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Solutions to Hidden Hunger and Nutrition Based Poverty Traps

Hidden hunger
Hunger is a prevalent issue throughout many developing countries. Numerous studies have shown that hunger can have detrimental impacts, including low health and high child mortality. One consequence of hidden hunger that is less explored is the decrease in productivity that results from a nutritional deficit. Whilst this effect may initially pale in comparison to other much worse consequences, the downsides to lower productivity are critical and can lead to a much larger, intergenerational cycle of poverty than previously assumed.

Studies have demonstrated that reduced calorie intake can lead to significant decreases in productivity, which can create an inescapable cycle. A randomized control trial conducted by economist Heather Schofield revealed that an additional 700 calories each day could lead to a 10% increase in income, due to the increased physical and cognitive productivity gained. So, how can lower productivity create a cycle of poverty?

Nutrition-Based Poverty Traps

A poverty trap is a non-linear relationship between one’s current and future income. There is a strong correlation between malnutrition and poverty, but it is heavily questioned whether this leads to the formation of a nutritional poverty trap.

Much research has been completed surrounding the potential existence of a nutrition-based poverty trap, and some deny its existence whilst others support the theory. Studies completed by economists Duflo and Banerji demonstrate the evident existence of poverty traps such as these, stating there may even be a clear link between income and future income of undernourished parents and children respectively, all because of a nutrient-deficient diet. This is because lower-earning parents tend to consume less nutrient-heavy food, which can lead to stunted development for a child, beginning as early as in utero, thus creating a brutal cycle. This micronutrient-deficient lifestyle can also be referred to as ‘hidden hunger.’

Hidden Hunger

Hidden hunger is when one’s diet is severely restricted, resulting in nutrient-poor food intake. Micronutrient deficiencies include those such as iron and zinc deficiency, which can result in poor body development and health.

Hidden hunger is reinforced in countries where there is heavy reliance on low-cost, low-nutrient foods, such as rice and wheat. This type of hunger is not so much to do with a lack of calories, but more a lack of nutrients, hence it is considered ‘hidden’ due to lack of an obvious problem. Crops such as these, whilst providing energy and sustenance, have a low amount of nutrients. Micronutrient intake for low-income groups is much lower than what would normally be required for a healthy diet, due to challenges of affordability and shocks to global food systems. The long-lasting effects of hidden hunger can be detrimental. There is a high cost to malnutrition; it is estimated that around 149 million children under the age of 5 are stunted, which is roughly 22%.

The Solutions to Hidden Hunger

There are no direct means of tackling hidden hunger; it is a complex issue that requires a multidimensional response in order to ensure that all those in poverty are able to access a nutrient-heavy, balanced diet. Past solutions range from cash and in-kind transfers to innovations designed to increase nutrient and mineral consumption.

While cash transfers can be successful in poverty alleviation, consumers do not always choose to purchase the most optimal foods for nutrient maximization. In-kind transfers would likely be more beneficial in a scenario such as this, due to certain innovations that can facilitate a nutrient and mineral-rich diet.

Innovative solutions to hidden hunger range from food engineering to create additional nutrients, to devices that aim to increase biofortification. Strengthening staple foods is a successful means of food fortification. A few examples of innovations and solutions that achieve this are as follows:

  • Lucky Iron Fish: A Lucky Iron Fish is a reusable and simple method of infusing food with additional iron. By adding an Iron Fish into boiling water for just 10 minutes, a food dish could gain an additional 6-8 mg of iron.
  • Iodized Salt and Oil: Adding iodine to food staples is another way of preventing nutrient deficiency. Iodine is essential for preventing stunted growth in infants and young children.
  • Fortified Fish Sauce: This creation has previously been used on childbearing women in Vietnam, and is another successful method of controlling iron deficiency. This idea includes the fortification of any staple food or condiment with iron but has been specifically trialed with fish sauce, a regularly consumed condiment for many. The results include higher levels of hemoglobin and decreases in the prevalence of anemia and iron deficiency, thus enabling successful development for infants in utero.
  • Plumpy’ Nut and Other Acute Malnutrition Products: Nutriset is a company producing ‘Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods’ (RUTFs), which are food packages specifically engineered for children and adults suffering from severe malnutrition. Their products are compact and simple, containing around 500 calories in a single sachet. Other creations of theirs include ‘moderate’ and ‘acute’ malnutrition treatments, as well as preventative products to help maintain a healthy diet.

Tackling hidden hunger is the key to breaking the poverty cycle created by malnutrition. Innovations such as these, as well as successful foreign policies to tackle hunger, will ultimately lead to a successful eradication of undernutrition, alleviating many from absolute poverty.

