Author Archive

Sunday 1 December: World Aids Day

This Sunday 1 December is World Aids Day, and a chance for us to show our solidarity against this virus, which continues to devastate millions of lives around the world every day. According to World Aids Day’s official webpage, approximately 100,000 people live with HIV in the UK alone, which jumps to an astounding 34 million if we consider all people worldwide who have been infected with the virus. Figures for the period between 1981 and 2007 show that Aids has claimed the lives of 25 million people around the world, making it one of the most destructive public health issues in modern times.

Although, of course, combatting Aids is a non-stop endeavour, World Aids Day provides “an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died.” It is also an opportunity to raise awareness of the illness, its transmission and its prevention. More practically, World Aids Day also aims to raise money for the National AIDS Trust (NAT), a body that champions the rights of people living with HIV.

While the virus clearly has a profound effect on the lives of those who contract it, the spread of HIV/Aids has serious consequences for all members of the community, particularly in developing countries, which have been the worst affected. Especially prevalent in young people (accounting for around 40% of new HIV infections), deaths caused by HIV/Aids have lead to generations of children being raised by their grandparents following the death of one or both parents. And with fewer relatives available to work, such families are at an increased risk of falling into poverty.

As discussed a few weeks ago in our Millennium Development Goals In Focus series, the fight against HIV/Aids – along with other highly destructive diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis – has been singled out by the UN as the target of its sixth Millennium Development Goal. In aiming both funds and anti-poverty initiatives at tackling the issue of HIV/Aids, the UN and its partner organisations hope to reduce transmission of the disease through, for example, educative measures where young people are taught about the importance of safe sex. While progress has already been made (infection rates dropped by 33% between 2001 and 2011), there is still a long way to go before the issue of HIV/Aids ceases to ravage populations the world over.

And combatting Aids is not the only issue that deserves our attention and efforts. Since joining the UK government’s ICS programme earlier this year, Lattitude has been preparing to send its first batch of volunteers on the scheme to Malawi and Ghana in January to help out on a range of community projects, from education and empowering local women, to tackling more specific health issues. Lattitude ICS volunteers work in groups with both UK and local volunteers and remain in-country over a 10-week period. If you would like more information on undertaking an ICS placement with Lattitude, feel free to send any questions to [email protected] or find out more here.

Saturday 16 November is International Tolerance Day, so we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the fine work our volunteers have done over the years to promote tolerance and global citizenship around the world.

The UN first established International Tolerance Day back in 1996 in celebration of the adoption of a Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, which ‘among other things… affirms that tolerance is neither indulgence nor indifference. It is respect and appreciation of the rich variety of our world’s cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human.’

One of the ways the UN suggests to counter intolerance is through education: ‘Greater efforts need to be made to teach children about tolerance and human rights, about other ways of life. Children should be encouraged at home and in school to be open-minded and curious.’

Although when Lattitude volunteers go abroad, their main duties may involve teaching, caring or helping out on other projects, the promotion of tolerance is an important yet often underestimated benefit of spending some time volunteering abroad. For many of the people you will be living and working with, you will be one of the few foreigners they know. Exposing children to people from different countries and cultures from a young age not only encourages them to be accepting of difference, but also often stimulates a curiosity that may lead them to study a foreign language or culture themselves.

And tolerance is not a one-way street. Although few volunteers would class themselves as ‘intolerant’ before their time spent abroad, the experience undoubtedly opens their own minds to different ways of life around the world. Most will have never spent any time living abroad over an extended period of time, and so learning to fit in and deal with unexpected cultural clashes can be a very memorable and gratifying experience indeed. In fact, in the past some of our volunteers have enjoyed their experience so much that they have chosen to stay on in their host countries, some even setting up their own charities.

Even for those who do return home as planned after the completion of their volunteering placement, the deep respect and attachment with their host country and culture often lasts far into the future. Many return to visit their placements, or help to raise funds for their projects from the UK, by running the London marathon or taking part in other sponsored events. Others also maintain an academic interest in their host countries, and we have had many past volunteers go on to study subjects such as Spanish or Japanese studies after completing their placements with us.

And these are not the only avenues your volunteering placement can lead to you down. Past volunteers have often drawn on their experience of volunteering abroad when it comes to deciding on their careers, with international development and jobs in the UK charity sector featuring as popular career choices.

For more information on how you can help bring more tolerance into your life and the lives of others by volunteering abroad, check out the opportunities we offer here.

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

At first glance, environmental sustainability can seem slightly detached from the overall MDG aim of tackling worldwide poverty. However, building a sustainable environment for human beings around the world can in fact be a key way to improving global living standards.

