Data Visualization

Blog of the Data Visualization & Communication Course at OSB-AUB

This is my favorite part about analytics: Taking boring flat data and bringing it to life through visualization” John Tukey

SDG8 Reviving Lebanon’s Economy: Harnessing the Potential of Agriculture

SDG8 Reviving Lebanon’s Economy: Harnessing the Potential of Agriculture

A world where economic diversification is often seen as the path to financial stability, Lebanon stands out as a nation that has primarily relied on non-agricultural sectors for its economic sustenance. Despite its rich agricultural potential, the country has chosen to prioritize other industries. As Lebanon grapples with a severe economic crisis, it’s crucial to examine the consequences of this strategy and consider whether a renewed focus on agriculture could offer a more resilient path forward.

 The main problem Lebanon is currently facing!

  • Lebanon is currently not placing sufficient emphasis on the agriculture and aquaculture sectors as potential revenue sources.
  • This neglect comes at a time of economic hardship, marked by a consistent decline in GDP over the years.
Problem Evidence:
  • Despite the presence of fertile land for agriculture and planting, there is a notable absence of qualified and active employees in this sector, as evidenced by the consistent decline in the percentage of the workforce engaged in agriculture over the years. (the percentage decreases from 5.3%in 2000 to 3.8% in 2021 low percentage of the total employment)
  • the contributions of forestry and aquaculture to the GDP have been on a continuous decline. (The percentage decreased from 6.3% in 2000 to 1.4% in 2021, indicating a relatively low contribution)
  • Lebanon’s GDP growth has been consistently decreasing over the years, reaching a troubling -7% in 2021.

 

Potential solutions
  • Placing greater emphasis on the agriculture and aquaculture sectors by providing support to local farmers and expanding cultivation areas to meet domestic demands while also generating surplus for export.
  • Additionally, increasing the number of professionals in this field can be achieved by encouraging universities to prioritize agriculture-related majors and motivating students to pursue studies in this area.
This will result in:
  • Increased revenue generation and improvements in Lebanon’s GDP after expanding cultivation areas and supporting the agriculture and aquaculture sectors.

 Real life success story:

In the summer of 2023, two Lebanese citizens seized the opportunity to cultivate a green, organic farm in the fertile lands of southern Lebanon. Taking advantage of the region’s fertile soil, expansive agricultural land, and favorable weather conditions, they cultivated a variety of fruits and vegetables.

With an initial investment of $1,500, they managed to yield a net profit of $5,000 in just four months. This success story highlights the untapped potential of agriculture and organic farming in Lebanon.

The successful cultivation they were able to get!!!

This solution is validated by the real case example presented at the beginning:

Based on the real-life example, if Lebanon gave more importance to the agriculture sector, this would lead to an increase in domestic production. This, in turn, could serve as a partial solution to the economic and financial crisis the country is facing. Moreover, it would also create more employment opportunities for Lebanese citizens, thereby contributing to a more sustainable and diversified economy. Emphasizing the agriculture sector can play a vital role in bolstering the nation’s economic stability and reducing its reliance on other sectors.

finally, emphasizing agriculture in Lebanon as a means of economic revitalization directly supports SDG 8’s objectives by creating decent work, fostering sustainable economic growth, promoting economic diversification, and facilitating skills development in the agricultural sector.

 

Unlocking the Code of Health: Illuminating the Path to a Thriving Medical System

Unlocking the Code of Health: Illuminating the Path to a Thriving Medical System

In the intricate tapestry of a nation’s prosperity, nothing weaves a more profound impact than the state of its healthcare system. The vitality of its citizens, the resilience of its communities, and the promise of a prosperous future all hinge on the health and wellness of the population. A healthy population is a productive one, as it reduces absenteeism, increases workforce efficiency, and stimulates economic growth.

