Good health and well-being – DDRN

Wasted at Both Ends: How the Global Food System Discards from Farm to Shelf

Sofia Kiryttopoulou — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:08:33 +0000

At a plantation in coastal Ecuador, a crate of bananas is set aside, not because it is spoiled, but because it is slightly curved in the wrong way, too small, or marked by minor blemishes. Thousands of kilometers away, in a Paris supermarket, sealed yogurt containers are emptied into a bin at the end of the day, discarded not for contamination, but because they have passed their “best before” date. Neither is unsafe. Yet both are destined for waste.

This contrast is not incidental. It reflects a deeper structural reality within the global food system, where food is routinely discarded both before and after it reaches the market. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, roughly one-third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted, while the European Commission reports over 58 million tonnes discarded annually in Europe alone.

What emerges is not a broken system, but a coordinated one: production and retail practices that generate surplus on one end and enforce selectivity on the other. The result is a continuous flow of food that is grown, transported, and ultimately discarded at different stages of the same supply chain. To understand how this dynamic takes shape, it is necessary to begin at the source: the conditions under which food is grown, selected, and often discarded long before it ever reaches global markets.

The Producer’s Burden: Invisible Waste in Peru

In export-oriented regions such as Latin America, food waste is not primarily the result of poor farming practices or environmental conditions. It is shaped by the requirements of international trade.

Global supply chains operate under strict grading systems in which the value of produce is determined by standardized criteria of size, color, and shape. Retailers in high-income markets impose detailed specifications that define what is considered marketable. Produce that deviates from these parameters, even slightly, is excluded from export channels regardless of its nutritional quality. This system effectively prioritizes visual uniformity over edibility.

For producers these requirements create a structural dilemma. Because even minor imperfections can lead to rejection, farmers are compelled to overproduce as a form of risk management. To fulfill a contract for a fixed quantity of “Class A” produce, growers must account for the proportion of their harvest that will not meet these standards.

Evidence from Peru illustrates the scale of this dynamic. A case study from the REFRESH Project documents how cosmetic specifications imposed by export markets generate substantial losses at the farm level. In some crops, rejection rates range from 10 to 40 percent depending on quality requirements. In one instance, more than 3,500 tons of edible onions were discarded in a single year because they did not meet size or shape criteria. Citrus producers face even higher levels of uncertainty, with exportability rates for certain fruits dropping to around 50 percent. When local markets are unable to absorb this surplus, rejected produce is often left to decompose or is buried, as the cost of transport exceeds its potential value.

Price volatility further intensifies these losses. Agricultural markets are highly sensitive to fluctuations in supply and demand. Periods of overproduction can lead to sharp declines in prices, making it economically unviable to harvest or distribute crops. In such conditions, farmers may leave produce in the fields, not because it lacks demand in absolute terms, but because it cannot be sold at a price that covers production and distribution costs. This reflects a broader imbalance in which producers bear the risks of market instability while operating within constraints set by distant buyers.

The environmental implications of this upstream waste are significant. Food that is never consumed still embodies the full cost of its production. Water, fertilizers, land, and labor are expended regardless of whether the crop reaches the market. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, agriculture accounts for a substantial share of global freshwater use, meaning that production losses translate directly into resource waste.

This is particularly evident in regions such as the Ica Valley in Peru, where large volumes of water are used to produce export crops that may ultimately be discarded due to market standards. Studies highlight that water-intensive food is wasted in areas already facing severe water stress, illustrating how food loss translates directly into inefficient use of scarce water resources.

The result is a system in which a significant share of food is filtered out at the very beginning of the supply chain. This upstream waste remains largely invisible to consumers, yet it forms a foundational part of the global food economy and sets the stage for further losses at the retail level.

The Retail Gatekeeper: Why Good Food Dies on the Shelf

While part of the global food waste crisis occurs on distant farms, it also continues in the climate-controlled aisles of supermarkets. In these regions, food waste is not caused by a lack of technology or storage capacity. Rather, it is the result of retail strategies that prioritize brand image, visually appealing displays, and risk avoidance over the actual consumption of food. Supermarkets function as the ultimate gatekeepers of the supply chain, and internal policies often mandate the disposal of large quantities of perfectly edible products.

One of the most significant drivers of this waste is the “aesthetic of abundance.” Retailers operate on the principle that overflowing shelves encourage purchases. This leads to a cycle of overstocking, particularly in produce, bakery, and deli sections. To maintain the appearance of abundance until closing time, stores stock more than they can reasonably expect to sell. In one case study of a supermarket in Poland, a single store generated 3.3 tonnes of food waste in just two weeks, with meat, fruits, and vegetables comprising more than half of the discarded volume. Often, it is cheaper for retailers to discard surplus than to risk a half-empty shelf affecting customer perception.

Date-label practices further exacerbate the problem. “Use By” dates indicate food safety, while “Best Before” dates refer only to quality. Many retail policies fail to distinguish between the two. Once a product reaches its “Best Before” date, it is frequently removed and discarded, even if it remains safe to consume. Research by WRAP shows that consumer confusion over date labels drives significant household waste, but the cycle begins with retailers, whose policies often prevent discounts or donations of items approaching these thresholds. Products such as yogurt, cheese, and bread are routinely disposed of despite being perfectly edible.

Policy interventions provide important examples of how this dynamic can be addressed. In 2016, France passed the Loi Garot, making it illegal for supermarkets over a certain size to destroy unsold food. Large grocers are now required to establish donation contracts with charities. Before the law, many stores destroyed edible products to prevent “dumpster diving.” While the legislation has increased food donations, over-ordering and waste at the retail level persist.

The retail system treats food as a high-volume, low-margin commodity where disposal functions as a routine inventory management tool. When a supermarket discards a crate of aged produce, it is not only wasting food. The energy, labor, water, and transportation that brought it to the shelf—including scarce water from Peru’s Ica Valley—is lost. The retail gatekeeper completes a cycle that began thousands of miles away, linking upstream overproduction to downstream disposal. By prioritizing a flawless shopping experience over resource efficiency, the system guarantees that millions of tonnes of food are grown, transported, and ultimately discarded.

Environmental Costs and Pathways Forward

The cumulative effect of waste at both ends of the supply chain is staggering. Globally, if food waste were a country, it would rank as the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, largely due to methane released from decomposing organic matter in landfills. Each discarded item carries the embedded energy, water, and labor that went into its production, transport, and storage. In regions like Peru’s Ica Valley, water scarcity is severe, yet millions of cubic meters are used annually to grow crops that never reach consumers. Similarly, fuel, fertilizer, and packaging invested in overproduced or rejected food in Latin America and the energy used to ship it thousands of miles to Europe or North America are effectively wasted, amplifying both carbon and resource footprints.

Addressing this dual-hemisphere crisis requires structural change. Shortening supply chains through direct-to-consumer models or subscription services for “ugly” produce allows farmers to sell imperfect but nutritious crops that would otherwise be discarded. Reforming cosmetic standards can significantly reduce waste at the production stage and ensure more food reaches markets while protecting both revenue and resources. On the retail side, clearer guidance on date labels and mandatory donation policies, such as France’s Loi Garot, can prevent edible food from being thrown away unnecessarily. Greater transparency in contracts between retailers and producers could reduce overproduction and distribute risk more evenly across the chain.

Reducing food waste is not a matter of isolated fixes but of rethinking the value of food. Each discarded item represents lost labor, water, energy, and land, resources concentrated in producing regions but wasted globally. Combining supply chain reforms, policy interventions, and consumer education can shift the system from a cycle of disposal to one that respects the true cost of food production. Tackling this challenge benefits both the environment and the communities that grow the food, creating a more equitable and sustainable global food system.

Sofia Kiryttopoulou is studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies. Specialization: Politics and Law, at University of Macedonia | Thessaloniki, Greece.

Danish Science Festival 2026 Event – Debate on Migration and Mental Health

Manar Sadkou — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 11:17:29 +0000

Click for Danish Time: 21 April at 7.30pm-9.30pm FREE ADMISSION

Join us for an evening debate featuring presentations from researchers exploring the relationship between migration and mental health:

(1) Anthropologist, Assistent Prof. Gabriel Antonio Brown, Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies, Centre for Culture and the Mind, University of Copenhagen. He will present Migration and Mental health in Latin America: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives.

(2) PostDoc Ahlam Chemlali, Department of Politics and Society, Aalborg Universitet. She will discuss her fieldwork on everyday life in transit and the lived experiences of migrants.

(3) Journalist Lise Josefsen Hermann tells about her own experiences reporting from the Global South. She will share insights from her work interviewing migrants for media and educational purposes, including materials used in Danish upper secondary schools. Lise Josefsen Hermann will also moderate the final debate and encourage questions from the audience throughout the event.

Please register by emailing your name to info@ddrn.dk Organizer: Danish Development Research Network (DDRN.dk) Read also: https://ddrn.dk/6773/; https://ddrn.dk/12108/; https://ddrn.dk/11706/; https://ddrn.dk/6754/

Venue: UNION, Nørre Allé 7, 2200 Cph.

