Congratulations for many important recent activities of WAAS. I would like to be active in this direction and read with interest on the proposed projects. One of them would be poverty and globalization influence on health of unborns. I think this should be extension of the proposal of Jacky Foo on poverty and youth. I enclose one of my manuscripts on poverty and health of unborns containing most important topics in this field. It is a real global tragedy that more than 600.000 women are dying in the world annually simply because they are pregnant. I published several editorials and reviews about this problem and will be happy to contribute in appropriate project. I am attaching two documents.
| Attachment | Size |
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| Poverty and health of unborns.doc | 49.5 KB |
| more data.doc | 31.5 KB |
Uganda and micro-loans
Micro-loan (e.g. in Kampala) simply means it is a "small" loan in amount but has high interest rates (48% per year or 4 percent per month). But even with the borrowing of a small amount and investing it into trade (esp. fruits, cloths, hand-bags, shoes) is worth it because the turn-over is very fast (esp. for the early starters during the early 2000's).
"Success story-best practice" awards would feature such stories. What is more important is the discussions around each entry and picking out the small goodies/ideas from different entries to improve existing projects or for creating new ones.
In China, in the 90's, mushroom cultivation business was used by young married couples in rural areas to establish themselves financially before they decide to have a baby. This is a unique attitude and preparation for building up a family....an unseen (positive) consequence is the delay in having their child.
+++offline for the next 10 days.
employment for women
Pregnant women dying for want of medical help is really saddening. Today the Hindu English Daily carried an article about an Indian journalist's visit to Uganda where she witnessed a pregant woman dying due to bleeding during delivery because she could not be taken to hospital in time since the nearest hospital was 50 kms away from her house. Human life is precious but such incidents remind us that it can be lost for reasons such as inability to provide timely medical care.
A movment called self-help groups has been started in India by which small groups of women are given loans from banks to the extent of 10,000 or 15,000 rupees for starting a small business or trade such as a grocery store or clothing shop. The women share the profits among themselves. This self-help movement has spread like wildfire throughout India and has become a boon to many poor women. India is only imitating what the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh has done successfully in their country.
African nations can do something like this for their poor women also and help them lead a life of dignity.
poverty and health of unborn
Thanks for the attachment.....Asim K
The consequences in the lack of an income are expressed in so many direct and indirect ways. The health of unborns from poor girls and women is one such consequences. During a recent trip to Kenya, I visited a poor area. At one home, I met a lady with 3 young kids and saw the poor living conditions she had. I was later told that she last child was because she sold her body for 3 US$ so that she could buy some food for the 2 kids. Another single mother used to collect metal scrapes and sold it for 1.50 US$ per kilo. She stopped because scape metal was getting difficult to find and she was exposing herself to high risks of getting raped. If youth are unable to generate income, young girls will face consequences of the health of their unborn children.
What interest me in your work and this target group is if there were any income-generation project activities for these pregnant mothers.
I proposed a "success story-best practice" awards project. One such award could be given to income generation activities for single mothers (youths).
Q: Do you think such income generation activities would help improve the health of unborns ?
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