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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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#MeToo and Relationships NewsEla Text Set

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#MeToo and Relationships NewsEla Text Set

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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The following information on sex trafficking cases is based solely on information learned through the substantive, US-based signals -- phone calls, emails, and online tip reports -- received by the National Human Trafficking Hotline as of December 31, 2019.

Total Victims - Moderate: 33,087

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Cases categorized as "High" contain a high level of indicators of human trafficking. Cases coded as "Moderate" contain several indicators of human trafficking, or resemble common trafficking scenarios but lack core details of force, fraud, or coercion.

Total Victims - High: 45,952

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Sex trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which individuals perform commercial sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.

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Discrimination | Autism Research Institute

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The Autism Research Institute urges and promotes awareness, education and sensitivity on the part of governmental agencies, elected officials, corporations and businesses, the media, school boards and community organizations. Individuals with autism can never fulfill their maximum potential if they are excluded and ignored.

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Discrimination against autistic persons, the rule rather than the exception | Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia

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Two United Nations human rights experts today called for an end to discrimination against autistic persons and a celebration of diversity. Speaking ahead of World Autism Awareness Day, the Special Rapporteurs on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina Devandas Aguilar, and on the right to health, Dainius Pūras, noted that about one per cent of the world's population -some 70 million people- is estimated to be on the autism spectrum worldwide.

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The sheer size and diversity of species in the Amazon will insure that the WWF will continue to keep it as one of our top priorities for years to come.

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Abstract

Keywords: Mental health, Models, Implementation, East Africa, Uganda

Background

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 'mental health is a state of well-being in which every individual is able to realize his/her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and make a contribution to his/her family and community'.[ 1] Mental disorder is defined by psychiatric experts as a 'clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome with sufficient personality, mind and/or emotional disorganization that seriously impairs individual and social function with an increased risk of suffering, death, pain, disability or loss of freedom'.[ 2] Despite these clear definitions, the mental health field has been embroiled in long-term disagreement pertaining to the exact causes of many mental disorders with some experts believing that dysfunction is biological (genetic, chemical imbalance in the brain), others to life events and still others to a combination of these factors. These differing views have led to a plethora of treatments that includes many forms of psychotherapy, the use of pharmaceuticals and brain stimulation techniques (see Figures. , ).[ 3, 4]

Ongoing disagreements pertaining to causation, classification and treatments of mental disorders are compounded by a diverse range of mental health practitioners who exercise their own brand of diagnosing and treatment in clinics, hospitals, community groups and private practice. While psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, family doctors, social workers and lay counsellors all perform various types of therapy it is generally only the psychiatrist, family doctor and in some cases, psychiatric nurse who can prescribe medications although this is not clear cut since in some instances psychologists can also prescribe (). Whatever the profession and range of practice, there are serious questions pertaining to empirical evidence of treatment success which is usually defined from the practitioner's point of view

Brain Chemical Imbalance Theory

The most heated controversy within the mental health field centers on the cause of mental disorder. Despite decades of research to prove the chemical imbalance theory a declining number of researchers still endorse it as the causal factor in mental disorder to be treated with pharmaceuticals that target brain chemicals. However, an increasing number of scientists believe that the brain chemical imbalance theory has evolved into a myth that simply helps drug companies sell drugs but has little scientific or medicinal substance. This view is corroborated by a growing number of mental health practitioners and researchers who think that the influence of large pharmaceuticals has resulted in excessive diagnoses, mislabelling, stigma and dangerous and debilitating pharmaceutical side effects. [ 5]

Most pharmaceuticals currently prescribed as treatments including anti-psychotics, anti-depressants and sedatives were discovered over fifty years ago but their precise effects are still largely unknown. For example, some anti-depressants act on serotonin but there is no definitive proof that a shortage of serotonin is the cause of depression or any other disorder. Moreover, the practice of using a single drug to treat various forms of depression and psychoses (mild to severe) given the current lack of evidence is almost doomed to fail. Verification of this can be found in a meta-analysis of current research that shows that anti-depressant drugs fared minimally better than placebos in clinical trials. Anti-psychotic drugs have been responsible for closing many mental health facilities through control of hallucinations and delusions however social withdrawal, muddled thinking, lethargy and other debilitating side effects have been the result. Hence an increasing number of pharmaceutical manufacturers have noted the lack of treatment success and consequently are rejecting chemical imbalance as an ongoing fruitful endeavour, a view that has resulted in budget cuts, with declining clinical trials and research. [ 6] Currently, there are other targets emerging in the quest to understand and treat mental disorders. For example, neuro plasticity or the brain's ability to grow new connections has become a keen focus of research interest in the quest to understand and treat mental disorders.

Diagnostic Criteria

Many mental health practitioners and members of the public increasingly consider the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) as deeply flawed and dangerous primarily because the number of diagnostic criteria has steadily grown to include what were previously considered to be normal behaviors. This has frequently resulted in inappropriate labeling and treatments with powerful medications and side effects that can be worse than the disorder. Papers that report on the effects of pharmaceuticals prescribed for mental disorders often describe 'modestly superior' efficacy which begs the question as to what definitively does or does not work.[ 7] Furthermore information in previous versions up to the current DSM V cannot be defined as scientific or medical since research has repeatedly indicated its' validity and reliability as questionable. A case in point refers to maladies that are context specific and can be treated without pharmaceutical intervention including social problems such as poverty, literacy and anxieties (shyness, grief, depression, spirited children).[ 8, 9] Notwithstanding these serious drawbacks, the information in the DSM is still regarded by most practitioners as the final word on who is normal/abnormal, sane/insane and who can be hospitalized and medicated against his/her will. A different classification of mental health diagnoses is the WHO's International Classification of Disease and Related Health Problems (ICD) (the most recent version is the ICD-11). Although serious problems have been widely acknowledged with both the ICD and DSM, the WHO's diagnostic system is global, multilingual and multidisciplinary and there are different classifications for clinical use, research and primary care.[ 10]

Self-Limiting Mental Disorders?

Negative life experiences can carry an increased risk of suffering a related mental disorder for some individuals but there are studies that have shown that strength of support (family, community) can mitigate effects and that the majority of people possess enough resiliency to be able to effectively cope.[ 11, 12] There are no sure answers to the duality of resilience versus vulnerability but some possible determinants pertain to beliefs, attitudes, coping strategies, behaviors, psychosocial cohesion. While more research is needed in this area, there are implications for treatment and a need for re-think pertaining to the assumption that all disorder requires treatment without first assessing for coping, resiliency and other existing strengths.[ 13] A preferred approach for those individuals who are coping might be to indicate where assistance can be obtained if problems with managing daily function should arise in the future.

Implementing Western Mental Health Practice in Developing Countries

There is a concerted effort by global health aid agencies to encourage and support national governments to move toward strengthening sustainable cost effective comprehensive integrated health care systems that includes full equity through universal coverage with strategies to strengthen the system through credible evidence and research.[ 14] This approach is experiencing varying degrees of success mainly due to a persistent lack of skilled human resources compounded by governance issues as most developing countries struggle with the extreme challenge of finding and retaining trained personnel for those health fields based on known cause, effect and treatments (infectious diseases, nutrition, HIV/AIDs etc.). Given that the Western approach emanates from a different cultural base, is largely biomedical with little emphasis on prevention and promotion, is dominated by conflicting opinions, debates, diagnoses, treatments and uncertain science makes it difficult if not impossible to implement an effective and sustainable program in developing countries that is based on the Western model.[ 15]

Mental Health System in Uganda

According to Uganda's Health Services Strategic Plan (HSSP), the main challenges in the mental health system include access, a weak referral system (curative, preventive/promotive), skilled staff shortages and stock-outs of pharmaceuticals. In addition, there is need to extensively strengthen supervision, monitoring and evaluation of existing programs in order to produce timely and useful information pertaining to effectiveness. [ 16]

The Uganda Ministry of Health (MoH) mandates that there be at least one encoded psychiatric nurse with a 2-year certificate at the outpatient village level and that services at the health centres employ clinical and medical officers however there are many vacancies at both levels. Services at the regional referral hospitals include psychiatric units staffed by psychiatric Clinical Officers (Diploma prepared personnel) while two National referral mental health hospitals staffed by psychiatrists and psychologists offer all mental health services. Private international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and health facilities that offer mental health services are expensive, are in urban areas and tend to focus on HIV/AIDs thereby limiting access for the majority of individuals requiring assistance.

