A political prisoner is a person who is detained against their will because of their political beliefs or because they hold some political significance to a ruling party. Political prisoners generally have committed no crime aside from espousing a belief different to that of the ruling class or one that the people in power see as threatening to their control over a country or region. Holding political prisoners is a violation of human rights.
Archive for the ‘Level 1’ Category
A Political Prisoner is…
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Maternal Health is…
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Maternal health refers to the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the period following birth. Maternal health is extremely important because it has a direct impact on the health and quality of life of all a mother’s children and dependents. Poor maternal health, which can be a result of lack of healthcare or family planning services, can result in high infant mortality rates and poor child health.
Infant Mortality Rate is…
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Infant mortality rate is a measure of how many babies under one year old die each year compared to how many are born. It’s usually expressed as some number out of 1000; i.e, about 7/1,000 infants die before reaching a year old in the United States (which ranks us about 29th in the world). Areas with high poverty and poor healthcare tend to have high infant mortality rates.
An Epidemic is…
Thursday, October 29th, 2009An epidemic is when a disease spreads rapidly and suddenly for a relatively short period of time. This is different from endemic because it is generally unexpected and unpredictable. Epidemics of disease can spread and cause huge amounts of death and suffering in a very short period of time – the recent outbreaks of H1N1 Swine Flu and Avian flu in past years have spread fear that a major epidemic could be on the horizon.
Endemic is…
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Endemic is a term used by health workers and organizations to describe a disease, disorder, or other issue that exists at a pretty constant rate for a long period of time within a population. Diseases that are endemic to given regions can result in a consistently high number of deaths year after year.
Birth Rate is…
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Birth rate is a measure of how many babies are born relative to the population of a given area – city, country, continent, or whatever. Like infant mortality rate, it’s usually expressed as a number out of 1,000 (x/1,000). Poorer, less educated populations of people tend to have higher birth rates.
A Developing Country is…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009A developing country in general is a country that has low levels of industrialization and low standards of living. While there is no universally accepted means of determining the dividing line between a developing and developed country, statistical measurements like standard of living, GDP per capita, life expectancy, industrialization, and literacy rate among others all help determine a country’s classification. That being said, not all developing countries are the same. Some have relatively high standards of living, but low life expectancy rates while others are the complete opposite.
Family Planning is…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Family planning is the ability to choose the number of children in a family and the space of time between births. Women in many countries do not have these options either because of a lack of resources or their rights are restricted. Family planning is an important component to improving women’s health as well as creating more stable and successful families.
Human Trafficking is…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Human trafficking is when people, usually poor or otherwise vulnerable people, are taken captive and exploited. They are often transported far from home and treated as slaves or forced into hard labor or prostitution. Most of these helpless people are women and children who are subject to brutal living conditions. Human trafficking is a major international problem with estimates of the number of trafficked people ranging between 500,000 to 4,000,000 a year.
Greenhouse Gases are…
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Greenhouse gases are thought to be a major culprit in global warming. Gases including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and even water vapor, trap heat from the sun and make the Earth warmer – just like glass in a greenhouse traps heat and makes the air inside warmer. These gases exist naturally in the atmosphere, but human activities have increased their concentrations and subsequent air warming to a level that could potentially have disastrous climactic effects.