Credit Access in Chad

Located in Central Africa, Chad is a landlocked country with a population of approximately 12 million people. While the national poverty fell from 54.8% in 2002 to 46.7% in 2011, Chad remains 186th out of 188 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index. Credit access in Chad stands out as one of the leading impediments to economic growth.

Financial Institutions in Chad

Chad’s financial depth is among the lowest in Africa. According to the World Bank’s Global Financial Development Database (GFDD, 2016), financial system deposits of commercial banks and other financial institutions made up 6.8% of GDP in 2014 in Chad, three times lower than the sub-Saharan African median of 24.6%, and the lowest in the sub-region that year.

Likewise, the ratios of private credit to GDP and deposit money banks’ assets to GDP were less than a half of the median in sub-Saharan Africa in 2014, coming at 6.6% and 8.1% respectively.

The role credit has in the growth of developing countries’ economies cannot be overstated. Increased credit access in Chad is essential for allowing farmers, businesses, and consumers across Chad to utilize investment capital and thus help expand economic activity.

Credit Access in Chad

There has been a marked decline in financial and credit access in Chad between 2011 and 2014, according to Global Findex Data. During that period, the proportion of adults with an account at a bank declined from 9% to 7.7%. In comparison, the average proportion of adults with an account at a financial institution in sub-Saharan Africa increased from 23.9% to 28.9%.

Borrowings and savings in Chad experienced a similar trend. Between 2011 and 2014, the number of adults who borrowed money from a bank declined from 6.2% to 2.4%, while the proportion of those who saved declined from 6.8% to 4.6%.

In order for people living in Chad to grow businesses, buy homes or purchase goods, the imperative is that they have access to financial institutions so that they can borrow and save money from those institutions. Credit is essential for building capital and achieving economic growth.

Progress is Being Made

While these statistics might suggest a rather grim financial situation, there is some progress that indicates an improvement of credit access in Chad for its citizens. IMF Financial Access Survey Data report from 2015 notes an increase in ATMs from 30 in 2011 to 64 in 2014. Borrowers at commercial banks have increased from 2.8 to 8.8 per 1000 adults. While these gains are modest and fall short of the sub-Saharan Africa average, they present a glimpse of hope for a country plagued by inaccessible credit and financial institutions.

As mobile banking proliferates throughout Chad’s financial sector, it offers increased access to credit. A Luxembourg based telecommunication firm, Tigo, and Airtel Money, an Indian telecommunications firm have helped facilitate the transition to mobile banking in Chad. They offer services that allow users to pay bills, conduct money transfers, and make everyday purchases. As of 2013, there are 50,000 Tigo Cash users and 53,000 Airtel Money users in Chad.

In addition, a recent U.N. initiative, the Chad Local Development and Inclusive Finance Program, works to promote access to financial institutions and foster sustainable development. The program aims to create 20 multifunctional centers for financial services and 20,000 micro-enterprises. These enterprises will help create jobs for at least 500,000 households.

While Chad’s financial woes are far from over, the proliferation of mobile banking and microfinance across the country have allowed more people to gain access to credit.

– McAfee Sheehan
Photo: Flickr

Improvements to Infrastructure in Chad Countering Extremism

Infrastructure encompasses many things, including roads, electricity and water systems. The infrastructure in Chad has been lacking, which affects its citizens’ daily lives. However, many groups are lending a helping hand to Chad so the lives of its citizens can improve.

Problems with infrastructure in Chad can be attributed to the civil war and poor management by the central government. The decades-long civil war damaged many of the country’s roads, and the remaining roads are made of dirt and are often at risk of eroding. The distributors of power and water are often corrupt and demand an excessive amount of money for their services. Although water and electricity are available in the capital, they are expensive and not available to most of the population in rural Chad.

Due to its many problems, the quality of infrastructure in Chad is ranked 143rd out of 148 countries in the world.