There is recognition by the Ugandan Government that mental health poses serious public health and development concerns and attempts have and are being made to strengthen the system with some successes pertaining to community awareness, assertive outreach post discharge and increased referral to regional rather than national hospitals. However, an assessment of the mental health policy, legislation, service resources and utilization carried out by the WHO concluded that legislation was outdated and there were major shortcomings in service delivery.[ 17] In response, the HSSP III focus is on improved efficiency of mental health service delivery through sector strategies and reforms that will combat the identified challenges faced including access, resources, capacity and accountability.

Access and Capacity

The word appropriate emanates from the Latin 'appropriare' - 'to make suitable to time, person and place.'[ 18] In order to provide appropriate mental health services there has to be an understanding of biology, physiology, psychiatry, psychology and social issues. Ideally, this knowledge would be available through a team consisting of professionals who have acquired the educational and clinical credentials essential to meet the standards of their respective profession (psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers). Hence, an access to mental health services can be defined as the opportunity and ability to physically obtain and utilize services through interaction with suitable care givers. Capacity denotes the number of professionals who possess the ability, aptitude, competence, and productivity to provide services.

In Uganda, nearly a third of the population live more than five kilometers (3.1 miles) from the nearest health facility, public transportation is limited and if available is unaffordable to most people requiring it. Moreover, mental health services have not yet been fully integrated into the primary health care package so mental health professionals often cannot be found at clinics and appropriate mental health pharmaceuticals are frequently absent. The lack of sufficient qualified mental health personnel has led to task shifting as a solution to meet existing needs i.e., tasks are performed by non-specialist cadres of workers with little or no formal training in mental health including nurses, social workers, community health workers and lay personnel. Findings from studies pertaining to task shifting are mixed. Some studies have concluded that non-specialist health workers are able to alleviate some mental health problems such as depression/anxiety, dementia, maternal depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse.[ 19, 20] However, other studies that examined interventions carried out by non-specialist health workers concluded that more evidence pertaining to the effectiveness of treatment was needed.[ 21]

The belief that these workers may provide better care than highly trained professionals due to a common cultural, linguistic and social orientation between the care giver and the recipient may be valid. However, it is important to note that there are 43 different languages/dialects spoken in Uganda and even when interpreters communicate in a similar language and possess similar social backgrounds, there may be significant differences in dialect, values and beliefs. It is frequently difficult for individuals to directly share experiences with care givers around topics pertaining to sex, violence and situations of shame even when linguistic and cultural diversity are bridged. When this information can only be shared through an interpreter or an individual with compromised linguistic skills or different orientations then patient censure or interpretive error will almost certainly occur and a first strike will be made against a successful outcome.[22-24]

A South African study found seriously compromised effective care with adverse outcomes when translators possessed little, if any, knowledge or understanding of psychiatric terminology pertaining to clinical concepts. The structural differences in language/dialects, and local idioms combined with culture-bound values, beliefs, and non-verbal characteristics including head nodding, facial and hand movements, speech impairments, thought disorders, and translation of emotionally loaded nuances can lead to inaccurate assessments, treatments and ultimate outcomes.[ 25] In sum, patient vulnerability is increased when mental disorder and communication are compromised, a particularly serious problem when this skill is the principal diagnostic and therapeutic treatment tool. The presence of international aid workers with little or no grasp of the language, history and culture can easily result in the creation of two solitudes and inadvertently but seriously impair treatment success.[ 26]

Governance and Accountability

The Ugandan Government has identified resources that are needed to increase mental health services in Regional Referrals Hospitals and pharmaceuticals in Health Clinics. However, the World Bank reported governance issues that affect the management of development assistance in Uganda specifically that despite rampant absenteeism, spending was largely on salaries. This practice resulted in a loss of financial resources and negatively impacted the basic inputs to provide services. In addition, policies to develop, monitor and evaluate programs largely remain hypothetical and have yet to be translated into practice. Compounding these challenges is Uganda's resentment related to perceived partner attempts to lead and dictate the responsibilities of the MoH, further threatening planned improvements to services which have further threatened solutions to improvement of services. [ 27]

Gender and Mental Health in Uganda

Surveys in Uganda have documented high rates of gender-based violence in that it has been reported that more than 80% of female clients receiving trauma focused treatments reported at least one sexual assault during their lifetime. In Northern Uganda, in particular, there are many women and children who are survivors of abduction and sexual domestic violence that has resulted in substance abuse and poverty. For example, a recent study to explore mental disorder and its association with sexual risk behaviors and HIV found that more women than men experienced higher rates of depression, psychological distress, alcohol abuse all associated with increased sexual risk behaviors, rape and violence by partners and non-partners. [ 28] Other findings have indicated that more women in the general population experienced severe mental disorders combined with HIV and admission to hospital. Although these discoveries lend credence to a correlation between trauma and behavior, the lack of crucial information pertaining to whether the disorder preceded or resulted from the traumatic event is crucial in order to reach a thorough understanding and to treat appropriately. [ 29]

If the risk for mental disorder is gender based, then the differences could be attributed to the hardships that women in Uganda face including poverty, less education, abuse, forced marriages, sex trafficking, fewer job opportunities and for some, restriction in activities outside of the home. However, establishing relationships between these co-morbidities, poverty and mental disorders are inconclusive. Despite pointing to a possible association between common mental disorders and economic deprivation, most women living in poverty do not develop mental illness but simply are at greater risk. Systematic, small-area longitudinal studies in levels of absolute and relative poverty are needed to establish the prevalence and causal associations of disorders. Such studies may help identify the specific factors that are associated with the risk of disorder and resiliency factors that help reduce the risk in persons who face severe economic or social adversity. Whatever the cause(s) of higher female mental dysfunction there is little doubt that the related stigma and shame profoundly disrupts the family and the effects on children place them at risk to develop emotional and behavioral problems. Thus, it has been suggested that the co-morbidities and vulnerability of women need to be addressed through tailored community based programmes which would include social protection and reduce stigmatization.[ 9]

Lack of Evidence

There is a conspicuous lack of published literature evaluating the implementation of community mental health care in low income sub-African countries.

Systems for monitoring and evaluation in Uganda do exist but are challenged primarily by inadequate transport, shortage of skilled human resources, uncoordinated priority setting, lack of a research agenda, and insufficient feedback to the districts.[ 16]

Despite a great deal of research carried out by several aid agencies with diverse affiliations and foci over the years, it is unfortunate that attempts to improve services for mental disorders have been ineffective due to questionable methodologies, lack of reliable data as well as ideologies and treatments "imported" from another culture. For example, the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview' (CIDI) was hampered by lack of comparability in that risk factors, consequences, patterns and correlates of treatment were not included. Furthermore, a large scale cross-national survey focused on prevalence and not severity; in addition, there was a lack of standardized treatment questions.[ 12] A recent study carried out by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) found that research was often outsourced and by ignoring information from staff working 'on the ground' was too diffuse and not evidence or priority based.[ 30] Moreover, staff lacked practical experience in the application of findings that were 'cherry picked' in order to justify decisions about programming to superiors.

