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The Fight Against Poverty in Bhutan

Poverty in Bhutan
According to World Bank data, the Kingdom of Bhutan finally eliminated extreme poverty in 2022. This data means that 100% of Bhutanese live with more than $2.15/a day. Furthermore, the share of the population living under the upper-middle income countries’ poverty line of 6.85 has shrunk from 39.5% in 2017 to 8.5% in 2022. However, despite these reductions, the Bhutanese people still face many challenges. 

Bhutan is a country in the Himalayas mountain range with an area of 38.394 sq km. This size makes it a fairly small nation in one of the most remote locations in the world, creating challenges for development and poverty reduction. Former prime minister Jigme Thinley said, “There are too many Bhutanese for whom a walk or a drive to the nearest basic health unit is at least one hour away.” Therefore, while its journey provides insights for development, the country still has much to improve, including living conditions and the eradication of poverty. 

Eliminating Poverty in Bhutan

The main driver of Bhutanese economic growth in the past decades has been exporting excess hydroelectric power to India. From 1990 to 2022, this export has been the main source of income and reduction of poverty in Bhutan. With this income, the Bhutanese government has reinvested in developing infrastructure throughout the country. With this, Bhutanese farmers have commercialized their products beyond their local communities, boosting trade and increasing their income. 

Priorities for Bhutan remain tied to boosting infrastructure to make it attractive for business and improving its Gross Happiness Index score, a development measurement tool designed in Bhutan to address the main complaints of its inhabitants and guide policy to improve the mental well-being of its population. This index has also experienced improvement but on a more reduced scale when compared to overall poverty reduction. On a scale of 0 to one, the country scored 0.743 in 2010, improving to 0.781 in 2022. This growth might be slower than poverty reduction or GDP, but it is steady and allows the Bhutanese government to take a more holistic approach to improving living conditions. 

Challenges

Despite the successes in poverty reduction, as the former prime minister Jigme Thinley expressed, there are still many challenges to overcome. Youth unemployment rose from 9.6% in 2021 to 18.6% in 2022, and debt to GDP stood at 129.1%. This trend has led the government to a tight situation where its youth is jobless and cannot afford to increase its investments to counterbalance it. 

Furthermore, despite its progress in this area, remote mountainous areas still have long commutes before arriving at health facilities, causing disparities between urban and rural areas, especially in the country’s eastern regions. 

Finally, Bhutan’s location poses one last challenge to development: natural disasters. Earthquakes, floods and landslides are common in the area and can cause significant damage to the local population. Thus, in 2019, the government of Bhutan, in collaboration with the UN, developed a roadmap for disaster risk management. The current guidelines focus on awareness, preparedness and coordinated efficiency to maximize the impact of aid from NGOs and UN organizations.

Looking Forward

Bhutan has made significant progress in improving living conditions, and its policies center around the population’s most urgent needs thanks to the use of the Gross Happiness Index. Thus, even if the government has little maneuverability due to high debt ratios, it has tackled the issue of development in remote terrain relatively effectively through extensive investments in infrastructure. It may be too soon to declare the end of all poverty in Bhutan, but the country has come a long way to achieve 0% of its population living under $2.15/a day.

– Daniel Pereda
Photo: Flickr

From Conflict to Prosperity: Life in Post-War Afghanistan

Post-War Afghanistan
It has been more than two years since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) — the Taliban — marched on Kabul and took political control in Afghanistan. In that period, despite circumstances already having been particularly dire, conditions have worsened further, with reports suggesting that more than 90% of Afghans are at risk of poverty. This strain has seen a rise in child labor, child marriage and organ selling. Early 2022 figures estimated that the conflict internally displaced as many as 3.8 million people. This article aims to develop a brief understanding of how the country got to this stage, illustrate the severity of its economic woes and highlight the measures and initiatives aimed at mitigating the impact but emphasizing the challenges faced in doing so. Here is some information about life in post-war Afghanistan.

Unveiling the Roots 

With the declaration of Taliban control in 2021, international non-humanitarian funding was largely suspended, while foreign controls froze billions of dollars in assets. Consequently, the country has succumbed to economic collapse, with its economy shrinking by 25% since August 2021. Corruption, a lack of infrastructure and accountability, insecurity and inhibiting state regulations prove costly to the current economy and prohibit tangible means for economic resurgence. An enforced ban on female attendance means fewer than 3% of eligible girls attend secondary school. 