– Hannah Bugeja
Photo: Flickr

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Passionate Youth Entrepreneurs Drive Fiji’s Sustainable Food Shifts

Fiji’s Sustainable Food Shifts
Fiji, a large archipelago in the South Pacific, has diverse landscapes and climate. Although a nation of complex ecosystems, the island’s food systems suffer to feed its own sustainably. The leading cause of death in Fiji is NCDs, a rising crisis affecting thousands. Furthermore, malnourishment afflicts more than 40% of Fijian children, “a condition caused when children (and adults) don’t eat enough food, don’t eat the right sort of food, or are unable to digest food.” The health of Fijians is at risk as the history of chronic mistreatment of the body stresses the demand for sustainable food systems to cure the nation’s health behaviors. In response, youth-led social entrepreneurship and innovation efforts aim to advocate for Fiji’s sustainable food shifts that promote positive human health needs. 

The participation of the country’s passionate youth emerges in their drive to endorse and build sustainable approaches to deliver fresh, nutritional foods to local communities. Pulling from several studies and journals, the island parents established several programs and initiatives to champion Fiji’s youth to combat NCDs.

Poverty and Food in Fiji

Fiji, a Pacific nation scattered across 300 islands, flourishes with substantial natural resources and accessibility to rich freshwater resources and fertile land to grow crops. However, due to the country’s remote location, Fiji battles with changing weather patterns and disasters that continue to threaten communities and limit Fijians to fresh local foods (fruits, vegetables, fish, etc.).

Despite Fiji’s larger geographic size and favorable growing conditions, “High consumption of energy-dense foods is also considered a contributing factor to the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Fiji..” According to importation data, Fiji’s reliance is low at 22.46%, while exporting figures rest at 60.02%. Although these statistics materialize deceptions that food is accessible, 30% of Fijians live below the basic needs poverty line. This marks 14% of the population as experiencing moderate to severe levels of food insecurity. 

Due to the island’s extreme sensitivity to disastrous natural disasters, higher food prices, seasonality and lifestyle choices, the stability of Fiji’s food system worsens, putting Fijian health at risk.

Pacific Youth Leadership

The message of healthy and sustainable foods and the ability to create them is the information that the young community of Fiji (which makes up more than half the population) needs to learn. Luckily, many people are starting to see these issues and are passionate about animating Fiji’s sustainable food shifts. The Participatory Action Research (PAR) of Talanoa is one example of a group excited to help make a difference in food systems. It is passionate about spreading the word about new ideas to young people to help build the future leaders of these big projects. Alongside this work, it aims to bring back the traditions of Fijian food, rooted in fish, vegetables and other nutritious foods. 

Another group, the Young Entrepreneurs Council, is focused on changing the narrative around food in general. Taking a more psychological approach to the situation and working on education around the relationship between the body and food, rather than only explaining what food is bad for you, a tactic that has proven unsuccessful. Teaching people to love food and understand what healthy food is capable of can have groundbreaking results as opposed to previous methods, which can do the opposite. 

In addition, the 2022-2027 Youth in Agriculture Policy notes young people as crucial agents for positive change, increasing its support in the 2023-2024 budget, supporting the “establishment of sustainable gardens for young people’s health and wellbeing.” 

The Minister explains, “Under this policy, young people will be encouraged and supported through a 4-pronged approach of increasing access to land, finance and markets; improving agricultural education and training; increasing commercial agriculture opportunities and supporting sustainability.” Furthermore, the SDG Fund program, led by UNDP and in partnership with IFAD, envisions young people with employment opportunities in the agriculture sector. These initiatives strengthen public-private partnerships, meeting the needs of education and employment for Fiji’s youth within the agricultural sector, empowering self-sufficiency and local production of healthy food to advocate for resilient food systems.

Fiji’s Future

Overall, the hope is to bring down the rates of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, obesity and heart disease that have hurt the nation. Creating enough food sources locally to provide for the community is vital in bringing these numbers down and decreasing poverty significantly. 

There is great hope that in the future, the children of Fiji will feast on the local fish, fruits and veggies that become so available on the island that the history of health issues is long in the past, but change must start now to invigorate Fiji’s sustainable food shifts. The Ministry sums up the integral participation of young Fijians, “We can create livelihoods without sacrificing our biodiversity. Rather than leave our children a world of lifeless deserts, we can pass on ecosystems that are rich with life and capable of supporting coming generations.”

– Emmalyn Meyer
Photo: Flickr

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3 Cricket Players Ending Poverty 

Cricket Players
Cricket is one of the world’s most popular sports, with billions across the globe idolizing its stars. As well as their dazzling on-field performances, the charitable contributions of some of the game’s biggest figures have been notable. Here are three examples of cricket players ending poverty.

Sachin Tendulkar

Known as “The God of Cricket,” Tendulkar became arguably the game’s greatest-ever figure due, in part, to his record-breaking international career from 1989 to 2013. However, it is not only Sachin’s cricketing skills that engender awe and admiration. He has been involved in a wide range of charitable causes, especially focusing on supporting those in his native India. The nation has made immense progress in reducing poverty, with 415 million Indians leaving poverty from 2005 to 2020. Nonetheless, in 2019, 137 million Indians were still living in poverty, accounting for a headcount higher than any other country in the world.

