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Low Blood Oxygen? Phone Oximeter is the App

phone_oximeter
With over a million apps in the Google Play store and nearly that many in the App store, there’s an app for nearly everything–from locking your car doors, finding the perfect recipe for dinner, creating digital watercolor paintings, to monitoring your diet. Now there’s an app for measuring pulse oximetry, or the amount of oxygen in the blood. According to experts, over two-thirds of the six billion cell phone users in the world live in developing nations. The app, called Phone Oximeter, can aid health workers trying to diagnose pneumonia – particularly in children – and pre-eclampsia.

The Phone Oximeter was among ten innovations chosen by the UN and PATH to aid against deaths amongst women and children worldwide, especially deaths related to childbirth. Developed by Dr. Mark Ansermino and colleagues at the University of British Columbia, the device can be attached to a cellphone or tablet in order to measure pulse oximetry. The device can be attached either to the fingertip or earlobe. Reading the results of the Phone Oximeter is simple, according to Ansermino: “When you have got oxygen in your blood, it goes red and when you have not got oxygen in your blood, it goes blue. And that is why we get this tinge around our lips when it is cold because we do not have enough oxygen in the blood around your lips. But also when children get sick … we see the same blue color. So, what we do really is look at this light shining through the tissue and determine the bounds of this red to blue light, and from that we can tell how much of your blood has oxygen in it and how much does not.”

Other potential uses being explored for the Phone Oximeter include monitoring anesthesia in developing countries. Use of pulse oximetry in developed nations leads to significant decreases in the death rate. It detects low blood oxygen levels at the earliest symptoms and allows for a rapid response to the problems that arise thereafter. This can prevent brain damage and death. In the developing world, the death rate from anesthesia is still 100 to 1000 times higher than the rest of the world. As it continues to develop, the hope for the Phone Oximeter is that it would “demonstrate the potential for enhanced delivery of information from a pulse oximeter to enhance the safety of anesthesia care throughout the developing world.”

Designed to be easy to read and to aid healthcare workers at all levels, regardless of specialty, the Phone Oximeter is relatively inexpensive, expected to cost between $10 to $40.

– The Borgen Project

Sources: The Jewish Voice, Medical Daily
Photo: Engadget

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Could 2030 See the End of AIDS?

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According to UN officials, the global AIDS epidemic could be over by 2030. Significant progress has been made in treatment and control of the disease. Louis Loures, a deputy executive director of UNAIDS has confidently stated, “I think that 2030 is a viable target to say that we have reached the end of the epidemic.” In addition, Loures believes that the disease’s epidemic level will decrease by that time.

Unfortunately, HIV infections still continue to be a constant problem for this society. According to Inquirer News, “three million new HIV infections are reported each year, and the disease which attacks the immune system kills 1.7 people per year.” However, Loures believes that the end of this epidemic is near. He says “we can get to the end of the epidemic because we have treatments and ways to control the infection.”

Costs for the antiretroviral treatment against HIV/AIDS have also decreased. According to medical reports, the average annual cost of treatment per person in the early 1990s was $19,000. Today, prices have decreased to $150 per treatment. Thanks to new medical developments, antiretroviral drugs have become widely available to the public. The once untreatable disease can be diagnosed early and treated with a variety of drugs.

The advancements have been so great that UNAID reports state that “the annual incidence of new infections has fallen to under 20 percent in the past decade, and in 25 countries it has fallen to over 50 percent.” These trends show a consistent and credible path to Loures’ 2030 prediction. In addition, the number of people who have received treatment has decreased to 60 percent.

On the other hand, however, vulnerable groups such as sex workers and drug users often don’t know they carry the disease or have challenges seeking treatment. According to Loures, the groups who don’t get treated will risk the health and safety of the entire population. His assumption is that if people don’t get HIV/AIDS treated and under control then “the disease will stay with us.”

Most recently, new medical advances have shown signs of a possible cure. This new drug has passed the first round of experimental testing and medical experts are confident that this might be the cure to the fatal disease.

