towards poverty reduction. One can attribute these gains to both high growth rates and the expansion of jobs primarily outside agriculture. According to the numbers, from 1985 to 2018, the poverty rate fell from 49.2% to 16.7%. 

Additionally, the population of the middle class had ballooned to 12 million people, and the amount of the population that had become economically secure had reached 44 million people. The report highlighted more accomplishments as well, including “the expansion of secondary education, mobility towards better-paying jobs, access to basic services and government social assistance have started to reduce inequality since the mid-2000s.”

Anti-Poverty Programs in the Philippines

The government of the Philippines has introduced anti-poverty programs, which, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), have benefited around 4.7 million Filipinos. According to DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., there are more than 1,000 projects that benefit more than 1.69 million Filipinos and have received funding from the Conditional Matching Grant for Provinces and Financial Assistance to local government units (LGUs). The president of the Philippines, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., has made it his priority to achieve poverty reduction in the Philippines significantly. 

Recently, the Philippines has completed more than 2,778 farm-to-market roads, water and sanitation systems, health stations, school buildings, rural electrification and other infrastructure projects. These are specifically designed to benefit people who are both geographically isolated and disadvantaged under what is known as the Support to Barangay Development Program (SBDP). The current Filipino government has embraced poverty reduction initiatives, and the DILG chief reiterated a vow to fully support the current administration’s plans to “…improve the economy, increase employment, improve the ease of doing business, boost agricultural production, ensure food security, and continue social programs for the poor and the vulnerable.”

What Still Needs Improvement?

Despite the progress, more work is necessary. The COVID-19 pandemic has turned back progress in several areas across the globe, especially in the Philippines. Between 2018 and 2021, about 2.3 million people were pushed into poverty, according to the Filipino government. This increase is due to the economic downturn that COVID-19 has caused. In 2021, the number of people living in poverty rose to almost 20 million, which is a little more than 18% of the population. That is up from 16.7% in 2018. 

The current President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., aims to tackle this problem to reduce the poverty rate in the Philippines by nine percentage points by the end of his term in 2028. This goal remains achievable even though the country is wrestling with soaring inflation. The president’s focus is on three specific aims: “fully reopening the economy, investing in human capital and social protection and transforming production sectors to generate more quality jobs and competitive products.”

Before the pandemic, the Philippines had succeeded in its goal of pulling 6 million Filipinos out of poverty four years ahead of the original target date of 2022. The pandemic has had negative and long-lasting impacts that the world must work to overcome.

Conclusion 

Great strides have been made to reduce poverty in the Philippines. There is a growing middle class, a long-term decrease from 1985 in the poverty rate and more people have started to achieve economic security. All of this, in addition to the expansion of secondary education and a reduction in income inequality due to government social assistance, has created good news for the fight against poverty.

The pandemic had a tremendous impact around the globe and has hurt essential progress worldwide in education and poverty. This is also true in the Philippines, which had made tremendous social and economic progress prior to the pandemic. Fortunately, the Philippines’ president is committed to slashing poverty by the end of his term and has set clear goals toward that end. With this mentality and attention to the problem, expect more good news in the fight to reduce poverty in the Philippines. 

– Gary Williams
Photo: Flickr

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How the Global Oxygen Alliance Continues a Crucial Mission

Global Oxygen Alliance
On May 24, Unitaid, a global health agency that fundraises to support novel treatments for major diseases in the developing world, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria both published press releases officially announcing the commencement of the Global Oxygen Alliance (GO2AL). 

Additionally, backed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, GO2AL was first established in April as an initiative that seeks to bridge the gaps in medical oxygen access that continue to exist in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, GO2AL aims to ensure that advancements made in oxygen supply and distribution during the height of the virus are maintained and expanded to even more regions, as medical oxygen is a key treatment tool that health care workers use in hospitals worldwide.

Building Blocks

Although the WHO refers to oxygen as an “essential medicine,” necessary for almost all aspects of many standard hospital procedures, rarely do people consider the supply of medical oxygen when identifying indicators to help analyze the performance of countries’ health systems. 

A scarcity of medical oxygen in the vast majority of LMICs (Lower or Middle-Income Countries), then, has gone overlooked for years, only gaining relevance in the face of devastating shortages during the pandemic. On top of often lacking an oxygen source, many hospitals in LMICs also lack pulse oximeters, a piece of medical equipment that measures the amount of oxygen in a person’s red blood cells and is therefore crucial in the proper administration of oxygen to patients suffering from hypoxemia, or a low level of arterial oxygen. 

