Individuals are Threatened by China's Increasing Air Pollution

Patrick and Mahoney-Norris discuss health security and environmental threats around the world. Their focus is around disease and climate change, but today I want to talk about pollution and its effect on respiratory health and death in China.  This might sound a bit like last week's topics, specifically the trash problem in Italy. However, this differs because the pollution in China is generated from vehicle and factory emissions unlike the fumes from improper trash dumping in Italy. Furthermore, because the trash problem in Italy is stemming from the involvement of the Italian mafia it threatens both national security and individual security, where the pollution in China is a human security issue alone.

My sources for this entry derive from the New York Times and The Economist, and were all written in 2013. In China, Breathing Becomes a Childhood Risk, displays the increasing concerns parents have for their children both born and in the womb as levels of pollutants are up to 40 times the recommended exposure in Beijing. The article includes multiple studies' results that show air pollution to be linked to a multitude of problems, including: lung damage, anxiety, depression, attention span problems, autism, smaller head circumferences, and slower growth. These problems can occur both from direct inhalation of pollution and also by exposure of pregnant women. An alarming statistic by the Deustche Bank is provided stating "the current trends of coal use and automobile emissions...expect air pollution to worsen by an additional 70% by 2025."

Air Pollution Linked to 1.2 Million Premature Deaths in China, is informative and shocking in its title alone. China's deaths by pollution are 40% of the world's total, however the countries population make this slightly overblown. This article repeats much of the latter but does touch on a report that believes air pollution will be a bigger problem than dirty water and lack of sanitation by 2050 worldwide. This was striking to me when you think about the videos we have watched in this class, such as the cholera epidemic in Haiti and the unsanitary hospitals in Somalia.

Lastly, I looked at Something in the Air, which brought me in with the picture, posted above. That picture was taken in February of this year in Beijing. It demonstrates the abnormal and beyond index pollution that was hitting the streets that month. I learned that even in the absence of such spikes, "air quality in China routinely fails to meet basic standards laid down by the World Health Organization". This Economist article also believes the pollution to be extremely concerning for the health of China's civilians with tens of thousands dying each year because of foul air. This increase is linked to China's motivation and huge push in industrialization and growth, and unfortunately, this has come with the expense of mortality and lung cancer. Authorities are in the process of improving air quality, and have taken steps in improving factory emissions and converting heating systems from coal to gas.

I hope the government is willing and capable to take greater steps to help its citizens before it is too late.

Human Trafficking as a Cyber Crime

Today, more than ever before, immense technological infrastructures are in place that can allow us to fight human trafficking, and other horrific crimes like it, quicker and with more accuracy. Using the internet to trace activities of suspected traffickers can lead help governments and law enforcement agencies reduce the number of people who live in forced labor and/or sexual situations. 

No Stability in Somalia

Ever since Somalia's central government collapsed in 1991, the country has been rocked by the dangers of militant groups and famine. There is no stability left in Somalia, and this instability has led to hundreds of thousands of Somalis to flee to Kenya and surrounding countries as refugees. In recent years, Somalia has faced its worst drought ever. Drought translates to weak agriculture which means no food for families and livestock. The famine in Somalia has killed 260,000 people so far. With no centralized government, there is no relief within Somalia for Somalians who are starving to death, instead they must flee across borders to refugee camps. To make matters worse, in recent years, Western aid organizations were forced out of Somalia by Islamist militant groups. Somalis pirates who control Somalia's waters also make it difficult for aid organizations to reach the main land. With militant groups and pirates controlling almost every part of Somalia, giving aid to Somalis is a huge danger in itself that not many are willing to take. America now has Somalia on its watch for terrorist activity, making this famine and terror in Somalia an international security issue.

The fleeing to refugee camps, such as Dadaab in Kenya, is a treacherous weeks-long journey on foot, where most people don't have even close to the adequate amount of food and water to provide for them and their families. No food and water isn't the only threat either, Islamist militant groups kill Somalis trying to leave the country. Dadaab is located 50 miles inland from the Somali-Kenyan border. It was originally intended to hold 90,000 people, but more than 360,000 people have made it their new "home". Many children die on the way, forcing families to bury them, and then keep moving on. Once in Dadaab, there aren't enough hospitals and staff to treat the large numbers of children and adults who need to be treated. The more people packed into the refugee camp, the most likely it is for people to contract diseases. Food is still scarce and always a race to get the allotted amount. Even within Dadaab, only a few will survive.

