“When the world is collectively at risk, defense becomes a shared responsibility of all nations.”
-Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General, World Health Organization; World Health Day 2007
The 2007 October issue of Emerging Infectious Disease by the CDC along with more than 200 other science journals, dedicated that issue to the theme Global Poverty and Human Development. In one perspective, the morbidity of an infectious disease is linked to homelessness (in developed countries) as well as in urban slums (developing countries).
That's one way of seeing the manifestation of poverty besides chronic hunger, severe malnutrition, and unsanitary living conditions without access to safe and potable water. Poverty isn't just he lack of money and the way it's measured is a subject of much debate. Good governance should be in the forefront if measures are to be taken to counter poverty in a particular country. Besides boosting investors' confidence, fair policy together with its effective implementation, and good management of natural resources (revenues); a good governance also means a clean governance. In Malaysia, a position of 43 according to Transparency International (2007) isn't something to be proud of. Not that it'll increase the numbers below the poverty line but then it'll mean that measures to fight corruption will be hampered and result to nothing. Nada. Nought.
Next comes the sensible approach to solving a problem. Take the increasing fuel price and the increasing scarcity of petroleum for instance, designating a huge area of land for oil palm plantations to be used as feedstocks for biodiesel production would on one hand reduce dependency on petroleum but it does no good to the price of food for consumers. Instead of using a food crop, the fund should go into the exploration of inedible feedstocks (lately Jatropha curcas) and cheap ones (sugar canes in Brazil).
Then we hear of calls to raise the minimum wage. Whilst that may seem to benefit a certain group of low-income earners, it puts pressure on all other wage rates of other skills. In the supply and demand world, skills which are rare or difficult to master have a higher value as do high-risk professions. Bear in mind that as wages rise, the costs of food and service produced would inevitably be borne by consumers. The solution lie, not in charity, but empowerment of the poor by education, vocational training, multiple-skill acquisition as well as ending discrimination; the latter being important in creating gender equality and recognizing the potential of women.
On a personal note, as one in the field of Science, I believe Science could do more to help the needy. Funding should come because of the benefits of a research and not due to the prospect of holding a patent and earning big bucks. Sad but it has become a reality. Vaccines and hardy seed of a particular crop is of no use to the people in the third world if they can't afford these technologies. Ponder on the words of Jonas Salk who developed the first vaccine against polio, when asked who holds the patent to the antipolio vaccine:
"Humankind. Could you patent the sun?"
Poverty could be seen from one aspect as a money problem but it is also a people problem. The former could be solved by a stroke of the pen by a particular government but that would also mean the devaluation of the currency, hence inflation; whilst the latter has got to do with human nature: selfish and covetous. It's high time we stop taking things - basic, everyday things - for granted and start putting the phrase "start them young" into action to avoid a generation having nothing but apathy.
Has fighting poverty become a shared responsibility yet?
That's one way of seeing the manifestation of poverty besides chronic hunger, severe malnutrition, and unsanitary living conditions without access to safe and potable water. Poverty isn't just he lack of money and the way it's measured is a subject of much debate. Good governance should be in the forefront if measures are to be taken to counter poverty in a particular country. Besides boosting investors' confidence, fair policy together with its effective implementation, and good management of natural resources (revenues); a good governance also means a clean governance. In Malaysia, a position of 43 according to Transparency International (2007) isn't something to be proud of. Not that it'll increase the numbers below the poverty line but then it'll mean that measures to fight corruption will be hampered and result to nothing. Nada. Nought.
Next comes the sensible approach to solving a problem. Take the increasing fuel price and the increasing scarcity of petroleum for instance, designating a huge area of land for oil palm plantations to be used as feedstocks for biodiesel production would on one hand reduce dependency on petroleum but it does no good to the price of food for consumers. Instead of using a food crop, the fund should go into the exploration of inedible feedstocks (lately Jatropha curcas) and cheap ones (sugar canes in Brazil).
Then we hear of calls to raise the minimum wage. Whilst that may seem to benefit a certain group of low-income earners, it puts pressure on all other wage rates of other skills. In the supply and demand world, skills which are rare or difficult to master have a higher value as do high-risk professions. Bear in mind that as wages rise, the costs of food and service produced would inevitably be borne by consumers. The solution lie, not in charity, but empowerment of the poor by education, vocational training, multiple-skill acquisition as well as ending discrimination; the latter being important in creating gender equality and recognizing the potential of women.
On a personal note, as one in the field of Science, I believe Science could do more to help the needy. Funding should come because of the benefits of a research and not due to the prospect of holding a patent and earning big bucks. Sad but it has become a reality. Vaccines and hardy seed of a particular crop is of no use to the people in the third world if they can't afford these technologies. Ponder on the words of Jonas Salk who developed the first vaccine against polio, when asked who holds the patent to the antipolio vaccine:
Poverty could be seen from one aspect as a money problem but it is also a people problem. The former could be solved by a stroke of the pen by a particular government but that would also mean the devaluation of the currency, hence inflation; whilst the latter has got to do with human nature: selfish and covetous. It's high time we stop taking things - basic, everyday things - for granted and start putting the phrase "start them young" into action to avoid a generation having nothing but apathy.
Has fighting poverty become a shared responsibility yet?
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