Yet, as we embark on this journey through the labyrinth of healthcare, one question looms above all: How can we chart the course to assess and improve a country’s medical system, ensuring a brighter, healthier tomorrow for all? Evaluating the medical system of a nation is a complex endeavor that requires a comprehensive approach to several factors we will delve deeper into later.

One indicator that may be used to assess the effectiveness of the medical industry is the mortality rate. From the data provided by World Development Index, countries with high death rates, such as the Central African Republic, Niger, South Sudan, and many others, have poor healthcare systems, as seen in the visual below:

Furthermore, there exists a strong correlation between CVDs, cancer, diabetes and other illnesses that significantly impacted the mortality rate indication for both males and females. This implies that countries experience high mortality rates due to the increasing rates of the above-mentioned illnesses and diseases. Also, an implication of the absence of some healthcare services such as a lack of efficient medical professionals may be valid as well in such a case.

As a matter of fact, the presence of medical professionals that can assist society and offer health care is one of the most important measures of how well the medical sector is doing. Therefore, one potential solution is enhancing the availability of medical professionals that are prone to doing their job effectively.

There exists a weak correlation between the availability of nurses and midwives and the increasing rates of mortality. This is because an effective team of well-experienced nurses and midwives can strongly lead to a decrease in the number of deaths per hospital. The top 5 nations with the highest mortality rates also have the lowest number of nurses and midwives.

Another potential solution involves increasing expenditures in the healthcare field to gain access to more promising and efficient results. In order to improve the health of their medical industry, the nations with greater rates of mortality have to gain insight from the experience of those with developed healthcare systems, where a significant percentage of the more developed countries’ expenses goes to health expenditures (ex: United States, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway etc.) Higher expenditure on healthcare implies higher expenditure on more enhanced medical professionals whose primary role is to save the day by decreasing mortality rates. Moreover, we can see that while less developed nations such as South Sudan and many others have far greater mortality rates (as discussed earlier), they almost all have a lower number of health expenditures too.

Countries with high mortality rates should prioritize expanding their nurse and midwife workforce. This can be achieved through targeted recruitment, better training opportunities, and incentives to retain experienced healthcare professionals. In nations with a scarcity of healthcare workers, it is crucial to consider redistributing them from regions with surplus staff to areas with greater need. This can help ensure more equitable access to healthcare services and reduce mortality disparities.

Also, the observation that less developed nations with higher mortality rates also have lower health expenditures highlights the need for increased investment in healthcare infrastructure, training, and resources. Adequate funding can have a significant impact on healthcare accessibility and quality.

In conclusion, the state of a nation’s healthcare system is a complex web created by several kinds of variables. According to the results of our investigation, nurses and midwives are vital in determining healthcare outcomes, and there seems to be a link between their availability and death rates. Key suggestions to improve patient care and results included strengthening the healthcare workforce through recruiting, skill development, and equitable distribution.

Furthermore, the evidence indicated a clear link between less health expenditures and higher mortality rates in several less developed nations. This emphasizes the urgent need for increased funding and resources to bridge healthcare disparities and improve the well-being of vulnerable populations.

As we journey towards a brighter future, let us remember that the path to a thriving medical system lies in unity, innovation, and data-informed decision-making.

Education and Early Marriage

Education and Early Marriage

Fatou is a 27-year-old housewife. At 15 years old, she decided to quit her education to get married to the love of her life, a man 8 years older than her, who had promised her a wealthy life in which she wouldn’t worry about a thing.

A few years into her marriage, her husband wasn’t doing well financially, and she found herself financially abused by him. All the promises went into vain and she was there begging for a penny to get the most basic goods she needed. Looking at herself, she found herself with no knowledge or skills to help her stand on her feet. With no education to support her, she felt like all the doors were shut, and her only salvation was her husband, who in turn belittled her for always being dependent on him, noting that it had been himself who stopped her from being an achiever.

This is not only the story of Fatou, but also that of millions of women living in disparity because they couldn’t be self-sufficient and independent. This story is yet another example of what the SDGs tackle, like Reduced Inequalities, among others as Quality Education and Gender Equality.