Rather than large scale surveys, collecting data that is focussed, accurate, reliable and recent from small, localized studies in order to capture conditions pertaining to cultural content (socioeconomic status, gender, nutrition, literacy, beliefs, treatments, adult, adolescent and child health) is crucial to understanding mental disorders (who, what, where, when and how). Contextual narratives triangulated with quantitative data would elicit appropriate community perceptions, attitudes and behaviours pertaining to mental health not possible with large scale surveys alone. This baseline information can then be monitored longitudinally to reveal unique variables and causal connections on which to draft health policy pertaining to the implementation of appropriate and sustainable programs. Without this information it is difficult to understand the needs of those experiencing mental disorders or put into place effective policy and cost effective budgets. Nonetheless, researchers must be mindful that anecdotal information and sub-standard monitoring and evaluation can sabotage meaningful interpretation, scientific rigor and development projects resulting in costly ineffective planning, implementation and outcomes.[ 31]

Discussion

Western mental health theory and practice still suffer from much disagreement and conflicting opinions among a diverse range of practitioners pertaining to causes, treatments, and lack of empirical evidence of treatment success. Some information in the DSM are scientifically questionable since they failed to consider context specific and self-limiting behaviors which are related to a social setting and may not require pharmaceutical intervention. Frequent contradictory diagnoses lead to labelling, stigma and serious pharmaceutical side effects. There continues to be ongoing debates about the cultural appropriateness of imposing western ideas with a heavy emphasis on illness and harmful diagnoses and little attention paid to cultural strengths and resilience in assessment, treatment and training of local people. Exporting this model to Uganda with expatriate mentors who lack awareness relevant to local practices, inadequate language skills, and an understanding of the collective spirit and support within communities are areas in which the West still has much to learn. If expatriate mental health practitioners are to partner with Ugandans then there is a need to become culturally literate and embrace cultural humility, discard ideas of superiority that indicate that the Western way is the only way, ensure that assessment is based on needs identified by communities, recognize existing strengths and be humble enough to listen to and accept negative feedback.[ 32]

There is little doubt that Uganda still faces formidable challenges in the development of an effective and sustainable mental health system, foremost of which is the lack of accessible and qualified practitioners. Task shifting is not a new concept in Uganda and is being carried out within the existing regulatory framework on a continuum from Type I - Type IV and which does include mental health. However, steps to scale-up and strengthen this system are needed and are outlined in recent studies with specific recommendations.[ 33]

The percentage of nurses in Uganda who are graduates in mental health and work in mental health hospitals far outstrips any other profession (WHO-AIMS Report, , ). The educational preparation of nurses is an integrated mix of cradle to grave biology, psychology, sociology, pharmacology, curative and public health. Equipped with an understanding of holistic health, nurses can comprehend the important differences between behavioral mental disorders due to difficult life situations and neurological/organic conditions such as epilepsy, HIV/AIDs, dementia etc. Moreover, nurses as nationals are familiar with the culture and dialects in the country and until adequate teams of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers can be recruited task shifting at all levels could be carried out by nurses with other team members available for consultation as needed.[34-36]

WHO-AIMS (ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT FOR MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEMS)

There is a crucial lack of a reliable evidence base on which appropriate country action plans can be based. The impetus to scale up mental health services across Uganda has yet to manifest through published evaluation studies that establish effectiveness of services. However, an opportunity exists to build on experience and establish an evidence base to reveal unique country needs that can be successfully adapted and implemented. Uganda can choose to follow the Western model which emanates from a different cultural base or establish a model based on needs uncovered in small baseline country surveys that will take into account the distinctive cultures, values, gender, and social issues. The establishment of clear definitions to define and identify vulnerability and resiliency in mental disorder will lead to a fuller understanding of the effects of prior life events and result in more appropriate diagnoses and treatment. Behaviors of those who have experienced negative life situations such as poverty, loss, neglect, conflict, individual/family function, abuse and gender related issues must be differentiated from those with neurological/physiological conditions. Moreover, a move away from a purely medical model and toward health promotion and recovery is an important first step that will result in more efficient mental health systems with better services, care and improved outcomes and care to individuals and communities.

Acknowledgement:

The author gratefully acknowledges Gabriele Marini, Psychotherapist and Project Director of The Center for Victims of Torture/Uganda, for generously sharing his knowledge, experience and perspectives pertaining to the current mental health system in Uganda.

Footnotes

Funding Support: None

Financial Disclosure: None

Conflict of Interest: None

References

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Mental Health in Developing Countries: Challenges and Opportunities in Introducing Western Mental Health System in Uganda

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Keywords: Mental health, Models, Implementation, East Africa, Uganda According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 'mental health is a state of well-being in which every individual is able to realize his/her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and make a contribution to his/her family

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Millions with mental disorders deprived of treatment and care

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WHO is now calling on governments, donors and mental health stakeholders to rapidly increase funding and basic mental health services to close this huge treatment gap.

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Are you concerned about your fellow human beings overseas?

Do you find yourself thinking often of the struggles they must be facing without regular access to clean drinking water?

Do you often question what could cause such a serious crisis to happen in the first place?

If you're looking for information to help you better understand the water crisis in Africa, there's plenty here to get you started. In this article, you'll find out about just how bad the water problem in Africa really is and how few major sources of clean water there are across the continent.

You'll learn about the reasons why clean drinking water is so hard to come by in every African country, and you'll find out what's being done to try to solve this major problem. In the end of the article, you'll even be introduced to a few options you can try if you're looking for ways to get involved.

It's human nature to care about the suffering of others, and it's a good idea to educate yourself on such serious problems, too. Read on to learn more about the African water crisis.

10 Reasons People Cannot Access Clean Water in Africa

It's time to find out just what leads to this terrible situation. In this section, you'll learn the top ten reasons why people in Africa are unable to regularly access clean drinking water. Some of this information might surprise you, and some of it might seem all too familiar. However, remember that these issues have been going on for a very long time, and as of yet, they don't seem to be improving too significantly.

1. Africa is an arid continent. First and foremost, the weather and atmospheric conditions of this part of the world don't lend themselves too well to regular supplies of fresh water.

If this was the only problem, it wouldn't be completely impossible to figure out a way to provide the people of Africa with clean water. However, it's really only the framework for many more significant issues.

2. Many of the bodies of fresh water on the continent are controlled by more than one government.

3. All of the freshwater bodies in Africa are polluted or contaminated at least to some extent.

While you can certainly argue that some contamination is present in almost every natural body of water, the problem is that there are also no treatment facilities available to help improve the quality of this water. It is polluted or contaminated and it remains that way until it's ingested or otherwise used by humans.

4. The largest populations don't live anywhere near the Congo River basin, where most of the available fresh water is located.

5. It's very expensive and next to impossible to construct an infrastructure to bring fresh water from different regions to the people who need it the most.

In developed countries, this wouldn't be such a daunting task, but there just isn't enough money in most African governments to even start such a costly endeavor. Therefore, the water remains in places where it isn't as needed, and people elsewhere continue to go without.

6. Most of the population rely on surface water instead of groundwater for everything they do.

7. There is a lack of education about the reality of water quality throughout the continent.

Many people believe that any water that comes out of the ground, such as through a well, is safe to drink. It's crucial that more education is provided so people across Africa understand how to tell when water is safe and when it should be avoided.

8. Women are often expected to bring water back for their whole families every day.

A full jerry can of water usually weighs around 40 pounds, and some women make this trip more than once a day. Because of this, most women are uneducated and never hold down a job. This, in turn, leads to a worse economy because fewer people are working regularly. Young girls often drop out of school when they reach puberty because of a lack of sanitation and toilets, and they soon are trained as the new water carriers for the family.

9. The water table across the continent is receding every year.

As more strain is put on surface water sources, the water table continues to dwindle. Pretty soon, even more of Africa's countries will be desperately in need of fresh water that just isn't there anymore. This is also a problem that's facing the whole world.

10. The agricultural sector makes use of most of the freshwater sources in Africa.

While this is true of most places around the world, it still hinders drinking water access in most African countries.

​How Bad is Africa's Water Problem?

It's one thing to say there's no water in Africa, but it's another thing entirely to see the numbers and statistics that prove it. Before you dive into learning about the reasons behind the crisis going on with Africa's water supply, take a moment to familiarize yourself with just how serious this problem really is. You might be shocked at some of the information you discover and some of the facts you read as you study more about just what's going on in this critical situation.

Around the world, 783 million people live every day without regular, dedicated access to improved water sources. Improved water in this situation means safe, clean drinking water that has been at least minimally treated to remove contaminants and pollutants. It doesn't necessarily mean purified water.

Of these people, 319 million of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is the area of greatest concern on the continent. This part of Africa hosts the most critical rural communities that desperately need access to clean drinking water.

102 million people living in Sub-Saharan Africa rely solely on surface water to supply all the water they use for drinking, cooking, washing, and living. They have no way to access groundwater.

80% of the illnesses in developing countries around the world can be traced back to waterborne illnesses or a lack of improved sanitation conditions as a result of the inability to access regular clean water. Cholera is one of the most common of these illnesses in Africa, with typhoid, Dengue fever, and hepatitis on the list as well.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 695 million people live every day without access to improved sanitation. This means there's no way for them to remove human and animal waste from their communities or from their water sources, and there's nowhere for them to throw garbage and solid wastes. Many people don't even have access to soap with which to wash their hands.

