Posts

Child Marriage and Poverty in the Developing World

India_Child_Marriage_Underage
In developing countries many marriages are early or forced and child marriage is wide spread, particularly among girls. While boys do marry before the age of 18, girls are much more significantly affected. A study on child marriage found that in 2003, there were 72 girls married for every one boy in Mali. Despite efforts from the United Nations and various NGOs to end child marriage, one-third of girls still marry before the age of 18 and one in nine marry before the age of 15. Every year, 14 million girls under the age of 18 are married.

Child marriage occurs in poor rural communities and the girl’s parents or other leaders in her village often arrange the marriage. The girls often have no say in when or whom they marry. Child marriage is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia.

Child Marriage and Poverty

Child marriage is most prevalent in the poorest countries in the world and particularly in the poorest households of these countries. For poor families, child marriage often seems like the best way to get their daughters and the rest of their families out of poverty. When parents marry off their daughter, they often receive a dowry. Even if the families do not receive a dowry, they benefit from having one less person to care for.

Parents believe marriage is a way out of poverty for their daughter, but girls who marry young often remain in poverty and never receive an education.

The International Centre for Research on Women reports poverty is strongly related to the number of child brides. In Bangladesh, Mali and Mozambique, more than 75% of the population lives on less than $2 per day and more than 50% of the girls are married before the age of 18.

The country’s GDP is also related to child marriage. Chad has a GDP of only $1,600 per capita and 71%of its are married before the age of 18. In almost all developing countries girls from poor households are more than twice as likely to marry before the age of 18 than girls in more financially secure households.

Child Marriage and Health

Girls who marry young often get pregnant soon after; however, these girls are often not physically or emotionally mature enough to handle the demands of sexual activity, pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death in girls between the ages of 15 and 19 worldwide. These girls are also at much greater risk of domestic violence and rape and often believe that their husbands have the right to beat them and force them into sex. Lastly, girls who marry young are at a greater risk of contracting HIV.

What Can Be Done?

The Girls Empowerment Network is going into communities where child marriage is prevalent and starting girls clubs that empower girls and finally ask them whether they want to get married. It then helps the girls to advocate for themselves and explain to their parents and the leaders of their communities that they want to go to school rather than get married. One community where the Girls Empowerment Network is working recently initiated a law saying girls may not be married before the age of 21. While this may not work in all communities, it is at least starting to work in some.

– Elizabeth Brown

Sources: Plan, IRCW, Girls Not Brides, NPR, UNFPA
Photo: The Travel Photographer

,

Global Health Corps, Creating Global Leaders

Global_Leaders
For individuals who are passionate about improving worldwide living conditions and gaining the skills necessary to further oneself in the field of global health, internships are fraught with worthwhile and unique opportunities to gain knowledge and hands-on experience. With the plethora of diverse internships, the Global Health Corps (GHC) initiative, established in 2009, has stood out as an enriching opportunity for passionate young individuals. The Global Health Corp was engendered by the belief that adequate health is not only a privilege, but also a right for every human across the globe.

GHC aligns interns with top-notch organizations so both parties are able to collaborate-mutually benefiting each other in order to improve global health. According to the GHC, many opportunities to improve global health are not available for individuals who have not already established themselves in the medical field. Thus, another goal of the Corp is to provide opportunities for young people, especially individuals from diverse roots, to achieve their potential and make an impact on worldwide healthcare.

The program offers summer internships at the GHC headquarters in New York City. Furthermore, fellows can also be placed in locales such as Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. The internship provides unique opportunities such as aiding the enhancement of the GHC program, raising money through fundraising, and improving communications support.

According to the Corp, there are a series of six steps taken throughout the internship project. First, fellows are chosen, then they are paired with a host organization and partnered with a participating organization. Additionally, fellows are able to develop their unique skill-sets, establish an educated community and continue to promote global health initiatives long after the internship expires.

The Corp also provides opportunities for interns to work for global change through three key goals. Interns will be able to help increase the impact of prominent organizations by working with such organizations. Additionally, the GHC provides excellent training for aspiring future leaders by engaging interns in a wide-range of developmental activities. Furthermore, interns are able to engage in constructing an international community for change that will continue to flourish even after the yearly internships have been brought to a successful end.