The contribution of women in the society decreases early marriage, and early marriage is linked to low education.

The graph shows the countries with the highest number of women who were first married by age of 15.

The top 3 countries with the highest number of women who were early married are Niger with 37.37% , Bangladesh with 32% and Chad with 29.25%.

Moreover, 76% of girls in Niger are married before their 18th birthday and 28% are married before the age of 15. Niger has the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world and the 13th highest absolute number of women married or in a union before the age of 18 globally – 745,000.

As a result, Awareness campaigns must be done to limit early marriage, and impose laws on marriage before 18.

In the time it has taken to read this article 39 girls under the age of 18 have been married

Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18

That is 23 girls every minute

Nearly 1 every 2 seconds.

Future4Kids: Restoring A lost Childhood

Future4Kids: Restoring A lost Childhood

Team: Ibrahim Al Jaifi, Zahraa Jassar, Rami Haidar, Ali Hachem, Rim Zeaiter, Fatima Ayoub

“ We don’t go to school; we work in the daytime to support our families and spend the rest of our day playing in the streets.”

Said Omar and Yazan, two inspiring kids in Burj Al Barajneh, a refugee camp in the suburbs of Beirut. Under 10 years old, both already carrying the responsibility of working to provide for their families instead of being enrolled in education.

According to ILO, it is estimated that 160 million children are involved in child labor, 79 million of which are in Hazardous Work that is likely to harm children’s health, safety or morals. All these children, including young Omar and Yazan, are at an age when they are supposed to be provided for, educated and protected. Having to spend most of their time working in jobs that are unsafe and exhausting, their chances of leading healthy and thriving lives diminish with each dollar they earn.

Child Labor in Lebanon

The emergence of the Lebanese economic crisis in 2019 brought with it an increase in percentage of families with children engaged in child labor from 29% to 38% between 2019 and 2021 according to IRC.

GDP, as an indicator of the economic performance of a country, noticed a 65% decrease from $52B to $18B during the period of 2019 to 2021. With this drastic drop in GDP, the unemployment rate rose from 11% to 15% while the CPI more than doubled, leaving thousands of families under the poverty line with no sources of income.

With these dramatic and sudden changes in the economic situation, 3 out of 5 children in Lebanon dropped-out of school and most of the rest switched to public education. Education has become less of a priority for both the government and families.

From a social perspective, 44% of parents who have taken part in a study by the World Vision Organization believed that involving their children in paid labor enhances their life skills and assures a source of income for their households. Meanwhile, the responsible government agencies have no clear and applicable laws in place to prohibit children’s exploitation or ensure they are enrolled in education.

Implications:

Child labor has destructive impacts on the health of the child, exposing millions of children to physical, mental and emotional abuse. As a result, their mental and intellectual development face significant disruptions. Considering the increasing crime rates in the country and the exposure of children to illegal work activities, the forecasted 30% increase in crime rate in 2025 would involve criminal acts by juveniles.

Proposed Solution

Mr. Aws Al Kadasi, senior research analyst at Merci Corps, commented on the topic during an interview for this project:

According to the UNICEF, one in 5 children in the least developed countries are engaged in child labor. A problem that was aggravated by COVID-19 and global economic decline that it takes a walk in Beirut to believe these numbers. Children require different systems of protection that starts with parents and extends to every office, business, institution, organization and agency, local and international, governmental or otherwise. Everyone, who is not a child, is responsible

Both 8 and 16 Sustainable Development Goals highlights the need for international efforts to tackle the issue of child labor:

Target 8.7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labor in all its forms.

Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.

Inspired by these goals as well as social responsibility towards the community, our project team designed an initiative to capitalize on the work of international aid organizations and local organizations and projects working to fight child labor and illiteracy.

