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Malaria Deaths are Decreasing in Africa

Malaria Decline Africa Mosquito Bed Nets
Africa faces the world’s most dramatic public health crisis. Although polio is close to eradication, and more than half of African children have received the measles immunization, key public health issues continue throughout Africa.

Malaria is preventable and curable, yet it kills about 655,000 people worldwide every year. Malaria is transmitted through mosquitos infected with parasites, and it can also be passed to a growing fetus from an infected mother. Malaria causes fever, chills, muscle pain, and if not treated can result in death.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 91 percent of malaria-caused deaths occur in Africa. Moreover, 86 percent of malaria deaths globally are children. Malaria is a disease of poverty. The most vulnerable are children under five and pregnant women living in rural areas.

Malaria deaths decreased by 25 percent globally from 2000 to 2010. How was this achieved?

 

1. World Health Organization (WHO)

According to the WHO, 33 African countries have adopted artemisinin-based combination therapy as malaria treatment, which is the most effective antimalarial medicine. Other treatments include insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, and intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy. In the WHO African region, malaria cases decreased by 50 percent between 2000 and 2008 due to these measures.

 

2. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

From 2000 to 2012, UNICEF provided over 120 million Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs). During this time, children sleeping under ITNs increased from 2 percent to 39 percent. As malaria-infected mosquitos bite at night, the regular use of ITNs can reduce child mortality by 20 percent.

 

3. The Global Fund

Through funding from the Global Fund, 310 million mosquito nets and 181 million cutting-edge antimalarial treatments have been distributed.

 

4.  The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI)

PMI is led by USAID under a U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator and jointly implemented with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). PMI is one of the largest donors for malaria. Its goal is to half malaria for 70 percent of the at risk sub-Saharan population. PMI has chosen 19 focus countries. In Tanzania, PMI efforts, through the malaria control scale-up, have reduced all-cause child mortality (ACCM) by 10 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Through all these efforts over a million lives have been saved. Still a child dies every minute from malaria.

Widespread malaria is an obstacle to the development and growth of affected African countries and communities. For every $1 invested in malaria commodities, a $40 return can be expected in the form of productivity from healthier, better educated more productive working communities.

 – Caressa Kruth

Sources: WHO, CDC About, WebMD, UNICEF, Forbes John Lechleiter, Forbes, CDC Resources
Photo: 

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The Life-Saving Nutrients – Ultra Rice Technology

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Based on a study conducted by UNICEF, 210 out of 1000 child deaths in the year 1955 were due to malnutrition. Although that number has since gone through a significant decrease (79 out of 1000 in year 2006), it remains a serious issue in developing countries that affects people of all ages and races. A common misconception about malnutrition is the belief that the main issue is not enough. Quality of food is just as important as quantity; many have access to food— but it is impossible to survive without proper nutrients needed by the human body. A specific subset of malnutrition, micronutrient deficiency is the lack of vital vitamins and minerals such as zinc, iron, Vitamin A, folic acid and thiamin.

PATH has recognized this problem and developed an answer to the deficiency: Ultra Rice is similar in consistency and taste to regular rice, enriched with all the necessary nutrients and flexible in form and adaptive to local dietary needs. A fairly recent invention, Ultra Rice has so far seen nothing but success in initial implementation programs; in Mexico, for example, women eating the Rice exhibited an 80% drop in prevalence of anemia. This is a crucial accomplishment, as iron deficiency cuts learning capacity and leads to thousands of maternal deaths every year.

Through inventive technology, PATH has discovered a way to create rice-like grains in pasta-making equipment and pack nutrients inside the grain; this way, they are much more stable through rinsing and cooking than are sprayed or dusted fortified rice grains. The cost effective method currently feeds around 65,000 school children in Brazil each day, its budget coming to less than US$0.50 per child and school year.

Because rice is the easily accessible, cheap everyday food of choice for nearly half of the entire world population, and is also recommended by pediatricians as a first complementary food, it constitutes the perfect vessel for delivering nutrients: consumers may continue with their diets as usual and do not experience any discomfort from switching over to Ultra Rice. Surveys show that over 80% of the targeted population do not oppose to ingesting the Rice.

Ultra Rice programs are currently employed in over 65 countries worldwide, sponsored largely by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as other non-profit and private organizations and by the U.S. government. Efforts are currently being made in social marketing campaigns to reach more low-resource consumers worldwide. PATH is also working on developing a small-scale blender, which would allow impoverished communities to generate Ultra Rice in accessible, practical mills. In India, a local manufacturer has already been established, and is in the process of introducing the blend to school meal programs, endorsed by the World Food Programme.

