Dr. Shahi, thanks for the quote from Plato…“There should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor again excessive wealth”, he wrote, “for both are productive of great evil.”
I thought this was a great quote. I reminded me of one of the articles I reviewed in PM 566. The article was entitled “International Efforts to Control Infectious Diseases, 1851 to the Present.” The authors noted the comments of Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs regarding the MDG’s. He commented that if all the wealthy nations devoted 1/10th of one percent of their GNP to support health services for the world’s poor that this would translate to about $25 billion annually. These funds could markedly reduce the world’s disease burden and save about 21,000 lives each day. WOW!
They also closed with a statement that I really liked: “Public health is purchasable. But it is an investment that works best when purchased in advance rather than paid out as each crisis arises.”
4 comments:
wonderful quotes... it really doesn't take a lot to make a large difference. it would be great if countries could be so "generous".
rosie, jeffrey sachs' take on what it would cost to lift the poorest out of poverty is truly amazing...it would take such a small piece of the pie to make this difference!
but it requires a concerted effort among human beings and nations. how do we achieve that? through the UN, the WHO, the IMF, i guess...but they're tangled up in private interest. what do you think?
Farah,
Thanks for the comment.
Private interest is key. No matter what, the money has to come from somewhere, and unfortunately it usually comes with strings attached. Even if the wealthiest countries supported such an initiative, I doubt there would be no self-serving interests. Rarely ever are political decisions made in the absence of politics. Private funds also have limitations imposed by the donor.
Rosie hun, I am stunned by these numbers. I certainly think if the wealthy people donate some percentage of their annual income to poor yearly, our world will be standing at lower rate of poverty in a long term. We as future public health professionals should be creative and come up with plans to involve these citizens for contributing their money toward better life of poor.
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