There are very few toilets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Only around one in three people have regular access to toilets, with the rest having to urinate and defecate in out of the way places on the ground.

Around the world, agriculture is the primary means of survival for 84% of people living without access to improved water conditions. This is equally true across Africa, where agriculture puts a huge strain on the water supply while simultaneously causing it to be even more polluted than it ordinarily would be.

In infants and children under the age of five, one in five deaths worldwide can be traced back to diarrhea or dehydration as a result of a waterborne illness. The elderly are also more seriously affected by these types of illnesses.

As you can see, there are many troubling facts and figures to think about when it comes to the water situation in Africa. If you're interested in learning more about what causes this problem, what might be done to change it on a worldwide scale, and what you can do to help improve the situation, read on.

Major Sources of Clean Water in Africa

You might be under the assumption that there's no clean water in Africa, but that's not exactly true. Clean water exists in places across the continent, but those places are just a few and far between. It's unlikely to come across a clean natural body of water, and if you do, chances are good it's on the verge of being depleted completely. However, if you're wondering how clean water can exist at all in such harsh conditions, this section can tell you more.

Piped water - Although this is not too common across Africa, it's still one of the only ways in which clean water can be made available to individual homes, yards, or buildings. There aren't a lot of places in Africa where this type of water is present, however. This is an expensive method of supplying drinking water to the public, and unfortunately, most of the African governments simply can't afford the type of piped water we all take for granted every day.

Public tap - It's a little bit more common to find a protected public tap in an area with a large population. These taps are available for anyone to use at any time, and they are treated at least minimally to protect from contamination, especially of the bacterial nature. When organizations work to provide sustainable clean drinking water to African communities, this is often the type they build.

P rotected springs - It's not too common to come across a protected spring, but every now and then, a community where a spring is located works to clean it up and keep it clean. This is still a surface water source, so it's not as ideal as using other types of water to supply the population. Even so, it's much better than a seriously contaminated or even polluted source of surface water, which is often the only alternative.

Protected groundwater wells - This is another type of clean water that is often provided by nonprofit organizations working to bring better water conditions to the people of Africa. It doesn't cost much to build a protected groundwater well, but it's often much more than communities and even whole countries in Africa can afford. When one is built, it's protected and kept as clean as possible, even in places where regular filtration isn't always an option.

Collected rainwater - There are many reasons why collected rainwater isn't the best alternative, but in some parts of Africa, it's the only choice available to anyone looking for a cleaner source of drinking water. When it rains, water is collected in cans or even in cisterns. As long as it's used pretty quickly, it's usually safe enough. However, if it's left for too long, it can attract mosquitos that lay their eggs in it, and this, in turn, can spread Dengue fever.

Some bottled water - Not all bottled water available to the people of Africa is safe for human consumption. Some of it is safe enough for regular daily chores, and the quality of bottled water should only be judged on a case by case basis.

It's pretty clear that the sources of clean drinking water throughout Africa are few and far between. There are no large bodies of water that are clean enough to provide drinking water without any means of treatment. Unfortunately, the treatment options available are often too expensive to do any good.

Areas Most Affected by a Lack of Clean Water

Clean water is hard to come by anywhere in Africa, although there are some nonprofit groups working to rectify this problem. For the time being, however, there are several areas where the lack of clean water in Africa is felt even more strongly than in others. Each part of the continent seems to face its own challenges associated with the drinking water crisis, and the situation is far from ideal for anyone.

There are other areas that feel the strain of the water crisis in Africa, and it's safe to assume that everyone and everywhere is affected by it in some way. For example, the medical field has seen very few technological advancements largely due to a lack of clean water, indoor plumbing, and even hand soap in the vicinity of most hospitals.

How is the Problem Being Addressed?

There are several different groups and government bodies working to solve the shortage of water in Africa. Although there's no perfect answer, and a long-term solution seems like it could be miles away still, this isn't a problem that's just flying under the radar. People around the world care about Africa's water crisis, and there are a few different ways in which this problem is slowly but surely being addressed. Below are some of the most effective.

World Water Week - This is a week designed with the African water crisis in mind. Although the event doesn't only focus on Africa, it takes center stage more often than not as an area of increased risk and greatest concern. During this week, which is held one or two times a year depending on need, world leaders from countries across the globe come together to try to solve water-related issues that affect a number of different locations. They brainstorm plans and enact new procedures that are intended to improve the quality of water around the world.

United Nations water recognition - In 2010, the United Nations officially recognized water as a basic human right. Although to some people it seems impossible to fathom that it would take that long for the UN to come to this conclusion, there were a lot of complicated politics involved in the statement. Basically, this recognition means that individual members of the UN must prioritize the available of fresh, clean drinking water above anything else other than the other basic human rights. This provision also included the right to simple improved sanitation conditions. Since this change, countries have been working harder than ever to try to improve the drinking water situation in Africa.

Charities - Nonprofit organizations and charities spend a lot of time, money, and energy focusing on Africa's water crisis. These groups take it upon themselves to provide clean, fresh drinking water to the people who need it most. Many times, they travel to Africa to dig groundwater wells. They might also help the residents of rural communities install biofilters that can be used to clean up the surface water they're already using. Each individual location is examined on a case-by-case basis to determine its specific needs. There are plenty of great charities out there, but unfortunately, there are some shady ones too.

Government donations - Some countries are more well-off than others, and they can afford to send some monetary donations on a large scale to African countries to help improve the water infrastructure and clean up surface water sources. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to see just how the money sent as part of these donations is really being used, and most of the time it just isn't enough to get the continent on its feet in terms of water supply.

With many different plans in the works, it's obvious that governments and organizations from most developed countries understand the need for clean water in Africa. However, there is always more that can be done, and it's important to pay close attention to what your country is doing and the ways in which they could improve their involvement on a large scale.

How Can We Help?

It's all well and good that large groups and people in positions of power are doing something to help-in fact, it's great-but what happens when you want to do something yourself about the lack of drinking water in Africa? No matter what part of the world you hail from, you can find a way to get involved and try to make a difference in this problem. Even if you've never been to Africa and never plan to go, this is an issue that can and should affect you, at least on an emotional level. Don't be afraid to find your niche and start helping as best as you can.

D onate money - This is perhaps the most obvious method of helping charities and nonprofits work to provide clean drinking water to the people of Africa. Many individuals and companies donate to water charities on a regular basis, with the majority of those donations coming in around the holiday season.If you have the funds to spare, consider sending a one-time donation or setting up a recurring payment to a legitimate, well-trusted organization. Be sure to do your research ahead of time, however, since some of these groups might not be the type you want to give your money to for a variety of different reasons.

Donate skills - If you can't afford to donate money, you might be able to help out environmental groups with your skills. For example, if there's a charity based in your city that focuses on the African water crisis, get in touch with them and ask if they need help with anything at their base of operations. They might need someone to answer telephones, keep up with website maintenance, or even tidy up their offices. You never know what skill you might have that one of these groups could really use.

Donate time - Are you the kind of person who likes to volunteer and get your hands dirty? If you are, and if you don't have a lot of commitments that keep you from traveling for a lengthy period of time, you might want to consider volunteering with a legitimate water charity or nonprofit group and going overseas to actually help build the wells yourself. This can be a potentially dangerous endeavor, but it can also be a life-changing experience that you'll never forget. It's not for everyone, however.

Contact your government - If you feel like your local or national government could be doing something more to assist the people of Africa, there's no harm in contacting them to let them know. A letter or phone call on its own might not make much difference, but the more you reach out, the more your voice will be heard. You might even put together a petition to get some real attention.

Spread the word - If all else fails, spread the word. Print out some flyers for a good organization you've uncovered in your research and hand them out to your friends and family. Leave them on bulletin boards around town while you're at it. The more you reach out to spread the word about the water situation in Africa, the more likely it is you'll find someone who can potentially donate a lot of much-needed money or manpower.

Finding a way to pitch in can make you feel good about yourself and help others have access to cleaner, safer drinking water too. This is a win-win situation, and it pays to reach out and try to make a difference for your fellow human beings. Remember that money isn't the only way you can help, and even if you're strapped for cash, you can find other ways to help make a difference half a world away.