While Kenya is giving their support for Somalis, they are scared Somalis will never leave Kenya. Somalis who seek refuge in Kenya are not allowed to work in Kenya, which makes starting a new life hard. Kenyans began to enter Somalia in 2011 to help curb Islamist militant groups, and help out Somalis in need. The future of Somalia is uncertain. With no government and militants groups fighting, killing Somalis, Somalias waters being guarded by pirates, its hard to imagine a safe and famine-free country in the near future. Environmental threats are a huge problem that no one can control. It is very unfortunate that Somalia has turned out the way it, hopefully though nations can work together to help save Somalia's people and country. 

Burmese Brides in China

Trafficking Brides to China

This week we have once again focused on international trafficking.  Last week it mostly centered on drugs, crime rings and garbage disposal.  This week the focus shifted toward human trafficking in West Africa, Dubai, as well as disease in Africa.  During the multimedia portion of this week we followed a journalist looking for an AIDS break out in China.  This plus the focus on human trafficking had me do a little research on trafficking problems in East Asia.  I came across a pretty scary story about bride trafficking to China. 

Apparently the infamous single child policy in China is causing a ripple affect all across the region in many unexpected ways.  We have all heard how girls are being given up all across china due to this policy, what I hadn’t heard about is how this had led to a very uneven ratio of men to women in China.  This has created a market for brides.  And where there is money to be made trafficking will occur, In this case bringing in women from Burma.  The Burmese government claims that today 80 percent of the human trafficking in their country is now young women being trafficking to China and into forced marriages.  The cost of a Burmese bride according to the Metro.UK is anywhere between 3,000 pounds and 5,000 pounds.  The market for these marriages is men in rural China desperate to find a wife and carry on their family.

We try to stay solutions oriented, so how can we stop this rampant trafficking from Burma to China?  The answer is clear, end the one child policy in China.  This policy has caused huge problems since the day it was originally implemented in 1978.  Countless children have been abandoned or sent off to foreign countries.  Luckily this could all changed sooner rather than later.  The UK telegraph reported yesterday that with an ageing crisis looming in China the government leaders are close to completely abandoning the policy.  This move would not only benefit the people of China, but could save countless Burmese brides to be the horror of being trafficked to China against their will.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/10221730/China-to-ditch-its-one-child-policy-as-ageing-crisis-looms.html

http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/11/the-burmese-brides-trafficked-into-china-to-marry-total-strangers-3398396/

AIDS and Malaria: Threats to Third World Individual Security

 

Disease in the developing countries of the world is a serious issue. According to this article, there are millions of people that die from AIDS and Malaria every year. Because of how advanced modern medicine tends to be in developed nations, most of these fatalities come from developing nations. With such a large number of people in these nations struggling to survive or attempting to avoid to remain uninfected, there is little time for these countries and individuals to focus on developing and improving their quality of life. They focus primarily on their own individual survival, however with the mortality rate of these diseases in the developing world, their chances of contracting the disease are still very high, and death is nearly assured if they contract these diseases.

Individual Security Threats

Individual security threats are understood as the lack of freedom from physical or psychological harm. The most common forms of protection against threats to individuals are good legal structures which the state is responsible for implementing (source). The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report organizes states in three different tiers based on the state's cooperation with the Trafficking Victims Protection Acts (TVPA) and keeping up with the minimum standards. Russia has recently been downgraded from a tier 2 "watch list" to a tier 3 which is basically noncompliance with the TVPA (source).

source

Mosquitoes

 NBC Dallas-Fort Worth announced yesterday of a boy currently fighting a weak case of the West Nile Virus.  Although serious, the boy was seen early by doctors and will be expected a speedy recovery.  In the previous year, it was confirmed that 19 died and over 300 caught ill due to the virus (Journal Watch).  Luckily for many Americans, we are provided with adequate healthcare access, able to put an abrupt end to any sort of an epidemic.  Yet, how serious is this virus and ones similar?  And what it is (it sure is in the wrong side of the Nile)?

