Blog #8- Mali

      For my final blog post, I decided to cover target 3.1.1 (Maternal Mortality) and target 3.2.1 (Under-5 Mortality) in the country of Mali. The reason I chose to combine these two targets is because they often go hand-in-hand with each other. Mali is a west African country that is located between the countries Mauritania and Niger.

      For decades, Mali had some of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world. There were many factors causing such high mortality rates. Some being the lack of proper nutrition, poor reproductive healthcare, and the lack of routine immunizations. About 1 in 5 children under the age of five died in Mali due Malaria or Pneumonia (both preventable diseases).  In 2015, 33% of deaths in the under-5 category were newborns. In the same year, there were 587 maternal deaths (Maternal and Newborn Health Disparities in Mali, 2019).

Photo Accessed from: https://worldsbestnews.org/telegram/mali-to-save-women-and-children/

      In 2015, Mali committed to create a fund for free medical assistance for women and children under 5. For decades, women had to pay for their own healthcare, and for a lot of women, it was nearly impossible. 50.4% of people in Mali had an income of less than $1.25 a day (Global Citizen-Mali, 2019).  That was hardly nothing to contribute to their medical costs. Even if they did come up with the money to receive medical care, there were still the added costs of traveling to a doctor.

      However, part of the fund for creating free medical assistance in Mali was to put health workers in every community. By doing this, mothers have access to the many different services they might need. In 2019, it is estimated that child mortality rates will be lowered 95% just by having health workers in Mali communities. The benefits these past four years have come from mothers having free access to prenatal care, immunizations and wellness check-ups. The most exciting news this year was back in February when Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced that they received an extra $120 Million to help reform the countries health care. Mali is a great example of a country wanting to change for it's people and sticking to the plan. They have made so much progress in only four years and I am excited to follow the progress they make in years to come.

Refrences: 

file:///C:/Users/18178/Downloads/country%20profile_MLI%20(1).pdf

Mali Is Providing Free Health Care to Pregnant Women and Children Under 5. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2019, from https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/mali-free-healthcare-under-five-maternal-elder/.

Blog #7- India

For this week's blog post, I decided to cover the topic of ending poverty. Sustainable Development Goal #3 is to Ensure Healthy Lives and Promote Well-Being for All Ages. There isn't a specific target in SDG #3 that covers poverty on its own, however, i believe part of health and well being means having no poverty. The country I decided to cover for this week is India.

While doing my research for this week's post I found a Not-for-profit organization called Care India. Care India is an organization whose goal is to alleviate poverty and social injustice. I like that they have both a vision and mission statement on their website.

     Their vision statement: "We seek a world of hope, tolerance, and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security" (About Care India, 2019).

     Their mission statement: "Care India helps alleviate poverty and social exclusion by facilitating empowerment of women and girls from poor and marginalized communities (About Care India, 2019).

Photo accessed from: https://www.careindia.org/photo-gallery/

One of the projects Care India has in ending poverty is the Madhya Pradesh Nutrition Project. This project aims to: 

-Reduce malnutrition in children due to poverty

-Raise awareness about malnutrition in communities dealing with poverty

-Strengthen governance in India on ending malnutrition 

Care India works hand-in-hand with the Madhya Pradesh Nutrition Project to educate, counsel and motivate families to get out of extreme poverty. The three main districts in Madhya Pradesh that are part of the project are Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, and Panna- all in Bundelkhand region.

India overall is a huge country. There are an estimated 1.3 Billion people living in India in 2019. In January of 2016, about 6.6% of their population(over 86,843,300 people) were considered to be in extreme poverty. Just 3 years later in January 2019, that number has dropped to 3.3% (45,012,115 people) living in extreme poverty (World Poverty Clock, 2019). This is significant progress that is is on track to continue in progress until there is no more extreme poverty in India.

Citations: 

“About Care India - The NGO Focusing on Ending Poverty and Social Injustice.” CARE India, www.careindia.org/who-we-are/.

“Madhya Pradesh Nutrition Project.” CARE India, www.careindia.org/project/madhya-pradesh-nutrition-project/.

Blog #6-Germany

For my blog post this week, I decided to chose a topic that is important worldwide...Air Pollution. Specifically, I will focus on how Germany is doing their part to have clean air quality throughout their country. Part of target 3.9 is to improve air quality and reduce mortality rates due to air pollution. No one should die or get sick because they don't have clean air to breathe.

Emissions are things like Nitrogen Gas (N2) and Nitrogen Oxide (NO). When these two gases are combined (NOx) they contribute to air smog and pollution which not only affects the air, but the humans that are breathing the air to live (Pollutants Produced by a Car Engine, 2019).