In 2013, Tendulkar became UNICEF’s first Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia and has since worked passionately with the organization to improve the health and well-being of children on the subcontinent. In 2016, he led UNICEF’s Swachh Bharat campaign to improve sanitation in India. Sachin championed its objectives to end open defecation and to ensure every Indian had access to a toilet. Also, in 2018, he visited Bhutan to support UNICEF’s hand-washing initiative, meeting with school children and the interim Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Wangchuk.

As well as his work with UNICEF, Tendulkar has also made many personal donations to charitable causes. He donated generously to India’s fight against COVID-19. In total, he contributed 15 million rupees, approximately $185,000. Mission Oxygen, a social enterprise established at the peak of India’s second wave of COVID-19 in April 2021, received a total of 10 million rupees from this donation. The social enterprise provided 5,224 medical-grade oxygen contributors to more than 370 medical institutions in India, helped set up 37 oxygen generation plants and donated 55,000 oximeters that facilitated the monitoring of the COVID-19 status of 6 million people.

His personal foundation, The Sachin Tendulkar Foundation, funds organizations that improve the access Indian children have to education, health care and sport. One such organization is Apnalaya, a nonprofit that provides basic services to the urban poor of Sachin’s hometown of Mumbai, which has a large slum population. Via Apnalaya, The Sachin Tendulkar Foundation sponsors the education of 200 less-privileged children in Mumbai every year, helping them to break free from the limitations of deprivation and poverty.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli, India’s cricketing icon of the modern era, holds immense influence in the fight against poverty. With more than 245 million followers on Instagram, he stands as a leading figure among cricket players dedicated to this cause. Following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Tendulkar, Kohli exhibits a steadfast commitment to uplifting fellow Indians living in the most challenging circumstances.

In 2013, Kohli established the Virat Kohli Foundation (VKF), an organization dedicated to assisting those enduring extreme poverty. Through a partnership with the Raah Foundation, VKF focuses on delivering health care services to malnourished tribal children across India. Notably, tribal communities constitute the country’s most deprived group, with an estimated 5 million tribal children suffering from chronic undernourishment, as UNICEF highlighted.

In 2020, VKF launched Project Nutrition for Transformation, an initiative aimed at combating malnutrition among tribal children. This project successfully provided a year-long nutritional food supply to 5,000 malnourished tribal children across 103 health centers in the Maharashtra region. As a result, there was an increase in the number of tribal children attending regional health centers, empowering them to improve their overall well-being and livelihood prospects.

In a philanthropic endeavor, Kohli organized a charity dinner in 2016 to raise funds for The Smile Foundation. Since its establishment in 2002, the Smile Foundation has been actively working to uplift underprivileged children in India by implementing educational, health care and female empowerment programs. Notably, their livelihood programs equip young underprivileged Indians with vital employment skills, providing them with opportunities to uplift themselves and their families from poverty. These programs also prioritize female empowerment, as 71% of the 75,000 children trained are girls. Furthermore, Kohli made personal donations to support suffering Indians.

In 2020, he and his wife Anushka Sharm together donated an undisclosed amount to the PM Cares Fund and the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to assist the victims of COVID-19.

Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes, England’s current captain, has also contributed to a range of charitable causes, both at home and around the world. During England’s most recent tour of Pakistan in 2022, he pledged his entire wage package of £45,000. This was to help the people suffering from the impacts of the country’s devastating floods. According to reports, more than 20.6 million people in Pakistan still require humanitarian assistance. In his announcement, Stokes said that “The game has given me a lot in my life and I feel it’s only right to give something back that goes far beyond cricket.”

Stokes is a supporter of the British Asian Trust, a charity that aims to eliminate poverty, injustice and inequality in South Asia. King Charles III and a group of British Asian business leaders formed the trust in 2007. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the trust launched an emergency appeal and provided life-saving aid to more than 135,000 Indians, including essential items such as vegetables, flour, pulses and essential oils.

Stokes has contributed to the Trust’s efforts to eradicate child labor in Jaipur, India, where the organization collaborates with local authorities to enhance educational opportunities. In Britain, he has been involved in supporting the victims of COVID-19. In 2020, Stokes was part of the England Cricket Team that together donated £500,000 of their wages to the fight against COVID-19. Later in the year, he ran a half-marathon to fundraise for the National Health Service (NHS) and the charity Chance to Shine, which provides underprivileged communities in the U.K. access to cricket.

What is Next?

These three cricket players ending poverty are some of the greatest the game has ever seen. Yet, even more impressive than their sporting prowess are the examples they are setting for other privileged people by participating in humanitarian work. Such actions by these cricket players and others could encourage more participation in the fight against poverty, and in effect, create a poverty-free world.

