lauantai 20. marraskuuta 2010

Agua para todos - Water for all

Luo
With the humanitarian aid given by Solidaarisuus there has been distribiuted water almost to 10 000 house holds in Somaliland which suffrers from bad droughts. Nevertheless, famine, incrising prices of water and  infant mortality are going to treathen if the draught is continuing for much longer. (Solidaarisuus 2008.) 

Inequality in access to natural resources is shockingly large between the developing and the developed countries and communities. The most of the natural resources are in hands of the richest people and the poor are left with almost nothing. In the last decades the actions of the industrialized countries have led the world in the verge of destruction and the poorest are the ones to suffer the most of the consequences. Natural hazards, draught, floods, loss of crop and insecurity in life are just some o the examples that Global warming is causing in several countries. The WHO estimates that the over quarter of health problems is due to air, water, soil and food and that the biggest burden of these goes to the poor and vulnerable communities. (McMichael A.J et al. 2008.)

Sustainability is the word in the lips of all: How to provide sustainable development, healthy, more equal and better life for all without risking the economic growth and the future of the globe. Unfortunately many of the policies  mainly concentrate on assuring the sustainability of economical development and leave aside the policy making that would better facilitate sustainable progress of nation (such as education, gender equality, health services, evenly divided access to resources and equal opportunities for all). 


If you wish to read more about NGO's and sustainable development projects, here are some very interesting link by BBC. This challenge shows a different kind of way of influencing people and making them to participate. BBC chose 10 countries which has had successful development projects ran by small NGO's and people have been able to vote their favourite among them. There are projects from almost all the continents and each project has a video. Also Peru is involved in this competition by a successful rural agriculture project. Also rain water harvesting project in Mexico City, development project with the Maya population in Guatemala, project of protecting Coral reefs in Madagascar or generating ecological electricity in Rwanda are included in the challenge

 World Challenge 10 - Pass it On. BBC's challenge for sustainable development


Picture by: BBC News, 2007a.
Peru is not one of the countries that is suffering of bad droughts due to the global warming., however the country is an urgent need of water. The country is known for the Andean mountains and glaciers, which have a huge importance for the country's water supplies and ecology. Peru has the largest number of tropical glaciers in the world and these water towers are crucial for slowly releasing water, particularly in the dry season. Peru desperately needs the water all year round. Al Gore's film about global warming "An Inconvenient Truth" revealed this side of the Peruvian water sheds and rang an alarm in that could not be ignored by to authorities. The capital of Peru, Lima is built in a desert and hardly ever recieves any rainfall. The city has a large deficit between  supply and demand. Most fo the people live in the Pacific coast with only 2% of the water supply on the country. Andes have the 98% of the water supply, but only quarter of the population live in the Andean mountains. Now this water flow in being treathened by the  global warmiang and the shrinking glaciers. (BBC News, 2007a)   


In Peru also 3,3 million people living in rural areas don't have access to potable water and 6,2 million people are lack of proper sanitation and water in their house holds. This is not so much because of the  lack of water, but due to the bad distribution of water. In the outskirts of Lima many people live in shantytowns, without proper housing or potable water. Most of the people living in these areas were forced to move from the "sierra", the Andean mountains due to the heavy terrorism in the 80's and 90's. In these areas people most  of the family's have a bucket of water to use for all together, just the tiny bit of the amount that we use in the daily basis. (BBC News, 2007b)  In the reasent years the Peruvian state has launched a programme to help this situation especially in the rural areas - "Agua para todos rural".  This programme is trying to decrease the effects of the bad water quality and lack of sanitation which causes illnesses and diarrhea for many people living in rural areas or shanty towns by creating better water distribution policies and by building a proper infrastructure for water distribution. The programme has been estimated to benefit about 34 993 people living in Lima, 39 640 people living in Amazonas, 65 759 living in Piura (among many other states or cities). (Agua para todos, 2010.)  



Zona I, Huaycán, Shanty town in Peru, Lima. Picture by Chascona 


The problems in the governmental development projects  often seem to be the top-down approach, the corruption,  the lack of knowledge by the policymakers to identify themselves with the populations that have got less opportunities. The politicians build stairways to facilitate people to climb up to the mountainous areas in shantytowns and big fuzz is made about the act.  But are the stairways really the most important thing that people need? Would it not be better to concentrate in creating jobs, giving quality education and empowering people? That way more opportunities would be created and people would have more influence on their own lives. Building stairways and expecting people to be grateful for that seems to be under-re-estimating people. A down-top or participatory approach would be necessary, as well as grass root empowerment so that people would feel that they have a say about their lives and that they can influence on their futures. It should be necessary also finally to start appreciating the native populations, since they are mostly excluded from the policy making. Does the country really not understand how much potential the people would have as long as indigenous populations and women would be better respected and empowered?      

Picture by: BBC News 2007b.