One of the most important things that good infrastructure helps with is the maintenance of water. A strong water infrastructure means that people do not have to wonder whether or not their drinking water is contaminated. Unfortunately, Chadians must worry if their water is safe to drink. People in rural Chad have to rely on traditional water wells as their main water resource. Unfortunately, these wells are susceptible to surface contamination. Bacteria and disease can propagate in the wells.

Although Chad is having problems with its infrastructure, there are people who are willing to help. Spirit of America is a group of American troops who help people in impoverished nations improve their lives. These troops have gone to Chad and built water pumps in key towns and cities. Prior to the troops arriving, these towns and cities did not have any running water.

The immediate effect of building water pumps is a safe water source for the town. If a town has a clean and safe water source, its quality of life will improve and the occurrence of disease will decrease.

Another effect of building water pumps is that they function as a means of counterterrorism. Extremist groups often use the lack of water as a rallying call for people to join their cause. Once there is a proper water system available to people, the extremists have less backing for their cause and will not be able to recruit as many people.

Chad has had troubles with regard to infrastructure, but things are beginning to improve. With the assistance of groups such as Spirit of America, improvements in Chad’s infrastructure can have a positive impact for its citizens.

– Daniel Borjas

Photo: Flickr

Why Is Chad Poor?

Chad is a landlocked nation within Africa and one of the world’s poorest countries. As 87 percent of the rural population lives below the poverty line, many raise the question, “Why is Chad poor?” While the answer is multidimensional, the following are three major reasons for poverty in Chad.

1. Climatic Variations
As Chad’s climatic conditions can change drastically from droughts to torrential rains and flooding, the nation lacks reliable production of harvests, which is the main answer to the question, “Why is Chad poor?” Because the amount of rainfall varies drastically from one year to the next, harvests of staple foods such as millet and maize are often put in jeopardy. When a period of drought lasting over a year is followed by heavy rains that bring floods and destroy crops, food insecurity becomes a consistent threat and ongoing problem. According to the World Food Programme, Chad ranks 73rd out of 78 countries on the Global Hunger Index.

2. Poor Public Services
While there are a few hospitals and health centers within the country, the facilities within them are poor and understaffed. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were only 345 doctors working in the country between 2000 and 2010, which equates to just 0.4 physicians for every 10,000 people. Along with a lack of access to proper healthcare, underdeveloped infrastructure and limited human resources serve as major obstacles towards the education of those within Chad, as only one-third of adults are literate and just two-thirds of youths are enrolled in basic schooling.

3. Economic Misfortune
Another critical area in need of assessing in order to answer the question “Why is Chad poor?” is the recent oil crisis. Since joining the list of oil-producing countries in 2003, Chad’s economy has been heavily dependent on oil. With the plunge in oil prices in 2014, the nation has faced a continuing recession, leading to projected cuts in public services as well as an expected rise in poverty.

While the question “Why is Chad poor?” may seem too complicated to determine, reducing poverty within the nation, as well as globally, is a highly achievable task. Through the assistance of foreign aid, developing nations are able to increase the accessibility of productive public services, and for Chad, this would mean a major increase in the amount of citizens able to experience the empowerment of an education and good health in their future.

– Kendra Richardson

Photo: Flickr

Preventing the Spread of Common Diseases in Chad

The degree of the risk to get infectious diseases in Chad, the biggest landlocked country on the African continent, is critically high. Typhoid, cholera, malaria and hepatitis E tend to become more widespread in the rainy season.

Chad’s population continuously grows due to the country’s high fertility rate and large youth cohort. More than 65 percent of the populace is under the age of 25, although the mortality rate is high and life expectancy is low. Diseases in Chad caused the world’s third highest maternal mortality rate. According to UNICEF, 33 percent of children between 12-23 months are not vaccinated against childhood diseases.