Forskningens Døgn 2026 Debat: Migration og Mental Sundhed

Arne Wangel — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 13:34:06 +0000

Tid: 21.april 2026 kl. 19.30-21.30 GRATIS ADGANG

– Kom til debatarrangement med oplæg fra forskere:

(1) Antropolog, Adjunkt Gabriel Antonio Brown, Institut for Engelsk, Germansk og Romansk, Centre for Culture and the Mind, Københavns Universitet, fortæller om latinamerikanske perspektiver på mental sundhed og dens sammenhæng med migration.

(2) PostDoc Ahlam Chemlali, Dept. of Politics and Society, Aalborg Universitet fortæller om sit feltstudie af dagligt liv i transit.

(3) Journalist Lise Josefsen Hermann fortæller om egne erfaringer fra et omfattende journalistisk virke i det Globale Syd, inklusiv interviews af migranter til brug i medier og i gymnasier. Lise opfordrer samtidig publikum til at stille spørgsmål undervejs og modererer den afsluttende debat.

Tilmelding: Send e-mail med navn til info@ddrn.dk

Arrangør: Danish Development Research Network (DDRN.dk)

Læs også: https://ddrn.dk/6773/; https://ddrn.dk/12108/; https://ddrn.dk/11706/; https://ddrn.dk/6754/

Sted: UNION, Nørre Allé 7, 2200 Kbh. N.

How Space Shapes Childhood

Ola Sobh — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 22:05:25 +0000

Why Space Matters for Displaced Childhoods?

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an estimated 117.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide by the end of 2023, including 47 million children under the age of 18. Millions of children are therefore growing up in displacement, often in environments that were never designed for childhood.

At the same time, United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF reports that in Syria, reported that 3 million children are internally displaced, with millions out of school or at risk of dropping out. While these figures describe scale, they do not explain how displacement is lived day to day, especially in the spaces where children sleep, wait, and play. For the millions of children behind these figure, those spaces are not just housing; they shape, safety, social and emotional wellbeing, This is where SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) becomes relevant, not only as healthcare access, but as the daily lived conditions that determine children’s wellbeing.
This article asks what happens to children’s social lives when the spaces around them were never designed with childhood in mind. It argues that in both Sweden and northern Syria, space operates like a quiet form of governance that regulates children’s movement, limits who they can gather with, and makes belonging fragile which impacts their wellbeing. To examine this, the article draws on qualitative interview material collected for a 2024 master’s thesis, Challenging Childhoods: Children in Refugee Shelters in Sweden and Syria.

Two Settings, Same Mechanism: Space as Rule

Across both settings, space shapes children’s social lives through movement rules: (where children are allowed or not allowed to be), access to child friendly spaces (where play and friendships can happen), and routine stability (mainly schooling, which determines whether social ties can form and last). What is at stake here is when space functions through permissions and prohibitions, play becomes conditional rather than supported despite the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s Article 31 of children’s right to play.

At first glance, Sweden and Syria represent two completely different displacement realities. However, both reveal how physical environments profoundly shape childhood. In Sweden, refugee shelters are often repurposed buildings like old hotels or unused institutional facilities rented by the Migration Agency. They provide water, electricity, and heating, but space is extremely limited. Rooms often contain two bunk beds and hardly a chair, and younger children are frequently not allowed to move freely. As one worker emphasized repeatedly, “the environment is very limited,” keeping children indoors for most of the day. With no shared spaces and restricted movement, children’s social life in Sweden is pushed indoors and becomes harder to sustain beyond small, unstable interactions.
The tension is clear: even in a welfare state like Sweden, displaced children’s childhoods can be restricted by how institutions manage space. These restrictions are shaped by factors such as, institutional arrangements housing rules and routines, and risk management that prioritise efficiency and adult order over children’s social needs.

In northern Syria, displacement takes place in open fields and between tents with almost no permanent infrastructure with weather intensifying hardship: winter floods turn the camp paths into deep mud, while summer brings dust and extreme heat. Teachers described children arriving at school “covered in red mud,” worried that their parents would punish them for ruining their clothes. Overcrowding is severe, privacy in tents is non-existent, and daily life is marked by instability. One participant put it, “The camp environment leaves a visible trace on the children’s faces and feet.”

Despite their differences, both contexts share one truth: space is not neutral. For children, it shows up as permissions and prohibitions, whether they can leave, where they can gather, how loudly they can play, and how quickly adults shut down noise and gatherings.

Harsh Living Conditions and Everyday Impacts

Children’s physical and emotional wellbeing is deeply affected by the environments they inhabit, as in Sweden where, overcrowded rooms, the absence of common space in addition to restrictions of movement, create what workers described as an “uninviting” atmosphere. These confinements shrink children’s opportunities to meet others, play freely, and build everyday friendships, Consequently, this affects their wellbeing.

Different in severity, similar in effect: children’s wellbeing is shaped by how space constrains movement, privacy, and social contact. In Syria on the other hand, hardship is far more severe. Interviewees described constant cycles of mud, heat, dust, and flooding. Children fall on their way to school, their books and shoes ruined, their clothes soaked. One teacher recalled how a girl cried in class because she feared her mother’s reaction to her muddy clothes.
The impacts of shelter spaces go beyond weather and clothing. A teacher described a young child experience during visiting a teacher’s home, the girl did not recognise a kitchen sink and asked her mother “what is that?” This unsettling moment reveals how deprivation from basic domestic routines can reshape what children take for granted as everyday life.
In both settings, these conditions shape children’s sense of safety, routine, and dignity and they redefine what children come to accept as normal.

When There is Nowhere to Gather
Across both contexts, one issue stood out clearly: the absence of safe, child friendly spaces.

In Sweden, the only designated child space is a playroom run by Save the Children Sweden volunteers opened only once a week. This provided a rare child centred space, but its limited availability meant that play and social life still had to be negotiated with staff and adults in shared indoor areas the rest of the week resulting to children’s social life being squeezed into leftover spaces such as rooms, hallways when staff can’t see them, rather than having stable places designed for play and connection.
In Syria, the situation is harsher. With no designated play areas, children use narrow gaps between tents, dusty roads, and nearby fields as makeshift playgrounds often unsafe and contested. Learning spaces might have extremely basic activity area, while others offer hazardous outdoor spaces where previous injuries forced teachers to remove playing structures like slides altogether.

Whether it’s a monitored hallway or between tents, play happens only where it is allowed, and when play depends on whatever space is left, children’s social development becomes something they must negotiate. This is a rights issue: target 7 of SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities calls for “universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children.” In displacement, that public space is often a corridor, a tent path, or an unsafe field space that limit who children can meet and how they can play.

School as the Only Stable Social Space

Space also impacts access to education in unequal ways in refugee shelters. In Sweden, many children in temporary shelters cannot attend school because they lack a stable address or personal identification number. Families often hesitate to enrol their children because relocation can happen at any moment. As one worker explained, “They are waiting without any schooling.” Thus, When the playroom is the only social space, structured activities can compete with children’s need for free play and peer time.
In Syria, schools exist inside camps, but access remains extremely fragile. rooms built with low ceilings of tent fabric, overcrowded quickly leads to limited ventilation, making it harder for children to focus, stay in class, and keep school as a stable social space.
Additionally, hazard list is long. Children walk long distances through mud, heat, and rain. Also, stray dogs, unsafe streets crossings, and floodings pose daily dangers. Many miss school to work in agriculture with their families. Poverty prevents parents from providing shoes, clothes, or school materials. However, teachers consistently reported children describing school as the “most pleasant place” because it offers them rare moments of routine and stability in camp life.

Across both contexts, school is a fragile opportunity that is easily interrupted several factors. When school is interrupted or inaccessible, children lose more than learning time, they lose one of the few spaces where peer relationships, language practice, and everyday belonging can become stable.

Friendships and Social Life Under Physical Constraint

Children’s social relationships in refugee shelters are shaped by space, proximity, language, age, gender, and cultural background and in both settings children constantly negotiate where and how they are allowed to socialize.

In Sweden, play is rare and often pushed into corridors, where staff intervene and send children back to their rooms. Without stable schooling and shared common spaces, children’s social life depends largely on adult-organised opportunities to meet.
In Syria, social life of children is often fragile as the spaces where they can play safely, and with whom, are constantly negotiated. Proximity is decisive, children play with neighbours, relatives who live close, even then play can be challenging as adults shout at them when the ball falls on a tent or gets inside one and in other cases chase them out of fields to protect crops. In this context, children’s play should not be read as evidence that conditions are adequate, but as adaptive practices that emerge despite limited compliance with Article 31 of the CRC.

Children Reclaiming Spaces

Despite restrictions, children show clear agency, not by escaping constraints, but by negotiating them whether in Sweden shelter where children repurpose limited indoor space for play, adapt rules to include one another, and ask for more access to child-friendly space, or in Syrian camp where children similarly improvise with whatever is available and adjust quickly when adults intervene, shifting location or changing games.

Here, adaptation is not symbolic, it is survival, creativity, and resistance integrated in everyday life. However, this agency should not be romanticised as children’s creativity often shows what they are forced to compensate for, specially within such environments that even basic life conditions are not available.

From Adaptation to Responsibility

Rather than relying on children’s ability to adapt to extreme situations, Life environments that better support everyday childhood. This includes shelter conditions that offer adequate space, and a basic level of privacy, as well as better protection from heat, flooding, and overcrowding. Child friendly spaces also matter not only in principle, but in practice: when play areas are consistently accessible, rather than dependent on intermittent volunteer presence, children have better opportunities for social interactions and emotional development. Education is another key space where flexibility matters. Systems that allow children remain connected to schooling despite frequent movement can help preserve routines and peer relationships and consequently children’s wellbeing. In camp settings, safe routes and basics like season proof living spaces and classrooms make school attendance possible throughout the year.