February of 2021 saw the creation of the Oxygen Emergency Taskforce of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), a multilateral coalition founded to respond to these shortages. ACT-A was able to achieve a number of successes in expanding access to medical oxygen in LMICs, raising $1 billion to increase oxygen production and reduce its cost, distributing equipment like pulse oximeters to hospitals in need and providing support to governments in the implementation of improved oxygen systems. 

The Global Oxygen Alliance aims to be a successor of ACT-A, hoping to maintain the advancements that have occurred and extend them ever further, especially as oxygen shortages have faded out of public perception after the pandemic. Furthermore, GO2AL is also partnering with the Lancet Global Health Commission on Medical Oxygen Security, formed in September of last year, to address data gaps in the supply of oxygen in LMICs and utilize that new research to find solutions to the oxygen insecurity that still exists in many health systems across the globe. 

Preventable Deaths

The work of GO2AL is critical since medical oxygen is also frequently used in the treatment of the elderly, infants and pregnant women, all of whom are vulnerable populations. Developing countries have long struggled to acquire enough medical oxygen for their needs; before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, 90% of hospitals in LMICs did not have access to sufficient amounts of oxygen for their patients, which led to a preventable death toll of 800,000 annually. 

Though COVID-19 may no longer officially be a global emergency, the havoc it wreaked on health systems around the world was a wake-up call for more investment to be directed towards future pandemic preparedness. One year into the pandemic, 60% of hospitals in LMICs did not have a sufficient supply of medical oxygen. Should there be another virus similar to COVID-19, every country will need the resources to adequately care for any and all patients who may need oxygen during their treatment. 

There are also plenty of non-COVID-19 patients who suffer from the lack of access to medical oxygen, with diseases common in LMICs like pneumonia, malaria and meningitis causing hypoxemia and requiring immediate care. The Clinton Health Access Initiative estimates that more than 15% of children under 5 admitted into hospitals suffer from hypoxemia, in addition to 20% of all admitted infants. 

An inadequate supply of oxygen affects pneumonia patients in particular, as 7.2 million children with the condition end up in hospitals every year. Without access to oxygen therapy, around 148,000 annual child pneumonia cases are preventable. Research suggests that installing and upgrading oxygen systems in pediatric wards can lower the number of deaths due to child pneumonia by 46%, in addition to lowering all deaths in children under 5 by 40%. GO2AL’s stated commitment to increasing medical oxygen access, then, is one that is sure to save millions of lives in years to come. 

Hope for the Future

ACT-A successfully brought medical oxygen to LMICs desperately in need of it and worked through logistical obstacles to make sure these countries have the infrastructure to continue accessing the oxygen they require. On the part of those organizations that were a part of ACT-A and are now supporting the Global Oxygen Alliance, they are offering an extremely important example of what dedication to bettering the lives of those who are less fortunate should look like. Not only will GO2AL continue filling the oxygen gap that exists in many LMICs, but it will also fill the data gap that made the lack of medical oxygen in many developing countries a sorely underappreciated issue before the pandemic.

– Sofia Oliver
Photo: Wikipedia Commons

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Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance in Low-Income Countries

Antimicrobial Resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) causes approximately 252,833 child deaths in low- and middle-income countries each year. Children living in Africa’s sub-Saharan region are 58 times more likely to die from AMR than those in high-income countries, according to an article published by the Center For Global Development in 2022.

In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed AMR as one of the “top 10 global public health threats facing humanity.” The good news is that numerous organizations are implementing policies to limit the number of deaths from AMR in low-income countries, and new studies on AMR show promising results.

AMR Explained

AMR develops when bacteria, parasites and viruses evolve over time and no longer react to medicines. This makes infections more difficult to treat and contributes to the spread of disease and death. Two well-known examples of antimicrobial-resistant infections include tuberculosis and MRSA.

Common causes of AMR are the overuse of antibiotics and lack of access to clean water and sanitation. Lower-income regions do not have the economy or infrastructure that allows for proper water and sanitation services. As a result, individuals living in low- and middle-income countries are 1.5 times more likely to die from AMR than those living in high-income regions.