– Henry Jones
Photo: Flickr

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Tackling Malnutrition in Guatemala With Digital Tools

Malnutrition in GuatemalaA recent UNICEF report states that malnutrition across the globe worsens due to conflict, poverty and climate fluctuations, with disproportionate effects on the world’s most vulnerable women and girls. The report highlights the heightened threat that women and girls of childbearing age — and their children — face as a result of gender inequality. As of March 2023, no region of the world is set to achieve the World Health Assembly and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of halving anemia among women and girls and reducing low birthweight by 30% by 2030. On the contrary, acute malnourishment among pregnant and breastfeeding women rose by an estimated 25% between 2020 and 2022. Especially prevalent in the countries hit hardest by the global food crisis, including Afghanistan, Yemen and Ethiopia, this trend is expected to continue in 2023. UNICEF is calling for immediate action.

Barriers to Food Security

A 2023 report identified numerous barriers to improving nutrition among women and girls. These include:

  • Social and gender inequities that limit women’s and girls’ access to nutritious diets
  • A lack of nutrition and social protection programs that address the needs of women and girls
  • Insufficient policy protection for undernourished women and girls

Globally, COVID-19 heightened such barriers. However, in Guatemala, the pandemic’s outbreak also revitalized political interest in reducing malnutrition, leading to a new wave of policymaking focused on using digital tools to improve the nutrition of women and children and strengthen the physical, social and economic health of communities at large. Ranking seventh in the world for chronic malnutrition, the country exemplifies how progress can begin with better policymaking and unlocking the full potential of digital technology.

DIGITARO Project

A World Bank pilot initiative, Guatemala’s DIGITARO project offers an innovative solution to acute malnutrition. DIGITARO harnesses digital tools to advance women’s participation in agriculture and incorporate female farmers into Guatemala’s national School Feeding Program (SFP). The project seeks to resolve the lack of female agency within agriculture and the home while reducing the country’s malnutrition rates.

DIGITARO points to research revealing that women’s lacking economic agency and decision-making power in Guatemalan households directly impacts the produce bought for their homes. This has led to higher rates of malnutrition, especially among children. Recognizing this intersection between female agency and malnutrition is vital for improving food security across the country.

DIGITARO seeks to increase both female smallholder farmers’ market access and children’s and families’ access to healthy, responsibly produced food. Through digital tools, it improves women’s understanding of the SFP, connects female farmers to schools and supports them in supplying the SFP sustainably. The three main digital tools it engages are:

  • An e-commerce platform that ensures secure, transparent and mutually-beneficial transactions between schools and producers.
  • Training videos that inform women about good agricultural practices, SFP food quality standards and how to register with the SFP.
  • A digital campaign aimed at increasing women’s awareness of the SFP and connecting schools to verified female producers.

Impacts on Female Empowerment

Pilot data indicate that DIGITARO raised women’s awareness that the SFP purchases food from local farmers by more than 60% and increased their understanding of how to register as an SFP provider almost twofold. The initiative also improved women’s selling decisions and business productivity. It sparked a 20% increase in female farmers’ overall sales of commonly-demanded SFP animal products.

Impacts on Malnutrition

Furthermore, DIGITARO has improved the effectiveness and reliability of the SFP for thousands of Guatemalan children. By identifying and remedying the issues undermining the program, the project provided them access to a more reliable supply of nutritious, high-quality foods and produce.

The e-commerce platform has now connected nearly 25,000 schools across the country with some 45,000 sellers. However, more must be done to encourage schools and female farmers to connect through such initiatives. Nonetheless, DIGITARO’s promising results demonstrate that, in combination with strategic policymaking, digital technology can help tackle the growing issue of malnutrition among women and children everywhere and pave the way for a brighter global future.

– Ariana Mortazavi
Photo: Flickr

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How Digital Technology Combats Malnourishment in India

Malnourishment in India
The 2022 Global Hunger Index ranks India 107th out of 121 countries in terms of hunger, with a score of 29.1, equating to a serious level of hunger. Hunger and malnourishment are interlinked. About 14% of the population in India (about 189.2 million people) suffered from undernourishment in 2020, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). According to India’s Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, data from 2019-2021 shows that about one-third of Indian children under 5 suffer from stunting (impaired growth due to poor nutrition) and about 19% suffer from wasting (low weight for their height). To address malnourishment in India, health workers can use digital tools like apps and digital libraries to detect malnourishment in children and educate the Indian population on the importance of nutrition.

Causes of Malnourishment in Women and Children

Household traditions prioritize feeding men and children over women, leaving women with the leftovers. As of 2022, about 18.7% of women of childbearing age (15-49) in India are underweight. When women lack key nutrients while pregnant, they are more likely to give birth to underweight and stunted babies.

Another factor contributing to malnourishment in India is a lack of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is essential for babies to obtain vital nutrients naturally present in breast milk. The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines direct mothers to exclusively breastfeed babies for six months. Thereafter, mothers can introduce “nutritious complementary foods and continue breastfeeding up to the age of two years or beyond.” According to The Times of India, in India, less than 50% of children are breastfed within an hour of birth, whereas the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months stood at 55%.” Furthermore, if a mother is severely malnourished, she may not be able to produce enough milk for her baby.