Finally, refugee shelters shape childhood in practical, everyday ways: they decide where children can move, where they can gather, and whether routines like school can stabilise social life. While children adapt with creativity, it often reveals what they are forced to compensate for. The 2030 Agenda’s promise to “leave no one behind” only becomes real when shelter design, play spaces, and school access are treated as part of children’s wellbeing not as optional extras. So, if space shapes childhood, then reimagining displacement spaces is a shared responsibility.

Ola Sobh is Master’s student in Social Sciences – Child Studies at Linköping University, Sweden, and DDRN Intern.

Study Reveals How COVID-19 Made Young People in Northern Uganda More Vulnerable

William Odinga Balikuddembe — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 15:19:02 +0000

COVID-19 may now feel like a distant memory for many Ugandans following the full reopening of the economy in January 2022, yet its impacts remain visible in the social and economic hardships they exacerbated. In northern Uganda, recent research from Gulu University shows that adolescents and youth were among the most affected.

The study, Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Youth and Adolescent Reproductive Health in Northern Uganda (CONSCOV), found that the pandemic and its control measures—such as lockdowns and prolonged school closures—increased the risks of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancies, early marriage especially among girls, and gender-based violence.

Beyond these reproductive health impacts, the study also exposed underlying social issues that often go unnoticed, including the increasing vulnerability of boys and a widening parenting gap. The study found that many parents had stepped back from their roles, assuming that teachers were responsible for their children’s wellbeing since most of their time was spent at school.

The study, conducted between April 2022 and March 2025 in Gulu City and in the refugee-hosting districts of Adjumani and Obongi, was carried out by a consortium led by Gulu University with the University of Copenhagen, Gulu Regional Referral Hospital (GRRH), and Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU). It was funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

The study’s approach combined data collection with reproductive health education, counselling, and, in some cases, testing and treatment. These services were delivered by health professionals, with particular attention to vulnerable groups such as street children and sex workers.

“Uganda, like much of Africa, has a very young population. This research targeted young people and their reproductive health—an area that is often neglected. If we neglect their reproductive health, their future is doomed,” said Dr. Agatha Alidri, the Project Investigator (PI).

“We hit our target and went beyond it. We reached more than 6,000 adolescents and youth, including refugees. We engaged with 30 schools in the two refugee-hosting districts, yet our initial target there was only 10. The demand for CONSCOV services was overwhelming,” she added.

The findings:

Increased Fertile Ground for Infections

With schools closed, adolescents and youth who had previously been protected by structured learning environments suddenly had more idle time, fewer safeguards, and greater exposure to risky sexual behaviour. Economic hardships compounded this, heightening the risk of transactional sex.

Data from GRRH, for example, showed a steady HIV prevalence of 3% among individuals below 19 years in Gulu City from 2019 through the lockdown years of 2020–2021, before dropping to 2% in 2022. In Gulu District (rural Gulu), prevalence was 1% in 2019, then rose to 2% and remained steady through 2020–2022. It was, however, noted that most young people in that age bracket were not testing for HIV. In addition, movement restrictions during the lockdown prevented others from reaching hospital for testing.

That stated, statistics on pregnancy and abortion highlight increased unprotected sex, which raises the risk of STIs such as gonorrhoea, syphilis, HIV, hepatitis B, genital herpes, and human papillomavirus:

The number of girls aged 10–19 years from Gulu District attending their first antenatal visit at GRRH rose from 1,122 in 2019 (pre-lockdown) to 1,150 in 2020, 1,261 in 2021, and 1,403 in 2022, before dropping to 1,019 in 2023.
A similar trend was observed among women from Gulu District aged 20–24 years: first antenatal visits increased from 1,377 in 2019 to 1,477 in 2020, 1,597 in 2021, and 1,774 in 2022, before declining to 1,492 in 2023. This trend could mean that after the lockdown more girls were now able to access SRH services.
Data from the RHU facility in Gulu revealed sharp increases in post-abortion care: from 1,051 cases in 2020, to 1,626 in 2021, peaking at 1,755 in 2022, before falling to 1,295 in 2023 when the country had returned to normal.

These figures, though alarming, tell only part of the story. Illegal and unsafe abortions remain common in Uganda, with many young people seeking post-abortion care only when severe complications arise. As a result, the true scale of unprotected sexual activity and its consequences during the lockdown years is likely much higher.

Gender-based violence

Gender-based violence—manifested in rape, defilement, incest, forced marriage, domestic violence, and other forms—was already widespread in the region, which continues to struggle with the legacy of a two-decade war that left communities fragile, with material losses, disrupted livelihoods, and deep psychological scars.

COVID-19 restrictions forced learners and their parents to stay home. Families lost income as jobs and businesses were disrupted, creating severe social and economic stress.

Communities reported increased GBV among adolescents and youth, driven by substance abuse (alcohol and illicit drugs), idleness, economic hardship, and weak parental supervision. Prolonged confinement also exposed young people to frequent parental conflicts and, in some cases, household violence.

Cases of defilement were reportedly very high but widely underreported due to stigma and, at times, parental preference for informal settlements, often involving payments from the perpetrator. Even so, despite movement restrictions, police records still captured significant numbers.

At Amuru Police Station, for example, defilement cases rose from 35 in 2019 to 57 in 2020 and 85 in 2021, before dropping to 58 in 2022—indicating increased rates during the lockdown years. While Gulu, Nwoya, and Omoro did not exhibit the same rising trend, their numbers remained high: Gulu recorded 102 cases in 2019, 84 in 2020, 71 in 2021, and 45 in 2022.

Domestic violence also surged during lockdowns, with both children and adults experiencing physical and psychological abuse. In Gulu City, for example, recorded domestic violence cases rose from 248 in 2020 to 407 in 2022.

Schools among hardest hit

COVID-19 disrupted Uganda’s school cycle for nearly two years, exposing learners, teachers, and school managers in northern Uganda to severe social and economic challenges. Many learners did not return when schools reopened, some teachers left the profession, and several schools did not reopen at all.

Urban schools experienced lower attendance after reopening, while peri-urban and rural schools reported increased enrolment. This shift was partly due to families relocating from towns, as sustaining urban livelihoods became difficult during the lockdown.

Learning loss was widespread. Many pupils reported forgetting previously learned content or struggling to comprehend new material. At Atede Primary School in Gulu City, for example, when learners were asked to complete the sentence “When I returned to school after the lockdown…”, more than 60 percent said they had forgotten what they had learned or now found learning difficult.

Early marriages and teenage pregnancies increased substantially. In refugee-hosting areas such as Obongi and Adjumani, some schools established breastfeeding corners to support girls who returned to class while nursing babies born during the lockdown.

School infrastructure—including buildings, benches, and tables—was vandalised during the prolonged closure. Many teachers turned to alternative sources of income, and some have since abandoned the profession entirely, opting to work in the informal sector as motorcycle taxi riders or roadside vendors.

Other key findings

Researchers also found that many schools lack the capacity—both in staffing and infrastructure—to provide adequate Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) education and support. This gap leaves adolescents and youth vulnerable to early pregnancies, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and broader social risks such as school dropout, gender-based violence, child marriage, exploitation, and substance abuse.

The boy-child, traditionally regarded as the pillar of the household, now experiences harsher parenting, fewer educational resources, and limited emotional support compared to girls. Many boys struggle with self-expression, low self-esteem, and disengagement. While affirmative action for girls has been essential in addressing historical inequalities, it has unintentionally left some boys feeling unsupported and disempowered.

At Laliya Primary School, researchers observed that girls were significantly more expressive than boys during an open interaction with Upper Primary learners. More than 20 girls actively participated by answering questions or making comments, whereas only one boy spoke, even after extensive prompting.

Out of the 50 schools visited, the only exception was Pagirinya Secondary School in Adjumani, where boys demonstrated confidence and participated equally with girls. According to the Refugee Desk Officer for Adjumani, Mr. Titus Jogo, this was partly due to the presence of many partner organisations implementing activities in the Pagirinya settlement. The school is easily accessible as it sits just a few metres off the Atiak–Adjumani road.

The study further revealed that many adolescents and youth avoid health centres because of rude or insensitive behaviour from health workers. As a result, they turn to informal sources of care, including drug shops and herbalists. Health workers who participated in the research acknowledged that the training and experience gained from working alongside university researchers had transformed their approach to service delivery.

“I have learnt that it is not the number of patients that matters; it is the quality of the service. We have learnt to give time to clients. We have learnt to go deeper into the problem of the patient. We have learnt to critically listen to them,” said Richard Musasizi of GRRH, as quoted in a policy brief by the research team titled “Health is Social: Uganda’s Health Services Require a Client-Friendly Approach.”

The researchers are now publishing a series of policy briefs to communicate these findings, offering recommendations that span family, community, and school practices, as well as national policy reforms in health and education. Their broader message is a call for collective action at all levels of society to safeguard the well-being of adolescents and youth. The full set of policy briefs will be accessible through the Building Stronger Universities (BSU) website in January 2026.

William Odinga Balikuddembe is a science journalist based in Kampala, Uganda, and the Chairman of Uganda Science Journalists’ Association (USJA).