Moreover, it is recommended that people take the necessary measures to prevent the disease. New protection campaigns by HIV/AIDS groups have arisen.  More kids are being educated about the disease earlier on.

Based on all of this information, there is reasonable hope that 2030 could signal the end of AIDS. While there are still important obstacles to surmount, new medical advances, more focus on prevention and detection as well as advocacy have substantially increased the possibility of eradicating the disease.

– Stephanie Olaya

Sources: Courier Mail, Inquirer News, UNAIDS
Photo: Times Live

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Law Strips Haitians of Citizenship

Dominican_Law_Strips_Citizenship_and_ Human Rights
Thousands of residents in the Dominican Republic are now nationless, thanks to a new law passed by the country’s Constitutional Court, stripping Dominican-born children of Haitian migrants of their Dominican citizenship. This new Dominican law has experts warning that a human rights crisis may ensue. The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council has also gotten involved.

“We are extremely concerned that a ruling of the Dominican Republic Constitutional Court may deprive tens of thousands of people of nationality, virtually all of them of Haitian descent, and have a very negative impact on their rights,” spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, was quoted telling reporters in Geneva.

More specifically, the law forbids Dominican nationality to children of illegal immigrants who have been in the country since 1929, because their parents are labeled as being “in transit.” According to a UN study, there are approximately 210,000 Dominican-born individuals of Haitian descent currently living in the Dominican Republic. This will cause people of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic to be denied access to government services and place them in a position of constitutional limbo. The Dominican law presents a possibility for further discrimination and statelessness, since the majority of them do not hold Haitian citizenship.

Until 2010, the Dominican Republic automatically granted citizenship to all individuals born in the country. However, a constitutional change in 2010 claimed that citizenship would only be bestowed upon individuals born in the country to at least one parent of Dominican blood or foreign parents who are legal citizens.

The tension between the two nations, who share the island of Hispaniola, has been going on for centuries. Wars and massacres have occurred between the two, and despite the Dominican Republic’s aid donations to its neighbor after the 2010 earthquake which cooled some of the tension, the Caribbean nations’ conflicts have started again with this law, which is final and cannot be appealed.

Advocacy groups have been protesting, highlighting the fact that the law only propagates the sense of racism practiced towards black Haitians who have settled in the Dominican Republic. Experts have also been saying that the legal change is part of an effort to limit the number of Haitian immigrants into the Dominican Republic and instead promote self-deportation for Haitians already living there. In fact, Dominican politicians have feared the “Haitianization” of the country for well over a century, as more and more Haitians migrated to the Dominican Republic to escape the devastation in Haiti.

The Dominican electoral commission has been given one year to produce a list of people to be excluded from citizenship or stripped of it if they already hold it. The government also promised to present a path to obtaining Dominican citizenship for migrants, but gave no further details on how it would work or who would be eligible.

– Elisha-Kim Desmangles
Feature Writer

Sources: Washington Post, NBC Latino, UN News Centre
Photo: NBC Latino

Belize Accuses Wealthy Nations of Abandoning Goal 8

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On September 30, Foreign Minister Wilfred Erlington of Belize reprimanded developed countries for abandoning goal eight of the Millennium Development Goals– a global partnership for development. The Millennium Development Goals were agreed upon by world leaders at a UN Summit in 2000, aiming to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty through eight different steps by 2015. The United Nations and many developed countries have been criticized for their apparent slack in achievement.

“We note with disappointment, that the rich countries have not even been able to bring themselves to honor their commitment to contribute even the 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product as official domestic assistance to poor countries,” said Mr. Erlington.

In terms of other assistance, the resources being provided by the international community, other financial institutions and private donors are not nearly enough of what is needed by poor countries to attain the Millennium Development Goals. Now, 13 years later, only a minority of countries are proving successful in attaining the Goals. Unfortunately, the vast majority shows very few signs of development.

