Ch 14 Flashcards

1
Q

Per Capita GDP

A

● Gross Domestic Product
● The total value of all the goods/services produced in a country in one year ÷ the number of people = per capita (person)GDP

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2
Q

NGO

A

● Non-governmental organizations
○ Save the Children
○ Oxfam

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3
Q

Newly Industrializing Country

A

● Building up its industries and infrastructure

● e.g. Indonesia

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4
Q

Developing Country

A

● Does not have modern infrastructure nor many industries

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5
Q

First World

A

● Developed countries/the most wealthy countries
● “North”
● Good infrastructure; people are well-housed, healthy, and educated

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6
Q

Third World

A

● Underdeveloped countries
● “South”
● Poor infrastructure; few doctors, schools, hospitals, telephones, and railways; roads are not always paved; only cities have electricity

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7
Q

Infrastructure

A
● Includes:
○ Transportation and communication links
○ Electric power distribution systems
○ Schools
○ Hospitals
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8
Q

Highly Indebted Poor Countries

A

● At the bottom of the UN Human Development Index

●In debt to the developed nations

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9
Q

Living Standards

A
●Takes into account:
○ Health
○ Income
○ Nutrition levels
○ Life expectancy
○ Literacy
○ Status of women and children
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10
Q

Human Development Index

A

● Measured on a scale of 0.0 to 1.0

● Is a summary of the averages in life expectancy, adult literacy, and per capita GDP

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11
Q

The Poverty Cycle

A

● Marry young; few job prospects > Family is in debt > Baby born to malnourished mother > Baby’s development is slow > Lack of nutrition and medical care > Physical and mental development is slowed > Poor performance in school > Low literacy level > Low likelihood of economic success > Limited diet; poor general diet > (continues from start)

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12
Q

International Monetary Fund

A

● IMF
● A UN agency created at the end of WWII
● Provides loans and developmental assistance to help poor countries improve living standards through economic growth; encourages megaprojects

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13
Q

Structural Adjustment Programs

A

● In return for loans, IMF told the debtor countries to restructure their economies to ensure repayment.
● IMF wantedits debtor governments toencourage:
○ More foreign investment
○ Cash crops for export
○ Having some government services run by private companies
● e.g. In the 1980s, an SAP in Zambia forced the government to stop paying the subsidy on maize meal (the staple food of most Zambians), which made the price lower than the cost of production
○ Thousands of jobs were lost; those unemployed rioted

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14
Q

Multinational Companies

A

● Many of the resources of debtor countries are controlled by MNCs, which spread across multiple countries
○ e.g. Ghana grows 70% of the world’s cocoa, but they must sell to only 4 MNCsthat control the crop prices (meaning little of the profit goes back to the farmers, making it hard to pay off their debts)

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15
Q

GOBI

A

● Four methods that are simple and inexpensive that would substantially lower the rate of child deaths and save the lives of up for 20,000 children each day.
● Stands for: growth monitoring, oral rehydration therapy, breast-feeding, immunization.
● In addition to GOBI, there are the FFF programs, which stands for female education, family spacing, and food supplements.

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16
Q

UNICEF

A

● United Nation Children’s Fund
● Published the annual Progress of Nations Report (PNR) on the welfare of children
● In 2000, a new child-risk index on the PNR measured the risk of children worldwide on a scale of 0 to 100, which was based on the:
○ Mortality rate of kids under 5
○ Percentage of underweight children
○ Number that did not attend primary school
○ Numberin risk of being involved in armed conflict
○ Number in risk of getting HIV/AIDS
● Came up with the GOBI-FFF programs

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17
Q

HIV/AIDS

A

● Measured in the PNR
●HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system, which can lead to AIDS (inability to fight disease)
●No cure as of yet

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18
Q

U5MR

A

●Under-5 Mortality Rate
●Principal measure of human development
●Over halfof these deaths are due to malnutrition
● Other factors causing under-five deaths include:
○ Measles that could be controlled by vaccines
○ Poor sanitation
○ Little clean water
○ Diarrhea or malaria

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19
Q

Waterborne Diseases

A

● Diseases caused by contaminated water, which is an easy breeding ground for cholera, typhoid, malaria, leprosy, and bilharzia
● The parasites enter the body through drinking or wounds, and breed in the liver or bladder, which can affect blood and urine, leading to low energy and anaemia
● Urine samples can easily detect these diseases and tablets can cure them quickly, butthese services are hardly available in poor countries

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20
Q

Multilateral Aid

A

● Funded by multiple governments

● Involves large-scale projects such as dams

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21
Q

Tied Aid

A

● Canada helps the developing countries by giving money to them
● The developing countries have to use the money to buy products from the Canada
● Used by Pierre Trudeau in CIDA
● Bilateral aid; given with conditions attached

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22
Q

CIDA

A

● Canadian International Development Agency
● A new government body created by Pierre Trudeau in 1968
● Responsible for boosting foreign aid to less industrialized countries
● Policy of tied aid
● Aid is given through UN agencies, directly to the governments that need it

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23
Q

What is the purpose of the UN index?