Conclusion

When you live in a developed country, it's hard to imagine what life might be like in a place where something as simple as water is largely unavailable to you. It might seem like something you'd only read about in fiction novels, but the reality is that all of the countries in Africa face this problem to some extent on a daily basis. While there are plenty of plans and programs in the works to try to improve this situation, things aren't changing very quickly.There's no way to tell how long it will take before the people of Africa are able to live their lives without having to wonder where their next drink of water might come from or if it might make them deathly sick.

If this strikes a chord with you, you're not the only one. Many people in developed countries find ways to help every year. Whether or not you have money to spare to donate to charities, there is something you can do to help make a difference. Don't be afraid to get a little outside your comfort zone and find the right option for you. Every time you do even the smallest of actions to help the people of Africa, the water situation improves by that much. Think how much better it could be if more people decided to try to make a difference!

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Lack of Clean Water in Africa: 10 Reasons Behind the Water Crisis

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0 shares Share0 Share +10 Tweet0 Pin0 Are you concerned about your fellow human beings overseas?Do you find yourself thinking often of the struggles they must be facing without regular access to clean drinking water?Do you often question what could cause such a serious crisis to happen in the first place?If you're looking for information ...

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What Is Deforestation?

Deforestation is the clearing, destroying, or otherwise removal of trees through deliberate, natural, or accidental means. It can occur in any area densely populated by trees and other plant life, but the majority of it is currently happening in the Amazon rainforest.

The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for Indigenous people.

Deforestation occurs for a number of reasons. The most common reason is agriculture, with 80% of deforestation resulting from extensive cattle ranching,and logging for materials and development. It has been happening for thousands of years, arguably since people began converting from hunter/gatherer to agricultural based societies, and required larger, unobstructed tracks of land to accommodate cattle, crops, and housing. However, after the onset of the modern era, it became an epidemic.

Effects of Deforestation on the Environment

Loss of Habitat

One of the most dangerous and unsettling effects of deforestation is the loss of animal and plant species due to their loss of habitat. 70% of land animals and plant species live in forests. Not only does deforestation threaten species known to us, but also those unknown.

The trees of the rainforest that provide shelter for some species also provide the canopy that regulates the temperature. Deforestation results in a more drastic temperature variation from day to night, much like a desert, which could prove fatal for many inhabitants.

Increased Greenhouse Gases

In addition to the loss of habitat, the lack of trees also allows a greater amount of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. Healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, acting as valuable carbon sinks. Deforested areas lose that ability and release more carbon.

Water in the Atmosphere

Trees also help to control the level of water in the atmosphere by helping to regulate the water cycle.

One of the most important forests for regulating water cycles across the planet is the Amazon rainforest. Its millions of trees work together to release moisture into the air, creating atmospheric "rivers" that regulate Earth's weather patterns.

In deforested areas, there is less water in the air to be returned to the soil. This then causes dryer soil and the inability to grow crops.

Soil Erosion and Flooding

Further effects of deforestation include soil erosion and coastal flooding. Trees help the land to retain water and topsoil, which provides the rich nutrients to sustain additional forest life.

Without forests, the soil erodes and washes away, causing farmers to move on and perpetuate the cycle. The barren land which is left behind in the wake of these unsustainable agricultural practices is then more susceptible to flooding, specifically in coastal regions.

Effects of Deforestation on Indigenous People

As large amounts of forests are cleared away, allowing exposed land to deteriorate and the habitats of innumerable species to be destroyed, the Indigenous communities who live there and depend on the forest to sustain their way of life are also under threat.

The loss of forests has an immediate and direct effect on their lifestyle. Many Indigenous communities depend on what the forest has to offer for food, medicine, building materials, and cultural resources. Because many of these communities are located in remote areas in dense forests, the loss of these resources poses many challenges to their health and wellbeing.

Deforestation has human rights implications, particularly for the many Indigenous groups who are frontline communities.

Often, frontline communities have little say in how their local environment is altered by governments and corporations. At the same time, these communities face the most immediate and threatening impacts of environmental degradation and climate change.

The governments of nations with rainforests within their borders often attempt to evict Indigenous tribes before the deforestation begins. This undermines the sovereignty of these Indigenous groups, especially when governments fail to seek their consultation and consent before starting any projects.

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Deforestation is the process of permanently removing standing forests, which occurs for a variety of reasons and has many devastating effects.

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Poor health is closely associated with homelessness. For families struggling to pay the rent, a serious illness or disability can start a downward spiral into homelessness, beginning with a lost job, depletion of savings to pay for care, and eventual eviction.

PREVALENCE

The 2007 United States Census Bureau calculated that 45.7 million Americans (15.3% of the population) do not have health insurance. In 2007, 26.8 million people (18.1%) who worked part-time or full-time during the previous year were uninsured, including 21.1 million full-time workers. Whether or not Americans have health insurance is very closely tied to their incomes. Only 7.8% of people who have a yearly salary of $75,000 or higher are uninsured, compared to 24.5% of people with salaries under $25,000. In 2007, Medicaid covered 39.6 million people, which fortunately is an increase since 2006 (United States Census Bureau, 2007). However, Medicaid has numerous eligibility requirements, and many people do not qualify even if they live below the poverty line.
Of the 45.7 million uninsured Americans, 34.6 million identify as part of a family. There are 8.1 million children (11.0%) in the United States without health insurance. An estimated 10.5% of American children under the age of six do not have health insurance. This proportion is much higher for impoverished children: 17.6% of children below the poverty line lack health insurance (United States Census Bureau, 2007).

RELATIONSHIP TO HOMELESSNESS
Homelessness and health care are intimately interwoven. Poor health is both a cause and a result of homelessness. The National Health Care for the Homeless Council (2008) estimates that 70% of Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) clients do not have health insurance. Moreover, approximately 14% of people treated by homeless health care programs are children under the age of 15 (National Health Care for the Homeless Council, 2008).

Inadequate health insurance is itself a cause for homelessness. Many people without health insurance have low incomes and do not have the resources to pay for health services on their own. A serious injury or illness in the family could result in insurmountable expenses for hospitalizations, tests, and treatment. For many, this forces a choice between hospital bills or rent. According to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (2008), half of all personal bankruptcies in the United States are caused by health problems.

Health care is even more of a problem for people who are already homeless. Homeless people are three to six times more likely to become ill than housed people (National Health Care for the Homeless Council, 2008). Homelessness precludes good nutrition, good personal hygiene, and basic first aid, adding to the complex health needs of homeless people. Additionally, conditions which require regular, uninterrupted treatment, such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, are extremely difficult to treat or control among those without adequate housing.

Diseases that are common among the homeless population include heart disease, cancer, liver disease, kidney disease, skin infections, HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, and tuberculosis (O'Connell, 2005). People who live on the streets or spend most of their time outside are at high risk for frostbite, immersion foot, and hypothermia, especially during the winter or rainy periods. Although not many homeless deaths are specifically attributed to exposure-related causes such as frostbite, immersion foot, or hypothermia, the risk of death from other causes is increased eightfold in people who have experienced those conditions in the past (O'Connell, 2005).

Unfortunately, many homeless people who are ill and need treatment do not ever receive medical care. Barriers to health care include lack of knowledge about where to get treated, lack of access to transportation, and lack of identification (Whitbeck, 2009). Psychological barriers also exist, such as embarrassment, nervousness about filling out the forms and answering questions properly, and self-consciousness about appearance and hygiene when living on the streets. The most common obstacle to health care is the cost (Whitbeck, 2009). Without health care, many homeless people simply cannot pay. As a result, many homeless people utilize hospital emergency rooms as their primary source of health care. Not only is this not the most effective form of care for them, since it provides little continuity, it is also very expensive for hospitals and the government.

As a result of these factors, homeless people are three to four times more likely to die than the general population (O'Connell, 2005). This increased risk is especially significant in people between the ages of 18 and 54. Although women normally have higher life expectancies than men, even in impoverished areas, homeless men and women have similar risks of premature mortality. In fact, young homeless women are four to 31 times as likely to die early as housed young women (O'Connell, 2005). The average life expectancy in the homeless population is estimated between 42 and 52 years, compared to 78 years in the general population.

