SEATTLE — Tobacco kills over seven million people every year. While the prevalence of tobacco use is declining in many high-income countries due to increased tobacco control laws, smoking in developing countries is still on the rise. The Tobacco Epidemic The WHO defines the tobacco epidemic as “one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced.” Over six million people die annually from direct tobacco consumption and hundreds of thousands more die from the effects of second-hand smoke exposure. Smokers are at a significantly higher risk of heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. To counter this global…
Author: Lena Riebl
Lena Riebl
Lena is from Leipzig, Germany, and is currently an exchange student at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Her academic interests include American Studies, history and international politics. Lena is a soup enthusiast: if she could only eat one food for the rest of her life, it would be potato soup!
NAIROBI — Islamic or Sharia-compliant banking has been on the rise in Kenya for years. Several banks offer sharia compliant services, and the Kenyan government also supports the sector as part of a strategy to stimulate economic growth and development. By offering Sharia-compliant banking services to the rural population in Wajir, in Kenya’s northeast, the Crescent Takaful Sacco (CTS) aims to enhance the financial inclusion of pastoralists and helps them to cope with the effects of devastating droughts. Experts hope that the expansion of the Islamic banking sector will attract increased investment from Asia and the Middle East. In Kenya,…
NEW DELHI — Domestic workers in India suffer from poor working conditions, low wages and abuse. The national government has yet to pass comprehensive legislation to protect this marginalized group. As incomes in the country rise and more women are employed full-time, the demand for domestic helpers continues to grow. Currently, there are an estimated 4.2 million domestic workers in India, the majority of whom are women. Many domestic workers are migrants from poor, rural areas. They are often uneducated and illiterate, making them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Due to a lack of regulations, domestic helpers are often forced…
LONDON — Many refugees experience social isolation and loneliness in their new countries; finding local friends and expanding social circles can be challenging. In order to fight refugees’ loneliness, the social enterprise HostNation matches them with volunteer befrienders in their neighborhood. When the charity The Forum conducted a small-scale survey among refugees in London in 2014, 58 percent of the participants named loneliness and social isolation as the biggest challenge they faced in their new home. Twenty-seven percent even started to experience mental or physical health problems as a result of their loneliness. This is not an issue specific to…
NEW DELHI — Demographic as well as social changes contribute to the rise of elder abuse in India, mainly perpetrated by family members. As awareness of the issue increases, different actors are developing new ways that allow victims to report abuse and call for help quickly and easily. The number of senior citizens in India is expected to rise from seven percent in 2009 to around 20 percent in 2050. The absence of a welfare safety net means that the responsibility rests on the shoulders of the younger population and that the elderly are often dependent on their relatives economically…
SEATTLE — Poverty and hunger in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still major issues. The fragmented political system hinders economic reform and growth. In early 2014, the population’s frustration over the dysfunctional system, including extreme unemployment of over 42 percent and great income inequality, caused violent protests to erupt all over the country. The discontent united unemployed youth and laid-off workers from the otherwise opposing ethnicities. Administrative buildings in Sarajevo, the national capital, burst into flames, injuring hundreds of people. This brought a wave of international attention to the small Eastern European country. The protesters lamented the institutional paralysis that hinders reform…
SEATTLE — The Guttmacher Institute analyzes women’s access to contraception as well as pregnancy and delivery care globally. Despite a significant increase in past decades, its 2017 report identifies shortcomings in contraceptive use in developing countries. Redressing these has the potential to improve the health and living standards of women and children and reduce population growth. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 214 million women need contraception. These needs remain unmet in developing countries in 2017. Although they want to avoid pregnancies, these women do not have access to modern methods of contraception. Effective methods include hormone injection, sterilization, intrauterine devices…
SEATTLE — There are many moral and humanitarian reasons to oppose child marriage; the practice violates women’s rights and negatively impacts their health and education. A new report from the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) now adds an economic incentive to invest in ending child marriage. By 2030, reduced welfare spending and increased individual and national earnings could save developing countries trillions of dollars. The prevalence of child marriage decreased globally over the past 30 years. However, it is still practiced in many parts of the world; over 700 million women alive today married before their eighteenth birthday.…
NEW DELHI — In June, the Union government launched its new Tele-Law initiative to improve access to justice in India to rural communities. The program includes free legal advice via video conferences and training of local women as paralegal volunteers. Several challenges limit equal access to justice in India. Costly litigations are unaffordable to many in the marginalized parts of society, and the legal system is burdened by a case backlog; in December 2011, over 30 million cases were pending countrywide, leading to extended waiting periods. Besides, many people lack awareness of their rights and are not sufficiently educated about…
SEATTLE — The U.K.- based charity Leonard Cheshire Disability has published a report analyzing the state of education for girls with disabilities across the globe. It includes the barriers these girls face and recommendations on how to overcome them. The report criticizes the lack of awareness surrounding the specific challenges posed by the intersection of gender and disability. A 2011 WHO and World Bank report found that in the 51 countries analyzed, less than 42 percent of girls with disabilities had completed primary education compared to over 50 percent of males with disabilities. Because gender and disability are both surrounded…