Methods of detecting malnutrition present another issue. Many field workers lack the skills to properly conduct a physical assessment to detect malnutrition. Standardized assessments by humanitarian aid organizations and governments can be lengthy and costly and the measuring methods can vary depending on what tools are available, leading to inconsistent data. The health workers typically document these measurements in writing and eventually transfer the data to an Excel spreadsheet. This takes a lot of time and the captured data can contain input errors. On top of that, workers may not be able to recognize if the child is malnourished by sight alone. This is where digital tools come into play.

Child Growth Monitor

Child Growth Monitor is an artificial intelligence-based mobile app that the German nonprofit Welthungerhilfe created that improves the process of identifying child malnourishment. The app takes 3D measurements of a child’s body using an infrared sensor available on certain smartphones and quickly uploads the data onto Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing service. Then, nutritionists and IT specialists can examine the scans using Microsft AI solutions to assess a child’s dietary health and determine if the child is malnourished. Welthungerhilfe released a beta version of this app in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security.

Welthungerhilfe and partners are piloting the app in three states in India — Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The NGO Action Against Hunger is providing support to 150 field workers to use the app to scan and evaluate children.

Child Growth Monitor collects data much faster than traditional measuring methods and has a lower margin of error. Users do not need to be anthropometric (experts in the study of measurements and proportions of the human body) to get accurate data and recognize if a child is undernourished. In addition, the app measures children the same way every time, allowing for consistent data.

HealthPhone

In 2015, HealthPhone, in partnership with the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP), the Government of India and UNICEF, launched a large three-year digital mass education program called IAP HealthPhone to educate more than 10 million females between the ages of 13 and 35 on how to improve health and nutrition among themselves and their families.

The program promoted and distributed four free videos in 18 languages on mobile phones. These videos covered simple ways to improve nutrition through diet, the significance of breastfeeding and adequate nutrition, specific guidelines for pregnant women and children younger than 24 months old and the “status of women.”

IAP also partnered with the telecommunications company Vodafone to send 300 million text messages annually to Vodafone’s 184 million subscribers to spread the videos to as many people as possible.

The IAP HealthPhone program hopes to benefit 60 million children born in India by 2025.

Nutrify India Now

Nutrify India Now is a diet-tracking food app that India’s National Institute of Nutrition launched in 2018. People can use the app to determine the calories and nutrients contained in “common Indian food.” Available in 17 different languages, the app helps to guide the user’s nutrition decisions in order to tackle malnourishment in India.

The app information is derived from “India-specific databases” and uses guidelines that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India’s apex medical research body, recommended. As of November 27, 2022, the app has had more than 50,000 downloads on Google Play.

A Nutritious Future

Malnourishment in India, especially among mothers and their children, is a significant issue in the country. But, with easy-to-use digital tools, more people will be able to understand the importance of a nutritious diet and take action to improve their nutrition.

– James Harrington
Photo: Wikipedia Commons

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Hunger in Cuba: Facing New Challenges

Hunger in Cuba
Cuba’s geographic position in the Caribbean leaves it vulnerable to annual natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes and heavy rain. Natural disasters have cost Cuba more than 20 billion USD since 2011, a cost that greatly impacts Cuba’s overall food security. Despite this, Cuba has consistently scored “low” (less than 5) on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) since 2005. A GHI score of <5 indicates that less than 10% of the population suffers from hunger, calculated by national rates of undernourishment, child wasting and stunting and child mortality. Hunger in Cuba has stabilized at 2.50% since 2002.

While still under the 10% line and decreasing, Cuba’s child stunting indicators are much higher than its other indicators. In 2005, child stunting was 4.8% higher than the next-highest indicator, child wasting, and still 2.7% higher in 2019. According to Cuba’s Food Security and Nutrition Monitoring System, 31.6% of two-year-olds suffered from anemia in 2015.

Social Programs in Cuba

Many social programs in Cuba rely heavily on food importation and foreign aid from Venezuela and the U.S. Up to 80% of Cuba’s food is imported. The majority of food importation, about 67%, goes toward government social programs. This leads to long distribution lines for basic food products like rice, vegetables, eggs and meat. These lines for individual food products can last up to five hours as people wait to purchase groceries with government-issued ration books. Waiting for one ingredient at a time leads to some households choosing certain food products over others and reducing their nutrient diversity.

Fortunately, international and local organizations are also stepping in to help. Here are four organizations working to addressing hunger in Cuba.