Nordic Talks: Fostering Equitable Nordic South Research Partnerships for the SDGs

Yiling Lyu — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 04:37:42 +0000

The Nordic Talks series, funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, serves as a vital platform for dialogue and knowledge exchange between Nordic and Global South researchers, focusing on practical and policy-oriented solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The three sessions provided rich insights into diverse yet interconnected themes: direct cash transfers, research capacity building, and sustainable agricultural practices. These discussions highlight a crucial foundation: that mutual dialogue is a powerful bridge connecting the Global North and South.

The first talk, “Just give all the money to the poor?”, challenges conventional development aid models by exploring the potential of social cash transfers. While this idea sounds promising, the insight is vital: aid must be part of a more concrete, grounded plan. True understanding comes not only from talks but from deeper discourses and shared experiences. This means listening beyond researchers to include youth voices and the perspectives of normal folks, ensuring solutions are co-created and truly responsive to local needs.

The second talk, “Building research capacity for sustainability assessment in Tanzania”, underscores the importance of long-term institutional collaboration. The partnership between the University of Southern Denmark and Sokoine University of Agriculture exemplifies how knowledge transfer can empower Southern institutions to lead sustainability efforts. To build on this, we must encourage more than conversations; we should foster tangible exchange programs. Sending enthusiastic students from the North to study and live in the South, and vice versa, would create a generation of practitioners with firsthand understanding, designing solutions from the ground up rather than from the air.

The third talk, “Reducing pesticides in agriculture in Nepal”, brings together expertise from Nepal and Denmark to tackle the urgent issue of pesticide overuse. This holistic approach shows that environmental sustainability and human well-being are deeply intertwined. It reinforces the idea that achieving a better world requires this kind of practical, cross continental partnership focused on specific challenges.

Together, these talks illustrate the value of Nordic South research partnerships as a model of mutual learning and shared commitment. The way forward must involve expanding these dialogues to include a wider range of voices, especially youth, and creating concrete mechanisms for engagement, such as student exchanges and community-based projects. By doing so, we move beyond theory to foster the deep, practical understanding necessary to achieve the SDGs and create a more equitable and sustainable world for all.

Yiling Lyu is a Master student at University of Copenhagen with a major in African Studies, and a DDRN intern.

CLICK on image below to listen to a Nordic Talk!

Reducing Chemical Pesticides in Agriculture in Nepal – a Planetary Health Issue

Lise Josefsen Hermann — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 15:26:14 +0000

Integrated pest management and nature-based solutions is an urgent matter to reduce the dangerous use of chemical pesticides in the production of most of our food worldwide. Nepali Professor Sundar Tiwari from Bharatpur, Nepal, dialogues with Danish Erik Jørs, associate professor in occupational medicine.

How can the use of chemical pesticides be reduced drastically worldwide without affecting the production? What consequences do these pesticides have for farmers and consumers health? And how does it affect the planetary health?

That are some of the points discussed by the Nepali researcher and professor Sundar Tiwari from Agriculture and Forestry University in Bharatpur, Nepal, who has been specializing for years in biological pest control and sustainable agriculture. In a recent recorded podcast, a part of the Nordic Talks series, he dialogues with Danish Erik Jørs, a senior physician and associate professor in occupational medicine at Odense University Hospital and University of Southern Denmark, who a large part of his working life has spent leveling global inequality in countries like Nepal, Uganda and Bolivia, focusing on pesticide poisoning in several parts of the world.

Nordic talks are dedicated to addressing the UN’s sustainable development goals and is a series of talks addressing the biggest global challenges through conversations with some of the brightest minds in the Nordics and the counterparts from around the world.

Sundar Tiwari has been working with biological pest control methods and has also been involved in research in Nepal focusing on nature-based solutions as an alternative measure to pesticides. And then he has been engaged – together with Erik Jørs – in training of farmers.

Erik Jørs has been working with pesticides since 2001, where he started a collaboration with Bolivia due to a high number of human poisonings by chemical pesticides. Later on, he started out in Uganda and Nepal.

“The extensive use of chemical pesticides is of global concern, because people are facing many challenges in agriculture and especially in the intensive agriculture they are using high dose of pesticides, which are going to affect our whole ecosystem, society, farming communities including environment and biodiversity, “ says Sundar Tiwari and continues: “People are affected by cancer in many Nepalese villages and we have been facing many environmental challenges – we are losing our aquatic biodiversity. We cannot see fish in our rivers and streams. We are losing our bees, which are very important for pollination, and also some butterflies. We’re losing these good insects, and that’s going to affect our ecosystem and our biodiversity,” explains Sundar Tiwari.

Erik Jørs has especially been focusing on farmer’s health related to the use of chemical pesticides: “…because every time they go to the field and they might have contamination of the chemical pesticide. In short run the farmers they might experience vomiting and other health related issues. But in long run this pesticide contamination and everyday consumption of the pesticide is going to affect their whole health system including cancer, blood cancer, breast cancer etc. These are some health-related issues in case of the farmers,” explains Erik Jørs.

But he is also very worried about the environmental affectation: ”It’s actually planetary health that we are talking about. It’s not only affecting the health of humans – causing deaths and poisonings, nervous diseases, cancer, problems with the fertility and so on, but it’s also affecting the fertility of the land and the preservation of the land where we are growing our food. So, if we can’t grow the amounts of food we want due to problems pesticides killing the good insects which are maintaining the ground fertile, then we will have problems with the with the lower harvests and maybe even starvation,” says Erik.

According to Sundar Tiwari, the majority of farmers in Nepal are still practicing traditional farming, but there is a big challenge or pressure created by many people migrating from the rural to urban areas, where people are focusing on increasing the production. Traditional farming has many good practices to learn from:

“They have their own practice of the cultivation like they use a local variety. They use mixed cropping, intercropping and they have a very good mechanism of maintaining the biodiversity. So, they also use some bio pesticide in local level using many plant materials together and they make a solution and they spray. So, this is a kind of biological pest control,” says Sundar Tiwari.

An important and well-known tool in the work of reducing the use of pesticides is the so-called integrated pest management – a principle promoted for years by UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization, FAO. Both Erik and Sundar have been working according to those principles.

“We teach farmers as far as possible to avoid chemicals. It’s cheaper for them and often it’s not necessary to spray with pesticides. But farmers need to know for example, if the insects in their field are beneficial or harmful to the crops, so they don’t spray the beneficial ones. And then they should use traditional methods, good farming practices including selection of the best seeds, how to water the plants when they are growing and give maybe traditional manure from the cows or whatever they have available to them,” says Erik Jørs and Sundar continues:

“So, we are integrating all methods, whatever available to the farmers. For example, seed selection. If you have a good seed, it is going to be germinated very well, and it’s can be very healthy. And the healthy plant is not going to be attacked as easily by insects and diseases. If there is no insects and diseases, then farmers are not using chemical pesticide. Similarly, if you have a very good fertilizer in the soil, for example, potash or some silica, so if you integrate into the nitrogen and that crop is very healthy. That is integrated pest management. We integrate all methods so that we can reduce the pest population in the farm. The nature is full of biological control, but we are wiping out that biological control agent from the nature because of the chemical pesticide,” says Sundar Tiwari.

Also, with a consumer perspective there is a great advantage of trying to avoid the chemical pesticides in our food production: “We have tested different food items and, in many cases, we have actually found the maximum residue levels of pesticides (by WHO) have been surpassed in many cases. That means, that there is a danger for human health. Not only for the farmer spraying but also for the consumers. Nowadays we are talking a lot in Denmark about the residues of pesticides in our drinking water. And in many of the wells, pesticides have poisoned our drinking water and now we are drinking our water but contaminated with pesticides,” tells Erik Jørs.

“In Bolivia we found that children who have been exposed to pesticides during their mother’s pregnancy they do not perform as well as children without that pesticide exposure during pregnancy. So, we also have to think about the future generation when we talk about pesticides and prevention of poisonings. An important issue if we want farmers to reduce the use of pesticide and use pesticides safely when needed,” says Erik – who underlines, that at the from his perspective, it is not necessary to make radical changes and it is important to take social issues into account:

“Integrated pest management doesn’t say no to pesticides, but they say minimize the use and do only use pesticides if you are in the danger of losing your crop. Many farmers in low-income countries cannot afford to lose their crop. Then they will starve and eventually suffer a lot from that. So, they have to reach out for the ultimate solution. If they can’t find another way to combat the pest or they have a big attack of pest and they can use pesticides. But they must protect themselves and they must use the pesticide in a proper manner,” says Erik.

“It’s necessary with interdisciplinary work collaboration to minimize this problem. Many people, many organizations have been working trying to reduce pesticides, but I think it’s also very important that government prohibit the most toxic ones and demands that the farmers gets educated and take courses in proper handling of pesticides. Many low-income countries want to be able to feed themselves and be able to grow crops that can be exported. But you have to put rules on that. For example, in the EU, we control the food coming from Africa, or other parts of the world to see if they comply with the maximum residue levels that we have in the EU. I think it’s important with some kind of political strong engagement. And we have the FAO, we have the WHO, they have their guideline on this. But it’s difficult because there’s also a strong lobby from the industry producing pesticides,” says Erik.