Sources: 


Pictures: 
  • Solidaarisuus, 2008. URL: http://solidaarisuus.fi/x43=25467 
  • BBC News, 2007a. Peru's Alarming water truth. URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6412351.stm
  • BBC Nws, 2007b. Perú: glaciares en peligro de extinción. URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/specials/2007/clima/newsid_7071000/7071780.stm

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    perjantai 12. marraskuuta 2010

    Infectious deseases


    Picture by: Doctors Without Borders


    
    Fighting Malaria is the sixth Millennium Development Goal of UN.  Malaria is an infectious disease transmitted by the mosquitoes. Malaria causes more than 1 million deaths every year mainly among children who are under five years old. Malaria affects specially people’s lives in tropical Africa, where many people don’t have the necessary income to prevent the infection. (Ruxin, J., Paluzzi, J., Wilson, P., Tosan, Y., Kruk, M. & Teklehaimanot, A. 2005.) The typical symptom of malaria is a violent fever lasting 6 - 8 hours, recurring every two or three days. Malaria is the world's worst health problem; at the moment more people are ill with malaria than with any other disease.  (WHO.) In the risk group are specially children who suffer of undernourishment or other disease. Also pregnant women, people infected by HIV/AIDS and people suffering from other illnesses are in a risk group. People who live in rural areas  without an access to health services and are very poor are the most likely to be effected by the illness. Malaria does not only cause deaths, but also influences on the economy and income of families and nations. The question is: why is there not a vaccine for malaria?  Is it because it does not influence on the lives of the people living in industrialized world, but the  people living in poor countries which do not have the influence in world's economy neither the capital to start large-scale actions? Malaria is also very bad problem in countries that suffer of ongoing armed conflicts  or corruption and that often use more money on arms than on the health care.         

    Picture by: WHO.


    The main actions to prevent malaria are:
    • Bed nets to prevent mosquito bites in tropical areas.
    • Indoor residual spraying.
    • Presumptive treatment during pregnancy.
    • Early diagnosis and effective interventions.
    • Treatment with antimalarials.
    • Management of the environment to control mosquitoes.
    • Health education to population who is in risk to malaria infection.
    • Policy making toward better health care in regional and national level. 
    (Ruxin, J. et al. 2005.)

    Almost 40 million people are infected by HIV/AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region that bears the worst consequences of the disease. Millions of people die every year, millions of children get infected by HIV/AIDS and many children remain orphans as a result of the illness.The disease also influences on the socio-economical part of people's lives and nations remain without strong work force because of the high level of HIV positive patients among the young population. HIV infections are rapidly growing also in Russia, China and India. (Ruxin, J. et al. 2005.)  

    Tuberculosis is a leading killer of people with HIV/AIDS. Approximately 2 million people died of tuberculosis in 2004 and 4 million was infected. Tuberculosis influences the hardest of the poorest populations lives and up to 80% of the people infected by tuberculosis are HIV/AIDS patients. The global control of tuberculosis has failed and new actions should be taken.

    One of the main reasons that the epidemics have grown so rapidly and are mainly affecting the people  in  developing countries is the reason that almost two billion people have inadequate access to life-saving medicine. (Ruxin, J. et al. 2005.)

    The most effective ways to prevent HIV/AIDS are to use the condoms and campaigns to change the behaviors of people. Investing in health systems would also be required, qualified health staff and access to quality health care are essential as also access to affordable medical care. As we discussed earlier in section about the Poverty and Health  in Ruanda and Haiti there have been some successes with the community based support system to HIV/AIDS patients, where the health personnel goes to people's homes in rural areas and  support person in chosen among the community. 

    Also changing peoples cultural related behavior is very important. In some countries. In Malawi, for instance, some women get infected by the reproductive rituals after they have lost their husband. Furthermore, mother's infected by HIV do not  always take the necessary actions to prevent their children from the infection, because they would be stigmatized by the community. Furthermore, by preventing HIV/AIDS infections also the number of people infected by tuberculosis. There is a crucial interconnection between these two illnesses.

    To conclude the necessary actions are:    
    • HIV testing and counselling.
    • Antiretroviral therapy.  
    • Invest on human resources (such as pharmacist and qualified health care).
    • Create safety nets for people with HIV/AIDS.
    • Improve the basic health care system and train community health workers.
    • Improve access to education and promotion of gender equality.
    • Fighting poverty and corruption.
    • Better health policies and global cooperation to fight HIV/AIDS.
    • Long term planning in global, in national and in local level.   
    (Ruxin, J. et al. 2005.)   

