NEARING THE ECLIPSE OF IGNORANCE AND POVERTY RELATED DISEASES: THE FUTURE AHEAD.
NEARING THE ECLIPSE OF IGNORANCE AND POVERTY RELATED DISEASES: THE FUTURE AHEAD.
CHIBU NDUBUISI. 04/12/2017.
Peace be upon you
Not all diseases are related to poverty or ignorance, but many diseases that affect humanity shows that the world still needs to do more to help mitigate the causative factors of some of these pandemics that are becoming endemic in many regions of the globe.
In his essay “Disease of Affluence and other paradoxes” Clive Hamilton poses many deep and searing questions about the affluent world. He asks, (a) if high income, the object of so much determined effort fail to improve our well-being then why have we striven so hard to be rich? (b) Has the pursuit of riches required the sacrifice of those things that do contribute to more contented and fulfilled, such as the depth of our relationship with each other, our links with our communities, a deeper understanding of ourselves and the human conditions and the quality of lives of the natural environments. (c) people continue to pursue more wealth and consume at ever higher levels because they do not know how to better answer the question “How shall I live”
ANSWERING THE QUESTION: HOW WE ALL CAN LIVE.
Going through the 2017 Bill and Melinda Gates Annual Letter, a story captured my heart about how prostitutes in India helped curtailed and contained HIV from breaking in to the larger population.
How did the foundation answer a call about how the prostitute can live? The foundation created a community group in India where sex workers assembled to talk and share ideas about HIV prevention and insist on condom use for their clients. It was a “supportive, safe, informed and inclusive community” of self-help, resulting from the alienation and stigma they all faced in the society.
The unintended consequence of this approach was that the group further enabled speed dial networks to respond to violent attacks, they equally set up thrift systems to encourage savings amongst themselves and financial services to help some of them start new businesses and get out of sex work. The success of this experiment and experience is well documented in India, that the decision of the sex workers to insist on condom use from their clients kept HIV from breaking in to the general population. The empowerment of the women had a multiplier effect on a geometric dimension.
The foundation engages in such mission as a result of their strong believe that “all lives have equal value” not as a principle per say but a strategy to follow. The story above explains how ignorance was defeated by well-informed community of prostitutes enabled by a foundations support.
We equally cannot forget easily how the menace of Sickle cell was fought and defeated by proper and well informed communities and advocacy groups in Africa. The “OGBANJE phenomenon”(ogbanje is name used in describing people with sickle cell disease and are treated with disdain as witches and wizards ) is now a thing of the past as people now check their blood groups before commuting to live long relationships.
Dealing with poverty related disease, studies have found out that “the lower a person’s socioeconomic status the greater their risk of both physical and health problems”. “Low status is not only an economic problem but a health risk too”.
Epidemiological studies have brought to the fore the linkage between income, education and occupation on the one hand and health outcome on the other.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 1 in 10 medical products circulating in low and middle income countries are either substandard or falsified. Substandard and falsified medicines particularly affect the most vulnerable communities and of these substandard and falsified products are antimalarials and antibiotics and most of the reported cases come from Africa. According to the report, “a large proportion of illness in low income countries are entirely avoidable or treatable and most of the disease burden in low income countries finds in root in poverty, such as poor nutrition, indoor air pollution, lack of access to proper sanitation and health education’.
However there is a silver lining on the horizon as global partnerships are helping redefine the narrative hopelessness, which is already yielding positive result as we know, “Poverty humiliates, and a good society will not allow humiliation”.
Bill Gates writes that Vaccines are the biggest reason for the drop in Childhood deaths. The Pentavalent vaccine protects against five deadly infections in a single shot. We hear about how drones are used in the fight against malaria in Zanzibar, The African leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), The US president Malaria Initiative(PMI), The Meningitis Vaccine Project, The Global Microbicide Project, The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition(GAIN),The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), The Global Vaccine Action Plan(GVAP), Roll Back Malaria(RBM) partnership, The Immunize Africa Declaration, The World Health Assembly Resolution (WHA68;6), The Addis Declaration on Immunization (ADI) The GAVI the Vaccine Alliance and equally commendable is that more funds are still going in to research and development to help us know how to achieve the magical number of ZERO Malaria, Tuberculosis, Polio, African Trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.
In Philippines a tax was introduced on tobacco products called “Sin Tax”. The tax is used to fund the health sectors. The WHO set a global target to reduce the burden of malaria by 90% by 2030. It is feasible.
