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Kughan Govinden - My Blog
Kughan Govinden - My Blog
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World Hunger and Poverty.
About this event: Blog Action Day 2008

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

We often hear about people’s desire to solve world hunger, or to be able to feed the world and help alleviate the suffering associated with it.

However, meaningful long-term alleviation to hunger is rooted in the alleviation of poverty, as poverty leads to hunger. World hunger is a terrible symptom of world poverty. If efforts are only directed at providing food, or improving food production or distribution, then the structural root causes that create hunger, poverty and dependency would still remain. And so while continuous effort, resources and energies are deployed to relieve hunger through these technical measures, the political causes require political solutions as well.

There are many inter-related issues causing hunger, which are related to economics and other factors that cause poverty. They include land rights and ownership, diversion of land use to non-productive use, increasing emphasis on export-oriented agriculture, inefficient agricultural practices, war, famine, drought, over-fishing, poor crop yields, etc. This section introduces some of these issues.

Solving world hunger in the conventional sense (of providing/growing more food etc) will not tackle poverty that leads to hunger in the first place. Further, there is a risk of continuing the poverty and dependency without realizing it, because the act of attempting to provide more food etc can appear so altruistic in motive. To solve world hunger in the long run, poverty alleviation is required.


October 14, 2008 | 4:58 PM Comments  1 comments

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Types of causes of poverty
About this event: Blog Action Day 2008

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

A.Individual

Poverty is explained by individual circumstances and/or characterstics of poor people. Some examples are:
amount of education, skill, experience, intelligence.
health, handicaps, age.
work orientation, time horizon, culture of poverty.
discrimination, together with race, sex, etc.

B. Aggregate
There are two types of aggregate poverty theory: case and generic. There is no agreement on which is the correct explanation of most poverty.

1. Case. Add up all poverty explained by individual theories, and that is equal to total or aggregate poverty. In other words, according to case theories of poverty, individual and aggregate explanations are really the same. According to these theories, aggregate poverty is just the sum of individual poverty.

2. Generic. Poverty is explained by general, economy-wide problems, such as

inadequate non-poverty employment opportunities
inadequate overall demand (macro problems, macro policy)
low national income (Less Developed Country)
If generic theories are correct, poverty is caused by one set of forces (general, economy-wide problems) but distributed according to individual theories.


October 11, 2008 | 12:46 PM Comments  0 comments

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Loiasis-The Eye Worm
About the book: "Parasitic Diseases, Fifth Edition"

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Distribution:
Human loiasis is confined to the rain forest and swamp forest areas of West Africa. It is especially common in Cameroon and on the Ogowe river.

Life Cycle:
Loiasis is caused by the filarial nematode Loa loa which is transmitted to humans by day-biting Chrysops flies. Once inside the body the infective larvae develop slowly into a mature adult (the process takes about a year). During this period it lives and moves around the fascial layers of the skin. In periods of growth and development Loa loa often makes frequent excursions through the subdermal connective tissues where it is often noticed by the host. Once they reach maturity (measuring 3-3.4 cm x 0.35-0.43 mm for males and 5.7 x 0.5 mm for females) the adults mate and produce sheathed microfilariae 298 x 7.5 micrometers in size. The microfilariae closely resemble the microfilariae of W. bancrofti however in stained films they assume a stiff angular attitude. The cuticle sheath also does not stain with Giemsa. The microfilariae are diurnally periodic in synchrony with their vector and once they reinfect a fly they undergo two stages of growth into infective larvae (in about 10 days time) which can then be transmitted back to humans.

Pathology:
Most of the pathological problems observed in people infected with Loa loa are connected to periods when the migrating adult worms appear near the surface of the skin. The worms often appear around the eye where they can be easily seen and extracted before they damage the conjunctiva. Immune reactions to the migrating worms can also cause calabar swellings in the arms and legs. Recurrent swelling can lead to the formation of cyst like enlargements of the connective tissues around the tendon sheaths. These swellings can be extremely painful when moved. Dying worms can also cause chronic abscesses followed by granulomatous reactions and fibrosis.

Labaratory Diagnosis:
Identification of microfilariae by microscopic examination is the most practical diagnostic procedure. Examination of blood samples will allow identification of microfilariae of Loa loa. It is important to time the blood collection with the known periodicity of the microfilariae. The blood sample can be a thick smear, stained with Giemsa or hematoxylin and eosin (see staining (biology)). For increased sensitivity, concentration techniques can be used. These include centrifugation of the blood sample lyzed in 2% formalin (Knott's technique), or filtration through a Nucleopore membrane.

