Enda Kenny offers apology to survivors of the Magdalene Laundries

The Irish government gave an official apology to the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries. I've never heard of this event until recently when this came up in the news. Magdalene Laundry was once known as Magdalene Asylum and was part of a chain of asylums in Ireland that were operated by the Roman Catholic Church and run by nuns with the intention of institutionalizing those whom they considered "fallen" women, thus the naming after the biblical character Mary Magdalene who was a prostitute before she found Jesus. Here, here, and here are a few links I found interesting while doing some research. 

The UN and its peacekeeping troops are in the center of a controversy that has resulted in the death of over 8,000 Haitians due to cholera since 2010.

Since 2004, UN peacekeeping troops have been placed in Haiti to aid in the protection of the interim government.  The problem began in 2010 when the troops, many of whom had been previously stationed in Nepal where an active cholera outbreak was going on, were rotated in to Haiti without first being tested for the disease.  The result: this negligent oversight caused a severe cholera outbreak in Haiti.  However, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other UN leadership have failed to take the blame for nor offer any apology for the UN's unfortunate role in this disaster. For more info, check out this Slate article.

Marketing Food: Is Regulation of Advertising a Step Away from Obesity?

Hi All, I watched this video a few weeks ago and I found it to be very compelling. Especially as we read about obesity this week, I thought it might be of interest. Trying to adjust and minimize the amount of processed foods I eat has been- and continues to be- one of my greatest personal challenges in terms of health. Especially given the hectic pace of school and work, it is difficult to eat well unless I make a mighty and concerted effort to do so. And, when the term gets going, I am usually maxing out my might and concentration elsewhere.

In many ways, I have incorporated more actual vegetables and fruits into my diet instead of boxed foods that claim to have the nutritional benefits of those things. Yet, there remain plenty of gaps in my habits that are awaiting my attention and modification. In the meantime, this video really helped to motivate me toward better choices. It also helped me to see that the choices I make aren't always exclusively mine. Advertising is a powerful tool. Have you been subject to it's siren song too?

Something a little more light-hearted...

It's easy to get bogged down with the weight of the topics in class. Often times, we hear about things that worked well and the continued work that needs to happen in countries and regions around the world. Every once in a while, I find it fun to take a look back at things that didn't work well also, and learn from their mistakes:

Over at the Matador Network there's a great article titled "The 7 worst International AId Ideas. Here's a teaser from their #1 spot "A Million T-Shirts for Africa".

1. One million t-shirts for Africa

Aid circles employ the cynical acronym SWEDOW (stuff we don’t want) to describe initiatives like Jason Sadler’ 1 Million T-Shirts project. Sadler had admittedly never been to Africa, and had never worked in an aid or development environment before. But he cared a great deal, and came up with the idea to send a million free shirts to Africa in order to help the people there.
Like some sort of lightning rod for the combined venom of the humanitarian aid world, Jason found himself pilloried across the web in a matter of weeks. Everyone from armchair bloggers to senior economists spat fire on his dream until it eventually ground to a halt. In July 2010, Jason threw in the towel and abandoned his scheme. And somewhere in Africa, an economy sighed in relief.

Why was the idea so bad?

Firstly, it’s debatable whether there is actually a need for T-shirts in Africa. There is practically nowhere that people who want shirts are unable to afford them. Wanting to donate them is a classic case of having something you want to donate and assuming it is needed. Just because you have a really large hammer does not mean that everything in the world is a nail.

Secondly, dumping a million free shirts is inefficient. What it would cost to pack them, ship them, and transport them overland to wherever it is that they are meant to go would cost close to the manufacturing cost of the shirts in the first place. That’s just incredibly wasteful. If you wanted to get people shirts, it would be far more cost effective to simply commission their manufacture locally, creating a stimulus to the local textile economy in the process.

Which brings us to the third critique of free stuff. When people in the target community already have an economy functioning in part on the sale and repair of the stuff you want to donate (shirts in this instance), then dumping a million of them free is the economic equivalent of an atom bomb. Why buy a shirt anymore when you can get a five-year supply for free? Why get yours repaired when you can simply toss it and get another? And in the process everyone who once sold shirts or practiced tailoring finds themselves unemployed and unable to provide money for themselves or their families to buy anything.

Except shirts. Because those are now free.

Click here to read the entire article! 

UN Committee finds United States guilty of violating children's rights in Afganistan

I know this is a week or so late, I think it is still an interesting article.  The U.S. has never fully endorsed the UN Convention's Rights of Children, however in 2002 the, "U.S. committed to guaranteeing basic protections to children in armed conflict zones."  Although the U.S. made this commitment, they were charged with the ill-treatment and deaths of hundreds of children in Afghanistan.  The UN held an investigation and recently found the U.S. guilty of violating the rights of Afghan children.

