Spread the Word

“There’s enough on this planet for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.”
Mahatma Gandhi

This was one of the quotes from Dr. Shahi’s February 8th lecture, and it pretty much sums up my take home message for the night.

The Millennium Development Goals are as follows:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development.

One of the discussion questions for the class centered on how we as a global community can meet these goals. Thinking about this took me back to my January 25th posting, Shifting Paradigm Starts With You and Me. One of the most important things that you and I can do is spread the word about the goals. We must get others thinking and talking about the goals in order to affect policy and bring greater attention to help change the lives of the more than 850 million people in the world who go hungry everyday and the 1.1 billion who live on less than $1 a day.

I know that I paid little attention to the Millennium Development Goals until I began the MPH program at USC. There are many, many others out there who have never heard of them and have never thought of them. Let’s all do our part and spread the word!