With less than half, 44%, of eligible boys receiving secondary school education, Afghanistan’s means for producing the next generation of workers is inherently flawed. Foreclosures of businesses, commonly female-led, considerably impact export figures, causing a decline in the industrial sector. Estimates show that Afghanistan’s economy has declined as much as 5% as a direct result of restrictions on rights to work for women. Withering exports are now struggling to match continued import demands resulting in an imbalance. An over-dependence on foreign aid and export revenue will result in economic capitulation; developing a new generation of workers is one of the few viable means for rehabilitation but the Taliban’s enforced government policies have stunted this. 

A People in Crisis in Post-War Afghanistan

Poverty in Afghanistan is a deeply entrenched and pervasive issue, which decades of conflict, political instability, climate disasters and economic fragility have exacerbated. The country has one of the world’s lowest GDPs per capita, with a large portion of its population living below the poverty line — with as much as 40% facing acute food insecurity. The merciless onslaught of natural disasters, such as flooding and earthquakes, continues to prove a real threat to any form of stability — evidenced by a projected third consecutive failed wet season for 2022–23. Catastrophic earthquakes in late 2023 have claimed at least 1,000 lives.

Limited access to education, health care and essential services compound the problem, trapping generations in a cycle of deprivation. As much as 27% of children are engaged in child labor, while one in 16 children die before reaching 5 years. Additionally, the ongoing conflict disrupts livelihoods and displaces communities, further deepening the crisis. Women and children are particularly vulnerable, facing barriers to education and health care, with Afghanistan ranking 170th of 170 countries for women’s inclusion, justice and security. North of 29 million Afghani citizens rely on humanitarian aid, a limited means since the accession of Taliban power. Addressing poverty in Afghanistan is not just a matter of economics but a crucial step toward stability and long-term peace. International aid, infrastructure development and sustainable employment opportunities are essential for breaking the cycle of poverty and rebuilding the nation.

The Effort for Change in Post-War Afghanistan

With a history of conflict and turmoil, humanitarian organizations worldwide have established them as indispensable contributors to Afghanistan’s economic stability and social security. Major IGOs and NGOs such as UNICEF, Save the Children, the U.N., Oxfam and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) play a pivotal role in societal sustenance, providing the means for health care, education, protection and nutrition through funding, on-the-ground development initiatives and community building. 

The U.N. estimates that $1.67 billion was donated to humanitarian aid in Afghanistan via the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs body in 2021, north of $425 million of which was contributed by the U.S., the leading donor. In fact, on January 11, 2022, the U.N. launched a funding appeal for more than $8 billion in humanitarian and other aid for Afghanistan — the most immense single-country appeal in U.N. history. Save the Children is responsible for lifting more than 187,00 children from poverty, educating more than 241,000 and protecting 36,000 from direct harm.

UNICEF has supported more than 682,000 children with education through community-based education classes. The primary source of funding for these organizations is the generosity of both public and private donations. As evidence shows, the work and efforts of humanitarian institutions do enable the means for legitimate change.

– Ruairí Greene
Photo: Flickr

Addressing Malnutrition and the Poverty Trap

The Poverty TrapOne of the vicious cycles, or “poverty traps,” people in the developing world find themselves caught in is the mutually reinforcing relationship between illness and poverty. Chronic illness has a way of making sure the extremely poor stay extremely poor, and it can cause massive loss at both the individual and the national level of wealth.

Since 1997, HIV/AIDS has cut five years off the life-expectancy of sub-Saharan Africans, and a 2004 study found that a small-scale farming family in Kenya could expect a 57% drop in crop productivity if the male head of their household died. The burden of illness imposed by tsetse flies (vectors for trypanosomiasis, or “African Sleeping Sickness”) has historically slowed the adoption of animal husbandry practices, and therefore agricultural productivity, in the areas of Africa where they are most abundant. Entire developing nations could expect a 2% to 7% drop in GDP because of iron-deficient anemia in their citizens, according to a 2005 U.N. Millennium Project Report. In 2018, malaria by itself was capable of draining roughly $12 billion from Africa’s GDP.