Women's Health in the Philippines

I have a personal interest in women's and children's health in impoverished areas prone to natural disasters such as in Haiti and the Philippines. Since we are about to spend the week discussing women's health, I thought now would be an appropriate time to share some recent news pieces I've seen regarding maternal health in the aftermath of Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines. Bopha struck the Philippines in early December, and has been one of the worst storms the country has ever seen. 

Theo Sowa: We Need The Voices of African Women | TEDxChange

This is an incredible and powerful video about Global Health, African Women, including them in conversations about their health, using their expertise, and expanding a view of women of Africa.

As follow-up to this discussion, the author, Chimamanda Adichie warning of the problem of a single story.

I found this infographic on the web, and I was thought it was pretty cool! A few classes ago, we talked about the role of Community Health Workers, and how they can improve the lives of mothers and children of the community.

As we know, improving the lives of mothers, and the economic profiles for mothers and CHWs, will go a good long way to improve global health disparities within communities. Take a look at how simple the health tools that are employed by CHWs, folks!

Less stress, better health

When human beings live high stress lifestyles, our immune systems often becomes weaker.  This makes it harder for us to function within our daily lives, more difficult to fight through colds, and tougher to fight through other illnesses and diseases.

This article in the New York Times ("The Island Where People Forget to Die") is about a region called Ikaria in Greece.  The Ikarian people are not wealthy, but with good diets and low stress lifestyles, the people in Ikaria can live long and happy. This is an example of how much better human health can be when there is low stress.

FGC: A review of the Shell Duncan article and some thoughts....

Okay, when I hear the words "female genital mutilation", my whole body grimaces. It is one of those topics that elicits a very physical response, I think, especially in a culture like ours that struggles to understand the appeal of such a practice. So, I approach articles like this with a little bit of caution. But, I also am a little bit intrigued. Intrigued because, I think it's an important place to focus my attention. While FGM is not a practice in my culture, I still feel a responsibility to open my eyes to it, to attempt to understand it, and most importantly, to wonder if there is any way to stop it from happening.

Compromise is the key - In response to Duncan.

The Shell-Duncan article was chosen well to represent all sides in the debate surrounding FGC. I had a hard time trying to navigate my own thoughts and feelings about the topic while reading this paper. It's probably the same conflict that many feel - the tug between the rights of people to practice culture versus the risks associated with the tradition. I was disappointed that the paper did not go over the statistics of FGC in terms of infection, mental health, etc. It would have been nice to know those specific numbers because that really could make all the difference.

It seemed like maternal health was the main focus when it came to the issues of health impacts. And although the specific numbers for that weren’t prominent enough, we are still overlooking the other health aspects of FGC as mentioned above. Otherwise the paper did an interesting job of understanding and leaning a bit away from activists against FGC. To me the most though-provoking part was when the human rights arguments came up in the paper. Shell-Duncan did an excellent job at tackling why the “rights” framework doesn’t have the full capacity to tackle FGC – in part because the rights listed can shift based upon the lens being used. What is the norm of development? Is it gender discrimination if the women are partaking in it willfully?

I didn't fully agree with the argument of consent that Duncan puts forth, because is it really consent if there is pressure from tradition, community, and family that is pushing you towards the act? Yes, westerners do reconstructive surgery and although it is the norm to practice it - it is also the norm to not practice it. Basically, if you choose not to get a tattoo or breast reconstruction there is no stigma attached to your status in the community. But in the case of these African girls it must almost be impossible to defy the act because of its tie to marriage and that of status to marriage as a woman too. What alternative path to not partaking is there for these girls? I wish the paper also went into consequences of what saying no to FGC meant.

I was disappointed that Shell-Duncan didn’t go into detail about the different FGC practices in tribes across Africa or in regions of Asia or anywhere else. I feel that those against FGC are quick to go to the extreme stories about FGC where it is done in a brutal manner but it is important to understand that in other places that story is quite the opposite and women are happy to partake in it and consider it beneficial in terms of aesthetics (similar to western women getting labia reductions, clitoral piercings, etc.). If sterility and lack of anesthetics is the argument that some are choosing then I ask why not provide them health care workers or educate CHW to do FGC in a better manner versus abolishing the very act. We do this in the case of vaccines and such.

There is no way to go about solving this issue, if you feel it needs to be solved, but by redefining the culture. Some compromise needs to be reached, for example, by letting doctors do it like the AAP came up with. That way you are slowly and gradually making the act more progressive and safer. Going at this from a top-down approach will not make it better - a middle ground has to be reached. I am neither against or not an advocate for FGC at this time.

-Dechen Dolkar