POLICY ISSUES
At present, there is one federally funded program, Health Care for the Homeless (HCH), that is designed specifically to provide primary health care to homeless persons. HCH projects are required to provide primary health care, substance abuse services, emergency care, outreach, and assistance in qualifying for housing. Many HCH projects also provide dental care, mental health treatment, supportive housing, and other services. In 2008, HCH programs were estimated to serve more than 740,000 homeless people per year (National Health Care for the Homeless Council). However, more health care services designed to serve the homeless are clearly needed, since HCH programs do not meet the needs of the majority of homeless Americans. In addition, lack of affordable housing complicates efforts to provide health care to homeless persons. Housing is the first form of treatment for homeless people with medical problems, protecting against illness and making it possible for those who remain ill to recover.

Universal access to affordable, high-quality and comprehensive health care is also essential in the fight to end homelessness. A health insurance system could reduce homelessness and help to prevent future episodes of homelessness, as well as ease the suffering of those on the streets. A universal health system would also reduce the fiscal impact and social cost of communicable diseases and other illnesses.

REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

DeNavas-Walt, C., Proctor, B.D., and Smith, J. United States Census Bureau. "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007." Issued Aug. 2008. p. 60-233. Available at http://www.census.gov.

National Health Care for the Homeless Council. "The Basics of Homelessness." Feb. 2008. Available at http://www.nhchc.org.

National Health Care for the Homeless Council. "Federal Programs to Address Homelessness in the U.S." 2003. Available at www.nhchc.org.

National Health Care for the Homeless Council. "Health Care for the Homeless: Comprehensive Services to Meet Complex Needs." Dec. 2008. Available from http://www.nhchc.org.

National Health Care for the Homeless Council. "Mainstreaming Health Care for Homeless People." Apr. 2005. Available at http://www.nhchc.org.

O'Connell, J., Lozier, J., and Gingles, K. Increased Demand and Decreased Capacity: Challenges to the McKinney Act's Health Care for the Homeless Program, 1997. Available from the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, P.O. Box 68019, Nashville, TN 37206 8019; 615/226-2292.

O'Connell, J.J. "Premature Mortality in Homeless Populations: A Review of the Literature." 19 pages. Nashville: National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Inc., 2005.

Whitbeck, Les B. Mental health and Emerging Adulthood among Homeless Young People. 2009. Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016.

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Poor health is closely associated with homelessness. For families struggling to pay the rent, a serious illness or disability can start a downward spiral into homelessness, beginning with a lost job, depletion of savings to pay for care, and eventual eviction.

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The National Coalition for the Homeless - National Coalition for the Homeless

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The National Coalition for the Homeless is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission: To prevent and end homelessness while ensuring the immediate needs of those experiencing homelessness are met and their civil ...

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How Does Deforestation Affect Animals? | Greentumble

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Deforestation poses a big threat to the animals that live within forests. Learn how does deforestation affect animals and what are possible solutions...

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UCF Research Guides: Poor Laws & Poverty: United States

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UCF Research Guides: Poor Laws & Poverty: United States

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Stop Bullying on the Spot

When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time.

Parents, school staff, and other adults in the community can help kids prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy.

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StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on bullying, cyberbullying, prevention and response.

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An Undergraduate Library Subject Guide providing suggested resources and other information for beginning research on the topic Poverty in America.

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State-By-State Research - 2017 State Snapshots from the National School Climate Survey

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amp;nbsp;&nbsp; State Snapshots use data from&nbsp;GLSEN's&nbsp;2017 National School Climate Survey to examine the school experiences of LGBTQ middle and high school students, including hearing biased

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Start the school year with confidence to create LGBTQ+ and gender inclusive classrooms with the Welcoming Schools 2022-2023 Back-to-School Kit! This year's kit includes two new discussion guides for Gender and SOGIE videos created in partnership with Advocates for Youth.

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Welcoming Schools - Gender and LGBTQ+ Inclusive Schools

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Start the school year with confidence to create LGBTQ+ and gender inclusive classrooms with the Welcoming Schools 2022-2023 Back-to-School Kit! This year's kit includes two new discussion guides for Gender and SOGIE videos created in partnership with Advocates for Youth.

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In this statement, GLSEN's National Student Council condemns police brutality and calls for greater support for Black lives

Read the Statement

Get involved and join your community, local, or state GLSEN chapter

GLSEN Chapters create LGBTQ-inclusive schools. Community-led chapters offer teacher trainings, student support, community outreach, and more.

Recent Research

Research, Reports, and Briefs

Research, Reports, and Briefs

Research, Reports, and Briefs

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In this statement, GLSEN's National Student Council condemns police brutality and calls for greater support for Black lives Read the Statement GLSEN Chapters create LGBTQ-inclusive schools. Community-led chapters offer teacher trainings, student support, community outreach, and more. Research, Reports, and Briefs Research, Reports, and Briefs Research, Reports, and Briefs

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Despite recent progress toward acceptance across America, the LGBT community in the Deep South continues to face significant barriers to equality, as few states offer protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

In each of the Southern states, for example, employers may fire or refuse to hire a person because of their sexual orientation - and no Southern state prohibits discrimination against LGBT people in public accommodations or housing. In addition, LGBT youth often encounter harassment and bullying in school, and the community is frequently victimized by violent hate crime.

We're working in the courts to ensure that LGBT people achieve full equality under the law. Our work has a national reach but is focused primarily on the Southeast, where relatively few organizations advocate for the LGBT community.

In recent years, we've launched groundbreaking cases to:

Challenge gay-to-straight "conversion therapy" as fraudulent;

Obtain equal government benefits for veterans;

Protect LGBT children from violence and harassment in school;

Ensure the parental rights of LGBT people;

Protect the right to proper medical treatment and safe housing for transgender prisoners;

Force states to recognize the rights of same-sex couples; and

Protect the First Amendment rights of LGBT students.

Through our Teaching Tolerance project, we're also reaching out to America's schools to combat bullying and help create nurturing, equitable learning environments where all students feel welcome. For instance, we've distributed more than 50,000 copies of our classroom film Bullied and its teaching kit to educators across the nation.

In addition, our Intelligence Project is monitoring and exposing the activities of anti-LGBT hate groups that disseminate demonizing propaganda and promote a climate of bigotry and violence against the LGBT community.

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Despite recent progress toward acceptance across America, the LGBT community in the Deep South continues to face significant barriers to equality, as few states offer protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

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The Intelligence Project at the SPLC works to expose, prevent, counter and remedy hate and extremism in the U.S. today. The SPLC is the premier U.S. organization monitoring the activities of domestic hate groups and antigovernment hard right extremists - including the Ku Klux Klan, white nationalists, the neo-Nazi movement, antigovernment militias, anti-LGBTQ groups, antisemitic movement, anti-Muslim groups and others.

We track more than 1,300 hard right extremist groups operating across the country. We publish investigative reports and offer expert analysis to lawmakers, the media and public. To push white supremacy out of the mainstream and remedy harms in communities, we spot warning signs and intervene proactively by supporting grassroots partners and building community resilience to extremism.

Our work fighting hate and extremism began in the early 1980s, amid a resurgence of Klan violence that began several years after the end of the civil rights movement. Each year since 1990, we have released an annual report and census of U.S. hate and antigovernment groups. In the mid-1990s, we also began documenting the number of radical,  antigovernment militias  movement organizations.

Over the years, we've crippled or destroyed some of the country's most notorious hate groups - including the United Klans of America, the Aryan Nations and the White Aryan Resistance - by suing them for murders and other violent acts committed by their members or by exposing their activities. We continue to hold hate groups and extremist individuals accountable using a varied set of tools and enhanced technological capacity for data analysis, including a DataLab to apply measurement techniques for studying networks of toxicity, hate speech, racism and extremism in online social spaces.

Hate Map: There are 1,225 hate and antigovernment extremist groups currently operating in the U.S.

Extremist Files: A database on prominent extremist groups and individuals

Jan 6: The Long Path to Insurrection: The Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol was part of a century-old effort by extremists, the Southern Poverty Law Center takes a comprehensive look.

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We monitor hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and expose their activities to the public, the media and law enforcement.

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Many vulnerable children across the Deep South are being denied access to a quality public education and the mental health services they need. At the same time, thousands are being pushed out of the classroom and into the juvenile justice system because of discipline policies that punish them severely for minor misbehavior.