The CDC defines the West Nile Virus as mosquito borne, symptom-less, and not treatable/preventable.  That definition alone creates a flair of uncertainty.  Although dying from it is rare, one is to wonder if he or she is infected (I got bit the other day).  The media doesn't help either (stating how 2012 was an apocalypse of mosquitoes), leaving citizens with fear.

But is this a human security issue?  I argue it is.  It is silent in nature and probably left unattended (who would actually go to the doctor because of a mosquito bite?).  In its extreme cases, it is deadly.  Yet, I don't see politicians running from their recess back to DC to come up with solutions on this.  It is not in anybody's radar until one becomes another statistic to the issue.

The problem with environmental issues is that we wait until they happen to finally look for solutions.  We don't want solutions to things that could happen, we want solutions to things that have happened (climate change can also be put here).

In Haiti, Malaria--another mosquito-born virus--is a big threat.  We can already see what damages an earthquake can do to this poor country, so imagine malaria spreading around to these people low on healthcare access.  What can be done here (by the international community)?  Well, something as simple and low-cost as mosquito nets.  UNICEF provided over "200,000 Haitian families" with over 400,000 nets (UNICEF).  Haiti cannot produce credible statistics on the virus and number affected.  What it does report is said to vastly under-estimated (UNICEF).  Well, here is a quick and easy solution to that problem (it won't fix it all, but it will fix a lot of it before it can really grow and spread).

Solutions do not have to be grand in scale or money.  Scholars look at the AIDS epidemic, and how it could have been cut drastically if only early preventions and action had taken place.  The same could go for many other viruses and diseases.  I am heading to Wal-Mart to buy me a mosquito net.               






NBC DFW
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Dallas-Countys-Third-WNV-Human-Case-Reported-in-University-Park-218009541.html

http://www.jwatch.org/na31718/2013/07/23/controlling-west-nile-virus  

CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/westnile/index.html

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/haiti_56663.html

human trafficking is not humane

Human trafficking has been on the rise and very hard to stop. It does not get the main stream attention that it should like drugs or any other issue that threatens security.

That has changed though for a part of the nation. In Minasota on August 20th there will be a movie that come out according to Startribune. This movie is a documentary that calls human trafficking slavery. This video is a start, but according to the State Department for 2013 only 40,000 people were identified out of an estimated 26 million that are men, women, and children who suffer from this from of "modern Slavery."
Yes, we think that this kind of human trafficking cant happen in the United States, but only in foreign countries that dont have the resources, but in fact its happening in the United States.
According to a Senator in Minnesota he says that according to the FBI the twin cities in Minnesota the FBI has identified it as one of the top 13 places for child prostitution.
This is a very sad fact. What can we do about it? This documentary is a step, but more is need to curb this violence and modern day slavery.

Child Sex Trafficking in the United States

According to a July 29 press release from the FBI, Operation Cross Country VII – a three day sting targeting child sex trafficking – concluded with 105 sexually exploited children recovered and 150 pimps and affiliates arrested. As stated in the report, the sting occurred across 76 cities and was partnered with local and state agencies along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) as a part of the Bureau’s Innocence Lost National Initiative. This initiative was launched in 2003 to address the growing problem of domestic sex trafficking of children across the United States.

A Silent Killer in African Children

One section of one of our videos this week really haunted me; the section about nodding disease. It seems strange to me that with all the advances in medicine we (the human race) has come up with, we still don't know what causes Nodding Disease and how to treat it. So I thought it might be worth digging a bit. Here's a bit of what I found.

A child afflicted with Nodding Disease

The disease is mostly secluded to areas of Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania, and only affects children between the ages of 5 and 15. My first question then becomes; the fact that this affliction is so limited would seem to give clues to its origin. Environmental seems like the most likely cause. A quick search brings up a possible cause in the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus (Source). Unfortunately, this brings up even more questions. If we know the bug causing it, how do we not know how to fix it?

Onchocerca Volvulus (Source)

The major symptoms of the disease are characterized by mental and physical lack of development, "nodding seizures", but the weirdest part is that these seizures often occur right after eating, and stop occurring if the patient stops eating. An even more curious occurrence is that the seizures do not seem to happen if the patient is given food that they don't recognize, like a candy bar.