A

Give a crude indication of different levels of economic and social development among the countries of the world

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24
Q

What does developed nations mean?

A

● Industrialized
● People are well-housed, healthy, and educated
● Infrastructure is well-developed

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25
Q

What does underdeveloped nations lack?

A
● Schools, doctors, and hospitals
● Roads were mainly unpaved
● Railways
● People with telephones
● Barely any cities had electrical power
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26
Q

What are the four most accepted terms to describe countries?

A

● Developed countries
● Newly industrializing countries
● Developing countries
● Highly indebted poor countries

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27
Q

Why is per capital GDP not an accurate measure?

A

If the wealth of the country is not shared among the people, the average income figure does not reflect the standard of living for the majority

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28
Q

What are things that measure standards of living?

A

● Income
● The quality of life
● Government programs and services

29
Q

Why is it difficult to compare poverty in different countries?

A

A person living in poverty in Canada has access to health care, education, and other services that do not exist for most of the poor people in developing countries

30
Q

What is the absolute poverty line in developing countries?

A

Less than one dollar per person per day

31
Q

Why is the poverty line not an accurate measure of poverty?

A

People who earn more than one dollar a day may also remain poverty-stricken

32
Q

What do critics of the World Bank absolute poverty measurement prefer to look at?

A

Individual countries and determine at what level people are unable to afford a minimum of food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, and education services

33
Q

How is poverty defined in Canada?

A

The National Council of Welfare redefined living in poverty as spending more than 56% of a person’s or family’s income on the necessities of life, such as food, shelter, and clothing

34
Q

How is poverty defined in the US?

A

● Poverty is measured against the “cost of a minimum adequate diet multiplied by three to allow for other expenses”
- It translated into an approx. per capita income of $11 per day in 1998

35
Q

What is the cycle of poverty?

A
● Baby born to a malnourished mother
● Baby's development is slowed 
● Poor nutrition and medical care 
● Physical and mental development are slowed 
● Poor performance in school
● Low literacy level 
● Reduced likelihood of economic success 
● Limited diet, poor general health 
● Marry young; few job prospects 
● Family in debt 
● Baby born to a malnourished mother
● Repeat
36
Q

What are the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank?

A

● Set up by the UN after WWII
● Provide loans and development assistance to help countries improve their standards of living through economic growth
● Encouraged governments in developing countries to engage in megaprojects, such as dam building and agricultural irrigation, to promote economic growth
- Many of these initiatives caused environmental damage and did not improve the countries’ economies

37
Q

How did the newly independent African countries fall into a series of debts after WWII?

A

● Western banks were eager to lend money in the 1960s to the African countries that were exporting minerals and agricultural products
● A world economic slowdown then led to a collapse in prices for these commodities, making repayment of the debts difficult
● Also, some of the loaned money had gone into the overseas bank accounts of corrupt dictators

38
Q

What did the IMF and the World Bank do to help African countries to pay off their debts?

A

● Lend countries the money they needed
● The IMF told the debtor countries to restructure their economies to ensure repayment
- Wanted the debtor governments to agree to encourage foreign investment, grow cash crops for export, and have some government services run by private companies
- Measures called structural adjustment programs (SAPs)

39
Q

Why is it difficult for the African countries to prosper?

A

● Many debtor countries have few natural resources or receive low prices for them on the world market
- Oversupply
- Their resources are under the control of foreign multinational companies that keep the price low
● Very little of the profit filters back to the farmers

40
Q

Why can’t the African countries improve the standard of living?

A

● The debt burden of governments means they are hard pressed to pay for services that could improve the standard of living of their people
● Many African countries have suffered natural disasters, such as floods or civil wars

41
Q

What is the agreement that was reached in 1999 to reduce the debt in African countries?

A

Cancel about $111 billion of the $354 billion owed by the highly indebted poor countries

42
Q

What is bilateral aid?

A

● Assistance from one government to another

● Has been in the form of grants, rather than loans, since 1986

43
Q

How have ten Latin American countries been allowed to repay debts?

A

Investing in environmental and other sustainable development projects in their own countries

44
Q

Why does poverty create particular hardship on women and children?

A

● Many developing countries have male-dominated societies where women/children have no/limited legal rights
- They can be treated as property
● Some women may be killed to satisfy a family’s honour
● In some tribal societies, women/children are forced to eat leftovers, after the men have eaten.
● Women in developing countries may have to work for over 12 hours a day to ensure the survival of her family.
● Women are not educated because education is often seen as a luxury exclusive to males.
- Women have much lower literacy rates
- Women are kept at home to do chores until they are married and move to their husband’s village

45
Q

What are the benefits of a woman having fewer children in her lifetime?

A

She has more time to improve her lot and that of her children.

46
Q

What do studies show about the effects of education on women?

