Tag: Poverty

Tuberculosis: Overlooked Infectious Disease

A few days ago, I was reading an interesting book about global health called What’s Killing Us by Alanna Shaikh. Alanna Shaikh is a global health and development specialist and in this book, she writes about the biggest global health challenges we face today. She explores everything from chronic diseases, obesity, Flu, HIV and AIDs, …

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Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty

In the year 2000, the United Nations in association with other countries, created a global action plan to solve the world’s major problems by the year 2015. This global plan was divided into eight distinct goals: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, Achieve universal primary education, Promote gender equality and empower women, Reduce child mortality, Improve …

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Economic Boom in Myanmar

As you may recall, I’ve written a couple posts about Myanmar (or Burma) in the past, though mostly in the context of tourism. I’d like to switch gears a bit this time and write about another new opportunity for the country: a stock market. Myanmar’s legislative body, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, recently approved …

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Electricity and the Arab Spring

If you were wondering why I missed my post last week, it’s  because I was one of the million+ people who lost power during the storm that hit the east coast on the 29th.  I was without power for 6 days–almost 7–which meant no internet, no television, no air conditioning, and, since our house has well …

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Water is Everyone’s Problem

Did you know water was declared a human right in 2010 by the United Nations? Yet, 884 million people are still without access to safe drinking water and, more than 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. These statistics are pretty shocking to me because despite many advances, we are facing this problem in …

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The Rise of Brazil: Part 1

Have you noticed lately that Brazil has been in the international spotlight… a lot? It seems like every week I see some new headline about Brazil in relation to:1) a major international convention, 2) a major international sports event or 3) an issue involving development in the Amazon. The attention is good, bad and/ or …

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Human Smugglers: The Real Immigration Issue

The United States has a massive immigrant population,  approximately 11 million of whom are here undocumented. Individuals without documentation are often at the center of law enforcement efforts, the focus of all research concerning immigration, and the focus of people’s anger and problems with immigration in this country. But why is that the case? What …

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Women & Water: Why is water such a burden in the lives of so many women?

It hit me recently that I am one lucky person when it comes to water. This may sound odd to you, but it’s true and a lot of us, particularly women, take this for granted. The most it takes for me to get clean water, is the effort to turn on a faucet or maybe …

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What Happens When the Islands Sink?

Islands around the world are starting to disappear, or “sink”, and the lack of attention to this issue is disturbing. Islands in the South Pacific, Indian Ocean and even the United States are starting to witness continuous rising water levels and stronger storm and tidal surges that threaten to extinct islands and have devastating effects …

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The People Left Behind

As prison reform becomes a bigger issue in politics and social movements, people have started contributing more and more resources towards enacting change. This is wonderful for the beneficiaries of this progress, the prisoners and parolees, but it leaves out a large group of people who are equally as affected by the prison system: the …

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