Pressure has continually been put on the developed countries to finally step up, once and for all, and put their best foot forward. The battle against global poverty cannot be fought without their leadership, and it is a constant source of frustration for many of the developing nations.

Alva Romanus Baptise, Minister of external fairs of Saint Lucia stressed that global interdependence demands that “the strong help the weak so that everyone gets strong.” Belize’s expression of this omnipresent issue serves as just one voice for the hundreds of abandoned nations.

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: UN News Centre, Scoop
Photo: Caribbean 360

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Pressure on Developed Nations to Contribute More Aid

Leaders have begun to discuss what will replace the Millennium Development Goals once they reach expiration in 2015. Mukhisa Kituyi, the new secretary general of UNCTAD, the UN Trade and Development body, stated that aid-flows from wealthy nations were drying up and that developing economies must contribute more in order to assist the poorer nations.

Kituyi, who took office last month, urged Brazil, China, and other emerging economies to take responsibility for the fight against extreme poverty. “From Brazil to China, while they have shown a willingness to invest in economic infrastructure – the construction of roads, railways, and ports – that capacity should also extend to the construction of social infrastructure,” he said.

There has been constant pressure on developed nations to contribute more aid in both reaching the Millennium Development Goals and ending extreme poverty; however, Kituyi’s call for action represents one of the rare voices asking the developing nations to pay tribute as well.

UNCTAD, which was formed in 1964, is seen as the intellectual counterweight to the World Bank and the IMF, urging even more liberalized trade and deregulated finance. However, in recent years, some of the organization’s staff members are increasingly concerned about Unctad’s future. Kituyi claims that he is determined to boost the organization’s reputation, and is especially concerned in taking part in the formation of what follows the Millennium Development Goals.

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: The Guardian, International Development News, News 168
Photo: The Habari Network

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Accountability in Development Aid

accountability in development aid
According to an article on the Guardian’s website by Thomas Pogge and Mitu Sengupta, two university professors and executives in Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP), in order to push forward and meet development goals, concrete tasks must be assigned to specific influential actors and agents in the development community.

In their contribution to the Guardian, the professors state, “To eradicate poverty, we must understand why it persists on such a huge scale in an affluent world.” They go on to assert that only the rich can influence the institutional arrangements which create the large income gap between the rich and poor in the globe.

The current network of supranational laws and obligations is influenced heavily by the wealthiest people and organizations of the world that have enormous “advantages in scale, expertise and political influence,” which enable them to do better than others in the current global state of affairs.

The article calls on the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in September to move beyond the general wishes and goals that the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) consist of by naming specific actors as responsible for specific tasks, and calling for systemic reforms of the global institutions which contribute to global poverty.

The “special responsibilities,” which the UN high-level panel on development attributed to developed countries, should be clearly and concretely defined and those not living up to them should be held accountable, according to the professors.

It is important to realize that when these two professors talk about the wealthiest people in the world having influence, they are including American citizens. Living in a democratic country that has a spending budget of $3.8 trillion for the 2013 fiscal year, citizens of the U.S. have significant influence in the fight against poverty, especially considering that official estimates put the cost of eradicating global poverty at only $30 billion.

The biggest obstacle to accountability in development aid and poverty eradication is leadership from Congress and White House. The best way to create that leadership in a democratic society is by designating responsibility, as the authors continually state. U.S. politicians should be accountable for their foreign aid decisions. This can be done through the voting process, of course, but also can be done by contacting legislators and informing them of how important poverty eradication is to their constituents and to U.S. strategic interests.

It is unlikely that the UNGA will assign specific tasks to specific players in the developed world, given the political nature of the organization. But, on a small scale level, the citizens of the wealthiest country on earth—and the agenda setter for the developed world—have the influence to fight global poverty effectively.