One strategy Germany is putting into place is the Berlin Low Emission Zone. The Berlin Low Emission Zone is the center of Berlin. They have a sticker system that determines a vehicle's emission status. Red being the worse, yellow needing improvement and green being emission friendly. Only vehicles that are approved with a green sticker are allowed to drive and park throughout the city.If a vehicle produces too much diesel soot they will not be allowed to park or drive throughout the city (The Low-Emission Zone/State of Berlin, 2019). The main goal is for everyone to get their vehicles up to date so that the city has less air pollution from old or run-down vehicles that produce a lot of soot.

Some progress has been made to get more people to be considerate of their vehicles emissions when they purchase them. More people are starting to realize the importance of having a low emission vehicle because of the need to drive through the low emission zones. When they buy their vehicles, they tend to look for "Smart Cars" and Eco-friendly makes and models. However some progress still needs to be done to get away from the BMW's and Volkswagen's that are very popular throughout Germany. There are still people who want the luxury models that aren't necessarily Eco-friendly. It will be up to the people of Germany to decide if they will make smarter decisions concerning their air quality.

Photo accessed from: https://www.berlin.de/senuvk/umwelt/luftqualitaet/umweltzone/index_en.shtml

Citations:

Christian Schwägerl, et al. “In Drive to Cut Emissions, Germany Confronts Its Car Culture.” Yale E360, e360.yale.edu/features/in-drive-to-cut-emissions-germany-confronts-its-car-culture.

"Environmental Protection." The Low-emission Zone / State of Berlin. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2019.

Blog #5- Australia

For this week's blog, I chose Australia. There were a few different things I wanted to focus on. They all fall under the category of improving maternal health (Target 3.1.1) and lowering the mortality rates of children and infants (Target 3.2.1). 

Australia hopes to invest  A$1.6 Billion to help maternal and children health. This investment with go to providing health care services towards women on any point in motherhood.

The Australian Government's Department of Health plays a role in making sure each state is not only improving, but also maintaining their Maternal Health Services. One way they are doing that is through the Pregnancy Care Guidelines. The Australian government came up with a set of guidelines for health care providers to use to help their pregnant patients. The Pregnancy Care Guidelines encourage doctors to provide routine screenings, tests, and any necessary health prevention so that each pregnancy is as healthy as possible (Pregnancy Care Guidelines, 2019). One great thing about the Pregnancy Care Guidelines is that it gives doctors a list of tests they can do depending on which stage of pregnancy their patient is in. It also gives the doctors common conditions to watch for and even gives them advice to help a patient who may have any social or emotional issues with their pregnancy.

Photo Accessed from: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/social-and-emotional-screening

Pregnant women are not the only mothers that will be receiving help. Australia wants to improve maternal health on women with young children and under-5-aged infants. In 2017, more than 300,000 women gave birth in Australia. This means there are a lot of young children to keep healthy. Out of the 300,000 pregnancies, 1 out of 10 involved a mother who smoked(Pregnancy, Birth, and Baby, 2019). Australia is trying to stop mothers from smoking while pregnant. Australia's Department of Health is working on broadcasting their research in hopes of stopping pregnant women from smoking. Some of the main points they have come up with are that smoking while pregnant can cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the baby being premature and/or underweight, and even the baby developing lung problems such as asthma. Within the next few years, the goal is to have 0 pregnant women or mothers of young infants smoking at all. 

Citations

Australia will invest around US$1.5 billion (A$1.6 billion) over the five years to 2015 on interventions evidence shows will improve maternal and child health outcomes - United Nations Partnerships for SDGs platform. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/?p=1114.

Australian Government Department of Health. (2019, November 5). Pregnancy, birth and baby. Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/pregnancy-birth-and-baby.

Blog #4-United States of America

Sustainable Development Goal #3 is to promote health lives and well-being for all ages. 

One of the target goals (3.6.1) is to lower the total death rate caused by motor vehicle accidents. For this week's blog, I chose to investigate how the United States of America is working towards having safer roads and highways. The reason why i chose the United States is because this is where we live and I think there can be a lot of improvement done in regards to having fewer motor vehicle accidents. 

Photo accessed from https://www.makeroadssafe.org/

According to Safe Roads USA, there are over 143 Million Americans that commute on roads every single day. In a single year, it is estimated that about 30,000 of these Americans die due to motor vehicle accidents (Safe Roads USA, 2019). There are many reasons why people get in accidents. They might loose control of their vehicle, get distracted or even be under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.

One way Americans are working on having safer driving habits are through technology. Most Americans can admit to texting and driving. It only takes a second to look down at your phone and in that one second you can rear end someone, hit an object in the road or even a person crossing the street.In the more recent years cars are being built with the capability to connect to Bluetooth so that drivers are able to talk "hands free". People can make phone calls without having to actually hold the phone. On iPhone's, there is a Do Not Disturb mode you can turn on while you are driving. This temporarily stops messages from popping up while the phone is connected to Bluetooth and the phone senses that the vehicle is in motion. Whenever someone sends a text they will see that the recipient has Do Not Disturb on and that the recipient will get back with them later. 