He mentions a responsibility from the financial system: “In some cases, loans to farmers are tied to the use of pesticides. The bank wants to reassure that the loan is paid back. So, they don’t want the farmer who take a loan to grow this crop, to lose it. So, the deal is: Okay, you can have the loan, only if you guarantee that you buy this packet of pesticides too. That is an unhealthy policy to promote. So political leadership is crucial if we want to reduce the use and amount of pesticides used, “ says Erik Jørs.

And it is urgent to make a shift in the commodities production worldwide, because as many scientific studies documents, it is not sustainable if we just continue business as usual: “If we continue this farming practice we will face a human, biodiversity and environmental crisis. Research also says pesticide use contributes to increase of non-communicable disease to human beings. In the end it will affect the food and nutrition security. And if our environment is polluted, our water, air and soil is polluted, then what happen? Then you cannot get a good future. Our children will be affected. Future generations will be affected. We will be sick. The whole ecosystems will be affected by chemical pesticides,” warns Sundar Tiwari.

“If we don’t minimize the use of pesticides, then we’ll end up with problems like infertile soils, lack of bees to pollinate our plants and grow the crops. We will end up with many more poisonings especially in low-income countries. So, I really think it’s time to make a big effort and swap to more ecological farming. Not saying that we totally can avoid the use of pesticides, but at least we can minimize it a lot;” said Erik Jørs.

Lise Josefsen Hermann is a freelance journalist who has been reporting from Latin America for 15 years. She has received grants from Earth Journalism Fund, GABO Foundation, Journalism Fund, National Geographic and Pulitzer among others. Her work has been published in media like Al Jazeera, BBC, Danwatch, Dialogue Earth (former China Dialogue), Deutsche Welle, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, El País, New York Times, and Undark Magazine.

Nepali researcher and professor Sundar Tiwari from Agriculture and Forestry University in Bharatpur, Nepal, who has been specializing for years in biological pest control and sustainable agriculture in dialogue with Danish Erik Jørs, a senior physician and associate professor in occupational medicine at Odense University Hospital and University of Southern Denmark.

https://ddrn.dk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Nordic-Talks-Jors-og-Sundar.mp3

Charcoal Consumption in East Africa: A Climate Change Dilemma

Adrian Ganic — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 07:53:19 +0000

The fight against climate change demands that nations decarbonise their energy grids, but this transition puts contradictory pressures on many Global South countries. For instance, charcoal is the primary energy source for households in Tanzania and Uganda, dictating the social and political economy of livelihoods, gender relations, informal economies, ethnic relations and private sector growth. A sudden transition away from charcoal risks overlooking such complex dynamics.

To investigate these structures, Copenhagen University has partnered with Makerere University, Uganda, and St. Augustine University of Tanzania—receiving Danida funding for a four-year project (2023–2027) called Charcoal Conflict in Climate Change’s Decarbonisation Dilemmas: Knots of Livelihood, Nutrition, Communities, Gender, Migration & Energy in East Africa. The project includes extensive fieldwork in Tanzania and Uganda and aims to shape ideas on climate justice and global policies by centring voices from the Global South.

The initiative is led by Ole Wæver, Professor of Political Science at Copenhagen University and head of the Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts (CRIC).

DDRN recently interviewed Dr Susan Mlangwa, post-doctoral research fellow for the Charcoal Conflict project and lead investigator, Tanzania, part-time lecturer at St. Augustine University, and deputy country director for Tanzania at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, as well as Dr Sylvie Namwase, lead investigator for Uganda, lecturer at Makerere University School of Law, and post-doctoral research fellow at the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC), Makerere University.

This is the second research collaboration between Dr Wæver and Dr Namwase. They previously cooperated on a project on militarisation, sustainable growth and peace in Uganda, which concluded in 2024.

The importance of studying charcoal consumption in Tanzania and Uganda

Q: So, Dr Susan, you notified the team about the call for proposals?

Dr Mlangwa: Yes. Some of my colleagues, actually past colleagues of my late husband, would always send me calls for such projects. And, this time, when they shared a call, I remembered that Sylvie was working in Denmark. So why not give it a try?

After finishing my PhD, I worked with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs as the head of research and evaluation and continued to work on projects advancing [human] agency in terms of [disease] prevention behaviour. Not only through what we get from institutions, NGOs, hospitals and educators. But also what the peoples’ prevention initiatives themselves say about those interventions. Rather than imposing a change in social behaviour, you should actually work with the people themselves to understand how it can work better.

When we conceived this project, I saw myself looking at the same area of my expertise: How are the people navigating energy transitions? Are they doing it through what they’ve been told to do, or is there a level of agency going on?

Dr Namwase: It’s a lot that we are unpacking. It is the dilemmas of the energy transition within the broader context of climate change and we are exploring these issues from a multidisciplinary perspective.

It’s three universities, and each team is bringing a unique perspective. The University of Copenhagen, specifically the Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts [CRIC], brings the international relations perspective. Then we have the Makerere University School of Law, specifically under the Human Rights and Peace Centre [HURIPEC], bringing the law and policy perspective. St. Augustine University in Tanzania provides the sociological, anthropological, conflict and geographical lens to the problem.

By acknowledging that, yes, we have a problem. We are destroying our environment. And, yes, on the other hand, there is a problem if the voices that are working for good, although unintentionally, end up enacting results that are oppressive. We need an intermediate discussion, discourse. This is why this project is important. It will provide the space for that discourse.

Q: Do you have any preliminary findings?

Dr Mlangwa: It is a bit too early to be conclusive. So, the preliminary results will basically only be from observations in Uganda.

We are seeing that these things are really intertwined at the micro level. You see that communities are heavily relying on firewood and charcoal due to affordability and accessibility. But when you look at the regional and national level you find things like government bans on charcoal production and attempts to cut deforestation that create economic hardship for those dependent communities. We see governments using the police in policy enforcement to regulate charcoal production. But, at the same time, it encounters things like corruption and weak institutional capacity. At the macro level, charcoal production contributes to carbon emissions and climate change. This is also a fact.

The way I see the data, it’s material that, on the one hand, is systemic and, then, on the other hand, is nested—meaning that it builds on each other. If you want to come up with policies which will work you have to do a multi-level analysis. This needs an interdisciplinary approach.

“If the government is going to impose a total ban on charcoal, it’s almost as if they just want to kill us”

Dr Namwase: We have been very deliberate in speaking to cultural institutions and then also to communities that practice particular cultural aspects tied to the question of production and use of charcoal vis a vis preservation of specific tree species. We are also being deliberate on language to maintain the local language and references. And, of course, we are also very intentional about reflexivity.

In fact, early on, before we went to the field, we had a methodology and epistemological seminar as a multidisciplinary team, where each side shared key aspects to look out for that are common in their own fields so that we could all learn from each other.

In summation, the initial findings [from the legal perspective] are that the government and the state are using top-down militarist approaches, which are resulting in injustice and dispossession for quite a number of people. It is not engaging and offering alternative and affordable alternatives for these communities, and to a large extent, women are being particularly affected by these bans. Once the bans are put in place, what happens, as Dr Susan said, is that charcoal production does not stop. It continues.

Because of the additional burden of bribing the numerous police and military officers you find on the way, [charcoal] ends up becoming expensive once it reaches Kampala. That then affects the profit margin of women [selling food at markets] and the youth, by the way, as well. Youth are also engaging in businesses that rely on charcoal. For instance, Rolex-making. I don’t know if you know about Rolex. It’s a special street food here in Uganda, which consists of chapati and fried egg. It is a very popular food among the youth because it’s cheap and affordable.

And there is no room for people to negotiate and say, “Maybe give us more time” or “Where are the alternatives?”. In fact, what we found in quite a number of cases is that there is a sense of despair. Because on two or three occasions, we’ve had respondents saying that “if the government is going to impose a total ban on charcoal, it’s almost as if they just want to kill us”.

Research Aims

Q: Is the aim for your research findings to be translated into policy?

Dr Namwase: There is flexibility in what we can produce in terms of outputs. So, for instance, policy briefs are not out of the question. We should also have policy briefs at the end, with which we engage the key stakeholders—the ministries [in Tanzania and Uganda].

Then the whole point, of course, is also getting people to move away from charcoal because, ultimately, we want to protect the environment. Uganda and Tanzania are losing a lot of forest cover. But we want it to be done in a fair way, in a way that is not dispossessing people. That is not forcing them into a state of despair where they feel left behind by their governments. So we are aiming for the whole package if I’m to say that. Influencing policy, but also getting people to transition in a fair way, with energy justice in mind.

Dr Mlangwa: I think that’s correct. We actually looked at the whole package. We aim for people to move away from the energies which are harmful to them healthwise and environmentally. We intend to trigger action-oriented programs and projects through the dissemination of our results. We hope it can trigger collaborations, initiatives and interventions with the different players in this space.

We are also anticipating that, from our results, there can be some kind of reorganisation of the discourse not only in the academic world but also in the international organisations, the ones dealing with climate. [Our results] can also trigger a re-examination of how the whole issue of climate mitigation and implementation has been going and how it can change for the better with more voices from the Global South. That’s also a very keen aim of ours, to change the discourse in these international spaces.

Research cooperation between the Global North and South

Q: Switching focus now. What are the main strengths of research partnerships between countries in the Global North, Denmark in this case, and the Global South?

