KABUL– In July, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) pledged $100 million to develop agriculture in Afghanistan. The funds will be used to support agricultural development programs, farmer field schools and other on-farm training programs. “We will try to pay attention to farmers,” said Assadullah Zamir, Afghan Minister of Agriculture. The funds will be used to support agriculture development programs, farmer field schools and other on-farm training programs. More than three-quarters of Afghanistan’s population relies on agriculture for survival, and many Afghans have suffered from life-threatening acute malnutrition for decades due to the country’s ongoing conflicts. Over the past…
Author: Yvie Yao
Yvie Yao
Yvie is a writer for The Borgen Project from Northampton. She is expected to graduate from Smith College with a degree in history. She has a passion for interviewing women from different cultures. Yvie also hopes to use history as an organizing tool to help campaigns for global issues.
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — Neonatal mortality is a persistent and widespread global health challenge. Every year, more than 1.5 million newborns die from various lung deficiencies within the first 28 days of life. Almost all of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries where the treatment of respiratory-related complications is severely limited. PremieBreathe, a startup created by Yale students, has taken up this challenge. PremieBreathe developed a low-cost, top-of-the-line infant respirator that delivers warmed, humidified and oxygenated air to reduce breathing difficulties in infants who cannot breathe normally. This respiratory therapy technology will significantly save lives at birth, reducing newborn…
SEATTLE — Today, an estimated 2 billion working-age adults worldwide do not have access to financial services which allow them to participate in the local economy. There may be hope for those individuals: the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA), is reimagining microfinance in developing countries. FINCA, a U.S.-based institution, works to expand financial inclusion and deliver financial services to families living in impoverished areas. They provide low-income entrepreneurs in 23 countries with loans in local currency and help them grow their businesses. “It’s nothing like the stuff you’re dealing with…,[but] life and death problems for all of humanity.” Rupert Scofield, president…
SEATTLE — “Brazil had a complete mismatch between supply and demand. There was a huge part of the public that couldn’t gain access to higher education in Brazil,” Frederico Brito e Abreu, Chief Financial Officer at the Brazilian leading education group Kroton Educacional S/A (Kroton), said in an interview at the LatinFinance Forum in São Paulo. Higher education in Brazil is key to furthering the country’s growth, as it provides income opportunities and the potential for families to lift themselves out of poverty. Yet, free public universities with only 230,000 places cannot meet the demand for higher education of about three…