– Martin Drake

Sources: The Guardian, US Government Spending, The Borgen Project
Photo: UN

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Norway’s Debt Audit

Debt Audit
Norway recently completed an audit of its debts to developing nations that was conducted by Deloitte, an international financial services company. The audit was initiated with the intention to discover if Norway’s aid to developing nations since 1970 complies with international and national guidelines. This is the first audit of its kind and is welcomed by anti-poverty advocates across the globe.

Developing countries burdened with debt is a significant contributor to global poverty and hinders the countries’ ability to introduce progressive reforms. Many of these loans impose burdensome payment plans and high interest payments. As a result, anti-poverty measures must be forsaken or cannot be effective with such a burden on public finances.

In April 2012, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) introduced the Principles on Promoting Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing. The principles are intended to protect developing nations that are borrowing money by decreasing the costs of borrowing and the number of debt crises.

So far, twelve countries have endorsed the principles. The principles include provisions that agents who work with a country’s debt are required to act in a transparent and accountable way that is consistent with their public office. In addition, the principles place responsibility on both the borrowers and lenders in debt agreements.

This is a significant change from most international debt principles, which place the burden almost solely on the borrowers.

Norway’s audit included 34 debt contracts that are held with seven countries: Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Sudan and Somalia, which total almost $1.6 billion. Norway’s International Development Minister pointed out that while international aid may total $141 billion annually, developing countries must pay $464 billion annually to creditor nations.

While Norway has not released its intended actions in response to the audit’s findings, some of the debts did not meet standards of responsible lending. Norway is considered a responsible lender, and implementing a similar debt audit in other lending countries may produce similar findings.

The U.S. has endorsed the principles, but only as voluntary guidance. Advocacy firms for responsible lending are lobbying the U.S. to introduce legislation that would incorporate the principles in U.S. policy, providing a more consistent application of the principles.

– Callie D. Coleman

Sources: Inter Press Service, European Network on Debt and Development, UNCTAD
Photo: Empresate

Saving the World One Drop at a Time

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The struggle to access clean water in many developing nations is no secret.  Every year, between six to eight million people perish due to water-borne diseases or lack of water.  Another cause of concern lies in the fact that over two thirds of the global population lives on the driest half of earth.  Experts estimate that 2.5 billion people lack proper water sanitation, and another 783 million completely struggle to locate access to any source of water.

In response to these alarming facts, the United Nations has declared 2013 the UN International Year of Water Cooperation to bring a revitalized focus and attention to these water issues.  The purpose of using water as the year’s theme is to ignite change in this crisis.  The plan is to draw more attention to successful water projects that have worked in various areas in an attempt to spark innovation and spread ideas in areas needing water development.  Other initiatives in the Year of Water Cooperation include increasing water education, working with regional leaders to develop relationships focused on addressing issues, settling border disputes involving water, and fundraising and developing necessary legal limits.

The UN chose the name International Year of Water Cooperation to highlight the necessity of forming regional bonds and of leaders working together to address the problems.  The theme is meant to inspire countries to share and work as a team to save millions of lives.  Since there are many different cultural, political and social factors at play in this global issue, cooperation remains the key to moving forward.

This initiative was started back in December 2010, among a United Nations General Assembly delegation.  The idea began by thinking of water as a chain: connected by various water basins, rivers and groundwater flow all around the world.  One objective of the year is to increase collaboration over sharing these resources to reach a maximum number of people, effectively creating a chain reaction.

If the water initiative goes successfully, not only will millions of lives be saved from simple prevention of disease, diarrhea and dehydration, but conflicts over water and ethnic fighting will simultaneously decrease.  The UN chose a strikingly important issue to focus on during 2013, with the potential to make an impact on the lives of billions of people around the planet.

– Allison Meade

Sources: UN News Centre, UN Water, United Nations
Photo: 

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EU Fights Against AIDS in Eastern Europe

eastern-europe-fight-aids
For the last decade, the European Union (EU) and other organizations and coalitions like the United Nations (UN) have delivered significant results in treating and preventing AIDS-related illnesses in the developing world. For example, according to the World Health Organization, (WHO) deaths from AIDS in Ethiopia have decreased by over 45%. In countries like Zimbabwe and Botswana, this number is over 60%.