– Phoebe Pradhan

Sources: Global Health Corps, Huffington Post
Photo: Wize Hive

, ,

Prison and Poverty

Prison and Poverty
The incarcerated population of the United States has reached over 2.3 million, making the U.S. incarceration rate the highest in the world, housing more inmates than the top 30 European nations combined.  Mass incarceration strategies were put in place, in part, to reduce crime in poor neighborhoods, but decades after their initial implementation, individuals and communities continue to suffer.

Researchers attribute some of the large increases in prison populations to longer mandatory sentencing.  Going hand in hand with longer sentencing is the fact that the incarcerated population is disproportionately concentrated among young minority men with very low levels of education.   For instance, black men experience 20% longer prison sentences than white men for similar crimes.

When people are in their twenties and are locked up for 10 to 15 years, they not only adapt to the extreme culture of prison, but when they exit, they will find it hard to assimilate into normal society.  Moreover, the slim job prospects many people faced before going into jail are worsened upon release.

Sociologists have found that once one takes into account the various socioeconomic factors, incarceration typically reduces annual earnings by 40% for the former average male prisoner.  This does not include wages lost while behind bars or the burdens endured by the prisoner’s family and community during the stint.

Prison has such a debilitating impact on the U.S. that taxpayers end up spending over $50 billion annually on maintaining the system of incarceration.  Without the significant incarceration efforts made by the U.S. government, researchers calculate that the nation’s poverty rate would be 20% below the current level, equaling to roughly 9 million people who would be less reliant on subsidies and assistance programs.  These same people would add to the tax base and make up potential consumers of American products.

Furthermore, slightly under half of federal prisoners are in jail for drug crimes and nearly half of all prisoners in state prisons are there for non-violent offenses.  As a result, the Obama administration has recognized the moral and economic need to curb prison populations.  In 2013, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. announced policies that would increase the use of drug-treatment programs as alternatives to incarceration while expanding another program which releases inmates who committed non-violent crimes and have served significant portions of their sentences.

The experiment of mass incarceration in the name of public safety has been a clear detriment to American society.  Rather than throw away money and effort to a system that perpetuates unemployment, poor health, family instability and other conditions of poverty, the U.S. must focus on social policies that improve opportunities for those on the lower pegs of the socioeconomic ladder.

– Sunny Bhatt

Sources: New York Times, National Public Radio, Bureau of Justice Statistics

Photo: Barnard.edu

, ,

Bangladesh Healthcare Improves Despite Poverty

bangladesh_healthcare_improves
Despite widespread poverty and low governmental spending on health, Bangladesh – particularly, its healthcare system – has made significant improvements in life expectancy, vaccination rates and decreased infant mortality rates. In a special report by The Lancet, it has been shown that the remarkable strides made by the country are due to programs that focus on gender equality, family planning and immunizations.

Professor Mushtaque Chowdhury from BRAC, a Bangladeshi NGO, has said, “Over the past 40 years, Bangladesh has outperformed its Asian neighbors, convincingly defying the expert view that reducing poverty and increasing health resources are the key drivers of better population health. Since 1980 maternal mortality has dropped by 75%, infant mortality has more than halved since 1990, and life expectancy has increased to 68.3 years—surpassing neighboring India and Pakistan.”

Women have played a large role in these advancements. Door-to-door female health workers delivered family planning services over the last 40 years, resulting in a drop from 7 births per woman in 1971 to 2.3 in 2010. During that time, contraceptive use has increased from 10% to 62%. Education for girls was also noted as a key factor in these improvements.

The success achieved has been attributed to the involvement of NGOs, such as BRAC, in poor rural areas. “NGOs as a group have innovated to address issues of poverty, unemployment, health, education and the environment, and in many cases the government and NGOs have worked together to achieve a common goal,” The Lacent report continues to reveal.

While Bangladesh is succeeding in many areas, there are still many more that are not so positive such as child malnutrition. In the poorest families, 50% of children are still underweight. Even in the wealthiest quintile, 21% of children do not receive enough food.

“The Bangladesh health system has been shaped to address the first generation of poverty-linked infections, and nutritional and maternity-related diseases,” the Lancet goes on to say. “But given the epidemiological transition, the health system will have to be adjusted to grapple with chronic non-communicable diseases. For the fragile and evolving Bangladesh health system, the global attention on universal health coverage has not been translated into substantive action.”