This is to road to the future. Jonathan Sacks writes that “We cannot enjoy the food of affluence while others eat the bread of affliction. We are not fully free if others are oppressed. ” .
Peace be with you.
CHIBU NDUBUISI. 04/12/2017.
Peace be upon you
Not all diseases are related to poverty or ignorance, but many diseases that affect humanity shows that the world still needs to do more to help mitigate the causative factors of some of these pandemics that are becoming endemic in many regions of the globe.
In his essay “Disease of Affluence and other paradoxes” Clive Hamilton poses many deep and searing questions about the affluent world. He asks, (a) if high income, the object of so much determined effort fail to improve our well-being then why have we striven so hard to be rich? (b) Has the pursuit of riches required the sacrifice of those things that do contribute to more contented and fulfilled, such as the depth of our relationship with each other, our links with our communities, a deeper understanding of ourselves and the human conditions and the quality of lives of the natural environments. (c) people continue to pursue more wealth and consume at ever higher levels because they do not know how to better answer the question “How shall I live”
ANSWERING THE QUESTION: HOW WE ALL CAN LIVE.
Going through the 2017 Bill and Melinda Gates Annual Letter, a story captured my heart about how prostitutes in India helped curtailed and contained HIV from breaking in to the larger population.
How did the foundation answer a call about how the prostitute can live? The foundation created a community group in India where sex workers assembled to talk and share ideas about HIV prevention and insist on condom use for their clients. It was a “supportive, safe, informed and inclusive community” of self-help, resulting from the alienation and stigma they all faced in the society.
The unintended consequence of this approach was that the group further enabled speed dial networks to respond to violent attacks, they equally set up thrift systems to encourage savings amongst themselves and financial services to help some of them start new businesses and get out of sex work. The success of this experiment and experience is well documented in India, that the decision of the sex workers to insist on condom use from their clients kept HIV from breaking in to the general population. The empowerment of the women had a multiplier effect on a geometric dimension.
The foundation engages in such mission as a result of their strong believe that “all lives have equal value” not as a principle per say but a strategy to follow. The story above explains how ignorance was defeated by well-informed community of prostitutes enabled by a foundations support.
We equally cannot forget easily how the menace of Sickle cell was fought and defeated by proper and well informed communities and advocacy groups in Africa. The “OGBANJE phenomenon”(ogbanje is name used in describing people with sickle cell disease and are treated with disdain as witches and wizards ) is now a thing of the past as people now check their blood groups before commuting to live long relationships.
Dealing with poverty related disease, studies have found out that “the lower a person’s socioeconomic status the greater their risk of both physical and health problems”. “Low status is not only an economic problem but a health risk too”.
Epidemiological studies have brought to the fore the linkage between income, education and occupation on the one hand and health outcome on the other.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 1 in 10 medical products circulating in low and middle income countries are either substandard or falsified. Substandard and falsified medicines particularly affect the most vulnerable communities and of these substandard and falsified products are antimalarials and antibiotics and most of the reported cases come from Africa. According to the report, “a large proportion of illness in low income countries are entirely avoidable or treatable and most of the disease burden in low income countries finds in root in poverty, such as poor nutrition, indoor air pollution, lack of access to proper sanitation and health education’.
However there is a silver lining on the horizon as global partnerships are helping redefine the narrative hopelessness, which is already yielding positive result as we know, “Poverty humiliates, and a good society will not allow humiliation”.
Bill Gates writes that Vaccines are the biggest reason for the drop in Childhood deaths. The Pentavalent vaccine protects against five deadly infections in a single shot. We hear about how drones are used in the fight against malaria in Zanzibar, The African leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), The US president Malaria Initiative(PMI), The Meningitis Vaccine Project, The Global Microbicide Project, The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition(GAIN),The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), The Global Vaccine Action Plan(GVAP), Roll Back Malaria(RBM) partnership, The Immunize Africa Declaration, The World Health Assembly Resolution (WHA68;6), The Addis Declaration on Immunization (ADI) The GAVI the Vaccine Alliance and equally commendable is that more funds are still going in to research and development to help us know how to achieve the magical number of ZERO Malaria, Tuberculosis, Polio, African Trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.
In Philippines a tax was introduced on tobacco products called “Sin Tax”. The tax is used to fund the health sectors. The WHO set a global target to reduce the burden of malaria by 90% by 2030. It is feasible.
This is to road to the future. Jonathan Sacks writes that “We cannot enjoy the food of affluence while others eat the bread of affliction. We are not fully free if others are oppressed. ” .
Peace be with you.
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