The campaign has already reached commendable success worldwide since its start in 1997. Through field studies in Burundi and Cambodia, PATH is aiming to provide in the near future the basis needed to include the fortified rice on the approved U.S. food aid commodity list and expand further the use of the grain in several global programs.

– Natalia Isaeva

Sources: University of Washington, PATH
Photo: Fast Company

Why Knightley Would Make a Great Aid Worker

Keira Knightley Aid Worker Humanitarian Pirates
Everyone knows Keira Knightley as the multi-talented British actress who’s been nominated for awards year after year. The twenty-eight year old has already starred in over thirty films in her career since 1995, but what you may not know about this pop culture icon is that she also has a charitable side (having donated to eleven different non-profits) which makes her an asset to any organization.

Listed below are three reasons why Keira Knightley would make a fantastic aide worker.

1. She’s knowledgeable.

Knightley keeps up with current events and knows the battles that the underprivileged constantly fight–basic necessities like food, water, medical treatment, and education.

2. She’s passionate.

Because she knows the struggles that many individuals face, she knows that people must take a stand in order to make a change. She takes that stand. Knightley has lent her face, name, and finances to eleven charitable organizations including American Humane Association, Amnesty International, Beat, Cancer Research UK, Charity Projects Entertainment Fund, Oxfam, Save the Children, SMA Trust, UNICEF, Variety Club, and Women’s Aid.

Knightley starred in a short film entitled Cut for a Women’s Aid domestic violence campaign in 2009. She also visited Chad in March of 2012 to see UNICEF’s work with the local children there. She recently voiced a radio campaign for Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Great Daffodil Appeal in March of 2013, as well.

3. She’s influential.

Because of Knightley’s political and economic stature in society, people  listen to her. Knightley can give a voice to the silent and inspire others to do the same.

Other celebrities who have donated to the same foundations include Al Pacino, Annie Lennox, Bono, Daniel Radcliffe, Forrest Whitaker, George Clooney, Kelly Clarkson, and Madonna.

The starlet shows no signs of letting up on charity work anytime soon. She continues her work as a critically acclaimed actress and a global humanitarian simultaneously.

– Meagan Hurley

Sources: Look to the Stars, Contact Music
Photo: Knox News

Malnutrition in India – An Unspoken Diagnosis

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Health reporter Harman Boparai recently travelled to India where he once practiced as a physician to learn more about child health in the country. In the pediatric ward at Panna District Hospital, Bopari reported that the children, who suffered from different illnesses and came from different villages, were all extremely undernourished. Nutrition has increasingly been recognized as a basic but crucial contributor for social and economic development.

According to the World Health Organization, 165 million children under 5 years of age suffered from stunted growth in 2011.This means that one in four of the world’s children did not get the right nutrients or food to grow. Of the total number of malnourished children in the world, one in every three lives in India. Adequate nutrition is essential in early childhood to ensure healthy growth, a strong immune system, proper organ formation and function, and neurological and cognitive development.

Economic growth and development also require well-nourished populations who have the capablity to learn new skills, think critically, and contribute to their communities. Boparai later traveled to New Delhi where he talked with individuals working on the issues. At Save the Children India, Shireen Miller, the nonprofit’s director for advocacy, explained that the implementation of government food security programs was essential to the survival of children in the country. “Malnutrition is a critical factor in child survival,” she said. “When we say that a child dies of illnesses like diarrhea and pneumonia, it is because of the fact that they’re malnourished which has reduced their ability to withstand that illness.”

According to UNICEF, in India, around 46 percent of all children under 3 are too small for their age, and 47 percent are underweight. The severity of the issue of malnutrition varies across states, with Kerala among the lowest rates at 27 percent, and Madhya Pradesh at the highest rate of 55 percent. To reverse the current trend, the Government of India started a program under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which works to provide poor Indian children with the nutrients needed to grow and end malnutrition in India. The program not only provides immunization and supplementary nutrition, but also educates pregnant women and mothers of young children on health and nutrition.

ICDS in India is the world’s largest integrated early childhood program, with over 40,000 offices nationwide. The program today covers over 4.8 million expectant and nursing mothers and over 23 million children under the age of six. Of these children, approximately half participate in early learning activities. Across the developing world, 66 million children go to primary school hungry. This lack of nutrition means these children are less likely to perform at their full potential in school. The World Food Programme estimates that $3.2 billion is needed annually to reach all 66 million hungry school-aged children, or less than 0.2 percent of the world’s military spending.

– Ali Warlich

Sources: Global Post, WHO, UNICEF, Global Issues

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Women’s Disempowerment in Yemen

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In Yemen, the custom of early marriage just met a vocal challenger.