All this said, I'm an engineer. My life revolves around forces, math, numbers, and simulation. The human body is a mystery to me, and this issue could be way more complicated than I think it is. All this to say, why isn't this a bigger deal? Kids are dying of an unknown disease, and I had to take an international affairs class to hear about it. That doesn't make much sense to me.

The Rise of Human Trafficking in Colombia

The problem of internal human trafficking in Colombia is worsening, according to the United Nations and the Colombian government, due to a lack of attention to the domestic aspect of the trade and its relation to the drug trade.  Both criminal gangs and guerrilla groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia (FARC) forcibly recruit children, with 483 cases registered by authorities in 2011. In the first seven weeks of this year, 46 cases were reported.

Top U.S. Environmental Concern: Water Pollution

People around the world are constantly notified with a new environmental concern to focus on, which is usually bad news. But what exact aspect of the environment concerns most U.S. citizens? According to a recent survey conducted by Gallup, asked the exact question. The poll results came back and the top environmental concern among American's is water pollution. Though water pollution is occupied with many different aspects; drinking water pollution came in as the top ranking environmental concern. Given that the essential nature of water is to sustaining human and other life forms, it should not come as a surprise that the top ranked environmental concern is water pollution. When I think of water, I think of the many ways we use it everyday, water needs to be clean because it is our most precious resource. We use water in many forms such as; drinking, bathing, cleaning, cooking, and growing our food, along with many other uses. 

According to the Natural Resource Defense Council; "Clean and plentiful water provides the foundation for prosperous communities. We rely on clean water to survive; yet right now we are heading towards a water crisis. Changing climate patterns are threatening lakes and rivers, and key sources that we tap for drinking water are being overdrawn or tainted with pollution". Dirty/polluted water is the world’s biggest health risk, and continues to affect both the quality of life and public health in the U.S. "Many of our water resources also lack basic protections, making them vulnerable to pollution from factory farms, industrial plants, and activities like fracking. This can lead to drinking water contamination". Though the United States water pollution has made great advances in creating clean water from many organizational groups such as the EPA, it is nearly impossible to create 100% clean water due to the United State's many pollution concerns from the leading industrial resources dumping and creating toxic water. 

The U.S. has many organizations, initiatives, and acts with the goal to fight water pollution. We are fortunate to be a developed country with the resources to control clean water, and protect the citizens. Yet, from recent videos we have watched gave us a background of the water issue the U.S. has. Including the video titles; “New York’s toxic wasteland: America’s water crisis”. We learned that there are many toxic environments in large states like NY and Florida, which are grounds of major toxic dumping. Many bodies of water near urban areas are highly polluted. This is the result of both garbage dumped by individuals and dangerous chemicals legally or illegally dumped by industries. This makes me think of what kind of water we are using with every day life, this crisis is a real threat and could lead to water shortages. The two main problems that stick out to me that water pollution causes include; water pollution that kills life that inhabits water-based ecosystems, killing or infecting fish, birds etc. and second water pollution disrupts the natural food chain, pollutants such as lead are eaten by out marine life and later are consumed by humans. This process affects humans; people can get diseases such as hepatitis by eating seafood that unknowingly has been poisoned.

Now, when we think of water pollution and the many effects it has, we turn to the disease it can bring. Many weak states are very easy targets to fall to water pollution. We don’t think of the many effects that water pollution can have, because we don’t have scarcity like these third-tier weak countries. In places like Somalia, they are constantly contracting diseases by the use of polluted water, but this is what they deal with everyday. In this weeks reading we read a lot about diseases being spread from migration and environmental ways. I believe that because some of these weak states lack the resources to combat polluted water, other international communities need to step in to help. Once intervention is made, and then this could be a possible way to end some famine and disease from spreading. 

Tuberculosis - A Curable Killer

While nearly everyone knows about the damage and severity of the HIV virus, many people don’t know that Tuberculosis kills the second most people of any infectious disease according to the WHO. In 2011, nearly 10 million people contracted the disease, and 1.4 million died from it.  What’s shocking about tuberculosis is that we have very effective and fairly simple cure. Unfortunately in poorer countries no one can afford these medications, so many die from a completely treatable disease.