The Potential Impact of Vaccinations

In early July 2023, BMJ Global Health released a new study that emphasized the importance of vaccination in combating the spread of antimicrobial-resistant infections. According to the study, vaccines targeting 15 pathogens could save more than half a million lives in Africa and Southeast Asia from vaccine-preventable AMR deaths each year. Vaccines could also prevent an estimated “28 million disability-adjusted life years” resulting from AMR-related infection.

Although this study is fairly recent, there has been ample progress in tackling the issue of antimicrobial resistance in low-income countries since its publication.

A New and Improved Report

In September 2023, a group of researchers from the Center for Global Development released a 68-page report titled, “A New Grand Bargain to Improve the Antimicrobial Market for Human Health.” The report outlines current issues with the antimicrobial market and poses political and operational recommendations. It also urges stakeholders to back these recommendations during the future UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR in 2024.

Political commitment to tackle AMR, especially in low-income countries, has increased over the years. High-level commitments were made at both the 2015 World Health Assembly and the 2016 UN General Assembly. About 38 countries are currently developing national action plans to tackle AMR in their countries, and 170 countries have already finalized their National Action Plan.

The United Republic of Tanzania is in the process of implementing a second five-year National Action Plan from 2023 to 2028 to target AMR deaths. The 140-page document extensively covers the issue of antimicrobial resistance within the country, with six main strategic objectives. These objectives include “awareness raising and risk communication,” as well as “research and development,” which includes plans such as establishing dissemination and sharing frameworks for AMR research results.

Tanzania is just one of 169 other countries that have developed national action plans for tackling antimicrobial resistance.

As of 2019, AMR has directly contributed to 1.27 million deaths and is linked to an additional 3.7 million fatalities each year. Through further research and the development of action plans, it is possible to combat AMR and create a safer life for communities in low- and middle-income regions.

– Naaima Abd-Elhameed
Photo: Flickr

3 Factors Improving Health Care in Togo

Health Care in TogoTogo is a West African country with over 8 million residents. Currently, there is a health care crisis affecting these 8 million. Health care in Togo has a history of unreliable and poor-quality emergency care conditions. Often, medical care is inadequate, and medications are unreliable. According to Africa Development and Cooperation, in 2017, Togo was said to have the worst health care in West Africa due to their high mortality rates and persistent high morbidity. The current infant mortality rate in Togo for 2023 is 43.162 deaths per 1,000 live births. Many factors contribute to the sub-par health care systems such as lack of quality staff, outdated medical practices and ineffective financial resources. 

While Togo has been struggling with their health care, they are beginning to improve their health care system. The methods that are in place to improve health care in Togo are training for health care professionals, spreading qualified health care workers to public clinics and the integration of a universal health care system. 

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization, in collaboration with the World Bank, is supporting the country by implementing solutions to its health care crisis. The World Health Organization is supplying 14 training schools for paramedical personnel with teaching, computers with videoconferencing materials, and 600 midwives and nurses who have recently trained in infection prevention. The World Health Organization has used its Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) funds to ensure the supply of equipment to training centers. This equipment will provide continuous training and face-to-face and teleconferences available to health care workers in the country. They will also contribute to updating the curriculum for health workers and increase the capacity of training centers. The World Health Organization is putting effort towards training personnel and updating training facilities to begin improving health care in Togo.

Integrate Health 

Integrate Health uses a primary health care approach to improve the national health care system in Togo. One of the first ways Integrate Health is improving health care in Togo is by integrating professional health workers. As Togo only has 347 practicing doctors in the country, they rely on other sources to get more health care workers. Community Health Workers are many people’s first point of contact with the health system. These workers go door to door with personal protective equipment and supplies to provide lifesaving care. These workers train to administer treatment for children with respiratory infections, malaria and malnutrition. They also screen newborns and pregnant mothers. Workers also refer patients to health centers for advanced care when necessary. There are currently 200 community health workers in Togo.

Integrate Health is also pursuing improvements in the supply chain and infrastructure within Togo. Medications are commonly not in stock and are hard to get because health centers are outdated. To combat this, Integrate Health is overseeing improvements like building water towers, bolstering infrastructure, training pharmacy managers in equipment, ordering medication and managing medical supplies. With improvements in these areas, health care professionals will be better equipped to help patients, which will build trust. Currently, the renovations have fixed 17 health centers, and 28 supply chain managers have received training.

