As the least glamourous or well-known position in any health care system, community health workers often have the most difficult jobs, the smallest pay, and the greatest impact on many people’s lives. This is a video from an organization committed to “better health for Africa.” AMREF is best known for its “flying doctors” service among many other programs that strengthen community health systems. This is part of the story about a community health worker in Ethiopia, Almaz Nagade.

Hunger is a monstrous crisis. And like many current crises, it is unnecessary. “World agriculture produces 17% more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70% population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories per person per day” (FAO 2002 p.9). Regardless, there are over 1.02 billion malnourished people worldwide. This represents a 17% increase in the number of malnourished from 2006. Things are not getting better. They have gotten worse. The recent global financial slump has contributed to the increase in malnourished populations; however, it is only a recent contribution and the more enduring issues of systemic poverty, conflict, and climate change have played a crucial role in perpetuating global hunger. Though there is sufficient food to feed the world over, solving global hunger is more than a matter of redistribution. The social and economic systems that sustain global hunger must be curbed and local solutions carried out. There is hope and a lighthouse guiding the world to the alleviation of hunger. We know from our past actions what has failed and we know from foresight what will prevail. The state of world hunger seems to be deteriorating, but I have hope and faith that, with the smart aid, hunger (specifically in Africa) can be curtailed, diminished, and eradicated.

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In Africa alone, 307 million people are malnourished. Forty-two nations receive aid from the World Food Programme and other Western powers pour billions, into ending global hunger. Just this past July, Obama pooled $20 billion from the world’s richest nations to be used for the reduction hunger in Africa. Yet, Ethiopia (one of the world’s largest recipients of aid) still has 6.2 million malnourished people in it’s country. Sudan, Somalia, Niger, and Chad, too receive plush amounts of aid, yet have devastating numbers of malnourished. Kenya, one of the most developed nations on the continent as well as a large receiver of aid, has 3.6 million malnourished people and that number is expected to rise. The problem is obviously not lack of money. The problem is misdirected use of money and an perpetuating intersection of poverty, drought, and corruption.

Poverty is the principle cause of  hunger – as well as a direct effect of hunger. Poverty and hunger are so entwined that neither can be solved individually. Without money, farmers lack the buying power to purchase seed, farming tools, and fertilizer. Without these necessities, they are unable to produce a sufficient food to turn a profit. The effect of this is two fold. The farmer’s poverty and hunger grows and the reduced supply of food to urban markets increases the prices, pulling urban poor who are unable to purchase the higher-priced food into malnourishment and hunger. Furthermore, drought exacerbates the problem.

The drought and subsequent famine of 1984 in Ethiopia claimed over a million lives. While some say that the drought never left, it is evident that the drought has returned with a full-fledged famine. There are currently 6.2 million people in Ethiopia who are malnourished and the famine is expected to raise that number to 14 million – in Ethiopia alone. In Kenya, the famine has severely threatened the lives of 3.6 million people. And Somalia has another 3.8 million people affected. In total, there are 23 million people in the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa who have been affected. There is simply not enough water to produce a good harvest. And when rain does arrive, the sun-baked earth does not immediately absorb the water, rather causes flash floods and outbreaks of cholera. Farmers can’t grow enough food to even feed their family. They are forced to cultivate cash crops in hope of turning a minimum profit with which they can buy fertilizer that will hopefully provide a better harvest next season. “They are essentially going hungry so that they can feed the country.” But even those in urban settings do not walk away unscathed. They must compete for jobs in slums so that they can pay the inflated food prices. Furthermore, the hungry in cities are often overlooked while food aid and donors flock to the rural communities. Children in slums like Kibera, a shanty-slum of 600,000-1.2 million outside of Nairobi, Kenya, drop out of school to work or beg so that they to pay the 130% inflated price of maize (over one year’s time) and the ever-increasing prices of water. Regardless, there is hope.