  1. The World Food Programme: The World Food Programme (WFP) is working hard to improve nutrient diversity and reduce Cuban reliance on international imports. The WFP provides nutritional and food safety education programs for pregnant and nursing women, children and seniors. The organization also helps local producers and processors of beans improve the competitive pricing of their products. Additionally, the WFP collaborates with the Cuban government to develop a food security analysis program in conjunction with Cuba’s natural disaster response plan.
  2. The Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere: Smaller organizations strive to help Cuba improve its food security as well. The Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), for instance, helps Cuban farmers revive farmland and establish sustainable food production practices, which will improve crop returns and overall food security over time.
  3. The West India Committee: Similar to CARE, the West India Committee provides education and training to farmers to help keep farmland productive and efficient over a longer period of time.
  4. The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba: The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHR Cuba) has a different approach. FHR Cuba focuses on creating economic incentives to start and maintain small businesses, including livestock and agricultural farms. FHR Cuba gives out microcredit loans between $100 and $600 to applicants for business supplies. Participants are then required to file a monthly report. So far, the initiative has funded 70 entrepreneurs. All have been able to successfully repay their loan as their businesses take off.

Political and Economic Context

Recent political fighting and economic hardships have led to food shortages and new government-issued rations. These go beyond the already-existing food rations allotted per family. Since 2000, Cuba has relied on Venezuelan oil, but economic collapse in Venezuela caused the aid in oil exports from that region to be cut in half. Cuba relied on selling Venezuelan oil for hard currency to trade internationally for products like food.

Additionally, after Cuba affirmed diplomatic support for Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, the U.S. imposed strict sanctions. The U.S. sanctions have caused food prices to soar as Cuba seeks new, more expensive suppliers. Additionally, the national production of food fell in response to the economic crisis, exacerbated by COVID-19 and plummeting tourism.

Improving Food Security

Cuba is seeking to improve its future food security by asking citizens to grow their own gardens and produce their own food. Due to how much of food is imported from abroad, very little food is produced in Cuba itself. For example, Cuba missed the mark of 5.7 million domestic demand for eggs by 900,000 eggs in March 2019, while Cuba’s main homegrown agricultural exports are luxuries like sugar and tobacco. Havana reportedly already produces 18% of its agricultural consumption, while other areas are only starting to begin farming and gardening initiatives. As agricultural supplies are also largely imported, Cubans must rely on organic farming techniques like “worm composting, soil conservation and the use of biopesticides.”

In conclusion, while Cuba has a long track record of preventing widespread hunger, the country needs to find new solutions to combat hunger in Cuba in the face of recent challenges like COVID-19 and faltering foreign aid. With the help of economic creativity like microloans and improving competitive bean prices, sustainable farming techniques taught by WFP, CARE and others and measures already in place to reduce Cuba’s reliance on food imports, Cuba has shown that it already has the infrastructure in place to meet these challenges.

– Elizabeth Broderick
Photo: Flickr

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Madagascar’s Poverty is Further Impacted

Madagascar’s PovertyMadagascar, an island country located in the Indian Ocean, is one of the most impoverished countries in the world, with 75% of its population living in poverty in 2019. Due to the country’s insufficient infrastructure, isolated communities and history of political instability, the economy of Madagascar has long been incapacitated and heavily dependent on foreign aid to meet the basic needs of its people, with food being the most urgent. In recent times, Madagascar’s poverty has been further impacted by more crises amid the country’s continued search for economic stability.

The COVID-19 Pandemic

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Madagascar’s economy has drastically worsened and so has Madagascar’s poverty as a result. With an already frail economic climate before COVID-19, the pandemic has negatively affected both the rural and urban areas of Madagascar, as precautionary measures enforced by the government are obstructing the flow of food and job opportunities, further stifling the already impoverished. Movement restrictions, one of many precautionary measures being enforced by the government, have cornered the most poverty-susceptible households to stay in place versus finding labor opportunities through seasonally migrating. Without the freedom to move about and access markets, these rural households are hard-pressed to find food and urban households are feeling the economic effects of this as well.

Drought in Madagascar

About 1.6 million people in southern Madagascar have suffered from food shortages since 2016. The reason for this food shortage: drought. Ejeda is one of many Madagascar villages that finds its villagers trekking miles away from their homes to dig holes into sand beds around rivers in search of water. If water is found, these villagers are then tasked with transporting it miles back home. Three years of recurrent drought in southern Madagascar has almost entirely eradicated farming and crop yields.

Declining Tourism Industry

Tourism in Madagascar is a significant source of annual revenue for the country. Home to lush national parks and scenic beaches, it is estimated that the fallout of COVID-19 has taken away about half a billion dollars of tourism revenue from the country since the pandemic began. Travel restrictions in Madagascar have gradually been eased but the damage has been done as people are simply not traveling unnecessarily during COVID-19. This loss of tourism revenue has been widely felt as it has added to the people’s ongoing struggle with poverty in Madagascar.

Poverty in Madagascar continues to worsen due to COVID-19, drought and the ensuing loss of tourism. With an already feeble economy before these crises, poverty has been intensified in both rural and urban areas as these crises continue to play out.