Dr Namwase: The main strength of such partnerships is, first and foremost, the logistics. We are in contexts where research is maybe not as much of a priority for our governments as other competing interests and needs. So funds are being channelled into other things and yet new knowledge is required to inform policy. Collaborations such as this open up access to funds that allow us to do meaningful work by going on the ground and interacting with the affected communities.

Also, secondly, is the cross-pollination of ideas and disciplines. It’s an opportunity to enrich each other because we can learn from the Danish way of doing things, which I must say I really admire. And I think that is somehow rubbing off on us. At least I can speak for us here at HURIPEC. And, on their end, we challenge them in terms of decolonial approaches because it is true that when you’ve grown up in Europe, you have a certain way that you see yourself in the world and a certain way that you’ve been given knowledge about the world. We can challenge that from a decolonial perspective.

Another strength of the collaborative research grants with Denmark is the PhDs. Africa suffers a very low PhD percentage rate per capita compared to global percentages. The charcoal project supports one PhD from Uganda and one from Tanzania. So the grants help build the much-needed expertise on the continent through scholarships for local PhDs.

Dr Mlangwa: I think Dr Sylvie did a good job exhausting it. I just want to continue emphasising that cross-pollination is really the greatest, and it’s not only for the South but everyone. Because I know this is very important in academic career advancement and professional development. So feeding into each other through such collaborative research is a win-win for both sides, as well as for our professional development.

Q: Do you have any ideas on how to improve research cooperation between Denmark and your respective countries?

Dr Mlangwa: l think there should be a player who coordinates the three countries. It would have been good if we could have an institution which is our monitor or a coordinator taking an audit of everything. It’s a lesson learned for everybody to do the audits themselves, but I’ve seen many collaborations where there is such [a coordinator]. They are more efficient and cost-effective.

Dr Namwase: I very much appreciate the opportunity to collaborate, and I’ve already given the reasons why I find it such a rare opportunity, at least from where I’m sitting. But with that said, I think one of the issues that could be looked into is the issue of overhead percentages that go to the Global South universities. It could be a problem that we have as Global South universities, but it is a thing that the universities also want to get their hands on the [international] funds that are coming to particular research centres. So perhaps there should be some specific percentage that is put aside for the central university and then a percentage for the department.

The second is the issue of travel visas. I can tell you the visa question is such a headache. It’s very disorienting and demoralising. I don’t know if it has changed, but it was quite notorious right after COVID. You could go three months without your passport because you’ve submitted it for a visa. On this project, we had a colleague who got his visa on the day and then had to travel [to Denmark] and return to Tanzania the same day.

Dr Mlangwa: Yes. That was painful.

Dr Namwase: It’s really not necessary because we sit back and feel like, “Okay, are we like some of the biggest criminals or what?”. And it can ruin it. You know that imbalance in the team? It’s a reminder that there is that hierarchy.

Adrian Ganic is M.Sc., THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONIMCS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE and a DDRN Correspondent

Fattige, Udsatte og Udstødte i Nord og Syd 2:2

Arne Wangel — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 12:02:50 +0000

I denne og i en tidligere artikel gengives de fire oplæg fra DDRNs arrangement under Forskningens Døgn 2024

Gæld og fattigdom på kredit i Latinamerika v/Marie Kolling

Jeg er antropolog og seniorforsker på Dansk Institut for Internationale Studier. Det handler om gæld og fattigdom. Gæld bliver ofte overset. Tit måler vi på, hvor lidt folk tjener, fattigdomsgrænser, hvor folk har at gøre med. Noget jeg har bemærket i min forskning, det er at det ikke kun handler om hvor lidt folk tjener, men det handler også om, hvor meget folk skylder. I mit forskningsprojekt ser vi på Brasilien og Chile. I aften vil jeg fokusere på den del, der handler om Brasilien. 211 mio. indbyggere. Der er meget store forskelle mellem regioner og også store uligheder i byerne. 30% af befolkningen kan karakteriseres som at de lever i fattigdom, og 6 % lever i ekstrem fattigdom, helt nede på at overleve for 300 kr. om måneden, hvilket også i Brasilien er helt ekstremt lidt. Der er en stor overrepræsentation af sorte. Kvinder i Brasilien tjener meget mindre end mændene. Jeg har tilbragt rigtig meget tid sammen med folk i de forskellige slumområder med ekstremt fattige. Bl.a. i forbindelse med mit Ph.d.-projekt om folk ved en flod som begyndte at gå over sine bredder – naturen skabte problemer og folk skabte problemer.

I 0’erne gennemlevede Brasilien et økonomisk opsving med en aktiv omfordelings- og socialpolitik, som skulle komme de fattige til gode. Historien om et socialt boligbyggeri, hvor folk var rigtig kede af at skulle miste hvad de med møje havde bygget op. Og samtidig glædede de sig til at bo pænt. Man ville gerne bo i noget, der kunne minde om middelklasse. Folk prøvede de få ressourcer de havde at gøre det dårligt udførte byggeri pænt. Den proces krævede adgang til kredit. Billedet ovenfor er fra et år efter, at en familie var blevet genhuset. På den ene side var glade, på den anden side var de også kede af at blive genhuset. Der var en forventning om, at ting skulle blive bedre. Det nye hjem blev ret hurtigt et slumområde. Maria viste mig en dag sin pung, hvor hun havde tre kreditkort. Maria tjente sin penge ved at sælge grøntsager, ikke specielt gode grøntsager – hvad der var tilbage – hun havde en deal, men det var en underskudsforretning, og fuldstændig sorte penge. Hun kunne ikke dokumentere sin indkomst eller bolig (postnummer det gamle sted, og kunne derfor ikke modtage post). Hun havde ikke betalt sin fastnettelefon, som derfor var blevet afbrudt. Jeg var nødt til at ringe til hendes nabo. Der var ikke tre måltider om dagen overhovedet. Hvordan havde hun fået adgang til de tre kreditkort? Det var virkelig mystisk, så det begyndte jeg at kikke nærmere på, hvordan det kunne lade sig gøre. Det var ikke kort fra en bank.

Men en af de store detailkæder kan man få lavet et kreditkort. Ud fra kreditvurderingen kan der være 200 kr. eller 20.000 kr. på kortet. Ideen med at give de fattige adgang til kreditten er en del af en fortælling om, at de fattige også kan få det bedre. Fremfor at stå udenfor med sorte penge, så i stedet at låne fra andre. I starten blev denne forbrugerkredit brugt til at realisere forbrugerdrømme. Hvorfor overførselsindkomster, når man bare kan låne de penge. Den finansielle sektor blev meget hurtigt digitaliseret. Brasilien havde i forvejen nogle store digitale banker, og de blev sindssygt populære. Nogle af disse kæmpestore banker er mega- populære, og de udstedte kort gratis. Når man betaler med kort, tilbydes det at dele betalingen op i ti eller flere rater, så folk aldrig skal lægge særlig mange penge ad gangen. Det betyder også, at folk hele tiden skal holde styr på vildt mange beløb. Det gør det rigtig nemt at havne i gæld. I et gigantisk kreditmarked i Brasilien er de fattige blevet en interessant del, der har ligesom åbnet sig et nyt marked. De bestemmer ikke selv vilkårene for kreditten, høje renter. 80% af befolkningen er registreret som dårlige betalere. Under pandemien var det hos de fattige, hvor gælden steg mest, og hvor de ikke rigtig kan komme ud af gælden. De starter måneden med at skulle betale af, og hele tiden jonglerer mellem dem der kan skubbes og hvor de kan låne på ny. Når de er registreret som dårlige betalere, kan de ikke låne igen. Det påvirker sociale relationer og familieliv. De er ramt meget mere og over længere tid af inflationen end i Danmark. Det er også synligt i gadebilledet, hvor der er tilbud om kredit på alle gadehjørner, hvor alle folk står og deler pamfletter ud for at få folk ind i deres kreditbutikker. Med kreditkortet kan man også tage lån af denne underskov af låneudbydere.

Tidligere havde (f.eks. Maria der sælger grøntsager) kontantgæld til en, som vidste hvor hun boede. Så gik hun rundt og bankede på og spurgte: ’Kan jeg få mine penge i dag’ – ’Ok, så kommer jeg igen i morgen’. Gælden har altid været der. Man har altid kunnet købe på kredit, men nu er alt digitaliseret, et nyt niveau. Alle disse hverdagsfornødenheder. Selv lottokuponer kan man købe på kredit. I dag skal man bruge et skatteregistreringsnummer. Nogle kort kan kun bruges i en bestemt forretning. Men i dag kan de bruges i andre butikker. Man kan ikke hæve penge på dem. Men det kan andre butikker klare for dig.

Spørgsmål fra publikum: Er der en modbevægelse, der holder fast i kontanterne? Marie svarer: Det er der faktisk ikke, også fordi Centralbanken lancerede deres version af Mobile Pay, som er meget populær. Også bankoverførsler kører nu digitalt. Kontanter er der stadigvæk. 40% af befolkningen tjener deres penge i den uformelle økonomi. I byen er der de kreditbutikker, flyers over det hele, så det er en meget markant forandring. Alt i alt: Mange af disse familier havde dårlig økonomi og kæmper med arbejdsløshed i perioder. Lavt lønnede, dårlige jobs i den sektor, hvor man ikke har nogen rettigheder. Der er en meget skrøbelig økonomi. Det bliver kun værre nu med de banker, som det kan være vildt svære at gennemskue. Altid fattige som mangler uddannelse og oplysning. De er rigtig gode til at skjule gebyrer. I det store samfundsmæssige perspektiv skaber det også problemer i økonomien, fordi det ikke er et særligt bæredygtigt system.