Malnutrition Fuels the Poverty Trap

Extreme poverty also pushes individuals into the path of multiple illnesses, and the malnutrition that so often attends poverty enthusiastically helps this process along. Malaria, measles or acute respiratory infections kill about 1 million children per year. That is more than one every 30 seconds, and the death rate is much higher among malnourished children. It can significantly impair the immune system’s ability to fight infection, an especially severe burden for those living with chronic parasite infections, which often require immune repair of tissue damage caused by the parasites. Malnourishment can also stunt the growth of fetuses, and make them more vulnerable to neonatal death from sepsis and diarrhea.

Multiple Traps

One can easily grasp this particular trap – the circular progression from poverty to malnutrition to disease and back again. One seems to flow naturally from the other. Interrupting the process is not so intuitive, and unfortunately, it is not as simple as just giving people more food. Even when people start to receive adequate nutrition, they still must deal with some biological ironies. In the case of parasites, better nutrition benefits them as much as it does their hosts, and a better-fed community fosters parasite reproduction as much as it does immunity, the former possibly outpacing the latter. The symptoms of schistosomiasis, a disease of parasitized blood, present as runaway inflammation, an immune overreaction that actually thrives on a well-nourished body.  

The agricultural systems needed for better nourishment also present their own ironies, because they impose new infrastructure upon the natural environment, with repercussions that can restrain the disease-poverty cycle with one hand and unleash it with the other.

A good illustration of this is how agriculture changes the use of freshwater. The conversion of wetlands into orchards helped eradicate schistosomiasis in Japan, and the drainage of wetlands was an integral and successful component of malaria control in turn-of-the-century America. However, Egypt’s construction of the Aswan High Dam and irrigation network between 1960 and 1970 helped incubate a larger population of mosquitoes, mosquitoes capable of spreading lymphatic filariasis, an illness also known as human elephantiasis that disfigures those it infects by inhibiting the drainage of lymphatic fluid. A 1999 study showed Ethiopia experienced seven times as much malaria after the construction of dams and irrigation.

Multiple Solutions

After successfully reaching its Millennium Development Goal of cutting the number of people living in extreme poverty in half by 2015, the U.N. set its sights on achieving “sustainable development,” with significant implications for finally smashing the poverty trap. Sustainable development entails not only investing in agriculture and increasing access to food but also fostering a food infrastructure that both relieves micronutrient deficiencies (the most common variety of malnutrition) and provides the necessary infrastructure for education and sanitation. 

According to a 2019 paper published in the journal Nature Sustainability, there was a 37% difference in child mortality and a 20% difference in malnutrition between the richest and poorest among 43 developing countries that received safe water and sanitation. Some solutions can outsmart the poverty trap at its own game, creating cyclical, mutually reinforcing benefits. For instance, investment in education and health literacy can reduce the occurrence of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and directly investing in the control of NTDs at $3.50 per child can in effect give them an entire extra year of education.

Fortunately, there are several ways that the developed world can address the challenges associated with poverty and work toward sustainable development. By maintaining a strong commitment to sustainable development goals and keeping the complex issues faced by millions in mind, there is hope for a future where hunger, illness and poverty are not inextricably linked. This collective effort can help break the cycle of poverty and create global conditions that prevent its return.

– John Merino
Photo: Flickr

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Economists Call for Action as Global Poverty and Extreme Wealth Rise

Call for Action
A group of leading economists has emphasized that neglecting to address the growing disparity between the wealthy and impoverished worldwide will reinforce poverty. Here is information about the letter they wrote that is acting as a call to action.

A Letter Demands Action

More than 200 senior economists have issued a call for action on rampant global inequality. In a letter directed to the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, and the World Bank president, Ajay Banga, the signatories from 67 countries urged these two bodies to take more substantial measures to reverse the most significant increase in global inequality since World War II Those supporting the appeal for action include New Zealand’s former prime minister Helen Clark, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and economists Jayati Ghosh, Thomas Piketty and Joseph Stiglitz.

The letter emphasizes that extreme poverty and extreme wealth have simultaneously surged for the first time in 25 years. Currently, the richest 10% of the global population takes 52% of global income, while the poorest half of the population earns merely 8.5% of it. The letter insists on improving the measurement of inequality and setting more ambitious targets to narrow income and wealth gaps.