Technology companies like AT&T launched the "It Can Wait" campaign. The goal of the campaign is for drivers to wait until they are no longer behind the wheel of a vehicle to send a text, email, etc. Drivers essentially pledge to stay off their phones and focus on driving. This campaign launched in 2010 and so far, 38, 984,588 people have made the pledge (AT&T It Can Wait, 2019). 

The company uses billboards and commercials to advertise their campaign in hopes of having safer drivers throughout America. 

Photo accessed from AT&T It Can Wait Campaign

Safe Roads USA and the AT&T Campaign are two ways America has started to initiate progress in making roads safer. I can only hope that more people have better driving habits and there are a significantly less amount of motor vehicle accidents. 

Citations

BE A STAR. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.itcanwait.com/home.

Distracted Driving Behaviors Making American Roads More Dangerous. (2019, April 5). Retrieved from https://www.makeroadssafe.org/distracted-driving-behaviors-making-american-roads-more-dangerous/.

Blog #3- Canada

One aspect of Sustainable Development Goal #3 (3.4.2) is to lower the suicide mortality rate. For this week's blog, I chose to look at Canada and what its country is doing to help lower the suicide mortality rate. Currently, there are about ten deaths by suicide per day in Canada (Suicide in Canada, 2019). While there are many aspects of mental health, suicide is one of the biggest issue people are facing regarding their mental health. In fact, death by suicide is the ninth leading cause of death for people in Canada.

The Mental Health Strategy for Canada was established in 2012. Their goal is to "Promote mental health across the lifespan in homes, schools, and workplaces, and prevent mental illness and suicide wherever possible."(Mental Health,2019). The Mental Health Strategy for Canada works with police officers, firefighters and police dispatchers to train them to talk to people who are considering suicide.

Canada as a country is addressing suicide by funding research for prevention. Since 2000, Canada has increased the amount of research they share about suicide from 2% to 6% in 2015. Some aspects they are focusing their research on is family history of mental illness, social factors, and exposure to violence.

Another foundation dedicated to preventing suicide is called The Life Line Canada. Something unique to them is that they have an app for smart phones that users can download and it provides education, prevention strategies and most importantly, it can easily connect you to a crisis center 24/7.

Photo accessed from https:thelifelinecanada.ca
 

The Life Line Canada website has many different resources to help people. They provide free online chat, texting, emailing, and over the phone chatting for anyone considering suicide. On their website, they also have resources that help you find a professional to speak to. That is just a short list but they have many different resources they provide for free to anybody that needs them. 

Although Canada's suicide rate is still around 10 for every 100,000 people, it has dropped since the 1970's where it was about 16 for every 100,000. Canada has committed to lowering the number of deaths by suicide and their progress is shown.

Citations

Mental Health and the Law. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/what-we-do/mental-health-and-law.

The LifeLine Canada Foundation (TLC). (2019, March 27). Retrieved from https://thelifelinecanada.ca/.

Blog #2- Ghana's Pledge to Health

This week I am looking at the country of Ghana and how they are keeping up with Sustainable Development Goal #3.

There are an estimated 270,000 people currently living with HIV in Ghana. 270,000 people may sound like a huge number, but there was a 57% reduction of new HIV cases between the years of 2000-2015. (United Nations, 2019).

Testing for HIV is pretty low in Ghana due to fear of discrimination and the stigma that goes with it. Mother-to-Child Transmission is the biggest cause of death in children under 5 in Ghana. 
However, Ghana wants to provide more education and resources in hopes of working with the third SDG. Part of SDG #3 is for everyone (which includes women and girls!) to have access to sexual and reproductive health resources. By having more resources and education, Ghana hopes that the stigma around HIV/AIDS will go down and more people will get tested.
Some of the main goals that go toward meeting this are:

• By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS/HIV

• By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age

Ghana has partnered with UNAIDS to meet these goals by 2030. UNAIDS is a foundation to prevent HIV and end AIDS. By partnering with UNAIDS, Ghana hopes to reduce their country's HIV infections overall. Ghana has begun educating people about using clean needles and syringes, limiting the number of sexual partners, where to receive condoms, and how to prevent onward transmission (UNAIDS, 2019).

Picture accessed from

https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2017/march/20170328_ghana

Citations

Goal 3: Good Health. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://gh.one.un.org/content/unct/ghana/en/home/global-agenda-in-ghana/sustainable-development-goals/SDG-3-good-health.html.

HIV prevention. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2019, from https://www.unaids.org/en/topic/prevention.

Unaids.org. (2017, March 28). Ghana chairs UNAIDS PCB for 2017 and confirms commitment to ending AIDS by 2030. Retrieved from https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2017/march/20170328_ghana.