     
    Sources:
    Pictures:
    • Doctors Without Borders 2010. URL:  www.doctorswithoutborders.org
    • WHO 2010. URL: http://www.emro.who.int/rbm/AboutMalaria-QuickOverview.htm
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    sunnuntai 7. marraskuuta 2010

    Maternal and Child health

    • Maternal mortality: the women who die during their pregnancy for reasons related to maternal health or women who die because of complications occurred during child birth (such as severe bleeding, infections, or unsafe abortion.) Many women also stay stigmatized by birth related illnesses such as fistula. (WHO 2008a)
    • Child mortality: the children who die under the age of five. In order to have good chances to live a child would need a quality care during pregnancy and birth. After the birth the crucial things for children´s survival are sanitation, potable water and nutrition. (WTO 2008b)


    
    Mother and Child. Picture by: Bixby center, University of California.
    The key fact in maternal and child mortality is not the diarrhea, AIDS or the under qualified health personnel. The key is the importance that the societies give to women and children to their survival. The key is that the societies will decide that saving women´s lives is beneficial enough and by that saving women´s lives also millions of children´s lives will be saved. Some specialists of the public health field state that, if as many men (as women) would die each year for easily avoided causes, the societies and the field of international development cooperation would make much more actions and put much more money in order to solve this injustice. Around 99% of the deaths of women dying giving birth occurred in developing countries (and most of them in Africa). In 2005 WTO estimated that 536 000 women died during pregnancy or giving birth. While child mortality has dropped during the last years the estimation of women dying for pregnancy or child birth has been the same almost for 30 years. (Nicholas D. Kristoff & Sheryl WuDunn 2010)


    In 2008 8.8 million children born alive died before their fifth birthday. Most of the children die for illnesses that could easily be prevented by good care, suitable living conditions and proper care. Mainly the reason for under-five deaths is poverty; the families cannot simply afford medicine, healthcare and proper alimentation. The gap in maternal and child mortality is huge between the rich and the poor countries. Some estimations state that 75% of the under-five deaths occurred only in 18 countries, among them India, Nigeria, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and China. (Childinfo 2008a) Some of the countries in the list have suffered or still suffer from ongoing armed conflicts which do not favor child protection. (WTO 2008c)


    Some of the main reasons for maternal and child mortality in developing countries:

    • The lack of basic education and gender equality. As it was discussed in our last task; too many girls don´t have access to education or they are not allowed to attend school. Education as also very much linked to health issues and to the number of children women want to have. Lack of gender equality on the other hand also does not allow the women´s voice to be heard in some societies and people justify this inequality by tradition or cultural reasons. But can deaths really be justified by tradition?
    • Lack of access to quality health care and the lack of skilled health personnel, especially in the rural areas. Many of the pregnant women in rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia don´t get medical care during their pregnancy and or maternal education. This means lower chances for the mother´s and child´s survival.
    • HIV/AIDS is also an important factor, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the children living with HIV are infected by mother-to-child transmission and more than half of them die before their second birthday. (WHO 2008b) If HIV positive women don´t get appropriate health care and maternal education during their pregnancy the risk of infecting your child is much bigger. (WHO 2008a)
    • Water, alimentation, environment and sanitation can cause illnesses that influence especially on child health. Most of the under-five deaths are caused by easily prevented illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malnutrition, malaria and measles. These illnesses could easily be avoided by proper care and good living condition, only that many families in developing countries living in poverty cannot afford proper care for their children. (WTO 2008b)
    • Girls get married too young.  Also one of the reasons for high maternal mortality in Africa can also be the fact that many girls have to get married before their body is ready for pregnancy and child birth. Young wives and pregnant girls suffer more child birth related complications and die more often giving birth then adult women. (Nicholas D. Kristoff & Sheryl WuDunn 2010)


    Some countries have put emphasis on the maternal and child health and have received good results. One of these countries is Sri Lanka that has managed to make a crucial change in the maternal mortality rates since 1935. Also Nepal has had very good results by giving vitamin-A to pregnant women. Vitamin-A lowered the risk of undernourished women to suffer for infections during their pregnancy. Also iodine has been shown to have an important role in the development of fetus, and in some developing countries the pregnant women have been given iodine during their pregnancy. These examples only show that sometimes the means can be often quite simple and cheap. (Nicholas D. Kristoff & Sheryl WuDunn 2010) Nevertheless, these examples don´t mean that access to education, good health care and fighting poverty would not be the most important steps in improving maternal and child health


    As the UN states in one of their videos: “Maternal and child health is a question of priorities”. These priorities should start to be given right now. The lives of women and children are essential.


    Sources:
    •  Childinfo 2008a. Monitoring the situation of children and women. UNICEF  - Statistics by area / Child Survival and Health
    Picture:



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    maanantai 1. marraskuuta 2010

    Half the sky - Puolikas taivasta

    I'm reading right now a very interestiong book about gender issues (also shockingly horrible with many facts and details) and it has also some chapters about the neglected field of maternal health, and that that women die mostly because the societies have not decided that their lives would be worth saving. I recommend the book for everybody who is interested in Gender & Development and in Public health.

    The name of the book is: "Half the Sky. Turning Oppression into Opportunity for women Worldwide" 2009. By: Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

    Teos on  myös suomennettu nimellä: "Puolikas taivasta" 2010. Otavan kirjapaino Oy, Keuruu.
    http://www.like.fi/kirjat/puolikas-taivasta

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