Going viral last week was a video of 11-year-old Nada al-Ahdal ranting about her parents’ decision to forcibly marry her off to a much older man. “What have the children done wrong? Why do you marry them off like that?” she asks the camera. Her powerful words have touched a delicate nerve amongst Yemenis, some of whom have upheld and continue to practice the custom of early marriange for generations. According to a 2006 joint report by the Ministry of Public Health and Population, the Pan-Arab Project for Family Health and UNICEF, this tradition is still widely practiced: 52% of Yemeni women and girls are married by the time they turn 18.

The recent video highlights Yemen’s history of early marriage laws and the government’s and society’s unwillingness to modernize conceptions of marriage. In 1994, the official age for lawful marriage stood at 15. Five years later, the law was abolished on religious grounds, eliminating a minimum age for early marriage. A brief legislative effort in 2009 to amend the situation was ultimately stalled and aborted, despite that fact that Yemen is party to multiple international treaties that require married couples to be at least 18 years old. Overall, the issue remains to be addressed, leaving countless children susceptible to premature marriage and the social and economic disadvantages that come with it.

Interviews with Yemeni girls and women reveal troubling facts. In rural areas, some girls were married off at the age of 8. Once married, women often have little power in their marriages which can also mean they have limited control over the timing and spacing of children, which increases the risk of reproductive health problems. Early marriage also diminishes the chance that wives will return to school to complete their education, putting them at a distinct social and economic disadvantage. Verbal and physical abuse against women is also prevalent in early marriages in Yemen.

In some ways, Nada al-Ahdal’s words do not just refute the practice of robbing girls of their childhood and sexual purity; they also underline the crucial “cycle of poverty and early marriage” that plagues tens of millions of women around the world. Poverty and early marriage tend to be mutually reinforcing phenomena: girls born into poverty are more likely to have mothers who ‘transmit intergenerational poverty’ and lack social assets and networks. In addition, early marriages greatly increase the chance that young girls will live in poverty. The cycle, parallel to the strong customary tradition of early marriage most prevalent in rural areas, reinforces young women’s roles as undereducated child-bearers with limited social networks.

Nada al-Ahdal eloquently defends her decision to flee from arranged marriage. But behind her words lies Yemen’s ugly reality of women’s disempowerment and its central role in the country’s greater puzzle of poverty reduction and economic growth. As one of the poorest nations on earth and a hotbed of terrorist activity, poverty in Yemen has resulted in a globally destabilizing situation. Instituting a minimum age for marriage could be a key policy for addressing women’s inequality and poverty. In doing so, Yemen would have a more solid foundation for development and more human capital to support its economy.

– Zach Crawford

Sources: BBC, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), Human Rights Watch, Save the Children’s “Champions for Children” report, Washington Post
Photo: Washington Post

UNICEF Delivers Aid to Central African Republic

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In March of 2013 a crisis was declared in Central African Republic (CAR) after rebels seized power. The coup forced almost all humanitarian groups out of the country, leaving most of the country’s population without aid. Due to the crisis most of the citizens of CAR do not have access to basic medical services. The rebel coalition has ransacked schools, health clinics and hospitals. Many are afraid to leave their homes because of the violent rebel presence.

“The attacks have deprived an already vulnerable population – 4.4 million people spread across a country bigger than France – of access to even basic medical treatment,” said Doctors Without Borders in a recent report released about the crisis in CAR. “In a country which already had the second-lowest life expectancy in the world, at just 48 years, the people are now even more at risk.”

UNICEF has just delivered its third shipment of aid to Central African Republic filled with life-saving humanitarian supplies. The shipment weighed the equivalent of six large truck-loads. The shipment includes medicines and health supplies to treat over 20,000 people, tarpaulins to provide emergency shelter for 1,000 families, 400 boxes of therapeutic milk to treat severely malnourished children, and health and nutrition equipment to benefit children and women most affected bot the violent crisis. The shipment is aimed to reach those in the interior of the country who have little access to humanitarian aid and are in the greatest need.

“This is the largest shipment of supplies we have received since the crisis began. These life-saving supplies will be delivered immediately to affected communities across the Central African Republic,” said UNICEF representative Souleymane Diabate. “This month, through the work of mobile teams, we re-established a presence in the interior of the country and the supplies will be used to ensure that the health and nutritional needs of the most vulnerable women and children are met.”

Since the crisis, UNICEF has managed to organize a humanitarian response that has impaced the lives of 223,000 people. These people now have access to basic health services and medicines thanks to UNICEF. They have also treated 10,035 children with severe acute malnutrition and seen improvement in the children’s health. UNICEF has also vaccinated 123,000 children against measles and hopes to vaccinate the rest of the country before the end of September.

