Glasses are one key to improving the economic productivity of poor people in developing countries. Photo: deepchi1 (flickr)

Poor vision may not seem like an economic problem at first glance. But according to the World Health Organization, workers with poor and uncorrected vision cost the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars in lost productivity each year.

Many of these workers struggle to put food on the table, much less purchase an expensive pair of glasses, so their vision problems go untreated. This situation may change thanks to an innovative new series of affordable glasses designs that the New York Times recently highlighted. Their genius lies in two factors: their low cost and how easy it is to adjust them. Production is cheaper when a single model can be made to fit almost anyone, which also cuts out the need for expensive doctors to write vision prescriptions.

How can glasses be one-size-fits-all? One type highlighted by The Times has lenses whose refraction can be adjusted by injecting a clear liquid into them, while another has overlapping lenses that can be adjusted by the user. These models are already improving the lives of wearers in countries like Rwanda, Afghanistan, Ghana, and Tanzania and cost $19 and $4, respectively.

Despite their potential, low-cost eyeglasses still face problems. As The New York Times explains, the glasses could cost only $1-2 per pair if produced in great enough volumes, but supply chains don't yet exist to distribute such quantities of glasses to those who need them.

The field of low-cost eyeglass production and distribution is in its infancy, but keep your eyes open for great things to come.

The World Health Organization has issued a warning for yet another dire consequence of the global economic crisis: the “severe medical workforce crisis” in Africa and Asia, is expected to get worse.

The most recent World Health Report from 2006 estimates that Africa and Asia lack more than 4 million health workers combined. The WHO-sponsored Global Health Work Alliance estimates that 1 in 4 doctors and 1 in 20 nurses will leave Africa to pursue higher-paying jobs abroad.

The repercussions for health worker brain drain are severe, especially in rural communities where access to medical care is limited. In Ghana there is only one doctor per 17,700 citizens — the majority of whom practice in the country's two largest cities. The UN news agency reports that in Ghana the scarcity of doctors and the high cost of medical care are driving some pregnant women to turn to prayer camps, trying to use prayer to get through labor pains.

In an interesting twist, the economic downturn in Europe and the U.S. has driven many well-educated migrants to leave troubled financial hubs like London and New York City and return to their respective home countries in Africa and Asia — a phenomenon some are calling reverse brain drain. As reported in World Focus' online radio show, “Though the U.S. has often been called the "land of opportunity," the country is losing some of its top minds to companies overseas.“

It hasn't hit the health sector yet, but reverse brain drain could help ease the heath-worker crisis. Perhaps a financial recession for some could prove to be a time to regain talent for others.

Photo: BrianScott (flickr)

Ten years ago, farming and hunting communities of Wechiau in the Upper West Region of Ghana had no schools, electricity, or even drinking water.

But today, thanks to a decade-long effort by the community to preserve its endangered hippopotamus population and convert the area into a wildlife sanctuary, revenues from sustainable ecotourism are being used to improve infrastructure and build schools.

With the support of organizations like the United Nations-backed Equator Initiative and Canada's Calgary Zoo, several schools have been built, solar-powered electricity has been installed and wells are being drilled to provide safe drinking water for villages throughout the sanctuary.

The Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary is both an innovative effort and an example of how conserving biodiversity can help reduce poverty — while benefiting animals and people at the same time.

In order to minimize human and hippo conflict and provide undisturbed grazing habitat for the hippos, the villagers have moved all farms and fishing camps two kilometers from the river. However, the local community understands that by conserving the environment, they are creating other opportunities for their community and promoting their remote district as an ecotourist destination.

It is often difficult to convince poor communities to engage in long-term environmental protection and conservation. But for the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, support from traditional chiefs and locals is strong.

This is because the sanctuary is a "genuine community-based initiative led by the traditional chiefs and people with no national government involvement." In fact, it is the first community-owned and managed large-mammal sanctuary in Ghana.

Today, the sanctuary is a testament to the possibilities of ecotourism, covering 40 km² along the Black Volta River and the home to one of the two remaining populations of hippopotamus in Ghana.

With the recent economic turmoil and the declining value of the dollar, some people are turning to gold for economic security in their time of need. In recent months, the price of gold has jumped to a high of nearly $1,000 per ounce.

In light of this, the World Bank’s private branch, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has helped finance AngloGold Ashanti and Newmont Mining to open gold mines in the rich reserves of Ghana. These organizations claim that by developing the region's resources, they will be able to stimulate economic growth and pull the country's people out of poverty.