Unfortunately, over the same timespan, there has been a considerate increase in the rate of deaths from AIDS in Eastern Europe. Even though the number of cases of HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe is lower than in African nations, any percentage increase is great cause for concern. As a result, many are urging the European Union to review their objectives and to improve treatment and prevention of this disease in not only developing countries, but Eastern Europe as well.

In Ukraine, there has been a 144% increase in the number of AIDS-related deaths, and in Belarus, it was an 1100% increase. These startling statistics have led many to criticize the European Union in their decision to concentrate funding for response to HIV/AIDS in developing countries instead of Eastern European nations. The majority of EU funding for the treatment and prevention of AIDS currently goes to developing countries.

Due to the rise in infections of AIDS in European Nations over the last decade, however, various organizations are placing pressure on the European Nation to review the appropriation of funding that goes to fight this disease, especially in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia.

In addition to inadequate funding for middle-income countries like Ukraine for HIV/AIDS response, there exist many problems in directly dealing with this increasing disease crisis. Many of these countries have religious taboos of HIV, since many times people relate sexually transmitted diseases to promiscuous sexual practices. In addition to this stigmatization, since many cases of disease transmissions are due to unsafe drug use and needle sharing, the government will have to exhibit courage and make a stance in supporting sterile needle programs for drug users. This type of support is unheard of in many religiously conservative countries.

Many affirm that it is important for the European Union to recognize that it is also important to invest in middle-income countries, because they also struggle with infectious diseases like those in developing countries. The stigma and discrimination that the people living in Eastern Europe face may even make it harder for them to receive treatment. Nevertheless, the increase in HIV transmissions in any part of the world is unacceptable as the international community attempts to treat, prevent, and cure HIV/AIDS and many other diseases in the world.

– Rahul Shah

Sources: PANCAP, EurActiv
Photo: IPS

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FAO Perennial Crops for Food Security

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The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will hold a workshop on Perennial Crops for Food Security later this month to highlight the development of a perennial wheat variety by NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), CSIRO and Charles Sturt University.

DPI was recently successful in growing a perennial wheat variety in the Cowra district in Australia. Perennial crops offer significant benefits in sustainability that support efforts to address food security. The wheat variety will produce for three consecutive years compared to other wheat varieties produce only one year. DPI is also pursuing research in inter-cropping of perennials in Cowra. Their work involves planting perennial grain and legumes side by side to boost soil nutrition.

In addition to discussing developing new perennial crops the workshop will focus on increasing perennial crop yields and integrating these crops in production cycles. Perennial crops are more sustainable as they are able to be harvested without killing the plant. This ensures that the plant continues to grow and produce. The perennial crops are also heartier and able to survive temperature changes and extremes. However, annual plants have received the vast amount of technological attention (i.e. corn).

However, there are several barriers to encouraging farmers to adopt these crops. In regions where land tenure or ownership rights are tenuous, investing in perennials crops does not appeal to farmers who do not need investment security of perennials. Many of these crops take several years to establish and produce a crop and it can be difficult to convince farmers that this investment is worth the wait. The specialized equipment and the new techniques required do not make conversion any easier and often involve a high price tag.

The FAO expert workshop will include speakers from several countries. These experts will discuss trends and the status of various perennial crop developments. The gaps and opportunities for integrating these crops in the production chain will also be addressed by presenters. Speakers and participants also come from diverse public and private backgrounds.

Perennial crops will be a long term solution for food security, as demonstrated by the various barriers that must be overcome. However, the many benefits that they present make it an important endeavor. If food security is to be achieved and 9 billion people fed by 2050, scientists and international development specialists must pursue a variety of options.

– Callie D. Coleman

Sources: Cowra Guardian, FAO, Perennial Solutions
Photo: Perennial Solutions