Another step Integrate Health is taking to begin improving health care in Togo is eliminating user fees. The pay-for-service culture that Togo’s system has cultivated has low user rates, which provides little funds to renovate the systems. Removing these fees will increase user rates in health care systems. To do this, Integrate Health provides monthly operating grants to the health centers to cover the cost of the services incurred. They also have people donating funds to invest in the costs covered by the pay-for-service fees.

Universal Health Care Systems

Recent legislation has established the creation of a universal health system (l’assurance maladie universelle – AMU). The government plans to have this plan completely rolled out by 2025, which would cover all residents. The system would have two tiers: the public and private sector employees (RAMO) and the individuals on public assistance (RAM). Under RAMO, employees would enroll at the beginning of their employment with coverage that extends to children and spouses. Coverage for RAM would be provided directly by government revenue. While this has yet to be rolled out, this will be a step towards fleshing out Togo’s health care system and giving people access to the care they need.

Conclusion

Although Togo has encountered significant difficulties in its health care sector, the nation is committed to creating positive change within its health care system. A multifaceted approach is achieving these goals.

One pivotal aspect of this transformation is the extensive training and development programs for health care professionals. By investing in the education and skill enhancement of its health care workforce, the country aims to ensure that its medical practitioners are equipped with the latest knowledge and expertise, thereby improving health care in Togo. 

Furthermore, Togo recognizes the importance of extending the reach of qualified health care workers to public clinics. By decentralizing health care services and ensuring that well-trained professionals are available in various regions, the country aims to enhance accessibility to health care services, particularly in rural and underserved areas. This initiative is improving health care in Togo.

– Sara Agosto
Photo: Flickr

Remedial Health: Increasing Health Care in Nigeria

Remedial Health in NigeriaNigeria’s existing distribution system for medicine lacks organization and a centralized national distributor. 

In a survey aimed at evaluating Primary Health Centre (PHC) facilities encompassing 2,480 health care facilities across all six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, Oyekale discovered that the availability of essential drugs ranged as low as 10.48% to 25.2%. The problem of counterfeit and fake drugs has evolved into a global predicament, with particular prevalence in the drug supply networks of India, Nigeria and Pakistan. 

These three nations account for roughly 13% to 35% of worldwide sales of such illicit drugs. 

The disordered drug distribution system in Nigeria encourages the proliferation of expired drugs within pharmaceutical supply chains. The WHO estimates 100,000 deaths a year in Africa are linked to the counterfeit drug trade and over 30% of medicines sold in Africa are counterfeit. According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes, fake medicines kill over 500,000 sub-Saharan Africans per year. In an effort to combat these challenges, Samuel Okwuada and Victor Benjamin established Remedial Health, a startup company that introduced digitalization to the Nigerian pharmaceutical supply chain.

The Creation of Remedial Heath

Samuel Okwuada, one of the co-founders of Remedial Health, possesses dual expertise as a certified pharmacist and a skilled software developer. His journey into the tech realm commenced at the young age of 14, and he has been actively crafting digital solutions ever since. In contrast, Victor Benjamin’s true calling lay in the art of sales, with a passion that was evident in his over a decade-long track record in pharmaceutical sales. The fusion of Victor’s extensive sales experience, coupled with Samuel’s technological and pharmacy knowledge, has significantly elevated revenue streams and increased health care in Nigeria. 

Remedial Health was launched amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The market faced shortages because of lockdowns, exacerbated by the inefficiencies in its medicine distribution methods. Initially, Remedial Health operated by providing supplies to distributors who, in turn, served pharmacies and hospitals. However, a significant shift occurred when these intermediary entities expressed their desire to receive direct supplies. This alteration in the company’s operations led Remedial Health to reevaluate and adapt its mission and objectives. 

Its Mission and Goals

As of September 2023, Remedial Health primarily operates across 34 out of 36 states in Nigeria but has aspirations for expansion into other African nations. The company’s core mission is to assist its business partners in three key areas:

  • Ensuring they have the necessary inventory for their store shelves.
  • Providing software solutions to enhance the efficiency of their pharmacy operations.
  • Offering payment solutions to facilitate the collection of payments from their customers.

Remedial Health collaborates with a network of over 5,000 pharmacies and partners with more than 200 manufacturers, spanning regions such as India and China. Beyond making affordable medicines more accessible across Africa, this startup is actively engaged in curbing the proliferation of counterfeit products in the market. By gathering and analyzing data on manufacturers and product sales, Remedial Health tracks the entire supply chain, monitors product distribution, determines product destinations and quantifies sales volumes. 