The Good News

Madagascar’s poverty has increased but there is good news to be found. A dietician and missionary from Poland named Daniel Kasprowicz recently raised 700,000 PLN through an online fundraiser to build a medical facility for malnourished children. Construction on the building has already started, and as poverty is expected to increase throughout Madagascar for the foreseeable future, it is believed that the facility will be opened and treating the malnourished by February 2021. In a time of crucial need, foreign aid means life or death in Madagascar and no act of assistance goes unnoticed.

– Dylan James
Photo: Flickr

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Child Hunger in Idlib Grows Amidst Pandemic

Child Hunger in IdlibThe Syrian conflict continues to rage through this pandemic. The locus of fighting has shifted to the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo. Since 2019, the Syrian government — with support from Russia — has engaged in various bombing campaigns in the region and sent ground forces as well. Idlib is clearly feeling the effects of this violence. The need for aid in the province grows alongside the increasing size of the humanitarian crisis. One particularly important but overlooked aspect of the devastation in Idlib is the rising cost of food. Child hunger in Idlib is a result of the rise in levels of food among the youth due to price increases.

The Issue

Child hunger in Idlib — for infants in particular — has become an area of concern as COVID-19 has become more prevalent throughout the country. One big factor is that food has generally become much less accessible. According to The New Humanitarian, “‘An infant needs one container of formula per week, but the price has risen to $12,’ up from $9 three months ago … For many parents, that sum is out of reach.” This increase in price manifests itself often in the form of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). The disease primarily affects children under the age of 5, is highly dangerous and often turns life-threatening. Effects of SAM include a process known as “stunting,” which limits the physical growth in very young children. Stunting and other effects of SAM lead to other problems later in life for these children.

Another frequent issue is malnutrition in pregnant and breastfeeding women. It not only affects them personally but impacts the growth of their infants as well. The New Humanitarian also reports a rise in SAM hospital cases over the summer of 2020. The ratio jumped to 97 out of 1,692 people screened from the January status of 29 out of 2,199. This is likely a lower estimate given the number of people who cannot get screened or don’t have access to testing. Time is of the essence after receiving a SAM diagnosis. Once a child with this condition reaches 2 years of age, they will likely deal with the consequences of SAM for the rest of their life.

Fighting Worsens the Problem

Child hunger in Idlib — and in Syria more widely — is deeply concerning. The issue is compounded by the broader poverty levels and violence that plague the entire country. As a result of the fighting, the majority of  Syrians are internally displaced from their homes.

There is no clear end in sight to the fighting between rebel forces and the Syrian state military. Refugee camps are essentially at capacity and can’t withstand an influx of people if the civil war persists. Additionally, COVID-19 continues to ravage the country, which will likely increase the number of Syrian refugees and displaced persons.

In addition to the housing issue, food scarcity is prevalent in the country. Food options are usually unavailable or unaffordable. As such, many Syrians rely on foreign assistance and aid from NGOs as resources for food.

Aid

There are, however, numerous aid organizations and NGOs working to provide food security and address the growing refugee crisis. They are especially targeting the northwest, where Idlib is located. The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) is an organization working to expand health care access to those who need it. SAMS also provides meals to both children and adults at risk of food insecurity. Yet another part of their work focuses specifically on care for those with Severe Acute Malnutrition.

SAMS fights against child hunger in Idlib and throughout the rest of the country. They report that in 2019, the last year for which data is available, SAMS performed more than 2.5 million medical services for the Syrian population, at no or greatly reduced cost. Since 2011, they have provided more than $207 million worth of aid and medical resources as well.

SAMS and other similar organizations are vital to the survival of millions of Syrians. However, there is still more to be done. The international community must redouble their efforts to provide resources to those displaced and malnourished. Everyone must work to end the violence that has been a constant in the country for so long.

– Leo Posel
Photo: Flickr

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How Proper Education Will Help End Poverty

Education Will Help End Poverty
Education is a luxury many people take for granted, but it is something poverty-ridden families often sacrifice to have. Globally, over 250 million children and young adults are not in school. As a result, around 617 million young children and adolescents around the world are unable to read or do mathematics within the minimum proficient level. Poverty is one of the main reasons for this tragedy and it often comes from generations prior that also lacked schooling. By properly educating new generations, poverty rates could reduce significantly. Here are some ways that proper education will help end poverty.

Health

Estimates have determined that in developing countries, one-eighth of all children are born malnourished and that about 47% of those in low-income countries will continue to experience malnourishment until they reach the age of 5. Poor nutrition is a direct result of poverty and often linked to insufficient knowledge of proper nutritional diets. A study that occurred in 13 different countries found that the standard yearly gain production increased with those with basic education by 8.7%, which in turn increased food security and helped lower rates of malnourishment in children.

Education will help end poverty because, with basic education, parents learn more about how to care for themselves and their families, which in turn leads their children towards healthier lifestyles. Health education gives families have a higher chance of survival and even reduces rates of HIV and AIDS.