UNICEF hopes to expand its emergency response initiative in CAR and has currently raised US$8 million from donations. They hope to raise US $24 million to scale-up efforts.

– Catherine Ulirch

Sources: UNICEF, AllAfrica

Malnutrition Killing Children in Cameroon

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A growing number of children in Cameroon are falling victim to malnutrition. A hospital in Garoua confirmed that in June alone, thirty-one cases of childhood malnutrition came through and six died.

Cameroon conducted a study in 2011 to gauge malnutrition levels within in the country. The study found that of children under five years old, thirty three percent of them suffered from chronic malnutrition and fourteen percent of them were severely malnourished.

There are several theories as to why Cameroon experiences such high malnutrition rates. Cameroon’s ministry of public health believes that malnutrition is linked to Cameroon’s complex climate. They cite certain regions with dry, semi-arid climates having higher rates of nutritional deterioration in children than in other regions. Additionally, it is believed that the influx of refugees from Chad and the Central African Republic has added an increased strain to Cameroon.

The northern and far northern regions of Cameroon experience the highest rates of childhood malnutrition. Unfortunately, however, malnutrition exists throughout the entire country and not just in the north. This is believed to be due to the lack of food in certain seasons, and in certain regions as previously explained. Cameroon also has a lack of food variety, creating a deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals in many children’s diets.

However, Cameroon’s problem is not food insecurity. The country is capable and does produce enough food to sustain its population, and does not need to import food. Unfortunately, however, poverty is a severe roadblock to battling malnutrition. Poverty keeps a large portion of Cameroon from having access to a varied and balanced diet.

UNICEF has estimated that 57,616 children under the age of five are at risk of severe acute malnutrition in the North and Far North regions of Cameroon. Additionally, UNICEF believes 145,000 children under the age of five will experience stunted growth. Very few children in Cameroon are breastfed after birth, which leads to such inflated statistics.

UNICEF has partnered with the government of Cameroon to increase prevention efforts. They have increased their presence at nineteen feeding centers in the country to prevent complications associated with malnutrition. They are working to educate mothers to recognize the signs of malnutrition and to seek medical help when they are noticed. Despite limited medical staff in many regions in Cameroon, it is hoped that the increased effort in prevention programs will work to effectively decrease malnutrition and death rates in the country.

– Caitlin Zusy

Sources: Inter Press Service, All Africa
Photo: Healthcare Volunteer

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What is the Millennium Water Alliance?

Formed in 2003, the Millennium Water Alliance is a collaboration of U.S. based non-governmental organizations working in water and sanitation. The organization is designed to offer sustainable solutions to water access through knowledge, advocacy and collaborative programming. The work of the organization aims to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people without safe access to water and sanitation.

The MWA creates field programs that are a coordinated effort between member NGOs to strategically address water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in vulnerable countries. Major programs by the MWA include operations in Africa and Central America. These collaborative programs allow separate NGOs to provide their own distinct strengths and ideas into one mission that is designed for maximum efficiency and long-term effectiveness.

The MWA program in Kenya, for instance, improves WASH to reduce negative impacts that come from the severe droughts and floods in the target areas. It builds the water supply in vulnerable areas of the country using low-cost, resilient technologies like rainwater harvesting facilities and improved simple water storage tanks. The program also focuses on promoting better household water treatment and safe storage techniques.

Until 2009 the MWA was run by member organizations, but the expansion of the organization’s consortium programs led to the hiring of a full time program director. Since then, the MWA’s staff has increased to a total of four full-time employees, two part-time employees, and several consultants in the U.S. and abroad.

Thanks in part to the MWA, the world met the MDG target of halving the proportion of people without access to improved sources of water by 2010, five years ahead of schedule. According to the U.N. MDG website, “between 1990 and 2010 more than two billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources.”

But the global WASH crisis continues to be an issue. Based on UNICEF’s 2013 statistics, 2.5 billion people lack improved sanitation facilities, and 768 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources. Lack of access to WASH leads to decreased productivity due to illness and labor wasted with hours spent carrying water from place to place. The work of the MWA needs to continue for the furthering of global sustainable development.

– Kirsten Harris

Source: Millennium Water Alliance, United Nations, UNICEF

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The 3 Approaches of “Positive Deviance”

The 3 Approaches of "Positive Deviance"Charitable nonprofit organizations have a lot going on.  With concerns related to making the operation sustainable, fundraising and securing donations, and advocacy efforts to legislators, the entire mission behind the message may become compromised.  Sometimes groups forget who they are trying to reach and look over the fact that the best solutions often come from the communities in question.  Here is where positive deviance comes into play.