This seventh Millennium Development Goal is far-reaching, and aims to engage with a range of issues, from providing access to clean drinking water in underdeveloped areas, to reversing the effects of deforestation. Issues such as the latter, which may be thought of as purely environmental problems, in fact have a huge impact on some of the world’s poorest citizens, who depend on these natural resources for water, food and fuel. Similarly, Goal 7 also aims to promote marine conservation, recognising that the destruction of marine biodiversity gravely affects the functioning of ecosystems on which we all depend.

Here are the specific targets that have been laid down by the UN and its partner organisations in order to achieve MDG7:

1. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources

2. Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss

3. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

4. Achieve, by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

The undeniable link between human survival and the health of the environment in which we live, makes certain figures worrying indeed. For example, the UN estimates that carbon emissions have increased by an astounding 46% since 1990. Similarly, around 3.6 million hectares of forest were lost between 2005 and 2010 in Latin America alone. In terms of the immediate environment of some of the world’s poorest people, a UN fact sheet reports that an estimated 863 million are still living in slums in the developing world, with obvious effects on health and standards of living.

So what is being done? Given the wide focus of MDG7, the different initiatives currently being carried out around the world are highly varied. In the north east of Brazil, for example, where harsh environmental conditions often lead locals to damage local forests through illegal charcoal production, the International Fund for Agricultural Development is helping to promote agro-ecology. Elsewhere, in a bid to improve the sanitation conditions of people living in some of the world’s poorest areas, the UN member states adopted the “Sanitation for all” resolution in July 2013. In a multilateral partnership between member states, civil society and other development organisations, this initiative hopes to radically increase access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation in the parts of the world that need it most.

So what can you do? Lattitude offers a range of sustainable environmental volunteering projects around the world, from Ecuador to Japan. You can also help achieve the UN’s Millenium Development Goals by taking part in Lattitude’s ICS programme, in partnership with the government’s Department for International Development. If you would like to find out more about the volunteering opportunities available to you, get in touch at [email protected].

Goal 6: Combat HIV/Aids, Malaria and other diseases

If you’ve ever been abroad to a country where Malaria is endemic, or you’re preparing to, the chances are you will have been advised to take some malaria tablets with you. For most of you, this will be the first time you come across this disease, which continues to devastate the lives of millions of people around the world. Perhaps the worst part about this is the fact that malaria is preventable and curable, and many deaths caused by the disease could easily be avoided with improved access to healthcare.

Similarly, preventative measures can also help stop the spread of HIV/Aids. A lack of understanding with regards to how the disease is transmitted is a major factor working against those fighting HIV/Aids. In this sense, providing sex education and making sure more people have access to condoms are key to stopping the disease in its tracks. Unfortunately such measures are not currently available to everyone, and HIV/Aids along with Malaria and other diseases such as Tuberculosis, are still rife in many parts of the world. This is why the UN and its partner international development organisations have made the fight against such diseases the focus of its sixth Millennium Development Goal.

There are many initiatives currently working to reverse the spread of diseases like Malaria and HIV/Aids, many of which are making real headway. In Cambodia, for example, where Tuberculosis rates are some of the highest in the world, a national TB care and control programme has led to a 45% drop in those falling ill with the disease. Elsewhere, in Zambia it is estimated that some 400,000 people living with HIV now have access to antiretroviral (ART) therapy thanks to 68 new sites providing drugs and free treatment, bringing the total number of ART sites in the country up to 454. Across the Atlantic, progress is also being made in Latin America to improve the lives of those affected by HIV. The Pan American Health Organisation, for example, is working in countries such as Colombia, Peru and Mexico to improve access to treatment and prevent discrimination against sexual minorities living with the disease.

Already, a UN report on the sixth MDG states that, “In the decade since 2000, 1.1 million deaths from malaria were averted.” Similarly, with regards to HIV/Aids, it adds that, “Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with HIV continues to fall, dropping 33 per cent from 2001 to 2011.”

However, one of the UN’s specific targets, which aimed to achieve universal access to treatment for HIV/Aids by 2010, was not met, and the spread of the likes of Malaria, HIV and TB continue to gravely affect those living in the world’s poorest countries. To quote an example, it is estimated that 80% of all cases of malaria happen in just 14 countries. So much more remains to be done if this sixth MDG is to be achieved before the 2015 deadline.

If you are keen to find out more about the Millennium Development Goals and how Lattitude volunteers are helping to achieve them through the government’s ICS programme, visit us online or get in touch at [email protected].