Antigen detection using an immunoassay for circulating filarial antigens constitutes a useful diagnostic approach, because microfilaremia can be low and variable. Identification of adult worms is possible from tissue samples collected during subcutaneous biopsies or worm removal from the eye. Antibody detection is of limited value. Substantial antigenic cross reactivity exists between filaria and other helminths, and a positive serologic test does not distinguish between past and current infection.











September 13, 2008 | 1:45 PM Comments  0 comments

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Poverty Around The World
About this event: Blog Action Day 2008

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Inequality is increasing around the world while the world appears to globalize. Even the wealthiest nation has the largest gap between rich and poor compared to other developed nations. In many cases, international politics and various interests have led to a diversion of available resources from domestic needs to western markets. Historically, politics and power play by the elite leaders and rulers have increased poverty and dependency. These have often manifested themselves in wars, hot and cold, which have often been trade- and resource-related. Mercantilist practices, while presented as free trade, still happen today. Poverty is therefore not just an economic issue, it is also an issue of political economics.


September 13, 2008 | 1:38 PM Comments  0 comments

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Racism in Europe
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Europe is often one of the first places people think of when racism is discussed. From the institutionalized racism, especially in colonial times, when racial beliefs — even eugenics — were not considered something wrong, to recent times where the effects of neo-Nazism is still felt. Europe is a complex area with many cultures in a relatively small area of land that has seen many conflicts throughout history. (Note that most of these conflicts have had trade and resource access at their core, but national identities have often added fuel to some of these conflicts.)

Racism has also been used to justify exploitation, even using “pseudo-science”:

In “the century of total war”, and the new millenium, Europe is seeing an alarming resurgence in xenophobia and racial hatred.

A short review from the Inter Press Service highlights the rise of neo-Nazism in 2000 in Europe and suggests that “far from being a fringe activity, racism, violence and neo-nationalism have become normal in some communities. The problems need to tackled much earlier, in schools and with social programmes.”

Ethnic minorities and different cultures in one country can often be used as a scapegoat for the majority during times of economic crisis. That is one reason why Nazism became so popular.

In France, May 2002, the success of far right politician Le Pen in the run for leadership (though he lost out in the end) sent a huge shockwave throughout Europe, about how easy it was for far right parties to come close to getting power if there is complacency in the democratic processes and if participation is reduced.

In various places throughout Western Europe, in 2002, as Amnesty International highlights, there has been a rise in racist attacks and sentiments against both Arabs and Jews, in light of the increasing hostilities in the Middle East.

Earlier in 1998, in an area of Germany a right wing racist party won an unprecedented number of votes.

In Austria, the Freedom Party was able to secure the majority of the cabinet posts. The party is an extreme far right party, whose leader, Jorg Heider, has been accused of sympathetic statements towards the Nazis. The European Union has reacted to this indicating that Austria’s participation may be in jeopardy. This Guardian Special Report has much more in-depth coverage.

In Italy, there are attempts to try and deal with the rise in undocumented immigrants from Tunisia. The reactions from the right wing have been labeled by some as being “openly racist”.

In 1997, Human Rights Watch noted that, “The U.K. has one of the highest levels of racially-motivated violence and harassment in Western Europe, and the problem is getting worse.” In April 1999, London saw two bombs explode in predominantly ethnic minority areas, in the space of one week, where a Nazi group has claimed responsibility. The summer of 2001 saw many race-related riots in various parts of northern England.

Spain has seen increased racial violence lately. The growing economy invites immigrants from North African countries such as Morocco. However, the poor conditions that immigrants have had to endure and the already racially charged region has led to friction and confrontations.

Greece has one of the worst records in the European Union for racism against ethnic minorities, according to the BBC. Anti-immigrant sentiment has long been high, especially against ethnic Albanians, who form the largest minority. Until the 1990s, the BBC notes, Greece had been an extremely homogenous society. With the fall of communism many immigrants from Eastern Europe came to Greece. Albanians especially have been targetted by a lot of racist sentiment. Some hostage taking by a few Albanians in recent years has not helped the situation.

So far, the above represents an incredibly tiny number of examples and details. Many, many more events haven’t been mentioned, as it is admittedly difficult to keep up with all the different items. For more details and up-to-date information, one web site to check out the UK-based Institute of Race Relations and their subsection attemping to document the rising support for the extreme-Right in local and central government in Europe, building on a platform of populist anti-immigrant policies.