Among blood or waterborne diseases in Chad the most concerning are bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E and typhoid fever. Vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, water contact disease schistosomiasis, respiratory disease meningococcal meningitis and some of the animal contact diseases including rabies had a large outbreak in 2016 and are also among the most threatening. In the past decade, Chad has faced epidemics of meningitis, measles and cholera with increasing severity.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) identified the first hepatitis E cases and treated 885 patients with Acute Jaundice Symptoms (AJS), with numbers increasing to an average of around 60 new cases a week. AJS commonly causes the yellowing of the skin and eyes, which can indicate if a person has hepatitis E. In total, 45 percent of cases tested positive for hepatitis E. Since September 2016, 11 have died, including four pregnant women among hospitalized individuals, but the fatality rate could be underestimated. Nearly 90 percent of the AJS cases were reported from Am Timan which appears to be the epicenter of the outbreak.

The government of Chad officially declared a cholera epidemic on August 30, 2010. In January 2011, the number of cases started to increase again and during September, 4,410 cases and 83 deaths were reported. The high mortality rate appeared due to the weakness of the monitoring system, the lack of appropriate health strategies and of access to health services for patients and the poor quality of existing health services.

As with some other diseases in Chad, cholera appears during the rainy season in the regions surrounding the Lac Chad. In 2014, 172 cases of cholera were notified in the regions of Lac, Mayo Kebbi and N’Djamena. In 2016, no cases were notified. Given the low levels of access to a sustainable water source (only 52 percent of Chad’s population have access) and improved sanitation (12 percent), it is likely to be a continuous problem.

In 2016, more than a million cases of malaria were notified among other diseases in Chad. UNICEF and the World Health Organization have launched a distribution of bed nets, medicines, malnutrition treatment for children under five and stimulated prenatal services such as vaccination and preventive malaria treatment.

The causes of malaria are dirty water and garbage that becomes the nests for mosquitoes. More important, even with vaccination, is to use nets, especially covering children’s and elders’ beds, as the disease affects them the most.

Travelers to Chad should follow standard hygiene recommendations in terms of water and food safety. These should protect them against hepatitis E, as the risk of person to person transmission is very low. In order to control these epidemics and reduce morbidity and mortality rates associated with cholera, malaria, yellow fever, measles and meningitis outbreaks, UNICEF in collaboration with Chad’s government plans to launch mass vaccination of the entire population and returnees of all ages to prevent further spread of epidemic diseases in Chad.

– Yana Emets
Photo: Flickr

The Growing Need to Reduce Chronic Hunger in Chad

Chad is a country located in Africa where there is a growing need to reduce chronic hunger.

Here are some facts outlining the severity of hunger in Chad:

• 87 percent of Chad’s rural population lives below the poverty line.
• More than 2.4 million rural Chadians are food insecure.
• Of the 2.4 million food insecure rural Chadians, 428,000 are classified as severely. food insecure.
• 11.7 percent of children under the age of five are stunted due to chronic malnutrition.

Hunger in Chad is exacerbated by the country’s geographical location, climate, susceptibility to political instability and vulnerability to natural disasters.

Action Against Hunger is looking to reduce the effects of hunger by improving agricultural production, jumpstarting local business markets and enhancing access to sustainable sources of income and food in Chad. In 2015, the foundation helped 413,325 Chadians receive nutritional support.

Similarly, the World Food Programme (WFP) is working to eliminate hunger in Chad with four different operations:

1. Development operations look to help the hungry feed themselves.
2. Emergency operations help provide food for the impoverished while improving nutrition.
3. Relief and recovery operations assist in stabilizing food security after emergencies.
4. Special operations help to create specific logistics and infrastructure work to improve the movement of food aid.

Specifically, the WFP looks to provide 120,000 meals in prioritized areas where chronic hunger is prevalent. In addition, 15,000 meals are being provided to the Lake Chad region.

Chad’s chronic hunger situation continues to improve with the help of foundations like Action Against Hunger and the World Food Programme. There are some factors that these foundations cannot affect (like climate and geography), but the programs are doing all they can to make sure the country of Chad is in the best position possible in order to succeed.

– Casey Marx

Photo: Flickr