According to the World Bank, global food prices have increased by 75% since 2005 and 45% in the last nine months. In the past two months, the cost of rice, a staple food for over half of the world’s population, rose by 75%. The price of wheat has risen 120% during the past year.

Deadly protests and rioting over these increasing costs are occurring throughout Africa and Asia.

In Haiti, where 80% of the population survives on less than $2 a day, mass demonstrations turned deadly. Rioting in Les Cayes killed 4 and wounded at least 20. A few days later Haitians attempted to storm the presidential palace in Port-au- Prince shouting “We are hungry!”

In Egypt, where over 33% of the population live on around $2 a day, police took over a textiles plant to prevent a widespread strike over rising food costs. The military has been enlisted to bake bread to curb the growing anger. Read More »

Imagine being told you had 6 weeks to live.

Now imagine knowing that if you lived anywhere other than Africa, you could probably be cured.

Imagine being 14 years old and knowing this.

Meet Felix Yeboah, a Ghanaian teenager with chronic kidney failure.

On Sunday, March 3, in a life-saving emergency operation, Felix received his father’s kidney at the University Hospital in Birmingham, UK, care of Transplant Links, an organization of experienced kidney transplant doctors who volunteer their time and abilities in countries like Ghana.

According to an article in a Ghanian newspaper from August 2006, kidney failure in Ghana forms 35% of medical admissions. Out of the 5000-8000 patients in Ghana, only 35 received haemodialysis (a nessary procedure to prevent total kidney failure) per year! As of the time of that article, there were 17 haemodialysis machines in the entire country.

According to the Transplant Links website, in some African countries, HIV/AIDS is more treatable than Kidney Failure. Read More »