– David Smith

Sources: TheLancet, TheGuardian, The Conversation

,

Poverty, Poor Health and Access to Healthcare

healthcare_poverty
It is an obvious fact that living in poverty makes one more vulnerable, less secure and more likely to need assistance. When combating poverty issues of health and accessibility to health care providers in a crucial factor in creating the stability that helps people leave poverty and with appropriate polices to prevent future poverty crisis.

In the United States, it is clear that many have fallen into poverty. The U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on poverty provides clear evidence that more Americans are struggling financially. Nearly 46 million people, which would be 14.6 percent of the population, are living in poverty. Of that, hundreds of thousands of these people were once counted among the middle class. Something beyond employment and GDP has effected security in the U.S. and made it difficult to not be impoverished.

When comparing the U.S. with other wealthy countries, the U.S. has one of the highest reported numbers of people living in poverty. Additionally, Americans also face a high risk of becoming poor. The disparity begs for answers.

When countries do not protect rights and basic securities it often leads to a poorly functioning economy and a poor standard of living.  States that do not have affordable health care have high rates of poverty. High rates of economic growth or their level of wealth cannot circumvent the absence of human rights protections and the statistics reflect that.

With such high costs of coverage and access, it is not surprising that the new census report also shows that 16.7 percent of Americans are without health insurance. The passage of the Affordable Care Act has brought this discussion of the value of human health to the forefront, and is the first major piece of anti-poverty legislation in decades.

The ACA mandates that quality healthcare must be provided to all Americans no matter what their income level is. In addition to accessible healthcare for those in need, the bill also reaffirms the belief that health care is a human right.

The health insecurity of the poor puts everyone at risk and the lack of care is trapping people in systemic poverty and risking lives that could otherwise be saved. When people live in extreme poverty they a more frequently and severely ill and face greater complications with more demands on an already over-burdened healthcare system.

Unless we can contain this spiral out of the cycle of poverty it will only continue. Job creation offers security through employment; however it cannot make a sick individual a healthy worker, and cannot always cover the high costs of health treatments and coverage.

The causes of poverty are varied and not always identified. Unless poverty is fought simultaneously from multiple points of vulnerability, it is not a winnable fight. With affordable accessible healthcare is provided along with increased social services, benefits and job creation, there are enough steps for individuals to finally leave poverty and find the security to participate economically and thrive.

– Nina Verfaillie
Feature Writer

Sources: Huffington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CNN
Photo: The Economist

, , ,

Overpopulation and Public Health

overpopulation public health
There is much debate whether overpopulation poses public health risks. Some believe it is the cause of hunger and poverty throughout the world while others feel that it has never been a problem.  It is important to shed light on this fear of overpopulation as its consequences are said to be evident in all developing countries.

Several reports about Africa’s growing population has been connected to the starvation of millions of people. Every year 32.5 percent of children in developing countries suffer from malnutrition. Sustainable population advocates have pointed to the approximate 200 million hunger-related deaths in the past twenty years. Deterioration in global biodiversity has also been linked to overpopulation. Substantial data of species loss has been presented by countries such as China, Brazil and Mexico. Human settlements that are gradually increasing according to the rate of population is said to ruin the benefits of nature and destroy habitats. The consequences of overpopulation is also suggested in access to education, primarily in Africa. In African classrooms, children are unable to learn due to overcrowding.  Access to water, medical care and housing are all diminished when there are more people that require aid. Data from the United Nations further suggests that by 2050, 10 percent to 15 percent of land that is farmed today will not be available. This could potentially lead to a food crisis as the current population increases at a faster rate.

Those supporting a sustainable population see hope in public policies being employed in countries such as Bangladesh, Iran and Thailand. Results from securing social services to women and families indicate a large decrease in undernourished people in Asia, from 23.7 percent to 13.9 percent. This downward trend from simply giving access to birth control and adopting policies that give aid to small families suggests that overpopulation is an issue that can be solved.  Policies that provide family planning to those in remote, rural areas in Asia has led to stability in undernourishment over time. By merely shifting the focus on public policy these countries quickly witnessed better health standards, quality of education and housing availability, all of which offer hope to the remaining developing nations.

– Maybelline Martez

Sources: Scientific American, Huffington Post, World Hunger

Medical Tourism Deepens Health Disparities

Medical Tourism
The medical tourism industry is booming in India. Thousands of people are coming to the country to receive inexpensive treatment by some of the world’s best physicians. Spending money on travel and lodging during their stay boosts the Indian economy, but not without a price.