“Drought does not need to mean hunger and destitution. If communities have irrigation for crops, grain stores, and wells to harvest rains then they can survive, despite what the elements throw at them.” Irrigation, grain stores, and wells require money, however,  and, once again, poverty stands in the way. Yet the same poverty that is preventing these people from building famine preventative infrastructure, was caused  by the previous poor harvest and famine. The cycle seems interminable – until someone steps in to provide the infrastructure these communities need. That someone is government.

“The urban crisis [and famine] is not just about poverty – it is about governance,” Oxfam reportedly said. Governments have the responsibility of providing fundamental social services to it’s citizens. In a country susceptible to drought, this includes irrigation infrastructure, grain stores, and rain water wells. However, very few governments have provided any of these resources to their people. In Somalia, there is no functional central government to provide these resources. In Kenya, the government is “paralyzed by infighting and political maneuvering.” And in Ethiopia, the government is, both, trying to maintain its good image from its successes in health care, education, and counter terrorism, and trying to undermine its citizens through corrupt, profit-driven deals. It’s desire for a positive image has led it to gloss over the famine by reporting (relatively) low numbers of people affected and making the definition of people at risk more exclusive. It has also tried to hide the severity of the famine through banning aid from reaching specific severely-affected regions. Backroom politics has highlighted the government’s lack of interest in curtailing the famine. Hundreds of bags of maize disappeared from the Ethiopian reserve and then reappeared in Sudan a month later, leading a lot of people to suspect that deals were made behind closed doors. Furthermore, the government has marketed Ethiopia in the new business of land-leasing, where large, rich foreign investors can rent vast plots of lands on 44-99 year contracts. The contracts have nearly no safeguards and foreign investors buy them purely for profit. The effectively take land away from local farmers, employ local residents under extremely brutal conditions, sell their crops to foreign nations for profit, and deplete the soil of nutrients. These are not the kinds of contracts a government interested in its people should be offering.

If it were not for corruption, the drought and the poverty could be (more-easily) resolved. But without the necessary functions of the state happening, the impact of both is increased and perpetuated. “Ethiopia’s famine today is a famine of food scarcity as much as it is a famine of democracy and good governance.” African governments must take responsibility and ownership for their states. I they want to become a respected global voice, they must end corruption and end their dependency on aid .

As outsiders from the West, we must be cautious in our critique and support of African nations. Too often aid has been given in ways that only increase dependency, circumvent governments, and enable corruption. The West is not culpable for the existing corruption, but it has not given support that leads towards independent, sustainable nations. “Continued food and agricultural support, coupled with falling [crop] production, have led some to believe that aid might actually be the root of the problem.” Food handouts increase dependency through creating disincentives to produce and providing short-term fixes to problems that need long-term solutions. Africa does not need more food, it needs more ways to consistently cultivate its own food.

It’s extremely challenging and a great moral conundrum to critique food handouts when lives are at stake. And I, in no way, believe that food handouts should be stopped, rather they should be accompanied by long-term solutions. It is easy to ideologically critique these different forms of aid, but when the reality that this aid saves a person’s mother, father, son, or daughter from dying is realized the disadvantages of any aid seem inconsequential. So it is with great respect and appreciation that I say, there is a better way.

Handouts cannot be expected to prepare these countries for the next famine. The international community must begin to fund projects which build irrigation infrastructure, wells for rain water, teach efficient methods of cultivation, and inspire autonomy of communities . The calamities of hunger and drought in Africa are not our burden and we should not carry the weight. The international aid community acts out of compassion for Africa, not obligation. It would be immoral to cease all aid merely because we are not obligated. Aid and exchange should always be occurring. We should always be in a flux of giving and receiving (even in times of prosperity) – giving the skills and lessons we have learned from our culture and experience and receiving the skills and lessons of another. We should be working to create autonomy and sustainability in African nations, which is why funding needs to be given to projects that pursue these goals.