With sharply rising food prices, billions of people face struggles against poverty and hunger. At the same time, the number of billionaires has doubled in the last decade.

Global Setbacks

The economists’ call for action arose on the same day Russia withdrew from a critical UN-brokered deal, which permitted the export of grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea. The collapse of this agreement poses a severe threat of increasing food prices worldwide, plunging millions more into hunger.

In 2015, almost all governments in the world adopted the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include the goal of reducing inequality by 2030, known as “SDG 10.” However, five years later, the World Bank reported that the COVID-19 pandemic drove the largest annual rise in global inequality in three decades. SDG 10, based on the World Bank’s Shared Prosperity goal, does not adequately measure or monitor key aspects of inequality. Household surveys provide evidence that one in five countries with a positive trend in Shared Prosperity also experienced an increase in inequality according to other measures like the Palma Ratio. These countries include Chile, Mongolia and Vietnam. ​​ 

Looking Forward

The World Bank is currently reviewing its Shared Prosperity goal. The World Bank has the opportunity to actively strengthen this goal of assessing inequalities across the whole spectrum of income and wealth distribution.

Significant advances in inequality data, including more accurate estimates of top incomes, have facilitated a new generation of policy-making based on a clear distributional analysis of the impact of policy changes. Pushing these advancements further can allow every government to conduct high-level inequality analysis. 

The World Bank and the UN are in a special position to urgently offer a rallying call for reducing inequality in today’s divided world. The World Bank and the UN SDGs can make better metrics for wealth, income and wage shares of national income with a focus on the global level.

The economists’ call for action has the potential to motivate the World Bank, the UN and governments worldwide to work toward reducing global poverty by addressing the vast economic inequality between the wealthy and the poor. 

– Marisa Del Vecchio
Photo: Flickr

Agricultural Technology Alleviates Rural Poverty in Latin America

Rural Poverty in Latin America
Latin America is known for its agricultural lands that grow and harvest some of America’s favorite products: coffee and avocados. The region’s agricultural sector makes up a high percentage of the economy and its vast, rural lands are enriched with agrobiodiversity. Rural inhabitants, 18% of the overall population, make up 29% of the poor population. Investing in technology within the agricultural industry has proven that it can help reduce the high rates of rural poverty in Latin America, and here is how. 

Job Creation

Poverty levels remain high in rural Latin America where agriculture is the dominant line of work. According to a recent study, about 77 million rural inhabitants in the region are confronted with a “connectivity gap.” This gap not only impedes their access to technology, but, according to The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), also creates “a barrier to health, education, social services, work, and the overall economy.” Providing rural inhabitants equal access to technology can potentially increase their food production and “break the vicious cycle generating insecurity, poverty and migration.”

Universally, as a result of rural farmers adopting technology in developed countries, it has boosted productivity within the agriculture sector leading to the creation of more jobs and rising incomes. According to the IICA, a 1% increase in wireless internet penetration would result in an overall 0.15% GDP increase, in comparison to the “fixed broadband penetration that would result in a 0.08% increase in GDP” for the region.

Sustainable Development

Recent reports from the World Bank demonstrate that Latin America’s role in the “agri-food system” is “technically inefficient, socially inequitable, fiscally irresponsible, and environmentally unsustainable.”

The IICA is designing technological tools suitable, equitable and inclusive to use to sustain and enhance Latin America’s agricultural development. Apart from creating these tech tools, the IICA is being mindful of the low-skilled workers and the rural connectivity gap, introducing them to information and communication technology (ICT), which, in turn, has proved to have helped rural living conditions in Latin America. Technological changes in the region’s agricultural sustainability can augment production growth and trade, create new jobs, raise incomes, preserve natural resources and reduce food and nutrition insecurity and rural poverty in Latin America.

In February 2022, the U.N.’s International Fund for Agricultural Development launched Innovatech. This type of agricultural technology is helping to alleviate rural poverty in five Latin American countries: Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. This project is assisting rural development, small-scale farmers and rural inhabitants by ensuring that farmers have access to modern technology, tools and services to prosper in today’s agricultural economy. Innovatech has so far helped 9,000 rural households and is striving to improve more linkages with smallholder farmers across the region.

The lack of developing new technology is hindering the agricultural sector in Latin America. Specific numbers on productivity, job creation, income and poverty reduction as a result of technology adoption are excruciatingly scarce, yet tech projects like Innovatech are making an effort to take the first steps of documenting — and alleviating — rural poverty in Latin America. 

