The Issues of Womanhood

In a recent article published by the Huffington Post, one of the biggest issues that women encounter in developing countries is how to to stay clean and access feminine products during their menstrual cycles. For most young women, their first period is a something to celebration. They are passing from childhood into woman hood, but for most of these girls in countries from Africa to South America, it becomes a monthly burden which is difficult to deal with on a monthly basis. If a girl does not have proper access to feminine hygiene products, it can have a number of devastating consequences, from health issues to education. If a girl does not have access to proper sanitation during her monthly menstrual cycle, she becomes more susceptible to various infections, such as but not limited to: urinary tract infections, toxic shock syndrome (a very serious and deadly infection caused by improper physical care), sepsis, and many other harmful issues. It also causes a great strain on their education. If these young, growing girls to not have feminine hygiene products, they are unable to attend school because there is no way to control their menstrual flow and keep it from becoming a messy and embarrassing issue in public during their classes. As a result, each month they are forced to stay home from school. Because of this, they slowly and steadily begin to fall behind their male peers in the class, ultimately completely undermining their education. It is important that they have access to these important and necessary products so they can lead healthy, unburdened lives.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/02/impoverished-girls-use-rags-for-sanitary-protection_n_1125215.html 

The Issues of Womanhood

In a recent article published by the Huffington Post, one of the biggest issues that women encounter in developing countries is how to to stay clean and access feminine products during their menstrual cycles. For most young women, their first period is a something to celebration. They are passing from childhood into woman hood, but for most of these girls in countries from Africa to South America, it becomes a monthly burden which is difficult to deal with on a monthly basis. If a girl does not have proper access to feminine hygiene products, it can have a number of devastating consequences, from health issues to education. If a girl does not have access to proper sanitation during her monthly menstrual cycle, she becomes more susceptible to various infections, such as but not limited to: urinary tract infections, toxic shock syndrome (a very serious and deadly infection caused by improper physical care), sepsis, and many other harmful issues. It also causes a great strain on their education. If these young, growing girls to not have feminine hygiene products, they are unable to attend school because there is no way to control their menstrual flow and keep it from becoming a messy and embarrassing issue in public during their classes. As a result, each month they are forced to stay home from school. Because of this, they slowly and steadily begin to fall behind their male peers in the class, ultimately completely undermining their education. It is important that they have access to these important and necessary products so they can lead healthy, unburdened lives.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/02/impoverished-girls-use-rags-for-sanitary-protection_n_1125215.html 

The Issues of Womanhood

In a recent article published by the Huffington Post, one of the biggest issues that women encounter in developing countries is how to to stay clean and access feminine products during their menstrual cycles. For most young women, their first period is a something to celebration. They are passing from childhood into woman hood, but for most of these girls in countries from Africa to South America, it becomes a monthly burden which is difficult to deal with on a monthly basis. If a girl does not have proper access to feminine hygiene products, it can have a number of devastating consequences, from health issues to education. If a girl does not have access to proper sanitation during her monthly menstrual cycle, she becomes more susceptible to various infections, such as but not limited to: urinary tract infections, toxic shock syndrome (a very serious and deadly infection caused by improper physical care), sepsis, and many other harmful issues. It also causes a great strain on their education. If these young, growing girls to not have feminine hygiene products, they are unable to attend school because there is no way to control their menstrual flow and keep it from becoming a messy and embarrassing issue in public during their classes. As a result, each month they are forced to stay home from school. Because of this, they slowly and steadily begin to fall behind their male peers in the class, ultimately completely undermining their education. It is important that they have access to these important and necessary products so they can lead healthy, unburdened lives.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/02/impoverished-girls-use-rags-for-sanitary-protection_n_1125215.html 

The Poor Man's Meat

In a recent article published by Trust.org's Alertnet, the genome for the Pigeon-pea, or "the poor man's meat" as it is more commonly known, has just been cracked. This is a significant accomplishment for the global fight against world hunger for several reasons. Firstly, with the genetic code now cracked, scientists will be able to genetically altar the genome. This will allow them to create drought and disease resistant hybrids that will be better able to supply the people in developing worlds. If scientists succeed it will bean a step towards supplying starving people of the world with the proper protein needed for growth, healthy development, and stronger immune systems to help these people ward off the waves after waves of disease that people in the developing worlds often encounter. It is important that these kind of leaps forward in nutritional science development are made so that scientists can help better equipped various fruits and vegetables that are able to withstand the extreme, often arid and dry climates or overly flooded climates that people in developing countries often live in. These developments are saving lives, and it is important that we help enable the continual forward progress. The article can be found at http://www.trust.org/alertnet/blogs/climate-conversations/cracking-the-pigeonpea-genetic-code-to-help-poor-farmers/