The products originate directly from manufacturers who have undergone stringent regulatory processes, ensuring their authenticity is guaranteed. This meticulous approach allows for a dependable supply of these medicines to pharmacies and hospitals, thus eliminating the need for the risky and uncertain traditional method of product distribution. By doing so, Remedial Health plays a critical role in elevating health care in Nigeria and safeguarding lives that might otherwise be at risk due to the presence of counterfeit medicines in the market. 

Progress and Achievements

Remedial Health has made significant progress in expanding its operations, securing a substantial $12 million in Series A equity-debt funding to facilitate the expansion of its activities within the West African nation. Their focus on rural areas, which are often challenging to access and distant from major pharmaceutical markets in Nigeria, has resulted in noticeable growth. 

By October 2021, Remedial Health had successfully deployed inventories valued at over $800,000. As of January 2022, the company has been consistently onboarding new pharmacies, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), insurance providers and manufacturers. 

Remedial Health’s dedicated team is increasing health care in Nigeria by actively tackling various industry challenges, including price transparency issues and inadequate drug quality control. They achieve this through a technology-driven, pharmacy-centered health care network, resulting in cost reductions of over 25% at the point of care. 

– Susanna Andryan
Photo: Flickr

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Limitations of Geography: Poverty in Madagascar

Poverty in MadagascarPoverty levels in Madagascar have remained persistently high for an extended period. In 2012, an alarming 80.7% of the population lived below the international extreme poverty line of $2.15 per day. A decade later, there has been only a slight decrease to an estimated 80.2%. While factors such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine may have contributed to this, it’s evident that progress in reducing poverty in Madagascar has been remarkably slow. This article explores how geographic factors have played a crucial role in impeding Madagascar’s efforts to combat poverty and the strategies it has employed to address this challenge.

The Geographic Poverty Trap

Madagascar is an island nation off the coast of Southern Africa and is one of the biggest islands in the world. However, Madagascar’s terrain is varied, with most of the country’s surface covered in dense forests, arid highlands or relatively short mountain ranges. This rough terrain, combined with the fact that around 60% of the population lives in rural areas, offers insight into the slow poverty reduction rate in Madagascar.

As economist Jeffrey Sachs has identified, this terrain makes transportation and infrastructure development costs much more expensive. This, in turn, creates more difficulties when looking to reduce poverty in these areas, as trade is fully dependent on challenging and costly transportation. 

Madagascar, however, faces an exacerbated version of this geographic burden, as most of this rural population lives under the extreme poverty line of $2.15 a day. Furthermore, Madagascar mostly depends on subsistence farming techniques that are vulnerable to the extreme climates that have become so characteristic of the island. 

Madagascar faces recurring challenges such as droughts, floods, and cyclones each year. These natural disasters often devastate the crops of subsistence farmers, who make up a significant portion of the population. As a result, many Malagasy people live in isolated areas, trapped in a cycle of poverty. The level of poverty is so severe that the people struggle to save money for investments in transportation, trade or increased productivity. The combination of geographical isolation, reliance on subsistence farming, and the frequent impact of natural disasters has made poverty in Madagascar incredibly resilient. This has made it difficult to achieve meaningful progress in poverty alleviation efforts.

Solutions

These issues have not gone unnoticed. Madagascar received more than $1 billion in Official Development Aid in 2021, and a flourishing NGO sector works in Madagascar to turn the tide and help accelerate poverty reduction in the country. Madagascar receives a relatively small share of GDP compared to other island nations. However, there is room for improvement in the assistance provided to the country.

Despite this, there are increasing efforts on the side of NGOs striving to reduce poverty in Madagascar. Most of these center around teaching improved farming methods, natural disaster recovery and boosting education programs all over the country. Noticeable among these is SEED Madagascar, a U.K.-based NGO that is active in tackling all aspects of poverty through health, education, productivity and cultural programs.

Looking to The Future

While Madagascar’s persistent poverty challenges may be rooted in its geographic factors and economic limitations, there is hope on the horizon. The recognition of these obstacles has led to increased international aid and the dedicated efforts of NGOs like SEED Madagascar, working on multiple fronts to empower communities with improved farming techniques, disaster recovery strategies and education programs. With these ongoing initiatives and a growing commitment to combating poverty, Madagascar could well be on a path toward a brighter future.

– Daniel Pereda
Photo: Flickr