Tre fotografers værker: Andre Yepez (sex arbejdere i Ecuador), Charlie Cordeo (klimakrise i Colombia, og kvinder, moderskab og videnskab i Colombia), og Wara Vargas (kviksølv forurening i Bolivia, og klimakrisens trussel mod én af Latinamerikas ældste indianske kulturer v/ Lise Josefsen Hermann

Den første historie er fra Ecuador og handler om en af de befolkningsgrupper, som var meget udsat i forbindelse med Corona, nemlig sex arbejderne i Ecuador. Jeg er sikker på, at man kunne fortælle den samme historie om sexarbejdere også hjemme i Danmark og mange andre steder i verden, f.eks. i Kenya, hvor denne gruppe var påvirket på flere måder, både i forhold til at der var mindre arbejde, 40-50%, måske endda 80 % mindre arbejde, fordi kunderne havde færre penge; måske en luksusydelse, som man skar væk. Og var der også en udfordring helbredet, som folk kunne være bange for. Sexarbejderne bliver diskrimineret, udråbt som et centrum for smitte. Så det var et eksempel på en udsat befolkning i Ecuador. Min interviewperson fortalte mig, at det er altid dem, der er de onde og får skylden, ligesom andre udsatte grupper som migranter.

I Quito er sexarbejderne organiseret i en slags fagforeninger. Det er tilladt at sælge sex, men det er ikke tilladt, at andre kan tjene penge på det. De har sådan nogle ID-kort, og så bestemte steder i Quito, hvor de har lov til at være. Det er svært under pandemien at tjene til føden. Hun nævnte – der er ikke officielle statistikker på det – at de havde cirka halvdelen til 80% mindre arbejde under pandemien. Spørgsmål fra publikum: Når det nu er lovligt, er der så også noget socialt – sundhedsmæssigt for dem? Svar: Ikke som jeg kender til, nej. Det er mere spørgsmålet om, at man lader dem arbejde og ikke jager dem væk. I Ecuador er der stadig lang vej til sociale tilbud som dem, vi f.eks. har i Danmark.

Så tager vi et smut til Colombia, det er Charlies fotos vi har her. Og de historier, som handlede om, hvordan det nationale universitet i den nordlige del af Colombia åbnede en ny afdeling for relativ kort tid siden, som bl.a. arbejder for at få flere oprindelige folk ind i den akademiske verden. Claudia Vallejo er i traditionel klædedragt og har sin datter med på universitetet. Da jeg tilbragte nogle dage på universitetet, så var det specielt at se – jeg har aldrig set det før – og vi har desværre ikke fotos af det. Medicinmanden fra dette folk var inde på campus og holdt et oplæg om hvorledes hele den spirituelle del – selvom folk kom ude fra landsbyerne, fik en akademisk uddannelse, men stadigvæk bevarede kulturen. Det symbolske i at se en medicinmand rende rundt på universitetet var meget interessant. Jeg har i hvert fald ikke ret tit i Latinamerika set sådanne shamaner, som er velkomne til at komme og holde events.

Der er altid uenighed om, hvordan man opgør oprindelige folk. De seneste tal angiver 13,6% af landets befolkning som oprindelige folk eller knap 2 millioner. Der er ikke ret mange af dem, som får akademisk uddannelse. Det er noget som denne nye afdeling på det nationale universitet forsøger at gøre. Claudia, som vi så før, studerer matematik og har fået et særligt scholarship. Det er sådan, at der bliver givet særlige pladser med scholarships til forskellige oprindelige folk. Der er organisationer i Latinamerika, som arbejder for dette, f.eks. Parents in Science. Selvom kvinder i Latinamerika er længst bagud i forhold til akademisk uddannelse, så støtter man f.eks. mødre i form af børnepasning på universiteter, så de kan komme i gang med en akademisk uddannelse uden at de skal føle, at de går ud over deres børn.

Så skal vi til en anden historie. Stigende vandstand er noget man ofte oplever på en af de tættest befolkede øer i verden. Hele øgruppen har 1.500 indbyggere. Det ligger oppe i den caribiske del af Colombia og består af ti øer. Allerede for ni år siden blev den første af øerne oversvømmet. Det er en fremtid, som mange af de andre øer også går i møde snart. På denne ø bor der 700 mennesker på 1 ½ hektar. Spørgsmål fra publikum: Hvorfor flytter de ikke? Svar fra Henrik Valeur: Der er lige så lavt på de andre øer. Svar fra Lise: De taler om, at de nok er den sidste generation til at bo der. Mange af dem lever af fiskeri.

Kommentar fra Henrik Valeur: Jeg tror de skal have nogle tømmerflåder. Spørgsmål fra publikum: Har de tænkt at bygge husene på pæle? Svar Lise: Man arbejder på at plante mangrove for at beskytte øerne mod erosion. Ellers er det noget med at flytte sig. Mange kan vågne op til dette syn store dele af året. De lever så tæt på havoverfladen, at der ikke er ret mange år tilbage at leve der.

Denne her er en kunstig ø som har været der i 150 år. Spørgsmål fra publikum: Hvordan er den lavet? Lise svarer: Jeg ved ikke så meget om det.

Spørgsmål fra Henrik Valeur: Ved du noget om de økonomiske muligheder, når de bliver nødt til at flytte? Fordi det er jo ikke noget værd længere det de har nu. Lise svarer: Der er ikke noget støtte til dem. Der er ikke nogen kommune, der lige tilbyder nogen midler. Henrik: Så bliver man nok så længe man kan. Lise svarer: Tit har man også lyst til at blive der så længe man kan. Der er en vis tilknytning til der, hvor man er vokset op, og hvor ens forældre og bedsteforældre har boet. De har ingen nogen fremtidsplan, hvor de ved, at om fem år skal de flytte. De unge miljøaktivister planter mangrove som plaster på såret, og så kan de hjælpe med at gøre erosionen langsom. Hvis vandstanden bliver ved at stige, så forsvinder øerne. Så spørgsmålet er hvor mange år der er tilbage.

Så skifter vi til Bolivia. Det er en anden historie, som har med klimakrisen at gøre. Den handler ikke om stigende vandstand, men om et oprindeligt folk som er en af de ældste kulturer i Latinamerika, og som daterer sig 2.500 år tilbage før vor tidsregning. Det er Uru Chipaya-folket, et lillebitte folkeslag. Det område de lever i er hvidt af salt. Der er rigtig mange saltsletter eller saltørkner, og der er meget tørke. Det regner meget mindre end det gør normalt. Det betyder, at de mangler vand. De har typisk får eller lamaer som husdyr, og problemet er, at når der er tørke, har de ikke vand nok til dyrene og heller ikke nok vegetation. Omkring halvdelen af husdyrene ender med at dø af sult eller af tørst. Det er et stort problem for befolkningen. Vi er i omkring 4 km’s højde. Det der begynder at ske, er at de har svært ved at leve, når deres levebrød trues. Den yngre del af befolkningen begynder at migrere, og vi er tæt på grænsen til Chile, så disse oprindelige folk begynder at rejse til Chile. Man nævner dette som et eksempel på en ydre konsekvens af klimakrisen. Det kan være til at slå indianske kulturer ihjel, fordi sådanne folkeslag, som har boet disse mange år ude på højsletten, når de flytter sig til Chile og blander sig med den chilenske befolkning inde i storbyer og glemmer deres kulturelle identitet, deres sprog, deres klædedragt og holder med tiden op med at identificere sig som Chipaya. Det er en bekymring de har, og det er særligt den ældre del af befolkningen, der er tilbage. Denne historie er også bragt i POV International i samarbejde med DDRN. Kommentar fra publikum: Det sker for mange grupper, at de gerne vil til byerne. Lise svarer: Det er rigtigt, at det er en udfordring generelt. Kommentar fra publikum: Det er ikke kun klimaforandringer, den proces oplever mange folkeslag. Lise svarer: Det er rigtigt, i det hele taget for landbefolkningen, hvordan kan man skabe muligheder for den yngre befolkning, så de har lyst til at blive i området. Kommentar fra publikum: De to største etniske grupper udvandrer til lavlandet i området, ikke så meget til Chile. Men det er hele den kultur, der er omkring dem. Når de kommer til lavlandet i Santa Cruz. Lise svarer: det er barske forhold i 4 km s højde. Kommentar fra publikum: De kan ikke have nogen form for afgrøder. De er midt i en katastrofe, de sidste 20 år er mange fuldstændig forsvundet. Lise svarer: Det er en stor udfordring, de rykker typisk til byerne, og så kan de opleve alle mulige slumproblematikker og sociale problematikker, andre fattigdomsproblematikker. Men det er rigtigt, det er ligesom klimaforandringer lægger til de udfordringer, der allerede er der i forvejen. En sidste historie fra højsletten næsten oppe i 4 km’s højde, fordi det er en flad slette, så fornemmer man. Spørgsmål fra publikum.: Han går med et eller andet i hænderne, de har får og lamaer. Det er barske forhold, det er ikke nemt at finde alternativer.