– Amy Contreras
Photo: Flickr

Addressing Mental Health in Aftermath of Turkey-Syria Earthquake

Turkey-Syria Earthquake
Following the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquake on February 6, 2023, both governments and NGOs alike have begun mobilizing much-needed aid to the most affected areas. What one cannot overlook, however, is the trauma and mental health effects that the earthquake induced. The psychological impact that devastating natural disasters can have is significant on its own. Together with previous traumas, including war, disease and other natural disasters, mental health support becomes a crucial part of providing aid to victims, which is the case in both Turkey and Syria.

Natural Disasters and Mental Health

According to a review of various studies by the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, a sudden disruption of victims’ lives, which “brings loss for individuals, families and communities,” heightens the despair and shock that often follows the immediate aftermath of a devastating natural disaster. Individuals’ roles in their respective communities are also experiencing disruption, which can lead to a loss of identity. A lack or loss of resources and a disruption in daily routine further worsen acute psychological stress, which often results in overwhelming stress, grief and sadness, leading some to turn to substance abuse to cope with their new conditions.

The experiences of natural disaster victims can manifest into serious prolonged psychological issues, including “emotional instability, stress reactions, anxiety, trauma and other psychological symptoms.” Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is also very common and coexists with feelings of “unnecessary fear, hopelessness, worthlessness and helplessness.” Although the journal notes that “most affected individuals recover with time” when they receive care, some individuals have a far more difficult path to recovery and can even begin experiencing persistent and severe psychotic symptoms.

Trauma in Children

The psychological impacts of the Turkey-Syria earthquake are present in both countries, particularly among children, who are perhaps the most vulnerable population that the natural disasters affect. According to Save the Children, numerous psychologists showed concern about the mental well-being of the roughly 7 million children that the earthquake affected, citing various indicators of acute stress, including “nightmares, aggression or being withdrawn.” The potential long-term effects are concerning as well, as these stressors can impact school performance and overall quality and enjoyment of life. Save the Children also stresses that mental health aid is evermore crucial considering that many caregivers do not have information or resources on how to treat or manage these symptoms.

Pre-Existing Mental Health Crisis

The Turkey-Syria earthquake only adds to pre-existing mental health issues in Turkey and Syria. Significant numbers of people in both countries suffer from mental health disorders. In Turkey, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 17% of Turkey’s population faces mental health issues, while only about 10.8% seek mental health treatment each year. WHO also states that cases of anxiety and depression have significantly increased in recent years, citing “repeated natural disasters, migration, economic downturn and the COVID-19 pandemic” as primary causes.

In 2022, the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) conducted a study that demonstrates the severity of the mental health crisis in Syria. The results showed that male household members showed signs of distress in 60% of households surveyed, with that number being 58% for women. Additionally, 27% of households report psychological stress in their children, and 26% of children stated that the reason they do not want to attend school is because of depression, unhappiness and/or lack of motivation.

Syrian refugees in Turkey are also at risk of mental health disorders. According to 2020 data from the World Health Organization, the depression and PTSD rates among Syrian refugees in Turkey who have experienced the conflict were 11% and 15%, respectively. WHO also estimates that 22% of overall suffer from a mental disorder.

Potential Solutions

Providing much-needed mental health services to those who the Turkey-Syria earthquake affected is a crucial aspect of aid. Enhanced Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assitance (ELRHA) has recommended its own Community-based Disaster Mental Health Intervention (CBDMHI) manual as a relevant and potentially useful tool for mental health support. Developed in October 2016 following a devastating earthquake in Nepal in April 2015, the manual aims to teach mental health service providers about various self-care practices, as well as how to effectively treat mental health symptoms in earthquake survivors. The organization distributed more than 2,000 manuals to local governments and NGOs and found that the intervention helped both mental health service providers and vulnerable community members alike, reducing depression and increasing job satisfaction for the former and reducing depression and PTSD for the latter.

Save the Children is also mobilizing mental health aid to areas that the Turkey-Syria earthquake affected. It currently has mental health support teams in the region who are instructing caregivers on how to support their children through their trauma. The organization is also “setting up child-friendly spaces and child-focused psychosocial support activities” along with other forms of assistance to children and families.