A

● Better educated women have fewer children
- They also marry later and bear children later
● In places where women do not receive a secondary education, the average number of children is 7
- This number drops to 3 in places where women DO receive a secondary education.
- This is because they are literate, meaning that they have a better understanding of contraception, and may be able to resist family pressures to have more children.
● Children of educated women are more likely to survive
- Educated women know the importance of immunization, clean water, and good nutrition.

47
Q

Why are children often the first victims of underdevelopment?

A

● They are vulnerable to famine, disease, war, and a host of other problems
● Even if they survive the critical first five years, they often have few educational opportunities and are exploited for child labour
- Some are trapped in the sex-trade
● The high birth rates in many developing areas ensure that this problem will remain in the future

48
Q

What is the PNR?

A

● Progress of Nations Report
● Since 1990, UNICEF has published an annual PNR.
● Launched the 21th century with a new child-risk index that measures the risk of children in countries worldwide on a scale of 0-100.
● The measure is based on five factors:
- Mortality rates of children under the age of 5
- Percentage of children who are moderately or severely underweight
- Numbers of children who do not attend primary school
- Risks from armed conflict
- Risks from the disease HIV/AIDS.

49
Q

What is a principal measure of human development used by UNICEF?

A

The under-five mortality rate (U5MR).

50
Q

How large is the difference in U5MR between developing and developed countries?

A

● In some African countries, the rate is more than 50x as high as in the industrialized world.
● The difference in U5MR between developed and developing countries continues continues to widen.

51
Q

What factor accounts for more than half of the under-five deaths in developing countries?

A

● Malnutrition

52
Q

In developing countries, what are the most common causes of disease?

A

● Lack of vaccinations
● Poor sanitation
● Lack of hygiene
● Lack of clean water

53
Q

What are a few illnesses especially apparent in developing countries and how can they be prevented?

A
● Measles - Vaccines
● Gastroenteritis - Overall cleanliness
● Diarrhea - Clean water
● Malaria - Bed nets
● HIV/AIDS - Birth control/better education
54
Q

What dangerous and unstable situations are many children in the world living in?

A

● Civil wars
● Land mines
● Ethnic cleansing

55
Q

What does the 1999 Amnesty International report, In the Firing Line, say about children at war?

A

● There were at least 300,000 children and young adults under the age of 18 who were actively engaged in 36 armed conflicts around the world, many of them in Africa

56
Q

What do Amnesty International and other human rights organizations want to do in order to address children at war?

A

● They would like to outlaw the participation of these young people in armed conflict
● They would like the UN Convention on the RIghts of the Child to disallow military recruitment before the age of eighteen

57
Q

Who oppose the proposal to outlaw youth participation in war?

A

● Countries that have 16-year-old soldiers in their armies
● People who believe that a 16 or 17 year old is not considered a child
- They key issue, they argue, should be whether the involvement of young people in military activity is voluntary or not

58
Q

Why do children work?

A

To help support themselves and their families

59
Q

Why are many children working in horrible conditions?

A

There are no labour laws that regulate safety conditions or the hours that children work

60
Q

Why do many people lack safe water to drink?

A

● Open water sources are contaminated
● Rivers that supply water for human use are also used for washing and disposal of wastes
● Irrigation for agriculture takes the largest share of water supplies in the developing world–instead of drinking
● Many developing countries in the tropics have a dry season
● Aid programs and water subsidies often end up helping those who can afford to pay, leaving the poor with the filthiest water and the consequent risks of disease and death

61
Q

What are some health issues in contaminated water?

A

● Waterborne disease such as cholera, typhoid, malaria, leprosy,, and bilharzia
● Parasites in contaminated water enter the body through ingestion or cuts

62
Q

What does HIV/AIDS result in?

A

● Many productive workers die off–age group most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS
● Scarce resources will have to be used to deal with the epidemic
- Add to problems of poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition

63
Q

What is the UNAIDS?

A

● United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
● It coordinates the work of such UN bodies as UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, and the World Bank
● It helps countries respond to HIV/AIDS, and helps health workers so they can educate people and limit the transmission of the disease

64
Q

What are the major determinants of health in developing countries?

A

● Low status of women/gender inequity
● Illiteracy and limited education, particularly of girls and women
● Poverty and inequity
● Rapid population growth and rural-urban migration
● Poor nutrition/lack of food security
● Squatter settlements and poor housing
● Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation
● Environmental degradation
● Unhealthy human behaviour
● Social unrest and armed conflict
● Inadequate access to health services

65
Q

What sources do developing nations receive foreign aid from?

A

● International bodies such as the UN
● National government agencies such as the CIDA
● Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

66
Q

What is CIDA’s objective and is it successful?

A

● To work with people in developing countries and to develop the tools for them to meet their own needs
● No–it is estimated that less than 20% of Canadian development aid is spent on meeting basic human needs

67
Q

Why are some NGOs more effective than the large projects sponsored by government?

A

● NGO aid projects provide direct assistance to people who benefit from the projects

68
Q

What is the UN aid target?

A

0.7% of GDP