“Positive Deviance is based on the observation that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges.

The Positive Deviance approach is an asset-based, problem-solving, and community-driven approach that enables the community to discover these successful behaviors and strategies and develop a plan of action to promote their adoption by all concerned.”

The term first was used by Marian Zeitlin, a Tufts University professor, who observed well-nourished children living in contrast to their peers who were malnourished.  Jerry Sternin and his wife, visiting scholars at Tufts in the 1990s, utilized Zeitlin’s ideas in other campaigns they participated in around the world.  Positive deviance is now a social change approach used by various organizations like USAID and UNICEF in myriad applications.

Pact is a nonprofit group employing that approach.  Their priorities lie in ensuring better resource management and health in impoverished communities.  Actualizing that focus depends on building communal capacity, good governance and the business marketplace.  This of course is contingent upon not introducing a solution but aiding the community in finding their own and helping to educate others around that example.

Working with local organizations that already have a great presentation where they are, Pact has been able to change lives.  They’ve become de-facto consultants of sorts to these local groups and have tangible proof of success.  The area of capacity development is especially essential because it solidifies local leadership and gives them the tools to lead effectively.  But more than simple grants and consultations, Pact has provided workshops, coaching, peer learning and resource referrals with great results.

One example of Pact’s outreach can be found in the nation of Tanzania.  Concerned about child health, the organization assembled small groups of women who pooled some of their money into communal funds meant for, according to Pact, “income-producing activities.”  Pact-run meetings were informative sessions where, “…the groups learned…parenting skills, nutrition, hygiene, HIV prevention and household management.”  With access to funds to help generate income, people were able to increase their standard of living and in turn ensure healthy children and a connected community.

The project, dubbed WORTH, spread from one small region in 2008 across Tanzania.   Pact reports that in “…2011, 1,061 groups representing 20,166 caregivers caring for 52,262 vulnerable children were operating, with notable household improvements in food security, shelter and care.”  A nationwide effort, undertaken and capitalized by those living there was special not just because it was successful, but because it was initiated and realized by Tanzanians.

Empowering communities to find examples within of what works is a testament to organizations like Pact and the innovative, solution-centered positive deviance approach.

– David Smith

Source: Positive Deviance, PactWorld, Pact in Tanzania
Photo: Flickr

Nepal’s Master Plan for Sanitation and Hygiene

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Nepal, a South Asian country nestled in the Himalayas between China and India, ranks low on the United Nations’ Human Development Index. With a population of more than 27 million, the number of Nepalese who live in multidimensional poverty is high — estimated at 44% by a report by the UNDP. However, with the dedication of the Nepal Government, steady progress has been made in development, and Nepal’s 2011 Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan recognizes the needs of not only adults and children, but also of people with physical disabilities.

The Master Plan addresses a key factor of development: sanitation and hygiene. It is estimated that the toilet coverage (access to a working toilet) in rural areas is only 37%; only one in three persons has access to a toilet. Even though in urban areas toilet coverage is approximately 78%, only 12% of urban households are actually connected to the systems or to drains. These systems are rarely designed for sewage treatment; instead they dispose waste into rivers. As a result, diarrhea and sanitation-related disease is high in Nepal, affecting not only adults but also children, whose growth and overall health are adversely affected.

The Master Plan addresses these sanitation concerns by focusing mainly on ending open defecation through promotion of toilet access and use in every household. Basic Sanitation Packages aim to teach children and adults alike about proper sanitation practices, and a key strategy to make this work is to emphasize it in school through the School Sanitation and Hygiene Education programs.

However, a significant part of sanitation and hygiene, and one that may not be openly visible, is accessibility for those with disabilities. Part of the Master Plan emphasizes the need for toilets that are easy to use by people of different ages, genders, and physical abilities. The features of the latter include handrails, ramps, space for a wheelchair, and proper support to use the toilet.

Not only is this a step forward for sanitation and hygiene, but it also represents a move away from the stigma that often accompanies disabilities. An IRIN news report showcased the change in quality of life for a Nepali woman who had to rely on her grandsons to help her before she had access to a toilet. “Now with a toilet I have independence and control over my own life,” she said.

Since the beginning of the Master Plan was implemented, seven of Nepal’s 75 districts have been declared Open Defecation-Free (ODF). The guidelines in order to be declared ODF specify that all households and public facility must have a toilet that is accessible to people of different abilities. By the end of this year UNICEF estimates that six more will join that number.

– Naomi Doraisamy

Source: IRIN News, World Bank Blog, WASH In Schools (UNICEF)