The international community would be equally flawed if it built the preventative infrastructure of irrigation, wells, and grain stores. Although we would be establishing preventative measures for the next drought, it would still be us establishing them. Africa needs to help Africa -and we need to help Africa help itself. Funding should be targeted towards local, African projects which are building sustainable preventative infrastructure. Only then, do we truly help establish an equal, autonomous, independent Africa.

Though the intertwinement of hunger with large socio-political problems exacerbates the issue and makes it appear hopeless, it is not. There is abounding hope that Africa will make it through this crisis and then through the next. It is hope that lies behind all forms of aid and it is hope that feeds the starving souls of those who can’t find enough to eat, providing them the determination to make it through another day and to another meal. I have hope that the international community, specifically the large aid donors, will recognize the cycle of dependence they are caught in and will begin to teach their recipients how to fish.

“News you can use.” This adage has been selfishly and regrettably adopted by a vast majority of western media sources, particularly those in the United States, failing to recognize that news about foreign conflict is news we can all use. Anup Shah discusses this problem with regards to the ignorance it has produced regarding African conflict in her article “Conflicts in Africa.” According to Shah, citing research performed by Media Tenor over the course of 18 months, only 0.2% of 23,587 reports from the United States, Great Britain, and Germany focused on conflicts in Africa. This is especially unnerving considering the fact that death tolls and refugee counts in several of the reported conflicts, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, and Liberia, far exceeded those of other conflicts which received far greater news coverage. An example cited in Shah’s article is that the Israeli-Pakistan conflict was given far more attention in western media sources than fighting in the DRC where deaths were much more numerous. The reason? Media sources with only the interests of their viewers as well as their government in mind.

In an increasingly globalized world that allows people to connect to each other around the world in seconds, this is a problem. Earth is quickly becoming a singular planetary community rather than hundreds of smaller, national societies. As a result, understanding and education about places not currently understood is absolutely vital.

The United States has been and will likely continue to be involved in the situation in Israel and Pakistan largely for our own interests in the Middle East. Therefore, people need to know what’s going on there for as long as we’re implicated in the situation. Conversely, besides any minimal foreign aid the US sends to places like the DRC and Sierra Leone, we have little vested interests in those areas (excluding the diamond-rich Sierra Leone countryside) that would make the American public want to become educated on affairs in these places. The major interest in these areas is, of course, consumer-driven, since the DRC is very rich in Coltan, an ore used to make myriad electronics so vital to our everyday lives. Unfortunately, this western business interest that has the potential to better the lives of the inhabitants, mainly serves to fuel pre-existing problems in the region.
Many Americans are sadly and disturbingly under the impression that Africa is a mysterious place that just naturally and inherently produces conflict, and that there’s really just nothing we can do about it. This is wrong.

Africa is a beautiful place with a history of peace and conflict resolution much longer than ours. Still, because of the discourse produced by those in power over the course of our history, people simply don’t realize this and never will unless something changes in people’s attitudes regarding the world around them.

Furthermore, western media has little to no interest in reporting on Africa, be it good or bad news, due to the historical implications surrounding it. Much of the problems that have arisen in war-torn countries came from severe cultural, economic, and social oppression inflicted during colonialism. Similarly to here in the US, people would just rather forget that dark period in history and not recognize the seemingly irreparable damage it has done to innocent peoples’ lives.

Now, this entire ordeal might seem hopeless and anyone reading this might be under the impression that there is nothing they can do. Well I am pleased to tell you that you are mistaken. The best solution to this problem? Education. Education leads to understanding; understanding leads to tolerance and acceptance. The latter both lead to compassion and desire to help, which is where groups like SCOUT BANANA and other international philanthropic organizations that want to help those who need it help themselves come in.

So next time you sit down to read the paper or watch the news on TV I’m presenting you with this challenge: for every story you read or watch about domestic affairs, read or watch at least one about Africa, or any other region of the world not typically covered on CNN, ABC, CBS, or in USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, or any other major news source. You might be surprised how much you have to learn.