However, several NGOs in the region and the above Al Jazeera report claim that is the exact opposite of what this initiative has accomplished. Ghanaians in the west have been experiencing harder times as a direct result of the gold mines. Only the multinational companies that own the mines seem to be reaping the economic benefits. According to Al Jazeera, only 3 percent of the gold profits go back into Ghana.

To build the mines, these companies have also taken over many of the villagers’ farmland where they live and work. Many of the land owners of the region claim that the companies did not compensate them enough for their precious land. The people who worked on the farms were also only paid for a single harvest. Without these farms, many of these farmers have nowhere to live and no way to survive.

Furthermore, Oxfam and FIAN claim that the companies are not respecting the rights and safety of the nearby villagers. Community water sources have been polluted from improper drainage from the worker housing compounds and from the disposal of dangerous chemicals used in mining.

The development of the gold mines could lead to greater problems for Ghana on a national scale. The fertile lands of western Ghana allow even a small farm to be self-sustainable for several generations, which has helped to keep Ghana’s food stores stable. However, by favoring the gold mines over farms, Ghana may eventually begin to suffer the effects of the food crisis that is already plaguing many of its neighbors.

Despite record prices, the real beneficiaries of Ghana's gold remain questionable. Is it the people of Ghana, as the IFC and the mining companies insist, or is it the mining companies themselves?

Malaria nets. Photo: Tomas de la Maza (flickr)

Is malaria's reign of terror coming to an end?

Every year, 500 million people fall seriously ill with malaria — a disease that induces fever, chills, nausea, flu-like illness and, without treatment, coma and death. More than 1 million people die each year from malaria — almost all in the developing world. The near-universal poverty of its victims is one reason it has not received the attention, and therefore the money, necessary to secure its demise.

Even in the face of these scary statistics, malaria may be about to meet it's match. The Economist reports a renewed sense of interest in its eradication, mainly because it jeopardizes the UN's Millennium Development Goals, a set of benchmarks in health, education and human welfare that world leaders committed to attain by 2015.

There's a cost-benefit rationale, too. Malaria costs Africa upwards of $12 billion a year in health expenses and lost productivity. Yet a five-year eradication plan might cost as little as $2.2 billion a year, according to a report by Malaria No More and McKinsey & Company.

With these numbers in mind, last week the UN unveiled a new campaign to fight malaria at its most critical spots. The Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership — created to "enable sustained delivery and use of the most effective prevention and treatment for those affected most by malaria — staged the first World Malaria Day last week. It coincided with a UN plan to spray inside houses and distribute insecticide-treated bed nets to "all people at risk" of the disease by the end of 2010.

Any effort to stamp out malaria must deal with an added layer of complexity. When diminished but not destroyed, malaria can come back with a vengeance. Any letup in the eradication campaign may end up actually increasing the numbers of those at risk.

But considering how much malaria undermines the war on poverty, a risk taken to ensure its eradication may be a risk worth taking.

Photo: JohnMMM (Flickr)

Typically, the discovery of “black gold” in African countries has led to conflict over land and overwhelms governments with more revenue than can be effectively managed. Brutal secessionist conflicts have been taking place for years in countries rich with oil, including Sudan, Nigeria and Angola. Ghana hopes to buck the trend. The country is one of the most stable on the continent and responsible development of its oil industry can provide a good model for other African nations.

"There’s no reason that oil should be a curse,” one government official told Financial Times, which recently published a special report on Africa's fossil-fuel resources. “We want to make sure we follow the example of countries like Canada or Norway who’ve used oil to their benefit."

Why can’t African countries – or any developing country, for that matter – use newfound oil wealth to raise living standards for all citizens? For starters, the oil market is vulnerable to price shocks, and the centralized revenues are susceptible to theft. Dependency on oil as a primary commodity can discourage economic diversification.

Another critical issue is the exploitation of indigenous populations near extraction sites, a prime example being the abuses felt by those in the Niger delta region of Nigeria. Governments frequently overlook the fundamental needs of communities adjacent to oil drilling sites. Ghana’s new oil find may not be very beneficial to communities that fish the waters where the discovery was made.

Can Ghana avoid these pitfalls? The government says it plans to use the oil wealth to turn Ghana into "a middle-income country" by 2015, and to invest in infrastructure, health care and education. That's reminiscent of rhetoric used by officials in Nigeria, Angola, and the Congo — all are failing to follow through with those promises.

Can Ghana succeed in turning the “black gold” into a blessing for its citizens, or will oil once again prove a curse?