CEO of international agricultural and development organisation Self Help Africa
CEO of international agricultural and development organisation Self Help Africa
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.
Across East Africa today, up to 20 million people are at risk of hunger and starvation because of a continuing drought against a backdrop of armed conflict. This is poverty in perhaps its cruelest form. It means scenes of heart-wrenching suffering, large-scale migration and a massive logistical effort to distribute food and other relief supplies to desperate people.
But there are many forms of poverty that rarely make the headlines. Two recent stories from our work in Northern Malawi reminded me of the hugely destructive consequences that “silent” poverty can have on people.
Tuberculosis is a disease of poverty. Almost eradicated in the Western World, it infects one-third of the world’s population. New cases of TB occur in about 1 percent of the global population each year, and an estimated 1.5 million people die from the disease annually. More than 95 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries.
Advertisement
TB and HIV/AIDS are a deadly and often a common combination. Africa has the highest global TB/HIV burden, with over 50 percent of TB sufferers in sub-Saharan Africa also carrying the HIV virus. Weaken the immune system and the risk of succumbing to a bacterium that is present in general population is heightened greatly.
46-year-old Judith Ngwira in Mlare village in Northern Malawi has TB. And so too does 64-year-old Nellie Mohango from nearby Mangamira village. For both, it isn’t so much the condition itself, than the treatments that they subsequently received that had devastating consequences.
Advertisement
Today, Judith lives with her elderly parents in their small, tin-roofed hut on the fringes of their village. She is blind and confined to a wheelchair, a situation that she blames on nerve damage that was caused by the toxic cocktail of drugs she received when undergoing medical treatment for TB and HIV, the latter contracted from the husband she has since divorced.
Her story is a tragic one. It is difficult not to feel immense sadness for a woman who now spends her days virtually housebound, with the parents she had left over 30 years ago when she went away to study, have a family, and pursue a successful career in administration.
Advertisement
“I had my own car, my home and my life in the capital Lilongwe. Things were very good, and we had three children who we were able to send to good schools, and able to prepare well for life.”
Life took its awful turn for Judith when her husband contracted HIV and transmitted the virus to her. She subsequently became infected with TB and during hospital treatment was left with the profound disabilities that she must live with today.
It was while receiving medical treatment that Nellie Mohango too was left with her disability.
While expecting her first daughter, Nellie says that she fell ill with tuberculosis. She developed Kyphosis, the medical term for “hunchback,” when undergoing treatment, and has lived with the debilitating deformity for nearly 40 years.
Today, Nellie cares for a number of orphaned nieces and nephews on her small farm, and works hard to make ends meet and provide for her extended family.
Both women receive support from Self Help Africa to increase what they can produce on their small farms. In Nellie’s case, she uses the income from the sale of crops to hire the manual labour needed to help her to run the farm, while for Judith, a herd of improved breed goats assists her elderly father in providing for his wife and dependent daughter.
Advertisement
Health care resources in Malawi are rudimentary, at best, and in rural parts of the country in particular it is not uncommon to encounter clinics with few medicines and hardly any beds for their patients.
This too is what poverty looks like. For former patients like Judith and Nellie, the low standards in developing world health care can have lasting and profound consequences.
It’s another illustration why the fight to end global poverty still has some distance to run, and also, of the many and varied forms that poverty can take in our world.
It's Another Trump-Biden Showdown — And We Need Your Help
The Future Of Democracy Is At Stake
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake. Donald Trump will face Joe Biden in the most consequential vote of our time. And HuffPost will be there, covering every twist and turn. America's future hangs in the balance. Would you consider contributing to support our journalism and keep it free for all during this critical season?
HuffPost believes news should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. We rely on readers like you to help fund our work. Any contribution you can make — even as little as $2 — goes directly toward supporting the impactful journalism that we will continue to produce this year. Thank you for being part of our story.
It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election. As we face the most consequential presidential election of our time, HuffPost is committed to bringing you up-to-date, accurate news about the 2024 race. While other outlets have retreated behind paywalls, you can trust our news will stay free.
But we can't do it without your help. Reader funding is one of the key ways we support our newsroom. Would you consider making a donation to help fund our news during this critical time? Your contributions are vital to supporting a free press.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.