"Ethiopia" a scene of over-grazing and desertification, making it difficult for both people and animals to survive. (From the MSF Photo Blog)

• ’There’s no reason only poor people should get malaria’

In an action that surprised many audience guests, Bill Gates, released a small number of mosquitoes into the crowd at the TED conference. Gates quit Microsoft last year to focus more on his philanthropic work. He spoke of the need, and his commitment, to put more funding towards developing drugs to combat malaria, one of the highest killers in the ‘developing’ world.
Watch the video:
More:
Mosquito Genes Linked To Insecticide Resistance May Be New Target in Fight Against Malaria,
Insecticide malaria impact clue

• When there is no village doctor

It is estimated that every fourth medical doctor and every twentieth nurse trained in Africa leaves the continent for better job prospects and better pay in wealthier countries. The UN Global Health Workforce Alliance warns that the economic crisis could further increase the medical workforce crisis across Africa.

For David Werner, who wrote the widely-translated 1970s village health care manual, “Where There is No Doctor,” medical specialization is not the best answer. “Experts come in and think they have all the answers, and end up drowning out solutions villagers could devise themselves.”

• Need to Focus on Maternal, Child Health – Top AU Official

As the African Union meets in Addis Ababa, Commissioner for Social Affairs Biencé Gawana said in regards to the AU’s proposed launch of a continent-wide program,

“We will launch a movement to promote maternal and child health in the continent,” she told reporters. “It will be an advocacy campaign… together with partners like UNFPA [the UN Population Fund] and UNICEF [the UN Children's Fund].

With 500,000 women dying in childbirth each year, Africa has some of the highest rates of maternal, infant, and child mortality. As part of the solution the AU report noted: “One of the main challenges in the promotion of maternal, infant and child health and development is access to health care facilities and services, especially at primary health delivery level and [in] rural areas.”

• Zimbabwe: Cholera Infection Rate Climbs As UN Cleared to Assess Crisis

On Monday the WHO reported an increase of 2000 cholera deaths in Zimbabwe. The report was released just as President Mugabe agreed to allow a top level UN assessment team to tour the country to find solutions to curb the cholera pandemic as well as the current hunger crisis. Food security continues to plummet in may areas of Zimbabwe as many worry they will not receive aid in time.
More: Zimbabwe Cholera Statistics Rise Again As New Malaria Fears Grow,
Zimbabwe Diary: fighting cholera

• South Africa: The Quiet Water Crisis

There is great concern with the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, but what the South African government may be missing is its very own growing water crisis. With an aging infrastructure and rising demand, the potential for deadly bacteria to be released into its water systems is high. When Mandela’s government took power in 1994, an estimated 14 million South Africans lacked access to clean water supply and 21 million people lacked proper sanitation. Although the numbers have changed drastically, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) reported in 2008 that 5 million people still lacked access.

• Twestival and Charity: Water

Last year SCOUT BANANA conducted a ‘Year of Water’ Project to benefit the work of Charity: Water. The organization is now utilizing the social media tool, Twitter, to raise a large amount of money to build wells across the world. Charity: Water began its work by supporting well projects across the African continent.

• South Africa: ‘Development Must Adapt to Water Resources We Have’

98% of water resources are being used in South Africa. Water security is becoming an issue as pollution from mining has been difficult to clean up and no other water resources remain unused.

• Obama Lifts “Global Gag Rule”

Also known as the Mexico City Policy, this move is being applauded by women’s and productive rights groups across the globe.
More: Obama Reverses U.S. Ban on Abortion-Linked Aid

• University Partnership Aims to Fight HIV/AIDS More Effectively

Backed by an almost $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, John Hopkins University is growing a partnership with Makerere University in Uganda in an attempt to combat the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. The partnership is only in its initial steps.

Launched in September at Michigan Technological University (MTU) with the Michigan Organization of Residence Halls Associations (MORHA).