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana all rank at or near the bottom of the country in terms of poverty, education, health care and other indicators of children's well-being.

Children of color and those with disabilities or mental health conditions are the ones who are harmed the most by these failures - particularly as states slash funding for education and social services."

We must do better.

That's why we're working across the region - using litigation, grassroots organizing and advocacy - to ensure that every child has an equal opportunity. Currently, we're focusing on three priorities:

Stopping the "school-to-prison pipeline"
We're working to eliminate exclusionary policies - unnecessary suspensions, expulsions and school-based arrests of children - that cut short a child's education and increase the likelihood of incarceration.

Ensuring equal access to education
We're working to ensure educational equity for children in poverty and those with disabilities - particularly as states transform the educational landscape by allowing charter schools and by shifting public resources to private schools.

Ensuring access to mental health service
We're working to improve access to effective, community-based mental health services and to reduce the overreliance on institutionalized care that warehouses children without providing the services they need.

We've had many successes in recent years. In Mobile, Alabama, for example, our lawsuit against the school district has resulted in a 75 percent reduction in school days lost to suspension. In New Orleans, we reached a landmark agreement to ensure that children with disabilities have access and proper services in the city's system of charter schools. In Meridian, Mississippi, our investigation sparked a Department of Justice lawsuit that stopped the routine arrest and jailing of children - disproportionately African American - for minor, noncriminal school infractions.

Despite the progress, there is much work still - and we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring equality, fairness and opportunity for all children.

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Many vulnerable children across the Deep South are being denied access to a quality public education and the mental health services they need. At the same time, thousands are being pushed out of the classroom and into the juvenile justice system because of discipline policies that punish them severely for minor misbehavior.

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The United States has long offered a promise of opportunity and safety to arriving immigrants. We work to ensure that our country safeguards that promise, and to ensure that immigrants are treated fairly, equally, and with dignity.

Immigrants, many of whom work in poultry plants or other extremely labor-intensive industries, are often denied basic protections in the workplace.

Their children, many of them U.S. citizens, are often denied school enrollment or the educational services required under the law.

In their communities, they're subjected to surveillance, racial profiling and harassment by law enforcement officers who assume they are undocumented solely because of how they look and the language they speak.

Politicians and media figures have only encouraged this environment by spreading false propaganda that blames immigrants for our nation's problems and by enacting discriminatory laws that stigmatize them.

Immigrants are increasingly forced to live in fear of the deportation dragnet. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have illegally and unfairly apprehended immigrants with disregard for their rights. Local, state and federal politicians have enacted, or attempted to enact, policies that would result in widespread violations of immigrants' rights. These policies prevent immigrants from seeking the help of law enforcement when they are victims of crimes and labor exploitation, cause them to fear routine activities such as enrolling children in school or driving a car, and force them to work and live in the opaque fringes of our nation's economy.

Once placed in deportation proceedings, hundreds of thousands of immigrants have been locked away in unsafe and inhumane detention centers far away from their loved ones - without access to attorneys. We're working to transform the deportation process, from lawless assembly-line injustice to a fair consideration of each person's case on the merits, through our Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative. Our on-the-ground teams train and support pro bono attorneys to represent detainees in four immigrant detention centers in the Deep South.

Our work on the ground in the immigration courts and detention centers are revealing systemic abuses, and we file impact litigation against those abuses. We're fighting against federal and local law enforcement abuse of immigrants and those perceived to be immigrants.

Throughout the Deep South, our Immigrant Justice Project takes on cases that few private lawyers will accept, seeking systemic reforms and representing victims of injustice.

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The United States has long offered a promise of opportunity and safety to arriving immigrants. We work to ensure that our country safeguards that promise, and to ensure that immigrants are treated fairly, equally, and with dignity. Immigrants, many of whom work in poultry plants or other extremely labor-intensive industries, are often denied basic protections in the workplace.

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They're victimized by predatory lenders who trap them in a cycle of debt and rob them and their communities of scant resources.

They're denied access to the social safety net by politicians who stigmatize low-income workers and blame them for our country's problems.

They're exploited and imprisoned by local governments that target impoverished communities for revenue-generating traffic fines - and by profiteering companies that charge exorbitant, unfair fees for privatized, court-ordered "services" like payment plans or probation oversight.

For more than 40 years, we've represented the most vulnerable people in society - often those living in poverty who cannot afford to mount legal challenges to the injustices they face. Today, our Economic Justice Project is fighting back against deeply engrained policies and practices that exploit or punish the poor simply because of their economic status. Our work has a national reach but is primarily focused on the Deep South.

We are focused on the following priorities:

Reforming policies that trap the poor in a cycle of court debt.
We're shutting down modern-day debtors' prisons across the Deep South. We're stopping the use of "offender-funded" services such as private "probation" companies that use the power of the justice system to extort payments from the poor. We're also committed to stopping the collateral consequences of court fines and fees, such as driver's license suspensions, which can force people to choose between driving with a suspended license and losing a job. We're working to reform bail systems that discriminate against the poor and to stamp out abusive practices by bail bond companies. We're also dedicated to stopping the abuse of civil asset forfeiture, a practice that allows law enforcement to seize property but is too often driven by profit rather than public safety.

Protecting the safety net for the poor.
We're working to ensure that the poor are not denied access to the social safety net. In Tennessee, for example, we filed suit when officials erected barriers to keep many residents from obtaining health care coverage under the state's Medicaid program. Our suit led to a preliminary injunction that has helped thousands. More recently, we have sued in Kentucky to fight the state's efforts to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients - requirements that serve little purpose other than to deny services to those most in need.

Protecting low-income consumers from predatory practices.
We're helping lead the charge to protect consumers from payday and title lenders that prey upon low-income communities and trap the poor in a cycle of debt. And, we're educating the public and supporting a national effort to create strong consumer safeguards to rein in this rapacious industry. We're also taking aim at abusive wage garnishment practices, and fighting the efforts of private companies to exploit the criminal justice system for their own profit.

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They're victimized by predatory lenders who trap them in a cycle of debt and rob them and their communities of scant resources. They're denied access to the social safety net by politicians who stigmatize low-income workers and blame them for our country's problems. They're exploited and imprisoned by local governments that target impoverished communities for revenue-generating traffic fines - and by profiteering companies that charge exorbitant, unfair fees for privatized, court-ordered "services" like payment plans or probation oversight.

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We're working to reform the criminal justice and immigration enforcement systems so they operate fairly and equitably; to ensure the dignity and humanity of those interacting with these systems; and to reduce the population of jailed, detained, and incarcerated juveniles and adults in the United States.

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When you're the big fish, it's not OK to pick on the little fish just because you can.

That's an important lesson for everyone. But some Houston first-graders got a particularly vivid demonstration in the form of a musical puppet show, which featured fish puppets and an underlying message about why it's wrong to bully others.

The show left an impression on the students at Codwell Elementary, according to their teacher Shelea Bennett. "You felt like you were in that story," she said. "By the end of the story they were able to answer why [bullying] wasn't good, and why you shouldn't act this way."

The puppeteer's show was part of an effort to expand arts education in Houston elementary and middle schools. Now, a new study shows that the initiative helped students in a few ways: boosting students' compassion for their classmates, lowering discipline rates, and improving students' scores on writing tests.

It's just the latest study to find that giving students more access to the arts offers measurable benefits. And adding time for dance, theater, or visual arts isn't at odds with traditional measures of academic success, according to the research - which amounts to one of the largest gold-standard studies on arts education ever conducted.

"Arts learning experiences benefit students in terms of social, emotional, and academic outcomes," write researchers Dan Bowen of Texas A&M and Brian Kisida of the University of Missouri.

The study, released Tuesday through the Houston Education Research Consortium, looked at elementary and middle schools - which predominantly served low-income students of color - that expressed interest in participating in Houston's Arts Access Initiative. There appeared to be significant need: nearly a third of elementary and middle schools in the district reported lacking a full-time arts teacher.

Too many schools were interested, which was bad news for some schools but good news for researchers. They worked with the district to randomly assign some schools to participate, with about 5,000 students in each group. The schools in the program offered students nearly eight "school-community arts partnerships," compared to just three at comparison schools.