Providing mental health services during this time is crucial to ensuring that victims can return to their pre-disaster lives as soon as possible. The work of NGOs, as well as funding from the U.N., will be valuable in achieving this.

– Adam Cvik
Photo: Flickr

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Tackling the Crisis in Haiti

Crisis in Haiti
Haiti has been experiencing political, economic and social conflict since someone assassinated the former president, Jovenel Moïse, in July 2021. Haiti’s parliament has become ineffective as it struggles to govern amidst the recent earthquake and the prominence of gang violence in Haiti. The crisis in Haiti does not only involve one issue but rather multiple crises all at once. The three most predominant crises in Haiti are gang violence, the cholera outbreak and the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in August 2022.

Gang Violence

The number of gangs in Haiti has grown over the past five years. With more than 95 gangs occupying large portions of Port-au-Prince Bay, the crisis in Haiti has accelerated into deeper chaos. Organized crime disproportionally affects vulnerable communities, especially children. UNICEF’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean has warned that women and children have become targets of gangs. She stated that “more and more incidents of gang violence have involved children and women in the past few weeks and months,” referring to kidnapping, rapes and killings.

The crisis in Haiti is worsened by gangs developing strong political and economic footing as they make themselves mercenary partners of politicians and administrators. Recently, gangs seized Haiti’s fuel terminal (its main source of energy), thus sending the country into an economic and health crisis. Many schools and hospitals have no power and small businesses have shut down completely. The Inter-American Foundation (IAF) has increased funding for 22 grassroots organizations focused on helping Haitians adapt to the various political, economic and environmental collapses. The fuel crisis has prevented more than three-quarters of hospitals from operating. The IAF has been able to supply the country with community clinics and ambulances to meet the pressing need for medical care in the midst of the cholera outbreak.

In terms of suppressing gang violence, there is disagreement on which strategy is the best. The U.N. has issued $5 million to help those that the violence has affected, as humanitarians try to negotiate with the gangs. Other experts and Haitians suggest that intervention may be a more plausible step as a large portion of money meant for more diplomatic relations has been relatively ineffective.

Health and Environmental Concerns

More than a quarter of all suspected cholera cases are children under 9. Cholera is much more likely to infect children, according to the Health Ministry. Between October and December 2022, there were reports of 13,672 cases of cholera, with 86% being hospitalized. From 2010 to 2019, there were reports of 820,000 cases in Haiti. U.N. agencies and Médicins sans Frontières (MSF), along with local organizations, have distributed medicines and treatments throughout the country. They have also established some clean water centers free of cholera while pushing for the development of vaccines for Haiti. Human Rights Watch believes that there is still a great deal that is necessary to resolve the health crisis in Haiti.

There are also environmental concerns for Haiti. A 7.2 earthquake shook the country in April 2021, leaving 620,000 people in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. The earthquake destroyed 70% of schools. UNICEF is continuing to provide water, food and shelter to vulnerable populations.

As violence proceeds, the crisis in Haiti will require more aid and assistance to help rebuild and develop a more resilient political and economic order. Organizations within Haiti and around the world have already begun to provide relief but more must happen to ensure vulnerable peoples are safe.

– Anna Richardson
Photo: Flickr

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Violence in Haiti Impacts Education

Violence in Haiti
In February 2023, UNICEF reported a ninefold increase in acts of violence against schools in Haiti over the period of 12 months. Schools have been the locus of attacks and violence by armed groups and this has a direct impact on one of the most fundamental human rights of children: education. Education is not only the pillar of a welfare state but is also fundamental for the development of social capital in the country. Violence in Haiti stands as a barrier to the progression of children’s education.

Violence in Numbers

According to reports by UNICEF partners, armed gangs targeted 72 educational institutions in Haiti in the first four months of the scholastic year (October to February) compared to eight during the same time the year prior. In particular, armed groups attacked a minimum of 13 school facilities, set a school on fire, murdered one pupil and kidnapped a minimum of two school staff workers.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that armed factions rule 60% of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. Gangs targeting schools also steal critical educational supplies, such as desks, blackboards and computers. Along with cafeteria equipment, gangs steal vital supplies of “rice, dough and maize” used to provide school lunches, which are sometimes the only meals Haitian children eat in a day.