Charity:Water and SCOUT BANANA believe that access to clean water is a basic human right, and this year, 2007, we are doing something about it. Charity:Water was founded in 2006 and since has provided people with clean drinking water through construction and rehabilitation projects on wells. Through on-the-ground organizations Charity:Water has built 158 wells in five African countries that will give close to 100,000 people clean drinking water. SCOUT BANANA is an organization dedicated to providing access to basic health care. Access to clean water is extremely important to being and staying healthy as 80% of all sickness is due to unsafe water. In Michigan, we take for granted that we are surrounded by the world’s largest source of freshwater. The Great Lakes hold enough water for each of the 300 million people of the US to have 19 million gallons of water. Between 2000 and 2004, Michigan increased its water use by 1 billion gallons per day (gpd), to almost 11 billion gpd, or 4 trillion gallons per year, with 81% being withdrawn by power plants. This is enough to cover the entire land area of Michigan with 4 inches of water. 89% of water withdrawn in Michigan comes from Great Lakes sources. The remaining 11% comes from inland surface and groundwater sources (DEQ 2004 Report). There is a term in water management known as “unaccounted for” water. This is treated water that leaks from faulty pipes and is completely wasted. This water, ready for usage, that leaks from pipes every year in Detroit alone would be enough to give every person in the combined countries of the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, and Uganda with 297 gallons of treated water. (www.uswaternews.com, August 2002). In Africa just $20 can give a person clean water for 20 years. The estimated cost of the leak is $23 million worth of water that never reaches homes and businesses, this could provide over one million people with the clean water they so desperately need.

Charity:Water Facts
• Over 1.1 billion people on the planet do not have access to clean drinking water.
• 42,000 people will die this week from disease related to poor drinking water. 90 percent of them will be children under age 5.
• A child dies from unsafe water every 15 seconds.
• 80 percent of all sickness on the planet is caused by unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation. It kills 2.2 million people every year. That’s more than all forms of violence, including war.
• Millions of women in developing countries walk 3 miles every day, to get water is likely to make them sick.

Bobi, Uganda
The first six wells built and rehabilitated by Charity:Water were in the war-torn region of northern Uganda. In the village of Bobi, 31,000 people now have access to clean water. Here is the story from Charity:Water founder, Scott Harrison.
“20 years of war displaced nearly two million people in Northern Uganda. Seeking solace from Joseph Kony’s rebel soldiers, they gathered in camps for safety. Bobi is the largest IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp in the Gulu Province. When I visited in August, I found 31,638 people living there. They drank from only one working well. On October 24th our partners on the ground in Northern Uganda used those contributions to begin work in Bobi. The rehabilitation of 3 broken hand pumps and 3 newly constructed wells were completed in November. Water committees were formed and trained to maintain the new water sources. The wells have transformed the lives of the 31,638 men, women and children living there. Bobi, one of the most hopeless and depressing places I’ve ever visited in Africa, now looks to the future with hope and health.”

Uganda Facts
(CIA, The World Factbook)
• Slightly smaller than Oregon with a population of over 30,250,000.
• Life expectancy at birth is approximately 52 years.
• The high rates of HIV/AIDS have significantly increased mortality, impacting life expectancy and population.
• There is a very high risk for contracting waterborne diseases including: bacterial infections, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever.
• 35% of the population lives below the poverty line with average income at $1,500.
• The country hosts over 250,000 refugees from Sudan, the DRC, and Rwanda, along with 1 million internally displaced peoples (IDPs).
• Agriculture employs 80% of the workforce. The major export of the country is coffee.

To Fetch A Pail of Water
Of all the water on earth, 97.5% is salt water. The remaining 2.5% is fresh water, 70% is frozen in the polar ice caps and the other 30% is soil moisture or lies in underground aquifers. In all, less than 1% of the world’s fresh water is readily accessible for direct use. Moreover, there is a natural inequity in resource distribution that allows some countries to be rich in water, while others struggle.