Large health disparities exist between social classes. The majority of India’s 1.1 billion people utilize the free healthcare system because they cannot afford to be consumers of private healthcare. In this public sector, there are too many patients and not enough physicians, supplies or hospital beds to accommodate every person, regardless of their ailment. Hospitals are overcrowded and their conditions are poor. It’s not uncommon for people to travel for multiple days to see a doctor, only to wait in line and never be seen.

This picture is drastically different from the medical tourism industry; where approximately 150,000 medical tourists travel to India each year to receive major medical services at a reduced cost. The other appeal is little to no waiting time to see a physician and receive treatment. India’s 23 private hospitals also have the luxury of excess resources, including open hospital beds. Apollo Hospital, often referred to as the “Taj Mahal” of medical excellence, claims to reserve 30% of their beds (free of charge) to India’s poor patients, however the reality is that they are hard to obtain and rarely filled to capacity. Citizens must first contact the government to even get a permit and be admitted into the free ward, a process which can take months.

Medical visas that are now being issued marks the expansion of the medical tourism industry. Although medical tourism may seem beneficial on the surface, expansion may mean brain drain for the rural areas, which would deepen these health disparities. “Medical tourism could worsen the internal brain drain and lure professionals from the public sector and rural areas to take jobs in urban centers.” Dr. Nilima Kshirsagar, the dean of one of Mumbai’s largest public hospitals, agrees the focus needs to placed on Indian citizens and improving their access to healthcare; “The need to benefit Indian patients is the main goal, and medical tourism cannot be at their cost.”

– Maris Brummel

Sources: ABC, WHO

,

The Diary of a Poor Woman

On an average blog, an average post managed to make headlines. With over 3 million views, Linda Tirado’s blog post, “Why I Make Terrible Decisions, or, poverty thoughts,” has shed new light on poverty in America. Tirado is a wife, mother, student and employee. Her family lives below the poverty line and faces daily struggles to make ends meet.

Tirado articulates a widespread feeling that persists among families in poverty. She explains that stress, uncertainty and depression come along with financial woes. Tired of being misunderstood, Tirado took to her blog to respond to society’s misconceptions about poverty.

With cuts to food stamps occurring at the beginning of November, the welfare debate in the U.S. has recently been a hot topic. Many assume that people who are in poverty are responsible for their own bleak situation. The reality is, and Tirado makes sure to point this out, that those living in poverty were born into it and are never given the resources or the tools to get out.

Tirado’s post is written as a slightly unorganized stream of thoughts which she explains are constantly occurring in the back of her mind. She describes her average day of school, two jobs, and domestic responsibilities, while trying to keep her depression and exhaustion from getting in the way of her duties. Without knowing what will happen tomorrow, Tirado smokes a cigarette, puts her children to bed and fights on.

Tirado has received a lot of backlash because of this post. Anonymous commenters have urged her to stop having children, to not smoke cigarettes which are destroying her health, and to get a real job. It is because of these insensitive and uninformed responses that Tirado wrote her post in the first place. She explains that she had children because she had no access to affordable birth control, she smokes because she cannot afford depression and anxiety medication, and she is often turned down from jobs because she does not fit the company’s image.

There have also been positive responses to Tirado’s post. She has started a “go fund me” site and has received more than her annual salary in donations. Her post has opened doors for her to write a book and be a professional speaker. All this positive reinforcement has encouraged Tirado, and other families living in poverty, to continue searching for a light in the face of hopelessness.

The importance of Tirado’s post goes beyond her newfound opportunities. Her raw words have opened the public’s eye to the true nature of poverty. Often misconstrued as the plight of lazy and uneducated people, poverty is the result of systemic and social failure. Tirado has granted other families in poverty a platform on which they can be heard.

– Alessandra Luppi

Sources: KillerMartinis, The Huffington Post, Huff Post Live
Photo: The Equity Factor

, ,

Preventing Pre-eclampsia with Magnesium Sulfate

mother_nigeria
Although rare in most western countries, pre-eclampsia or eclampsia is the second leading cause of maternal deaths, and is a preventable and treatable condition. There are several risk factors that contribute to the onset of pre-eclampsia and its frequency as a cause of maternal and child deaths.

The most common and obvious risk factor is poverty and substandard medical care. With the impact of the condition and its prevalence in the developing world, magnesium sulfate stands out as a successful and low-cost drug that works as both treatment and a preventive measure against unnecessary suffering and loss of life.