Impacts of Escalating Violence in Haiti

Due to the rising violence in metropolitan areas, 30 schools closed their doors in just the first six days of February 2023 and more than 25% of schools have stayed closed since October 2022, a decision that principals took to protect staff and students. Students missed an average of one and a half school days per week in January 2023 due to the risk of violence. By the end of June 2023, according to UNICEF, pupils could miss out on 36 days of education if no one took action to safeguard schools from violence. Despite the risk, the Haitian Ministry of Education has pushed for schools to reopen. As a result, three out of four schools reopened by December 2022, up from fewer than one in 10 reopenings in October.

Taking Action

A UNICEF report for the period July to November 2022 highlights the organization’s efforts to safeguard children’s rights to education. In Haiti, during the summer vacation, UNICEF funded a summer children’s camp in Lycee National de la Saline, providing 803 Haitian children with “a safe space for children to express themselves through plays and other activities.” UNICEF also gave cash transfers to 1,200 impoverished families with school-age children in Port-au-Prince and areas that the most recent earthquake affected. UNICEF is also providing support for the renovation of three educational facilities in Cité Soleil along with the supply of school furniture and learning materials.

UNICEF urges the Haitian government to make sure that schools are secure and to prosecute organizations and people who endanger or hurt children while attending school. The U.N. praises education for not only imparting knowledge and skills but also for transforming lives and propelling growth for individuals, groups and nations, saying that schools “must be places of learning, safety and harmony.”

Overall, the U.N. urges all nations to sign the Safe Schools Declaration, “an inter-governmental political commitment to protect students, teachers, schools and universities, from the worst effects of armed conflict.” This declaration has received support from 111 nations so far and lays out specific actions that governments can take to safeguard educational institutions. In line with this, U.N. head António Guterres said at a virtual event in September 2021, “We urge Member States to go beyond their obligations under international law and implement national policies and laws that safeguard schools and learners.” The loss stemming from education disruptions is significant. By upholding children’s rights to education, the international community safeguards the future.

– Carmen Corrales Alonso
Photo: Flickr

Tackling the Crisis in Haiti

Crisis in Haiti
Haiti has been engulfed in political, economic and social conflict since the assassination of former president Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. The parliament has been ineffective as it struggles to govern amidst the recent earthquake and the prominence of gang violence. The crisis in Haiti does not only include one issue but rather multiple crises at once. The three most predominant crises are gang violence, the cholera outbreak and the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in August 2021.

Gang Violence

The number of gangs in Haiti has been growing for the past five years. With around 95 gangs occupying large portions of Port-au-Prince bay, the crisis in Haiti has accelerated into deeper chaos.

Organized crime disproportionally affects vulnerable communities, especially children. UNICEF’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean has warned that women and children have become targets of gangs, stating that “more and more incidents of gang violence have involved children and women in the past few weeks and months,” referring to kidnapping, rapes and killings.

Gangs developing strong political and economic footing have only made the crisis in Haiti worse by making gangs “mercenary partners of politicians and administrators,” according to the Global Initiative Report.

Recently, gangs seized Haiti’s fuel terminal, the country’s main source of energy, which sent the country into an economic and health crisis. Many schools and hospitals have no power and small businesses have shut down completely. The Inter-American Foundation (IAF) has increased funding for 22 grassroots organizations focused on helping Haitians adapt to the various political, economic and environmental collapses. The fuel crisis has prevented more than three-quarters of hospitals from operating and the IAF has been able to supply the country with community clinics and ambulances to meet the pressing need for medical care in the midst of the cholera outbreak.

In terms of suppressing gang violence, there is disagreement on which strategy is the best. The U.N. has issued $5 million to help those that the violence affected, as humanitarians try to negotiate with the gangs. Other experts and Haitians suggest that intervention may be a more plausible step as a large portion of money meant for more diplomatic relations has been relatively ineffective.

Cholera Outbreak and Environmental Concerns

Cholera outbreak and environmental shock: “more than a quarter of all suspected cholera cases are children under 9.” Children are much more likely to contract cholera, according to the Health Ministry. Between October and December 2022, there were 13,672 cases of cholera, with 86% of hospitalizations within these cases. From 2010 to 2019, there were 820,000 cholera cases in Haiti.