Mortality Rate

Education will help end poverty because it is particularly powerful for girls. Education has many effects on girls and women, but a primary impact is that if all women in poverty finished primary school, then the child mortality rate would reduce by almost 17%. This adds up to about 1 million newborns saved every year, but how does saving lives help lower poverty rates?

If more children survive, then families would not feel the need to have more children, thus the size of families would be smaller. If the families were smaller, then families would have more income and resources to go around, thus reducing poverty. For example, sub-Saharan African women with no education have 6.7 births on average, but with access to schools, these women only have 5.8 births. And finally, those studied who had finished secondary education have 3.9 births on average.

With schooling, women could more easily recognize danger signs in pregnancy and be able to seek care faster. Women with more knowledge about their body, pregnancy and childbirth have a better chance of giving birth safely. Records have determined that a child with a mother who had basic education is 50% more likely to surpass their fifth birthday.

Income and Economic Growth

Income is, of course, a huge factor in poverty. Records have stated that if someone has basic education (that is, reading, writing and mathematical skills), this not only has a positive impact on their own income but can also “increase the rate of return on the economy.” Those with education have a much higher chance of getting better jobs with higher wages. Just one year of education can result in a 10% raise in pay. More pay means better, more nutritious food, better access to sanitation, better access to healthcare and better housing.

For example, Vietnam was one of the poorest economic countries in the world due to its 20-year war. However, since 1990, Vietnam transformed its poor and war-torn country into a GDP that grew to 3,303%. Its economic growth rate was the second fastest and the main strategy for this success was the improvement and modernization of its education system. Vietnam is only second to China, which also implemented a new education system, causing it to have the number one fastest GDP growth.

With children attending schools and developing both important skills and abilities, they will one day get better jobs. The more income they have, the more goods and products they consume which benefits the companies. This in turn increases the demand for the production of more products, thus giving jobs to more people and helping the economy grow. These changes and more will be key in eradicating poverty around the world.

– Katelyn Mendez
Photo: Flickr

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5 Facts About Venezuela’s Health Care and Poverty

Venezuela's Health Care
Venezuela is in the midst of an economic and political crisis. About a third of the children in Venezuela are in need of humanitarian assistance. Rayito de Luz, a nonprofit organization that provides basic necessities to children with cancer in the poorest communities in Venezuela, combats the lack of access to nutrition and health care that extreme poverty causes in the country. Here are five facts about Venezuela’s health care and poverty.

5 Facts About Venezuela’s Health Care and Poverty

  1. Poverty in Venezuela is extremely high. In 2019, an average Venezuelan earned merely 72 U.S. cents a day. Based on this income, 96% of Venezuelans live in poverty and 70% live in extreme poverty. This figure is significantly higher than the poverty rate in 2014, which stood at 48%.
  2. The child mortality rate has risen in Venezuela. According to UNICEF, the crisis that has devastated Venezuela has left children increasingly vulnerable. The under-5 mortality rate was over 24% in 2019, surging from 17% in 2017, reversing a downward trend that had been continuing since 1999.
  3. Child malnutrition is a huge problem. In 2016, the Global Nutrition Report stated that among Venezuelan children, the percentage of child wasting (low weight-to-height ratio) was 4.1%. In 2017, the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World stated that Venezuela’s undernourishment rose to 13% from 10.5% in 2005. Additionally, a 2017 report stated that 15.5% of children showed some levels of child wasting, and 20% of other children were at risk of malnutrition.
  4. People are fleeing from Venezuela. In the four years of Venezuela’s crisis leading to the end of 2019, over 4.6 million Venezuelans fled the country. This is about 16% of the population, making it the largest migrant crisis in Latin America in over half a century. This means that medical professionals such as doctors and nurses are fleeing the country as well, causing a shortage of medical professionals.
  5. Venezuela’s health care system is failing. Venezuelan hospitals are struggling to stay open as they face a severe shortage in medicine and other health care equipment. Desperate Venezuelans must buy medicine off the black market in order to survive. With COVID-19, the already-fragile health care system is buckling under the weight of the outbreak. As of early March 2020, only 300 COVID-19 tests were available for the entire country of 30 million people.

Rayito de Luz

Since board member Zeanly Gomez founded Rayito de Luz in 2015, the situation in Venezuela has dramatically worsened. According to Gomez, many children in Venezuela are experiencing malnourishment with different illnesses. The organization provides food, medicine, clothes, toys and school supplies for the children in response to Venezuela’s health care crisis.

Gomez collects donations in Katy, Texas, where it puts items in boxes to ship to Venezuela. The donations take up to four weeks to get to Venezuela before making it to local organizations that distribute them to children with cancer and other illnesses.

With the goal of saving as many Venezuelan children’s lives as possible, Rayito de Luz has helped over 10,000 children in 2020 alone.

– Mizuki Kai
Photo: Wikipedia Commons