Pre-eclampsia is a dangerous form of high blood pressure during pregnancy that causes blood vessels to constrict, limiting the amount of oxygen and nutrients delivered to mother and child. Eclampsia develops as a more severe form of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women who have seizures or convulsions. Left untreated it can cause damage to kidneys, liver, and lungs. It can eventually lead to unconsciousness or coma and also maternal death. It can cause low birth weight and even the death of the baby.

The treatment of and preventing pre-eclampsia with magnesium sulfate, or MgS04 has proven to be an effective anticonvulsant. Eclampsia is a leading cause of maternal death, and an estimated 76,000 die each year because of the condition. Not only is it preventable, but for many who die from eclampsia it is an issue of having access to basic medical care and a functioning health care system.

MgS04 is recognized by the World Health Organization as the safest and most effective treatment for eclampsia. It is also the cheapest treatment available and is included by many countries on their Essential Medicine List. This makes its application in maternal health not only a successful medical treatment but an effective tool in combating maternal and child deaths and helps in meeting the Millennium Development Goal of reducing global maternal deaths by 75 percent by 2015.

Pre-eclampsia rarely occurs in the West and has a much greater toll on the global poor. With little profit to be made and those most needing it the world’s poor there is little incentive for manufacturers to produce MgS04, and effective dosages and administration of the drug still remain undeveloped and unenforced.

There are poorly developed national standards and guidelines and there aren’t many well developed programs available to offer a safe and consistent supply chain, and only 48 percent of countries have consistent access to the drug for their citizens.

Nearly 10 million women develop pre-eclampsia each year; however most will have access to treatment and successfully recover. Those who don’t survive most likely come from remote and impoverished regions and have poor or little access to health providers. The inconsistent and under-funded supply of MgS04 and other measures used to treat and prevent maternal health complications mean an estimated 500,000 children die unnecessarily each year due to pre-eclampsia and eclampsia.

Effectively researching, funding, and administering maternal health has effects on both women and their children and has the potential to save lives and prevent suffering.

– Nina Verfaillie
Feature Writer

Sources: University of Maryland Medical Center, Every Woman Every Child, Preclampsia
Photo: CNN

,

“The Space Between” Documents Kenyan Healthcare

The_Space_Between_Kenya
“The Space Between,” a documentary co-directed by Travis North and Kimberly Nunez-North, traces the lives of four perilously ill individuals in Kenya, shedding light on broader issues of poverty and healthcare along the way.

In “The Space Between,” the audience is introduced to four Kenyans currently being treated at the Living Room Hospice, an organization founded by nurse and HIV volunteer, Juli McGowan Boit. Working to improve medical conditions across the country, the hospice treats those living in extreme poverty, who do not have the means to afford adequate healthcare.

The first, Maggie, is a young mother with cancer. As she deals with her deteriorating health, she worries about her four children. With Maggie’s husband working 12 hours a day and earning around $7 a week, the children have no caretaker other than Maggie.

The second individual, Jacob, is a teacher who was paralyzed by a gunshot wound inflicted during a robbery. While receiving treatment in a Kenyan hospital, he developed four bedsores. The wounds are so deep that they are unable to heal, a condition that causes pain, fever and potentially fatal infections.

The third interviewee is Barnabas, an older gentleman who is in the final stages of throat cancer. He is living his last days in an impoverished hospital that lacks morphine or any other painkillers. His greatest hope is to return home, where he can die in comfort, surrounded by family and friends.

The last Kenyan is James, a young man who has contracted HIV, but is afraid to seek treatment because of the subsequent social stigmatization. He has been largely incapacitated by the illness, and thus, is under the care of a hospice.

Describing the process of filming, Nunez-North said: “During our 16 day shoot in Kenya, we received unprecedented access to HIV clinics and hospitals.  We engaged in-depth conversations with physicians whose primary focus is on relieving and preventing patients’ suffering, an area of healthcare referred to as Palliative care.” As “The Space Between” unfolds, the intimate nature of the crew’s interactions with patients and doctors reveals itself clearly and magnificently.

“The Space Between” narrates an important struggle between life and death, illness and health, in a healthcare system that lack supplies, funding and trained personnel. However, telling a story can be the first step toward transformation and reform. By documenting the lives of these four individuals, “The Space Between” creates a space for change.

– Anna Purcell

Sources: Indiegogo, Ezra Winton