F4K APP (Click to view)

Future4Kids (F4K) initiative aims to establish a cooperative relationship between NGOs that provides cash assistance to families and campaigns against child labor. F4K initiative will work on partnering with cash aid organizations and NGOs working in child education. Receiving cash assistance would be conditionally linked to the enrollment of beneficiaries’ children in education with families being required to show evidence of child enrollment in education periodically.

The initiative platform will allow these two parties to join efforts to encourage families to enroll their children in education. F4K platform will also allow for receiving public donations for child education campaigns carried out by our partners.

ENDING UAE’S FOOD & WATER DEFICIT

ENDING UAE’S FOOD & WATER DEFICIT

Trading is one of the most important industries in the UAE, as this is one of the richest countries. The UAE also imports many products, among which foodstuff, machinery, and equipment occupy the first positions among the most imported products in the Emirates. The availability of food is not an issue for residents of the UAE; supermarkets carry all the food they could possibly need or want. But how can a nation with the parched territory and hot weather all year round have access to a wide variety of food? Simple: The UAE is greatly reliant on imports.

 

-Did you know?

UAE faces a trade deficit when it comes to its food market due to limited arable land, increasing climate issues, and acute water shortage.

 

-What are the challenges?

With the recent COVID-19 outbreak revealing the precarious nature of imports, the UAE is now putting a strategy in place by investing in technologies to find a solution to food security.

 

-How can this situation improve?

They need to reduce the imports through a new food strategy which is investing in ag-tech!!

This situation can be improved through “Magic – Breathable Sand” which is one of the solutions that was developed by the Dake Group in partnership with the Rechsand Technology Group from Beijing. This type of sand is covered with a specific technology that allows air to travel through its particles and captures the water that it contains. They believe that it could be applied to desert sand to retain water and fertilizer usage by 70% and 50% respectively.

It was then tested and it worked: they were able to grow around 28 fruit trees including mango and lemon groves.

Various institutions in the United Arab Emirates provide a range of funding options to modernize agriculture.

  • Dubai’s Food Tech Valley: It’s a new initiative that seeks to increase food production in the UAE and establish it as a major international destination for the sector. Based out of Dubai, ICBA works by assisting farmers and agricultural organizations in developing policies and methods that will maximize the management of local natural resources. They provide advice on the optimum crop varieties to harvest as well as soil and water quality.
  • Water Scarcity: To make seawater drinkable and useful for agriculture, the United Arab Emirates mainly relies on an expensive procedure called desalination.

Water is scarce. And as we already know, 90% of the water available in the UAE is desalinated water which is very costly and consumes energy,” explains Idland.

If half of the water was saved and used for agriculture, 30 tons of tomatoes could be produced every day. Additionally, there would be less need for the expensive and energy-intensive process of desalinating seawater.

  • Vertical Farming and New Technologies: The past few years have seen a lot of attention paid to Vertical Farming. The government and the corporate sector have invested millions in the technique despite the significant expense associated with it. In order to develop vertical farming facilities in the Emirate, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) announced in April that it would invest $100 million in four businesses, one of which being AeroFarms.

 

-Visualization and Analysis.

By looking at the data from World Development Indicators, we get the results in Tableau as below: “Imports Vs. Exports”

The data line chart in the World Development Indicators shows the percentages of food exports and imports in the United Arab Emirates from 1999 to 2021 that led to a “Trade Deficit”.

 

-Things to note.

Why is it magical for Desert Farming and Food Security?

  • Breathable roots are produced by breathing sand, and they can change the forest or other green cover.
  • Given that desert soil is free of any chemical or fertilizer contamination, it encourages quicker adoption of organic farming techniques.
  • A small layer of sand can save billions of gallons of water annually by reducing water use for agriculture, farming, forestry, or gardens by 80%.
  • Additionally, the breathable sand can transform desert farming to increase production quantity and quality.

 

 

-Quote.

Increasing self-production within the local region and reducing the reliance on imports is what we are focusing on,” says Chandra Dake.

 

We [in the UAE] are only looking at a few hundred thousand hectares to be food secure, and it is not too far,” he says.