According to a recent article published on Trust.com’s breaking news section, Alertnet, the recent flooding in many provinces of Pakistan, disease is running rampant. It is a big issue in many provinces, but the Sindh province seems to be one of the hardest hit. Because of the recent flooding in the Sindh province of Pakistan, many of their residents have been left without clean drinking water or sanitation. The only water resource these victims are left with is the stagnant water left over from the flood, which is most often contaminated with human waste and other contaminants. Because of this, disease is running rampant through the affected areas of Pakistan. The diseases are hitting everyone in the country, but it seems that the portion of the population being hit the hardest by this wave of rampant disease is the children of Pakistan. According to the American Lung association, Pneumonia kills upwards of 100,000 people annually since 2000, but that rate is far higher in the affected areas of Pakistan; especially for the children. Pneumonia kills more children under the age of five in Pakistan than any other disease. An initiative is needed to help curb the rising number of cases of pneumonia and various other infectious diseases in these various affected provinces, because the mortality rate is climbing at an increasingly high rate. With clean water initiatives, and some sanitation improvements the issue can begin a turn around, to try and save people from dying from a largely preventable and treatable disease.

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/blogs/photo-blog/children-at-risk-as-killer-diseases-increase-in-flooded-pakistan/

Smoky Stoves, The Silent Killer

In a recent article published by alertnet on trust.org, a recent study shows that over two million people a year are killed by the smoke produced by indoor stove fires in developing countries each year. It is thought that the smoke produced from these stove fires kills more people than malaria, which kills nearly a million people each year. With an annual death toll around two million because of these smoky stoves, their effect on the population is currently at detrimental levels, and also requires some further investigation. The death tolls that are seen are not in the populations of developed countries. The smoky stoves are killing only those from the most rural areas of developing countries. These stoves are such an issue in most of these areas of developing countries because of the lack of ventilation seen in the shacks built in these areas. There are often no chimneys in these huts, thus there is no way for the smoke to escape. This is also an issue, which mainly affects women and children, not men. In the social structure of these developing countries, men do not spend all their time in the hut, and are typically not cooking the meals. This lessens their exposure to the harmful smoke produced by these stoves. The women however spend far more of their time in the hut, and typically are the ones cooking the meals. The children are also more often with their mothers as opposed to their fathers so they have almost as high of an exposure rate as the women do. This is an issue that stems back not just to the smoke itself, but the conditions many people are living in, in these developing countries. Before the issue can be fixed, the broader picture must be looked at.                                  ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/smoky-stoves-kill-2-mln-people-a-year-say-scientists/

The North Korean Food Crisis

In a recent article on radioaustralia.net, the North Korean food crisis is discussed. Because of recent flooding in many areas due to extremely high rainfall, the necessary crops, such as the maize that is the lifeblood of North Korea, there is an extreme food shortage, the children of North Korea are paying the price. The children are so malnourished that there is a chance they may never recover. These children are suffering from various ailments resulting from their malnutrition such as hyponatremia, kwashiorkor, and various other ailments due to their malnutrition. It is unjust that in this time of crisis, the children of North Korea must pay for the unavoidable natural disasters. According to the World Food Organization, women and children are often the ones who suffer when food becomes scares. The men are all too often the last ones to go hungry when famine becomes a problem; this is an unjust issue. Alert Net was allowed into North Korea for a tightly controlled visit with a camera crew and several nutrition experts who work with Doctors Without Borders. Of the 28 children seen by the various nutritionists, twelve of them were so malnourished that the doctors warned that without proper nutrition and proper treatment of their various other conditions, resulting from their malnutrition and other various factors, they could very well die without treatment. This is an unfortunate natural disaster with unavoidable consequences, but the children of North Korea should not be paying such a steep price for Mother Nature’s cruelty.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/stories/201110/s3335128.htm