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Global Health 2005: Yes, We Can Help

Spanish Translation

By David Bjerklie

More than 1 billion people on our planet live in crushing poverty. That's more than three times the population of the United States. The world's poorest billion drink dirty water that makes them sick. They don't have enough food to eat. They die from diseases that are easily prevented in wealthier nations. These mothers, fathers and children are not the survivors of natural disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes or hurricanes. These people face life-threatening conditions every day of their lives simply because they are poor.

The good news is that a growing number of health experts and world leaders are convinced that we can stop a lot of the suffering. This week at a conference in New York City hosted by TIME magazine, health heroes from around the world come together to focus on what can be done today to help the poorest of the world's poor.

A Different World
"The world is a very different place for millions of people," Dr. David Ho, the head of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York City, told TFK. "Children in much of the world are being threatened by entirely different diseases, ones that we have the ability to take care of here very easily."

For example, in the U.S. there are fewer than 100 reported cases of measles. In poor countries, however, 30 million people are infected and more than half a million children die each year from this preventable disease. Common diarrhea is always unpleasant but rarely dangerous in the U.S. In countries that lack clean water and basic medicine, however, diarrhea kills 1 million kids each year.

The list of differences between rich and poor countries is long. Nearly all U.S. children are vaccinated for a dozen childhood diseases by the time they are 2 years old. They never think twice about having clean water to drink, and most have enough food to eat. When American kids do get sick, most can see a doctor and get the treatment they need.

The world's poorest kids have no such luck. Heidi Larson works for the Harvard University Center for Population and Development Studies. "The lives of millions of children could be saved each year," she told TFK, "with such basic supplies as vaccines, antibiotics, vitamins, and bed nets and medicine to prevent malaria." Malaria, a disease spread by mosquitoes, kills 3 million people each year, most of them children in Africa.

High Goals, High Hopes
Five years ago, the United Nations set goals, called the Millennium Development Goals, that world leaders hoped would help them improve the lives of poor people by 2015. Researchers, such as Dr. Sonia Ehrlich Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York City, have worked hard to find ways to achieve these goals. Sachs and her colleagues are trying to see if their ideas can work in real villages, such as Sauri, Kenya.

They do. For example, the Earth Institute's team helped to provide fertilizers and better seeds to Sauri so villagers could grow more food crops to feed their hungry families. "In just one growing season," Sachs told TFK, "the villagers grew three times more corn and beans than they did before."

The Low Cost of Doing Good
It often takes only a tiny amount of money to make a big difference. Bed nets, which protect sleeping people from malaria-infected mosquitos, "cost seven dollars," says Sachs. "They sleep two people, and they last for five years. That's 70 cents per person per year." Preventing painful stomach parasites is even cheaper. "One chewable pill taken once or twice a year costs two cents per tablet," Sachs says.

The World Food Programme (WFP), based in Rome, Italy, tackles the problem of hunger by feeding children in schools. The WFP runs a global school-feeding campaign that helps kids get food and stay in school. The promise of a good meal helps to draw children to school. And when kids get an education, they are better able to help themselves, their community and their country battle poverty. Last year, the WFP fed nearly 17 million kids in 72 countries. It costs only 19 cents a day for the WFP to give a child a nutritious meal at school. Just $34 can feed a child for a whole school year!

People often think the problems of the very poor are so overwhelming that no one can even begin to fix them. But that's not true. Once health experts tackle one problem, their solution often ends up solving other problems. How? By building a lasting medical establishment. "It usually means training doctors, nurses and lab technicians and building clinics," says Dr. David Ho.

Step Up, Wealthy World
Americans have been generous in raising money for the survivors of natural disasters, especially this year. But many international leaders say that developed nations like the U.S. should give more money to help out with day-to-day global health problems. However, many elected officials of wealthy nations need to be convinced to give more to improve the health and welfare of the world's poorest people. The citizens of those countries, including kids, must make it clear that saving the poor is important to them.

Helping millions of families live longer, healthier lives could be the greatest challenge of our generation. But we can meet it. The first step is to learn all of the reasons that we should care. The next step: devoting our time, money and medical expertise to meeting the challenge.

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By the Numbers

$7: The cost of a bed net that will protect two people against malaria for five years

19¢: The price of a healthy meal for a school child in a poor country

2¢: The cost of a pill to treat stomach parasites in a child in Africa

$100: The price of 740 doses of measles vaccine

$25: The cost per month of treating one child who has AIDS

60¢: buys water purification tablets to treat 5 gallons of water.

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How to Help
Ready to help save the world? Do your homework first! The groups below are doing great things. Find tips on picking a worthy organization or taking on a project at charitywatch.org and charitynavigator.com.

Doctors Without Borders
The medical staff of this Nobel Peace Prize--winning group spans the globe.

Keep a Child Alive
Contributions go directly to poor children and families in need of AIDS medicines.

The ONE Campaign
Maybe you have seen this group's white plastic bracelets. The campaign, led by U2's Bono, supports spending an additional 1% of the U.S. federal budget to fight global poverty and AIDS.

Rx for Survival
In addition to a six-part documentary series airing on PBS this week, WGBH-TV and Vulcan Productions have joined forces with CARE, Save the Children and UNICEF to create a fund for the neediest children in seven devel-oping countries.

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