Så skal vi til en anden del af Bolivia. Jeg kunne også fortælle den fra mange andre steder i Sydamerika. Den handler om guld og ikke mindst brugen af kviksølv, typisk i Amazonas. Bolivia er et af de få steder i verden, hvor man frit kan købe kviksølv, der ikke nogen restriktioner. Det er det land i verden, som importerer mest kviksølv. Det bliver så brugt både i forbindelse med guldudvinding. Der bliver smuglet rigtig meget til nabolandet Peru, hvor der er mange restriktioner. Her ser man en af kvinderne, de er det sidste led, når man ligesom i Legoland sier sandet og finder guld og bliver så blandet med kviksølv og danner amalgam, som man efterfølgende varmer op, og de meget giftige kviksølvdampe er rigtig farlige for det menneskelige helbred. I flere tilfælde så vi gravide arbejde med det her. Mange kritiserer Bolivia for at mange kan købe det og det store forbrug. Der er rigtig mange økonomiske interesser, så der sker ikke så meget på den front. Det er også noget, som bekymrer – det kommer ud i Amazonas og de floder holder sig ikke inden for landegrænser. Dvs. der kommer forurening ud i floderne i Bolivia og så de floder måske i Brasilien eller andre nabolande. Det er en forurening, som bekymrer hele verdensdelen. Kommentar fra publikum: Der ser vi de kvindelige guldgravere, som står og sier på Legolands facon og skal se hvor meget guld de kan finde der. Der er mange problemer og der er meget lidt forskning og viden om dette emne. Der er lavet nogle få undersøgelser om, at oprindelige folk har højere niveauer af kviksølv.

Venezuela: How Researching During a Humanitarian Crisis Makes You a Better Scientist

Lise Josefsen Hermann — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 15:40:37 +0000

He has his office in the campus of Harlingen in at the Institute of Neuroscience, just beside one of the entrance points for the many Latin American migrants to the US. Physician scientist expert on Blood Pressure and epidemiology in the areas of Cardiovascular and Neuroscience, Jesús Melgarejo, investigates the impact of preventable vascular conditions on brain health. He works in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, which is also one of the cities in the US with very poor health regarding diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s. And we will later get to learn how all those dots are connected.

His parents are Colombian and had already migrated once from unsafe Colombia due to the country’s decadelong armed conflict between guerrillas, paramilitaries, and the military. Looking for a better future, the couple left for Venezuela where Jesús was born. Already at a young age, at his last year at high school, he showed special interest for research. He won a neuroscience competition for students at public high schools and was invited to be part of the lab. So even before studying at the university he was already part of a research group and learned important skills such as statistics and writing of reports and scientific articles.

Inequality and health
The first research project Jesus participated in was an international consortium of many countries that measured blood pressure for 24 hours to study cardiovascular diseases. Among those countries are Venezuela, Uruguay, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Russia, China and Japan. It talks about the percentage of hypertension in all these regions.

“The important thing is that we look at the Human Development Index – which means access to health, education, economy, various factors. It generates a score – the lower the score – the worse the social, health and so on. We could see an association between index and prevalence of hypertension,” explains Jesús, who also recalls how this work was difficult to perform from Venezuela:

“Internet and these things – while I was working on the article with all these researchers I couldn’t send them an email or I couldn’t do my article. It was pretty painful. It was a stressful moment.”

Researching with power-cuts
In May 2018 Jesús graduated from medicine school, but the next month he left for a half-a-year scholarship in Colombia. Venezuela was already at the time living a very chaotic political, economic and humanitarian crisis.

“That period in Venezuela was one of the worst in my life. I earned 10-20 USD a month. That was all we had to support our home. I also worked as a freelancer – statistician, that helped a bit. If I would have stayed in Venezuela, then I could no longer support my parents, let alone myself towards building my future. I was going nowhere. I would have had to do a rural compulsory year where you earn 2-3 dollars a month. We could not live from that,” recalls Jesús Melgarejo.

His dad worked as a blacksmith while Jesus studied medicine, but he had had an open-heart surgery, so it was preferable for him not to continue the physical hard work. His mother worked as a seamstress. When he was finishing 4^th year of medical school, Jesús took over most of the financial situation of his home. This was certainly a challenge but there has always been help coming from family members as well. Starting his doctoral studies up to date, Jesús continuous supporting his parents. But to study and do research in his homeland was really difficult for Jesús and his fellow students.

“When I left Venezuela, it was very difficult to keep up. There were barely 4-6 hours of electricity per day. We had no internet – and when we had, it was only buying mobile phone data. I found it very difficult to keep up with the output research and collaborations we were doing.”

“And it is always difficult to say to someone, this week I couldn’t finish this part of the article because I didn’t have electricity nor internet. How do you say that to someone from US or Europe? They thought it was an excuse. I was collaborating with several other people from other institutions in other parts of the world. It is different if you are on your own. I remember once I had to make a PowerPoint presentation. I was doing it by hand drawing on paper and then I went to a cyber cafe to make the presentation on a computer – and here we go, let’s do this. Other times I stayed at a friend’s house or my uncle’s. Because the mobile internet was not stable enough for a virtual meeting. I had to be creative to find a way.”

The importance of mentors
Jesús was lucky to already early meet people who believed in him, recommended him and helped him on his way to continue to study abroad and broaden his horizon – both professionally and personally. The first of such persons was Gladys Maestre from the University in Maracaibo in Venezuela. She has guided and mentored Jesús since 2009 in his professional career but also has given him valuable advice of life in and out science.

“Every person gives the best of themselves. Every person has different way of being smart. What I have seen in academy is also how networking and connections are so important, crucial. To know this kind of person who can advocate for you, it is important. I could not have achieved what I have achieved to be honest without Dra. Gladys’ help,” says Jesús who also found it a hard change when he first came to continue researching in the US:

“Every time I did an internship – in Europe and USA – I felt the difference in the academic level. I was in a place that only accepted the people that used to be the best of the best, super well prepared. And then me, having studied in a public school and being first-generation in college Latin-American coming from a humble family. Obviously, there is a wall, which hit me all the time. The only thing that kept me on my feet, was my motivation. That these people gave me the opportunity – not because of what I knew – but also because I’m a person who is motivated and wants to do something.”

Academic resilience
Jesús recognizes how the difficult time in his home country also has become a strength for him:

“It has prepared me for what I face now. It has built academic resilience. And it has helped me to stay on my feet, to keep up my motivation, and wake every day with the motivation to pursue science to advance the field and look for the better good of people” says Jesús.

In May of 2019, he began his doctoral studies in the KU Leuven and obtained his PhD in Cardiovascular Science on November 18^th of 2022. The endurance and resilience he got from his life in Venezuela taught him how to face the challenges of doing a PhD in one of the elite Universities worldwide. His journey during the PhD and time in Europe boosted his career to become a better scientist but also a person. In January 17^th of 2023, he started his position as an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. In this place, Jesús continues dedicating his career to studying how blood pressure affects diseases of ageing like glaucoma, Alzheimer’s disease-related disorders, and cardiovascular complications. He focuses on how dysregulation in blood pressure affects the eyes, brain, and heart.

“There are diseases associated with longer, more frequent, and more drastic changes in blood pressure the day and night. And this can mean something bad for the structural and functional integrity of the eyes, brain, and heart. For instance, exaggerated changes in blood pressure occurring during the day can cause periods of impaired blood flow and supply to these organs because blood pressure an exaggerated blood pressure variability increases the chances of having drastic and frequent changes drops in blood pressure. Because of these drastic changes, we believe there might be an increased probability of having diseases such as glaucoma, Alzheimer’s disease-related disorders, and cardiovascular complications. There is a window opportunity for us to better understand unique aspects of these disease by looking into blood pressure over 24-hours,“ says Jesús.

Closing the research-gap in Hispanic populations
With a mind full of dreams and motivation, he hopes for instance that will allow him to understand better what happens with the brain of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

“It is not just about giving you the pill to control your health if you for instance suffer from hypertension. There are lifestyle factors to modify such as weight, smoking, cholesterol, sugar, what you eat, walking but also social determinants of health.”

Jesús’ dream is to continue the 24-hours study in Rio Grande Valley, an area on the border of the US where most of the population is Hispanics. His work and the work of other researchers in this area have the potential to advance our understanding of vascular risk factors and Alzheimer’s disease.

“Both conditions are known to disproportionately affect Hispanics. Hispanics have more rates of vascular risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension, 1.5 higher risk compared to other populations. They also in general have fewer years of education, and poorer access to health and public transportation,” Jesús explains.

This team of researchers are still working on fully understanding this and envisions contributing to the gap in research in Hispanic populations. I met Jesús at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Medicine and Physiology in 2023, a one-week event where some 40 Nobel Laureates were the speakers. “I feel really privileged to, like other young scientists around the world, having been able to interact and discuss science with some of the most brilliant minds in history. That gives me this additional and unique boost to continue doing science,” says Jesús.

Lise is a freelance journalist based in Latin America for more than a decade. She is a Pulitzer Grantee, works for the investigative media Danwatch and has published in media like Al Jazeera, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, El Pais, New York Times, and Undark Magazine

2018: Graduated from Medical School, Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela

2023: PhD in cardiovascular science, biomedical science, Leuven, Belgium

2024-present: Assistant professor of Neuroscience, Harlingen, Texas, USA