What that looked like ran the gamut. Schools were encouraged to provide some exposure to theater, dance, music, and visual arts, and that took the form of on-campus performances, field trips, artists in residence, and other programs outside of school hours.

When the researchers compared the two groups of schools, they looked at academics but also responses to surveys that asked students whether they agreed with statements like, "I want to help people who get treated badly," "School work is interesting," and "I plan to go to college."

The positive effects on writing test scores, discipline, and compassion were small to moderate. Students' disciplinary infraction rates, for instance, fell by 3.6 percentage points. But these results are particularly encouraging because the cost to schools was fairly small - about $15 per student. (This did not include costs borne by the program as whole or by the cultural institutions that donated time.)

On other measures, the initiative didn't make a clear difference. That includes reading and math scores as well as survey questions about school engagement and college aspirations. Still, the survey results were mostly positive, though largely not statistically significant.

"It could have come out negative. It could have been, look, they did this extra stuff where they learned more in these other domains but their math scores went down, so here's the tradeoff," said Kisida, one of the researchers. "We don't see evidence of a tradeoff."

That's especially notable because some have feared that pressure to raise test scores has squeezed arts out of the curriculum in many schools (though there's limited empirical evidence on whether that's actually happened).

Other recent studies on field trips to the theater and museums have also found encouraging results, boosting students' political tolerance, interest in the arts, critical examination of art, and, in one case, math and reading test scores. And since low-income children are less likely than their wealthier peers to access things like plays and art galleries over the summer, schools are critical providers of those cultural experiences and the accompanying benefits.

The latest study came to a mix of conclusions about which group of students benefited the most from the extra arts education.

Tiffany Thompson, another first-grade teacher at Codwell Elementary, said she's seen the extra arts make a difference for struggling students.

"Some students who don't excel academically, they're more engaged, because it gives them a different way to learn," she said.

One caveat to the study is that principals volunteered for the program. It might not be as successful in schools where there is less enthusiasm for the idea to start.

Still, the results of the study hold national import as districts consider how much to prioritize arts education and as cities assess or expand their similar initiatives.

"I really feel like people should know how much the [kids] do benefit from it," Bennett said. "Normally they wouldn't have this exposure."
Correction: A previous version of the story mis-stated the number of partnerships in schools that participated in the arts initiative. The correct number is eight, compared to three in schools that did not participate.

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Giving students more music, theater, and dance boosts writing scores (and compassion), big new study finds

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When you're the big fish, it's not OK to pick on the little fish just because you can. That's an important lesson for everyone. But some Houston first-graders got a particularly vivid demonstration in the form of a musical puppet show, which featured fish puppets and an underlying message about why it's wrong to bully others.

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10 common phrases that are actually racist AF.

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5 Big Causes of Deforestation and How You Can Stop It

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The planet's forests are under threat. Some 36 football fields of forests are hacked, burned, and destroyed every minute. With each forest clearing, we lose about 135 species of animals, plants, and insects a day. Forests provide us with many benefits, including goods such as timber and paper.

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The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest and the largest river basin on the planet. More species are found here than anywhere else.

The region is believed to be home to 10% - 1 in 10 - known species on Earth. Of plant species found in this region, 75% are unique to the Amazon, and there are 3,000 species of fish, the largest number of freshwater fish species in the world.

Today, the Amazon is facing a multitude of threats as a result of unsustainable economic development; 20% of the Amazon biome has already been lost and the trend will worsen if gone unchecked.

Amazon is the biggest deforestation front in the world and interventions are urgently needed to prevent a large-scale, irreversible ecological disaster.

WWF estimates that 27 per cent - more than a quarter - of the Amazon biome will be without trees by 2030 if the current rate of deforestation continues.

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The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest and the largest river basin on the planet. More species are found here than anywhere else. The region is believed to be home to 10% - 1 in 10 - known species on Earth.

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The Contemporary Way of Life

Suicide.

Deforestation is the clearing of an area of trees by cutting down, burning, and damaging of forests. Deforestation isnt just cutting down pretty scenery, its far more dangerous and complex. If the current rate of deforestation continues, the world's rain forests will vanish within 50-100 years-causing unknown effects on global climate and eliminating the majority of plant and animal species.

Number of endangered and extinct animal species

Deforestation

137 species of animals are becoming extinct each day, which adds up to 50,000 species disappearing every year, because of deforestation.If we dont act now, 10% of the worlds species will die out within the next 25 years.
Why should we care? People depend on forests for foods, medicine, shelter, our climate comes from the very forests that we are destroying. With so many plant and animal species still undiscovered, we may be destroying the cure for cancer or aids...
Why do we clear forests? logging, mining, clearing trees for cattle grazing and building dams and highways. The human population has streatched passed its carrying capacity which means simply we are overpopulated. And we think we can solve this problem by using up MORE of our recources which are already not enough to support us.

compiled from the IUCN's Red List, 1996
class endangered vulnerable total threatened extinct
Mammals 484 612 1096 89
Birds 403 704 1107 108
Reptiles 100 153 253 21
Amphibians 49 75 124 5
Insects 160 377 537 73
Other animals 894 1194 2088 343

Facts and Figures

Global Rates of Destruction
2.4 acres (1 hectare) per second: equivalent to two U.S. football fields
214,000 acres (86,000 hectares) per day: an area larger than New York City
78 million acres (31 million hectares) per year: an area larger than Poland
6 - 9 million indigenous people inhabited the Brazilian rainforest in 1500 In 1992, less than 200,000 remain.
Approximately 137 species of life forms are driven into extinction every day; or 50,000 each year.
While you were reading the above statistics, approximately 149 acres of rainforest were destroyed. Within the next hour approximately 6 species will become extinct.

Global tropical rainforests are being destroyed at the rate of 150 acres, or 120 football fields, per minute!

Effects of Deforestation- In other words, without the greenhouse gases, the temperature on Earth would be approximately 33C colder than it is now, covering the Earth with ice.
Our atmosphere works much like a greenhouse. The sun emits short-wave radiation which passes through the atmosphere to Earth. The Earth then radiates some of the sun's energy back into the atmosphere in the form of long-wave infrared radiation. Although nitrogen and oxygen, of which the atmosphere is almost entirely composed, do not retain heat, certain trace gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and nitrous oxide, trap some of the infra-red radiation.

Through photosynthesis, forests take in Carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. But since deforestation has wiped out so much of the worlds forest, the amount of Carbon Dioxide has increased, along with Methane, Nitrous Oxide, CFC's and other gases produced by industrial sources and fossil feuls and burning of waste products...

Because of an increase in Greenhouse gasses, Global warming may have already begun. Since the industrial era, there has been a 170 billion ton increse in our atmospheric gases. Global temperatures are slowly incresing. Ice in the Arctic is slowly decreasing, Canadian lakes have warmed several degrees. Weather has become extreame, with an increase in hurricanes, floods, windstorms, tornados...The Tuvalu islands in the Pacific experienced four cyclones in 1941, an average year. In 1989, however, Tuvalu endured 21 tropical cyclones!

Species will be wiped out because of global warming. Sea levels will rise due to condensation and cause major flooding. With the Ice caps melting, the sea level may rise 200 fee t . Droughts may cause major food producing nations to have a drop in production leading to starvation and economic issues.. The worlds supply of fresh water may be contamadated with salt water from the sea level rise.

Rainforests cover 2% of the Earth's surface, or 6% of its land mass, yet they house over half the plant and animal species on Earth. They originally covered at least twice that area.

One fourth of the medicines available today owe their existence to plants. Yet fewer than 1% of tropical forest species have been thoroughly examined for their chemical compounds.

A typical four square mile patch of rainforest contains as many as 1500 species of flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 125 mammal species, 400 species of birds, 100 of reptiles, 60 of amphibians, and 150 different species of butterflies. In one study, one square meter of leaf litter, when analyzed, turned up 50 species of ants alone. (National Academy of Sciences.)

"Im endangered because humans are destroying my home...i have nowhere else to go , exept maybe a fur store."

A beautiful forest of tree stumps

For more info and ways you can help stop deforestation, e-mail me

Visit these links for more information on a variety of issues

Greenpeace

UNTS

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The Contemporary Way of Life Suicide. Deforestation is the clearing of an area of trees by cutting down, burning, and damaging of forests. Deforestation isnt just cutting down pretty scenery, its far more dangerous and complex.