At Wisdom's Table, I read the following, and it stopped me in my tracks.
Recently the UN General Assembly held a two-day debate to discuss its Millennium Development Goals that 189 U.N. member states agreed in 2000 to try to achieve by the year 2015. Those goals are: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal free primary education; promoting gender equality and empowerment of women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating H.I.V./AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development.
Progress toward these goals has been extremely slow for three key reasons: the costs of warfare, the economic downturn, and the food crisis.
Consider this: The US military spends $1.9 billion every single day. In contrast, $1.5 billion spent over five years could provide mosquito net coverage to prevent malaria in all of Africa. That's according to Jeffrey D. Sachs, who directs the Earth Institute at Columbia University and heads the U.N. Millennium Project.
The way forward? Focus on “the bottom billion,” the poorest of the poor. The poverty, education and health goals are the areas where progress is most urgently required. Positive results in any of these areas have a catalytic effect on progress toward other goals. Thus investing in primary health care is one of the most cost-effective and successful ways to improve overall quality of life and the stability of families and communities.
Please visit the Table and read on.
Recently the UN General Assembly held a two-day debate to discuss its Millennium Development Goals that 189 U.N. member states agreed in 2000 to try to achieve by the year 2015. Those goals are: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal free primary education; promoting gender equality and empowerment of women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating H.I.V./AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development.
Progress toward these goals has been extremely slow for three key reasons: the costs of warfare, the economic downturn, and the food crisis.
Consider this: The US military spends $1.9 billion every single day. In contrast, $1.5 billion spent over five years could provide mosquito net coverage to prevent malaria in all of Africa. That's according to Jeffrey D. Sachs, who directs the Earth Institute at Columbia University and heads the U.N. Millennium Project.
The way forward? Focus on “the bottom billion,” the poorest of the poor. The poverty, education and health goals are the areas where progress is most urgently required. Positive results in any of these areas have a catalytic effect on progress toward other goals. Thus investing in primary health care is one of the most cost-effective and successful ways to improve overall quality of life and the stability of families and communities.
Please visit the Table and read on.
2 Comments
Here, here, Sandy! I agree with you 100% The war in Iraq and Afghanistan fills me with anguish.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about priorities, right. Think about this...the action in Iraq is burying this country in debt. Progress to by 2015, if we ever get out of that quagmire in the Middle East, will be delayed even more as we struggle to recover as a country.
ReplyDeleteThat said, imagine how our standing could improve if we focused on doing nice things and glorifying truths rather than putting forth one fabrication after another.
Thanks for being here.