U.N. agencies and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), along with local organizations, have distributed medicines and treatments throughout the country. They have also established some clean water centers free of cholera, while pushing for the vaccine development for Haiti, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

There are also environmental concerns for Haiti, as a 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook the country in August 2021, leaving around 650,000 people in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. The earthquake destroyed 70% of schools. UNICEF is continuing to provide water, food and shelter to vulnerable populations.

As violence extends outwards from the capital and inflation rises, the crisis in Haiti will require more aid and assistance to help rebuild and develop a more resilient political and economic order. Organizations within Haiti and around the world have already begun to provide relief, but more must happen to ensure vulnerable peoples are safe.

– Anna Richardson
Photo: Flickr

The Truth About HIV/AIDS in South Sudan

HIV/AIDS in South Sudan
The Republic of South Sudan is located in Eastern Africa. Many know it for its newly-gained independence from Sudan and its status of being the youngest nation in the world. However, South Sudan is also one of the poorest nations in the world and is listed as 185 out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI). Due to ongoing conflict in the region, such as the recent civil wars, South Sudan has seen a spike in issues related to the country’s health system and many of its citizens are impacted by HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, international and domestic institutions are taking major steps in combating the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the region.

The Reality of HIV/Aids in South Sudan

One can characterize the issue of HIV/AIDS in South Sudan as being more concentrated in certain social groups and geographical areas. For example, HIV and AIDS are more prevalent in the southern regions of the nation and even more prevalent among female sex workers within those regions.

The transmission of HIV is a topic that is studied at length to combat the spread of the virus. According to the South Sudan Mode of Transmission Report (MoT), a study that occurred in 2014 regarding forms of transmitting HIV, the majority of the newest cases came from heterosexual sexual relations and mothers transmitting to their newborn children. Mother-to-child transmission often happened in cases of birthing, breastfeeding and pregnancy.

Another statistic that researchers often analyze when discerning the severity of the issue within a certain region is the percentage of the general population that has the virus. The U.N. Progress Report for monitoring HIV/AIDS in South Sudan states that around 2.5% of adults (ages 15-49) are living with HIV. This number, however, is improving due to help from institutions such as the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the U.N. These institutions are working on new ways of preventing the spread of HIV and treating those who have already been affected.

Something else that institutions take into consideration when attempting to combat viruses such as HIV is the general public’s knowledge of that virus. According to a survey on the attitudes and knowledge of HIV in Nimule, most adolescents had “fair” knowledge of HIV with 82% of the surveyed youth being aware that HIV can spread through sexual intercourse and 98% being aware that it can spread through blood. While the researchers concluded that there were some misconceptions surrounding the virus, it is commendable that most adolescents in the survey had a basic knowledge of the subject.

How Institutions are Battling HIV/AIDS in the Region

According to an article that the U.N. published, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in South Sudan – and Africa as a whole –  is declining rather quickly. This is due to international institutions such as UNAIDS and the governments of Africa funneling money into their health programs. However, this article also stresses the need for continued monetary support to help these countries become healthier and safer.

One way that UNAIDS and African governments are helping combat this virus is through HIV testing. According to the MoH, there were around 32 facilities in South Sudan that provided HIV-related assistance, like testing. The South Sudanese government has also made it its mission to “Test and Treat all.” These testing efforts have made it a lot easier for institutions to pinpoint certain concentrations of affected individuals and allocate their resources accordingly. These measures to “test all” have been successful. The total number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment increased by around 20,300 between March 2013 and March 2018.

Another way in which institutions are helping the cause is by amping up anti-retroviral therapy (ART). This is an HIV treatment that helps to contain HIV replication. This therapy greatly reduces the mortality rate of HIV and even allows some patients to live completely normal lives. The “test all treat all” initiative has certain guidelines, one of which includes a minimum amount of time one can wait to receive treatment after testing positive for HIV (one week). Guidelines like these make it easier for governments and other institutions to manage the spread and treatment of the virus.

The Road Ahead

Although HIV/AIDS in South Sudan continues to be an issue, it is critical to note that governments and organizations are working to combat it. With the help of both international and domestic institutions, the cases of HIV continue to decrease year after year. However, it is still crucial to take into account that the issue has not reached its end, and continued support for South Sudan is of utmost importance.

– Tim Ginter
Photo: Wikipedia Commons