1. “food is limited due to human greed not limitations on resources” (Global Health Watch).
2. Childhood malnutrition is the underlying cause of an estimaed 35% of all deaths among children under five years of age" (World Health Organization).
The first two quotes I have discuss the lack of resources from limitations of food to
death caused by childhood malnutrition. Both of these quotes stood out to me
and related to lecture and class discussion. After watching the first video
about the water wheel, I had only thoughts of joy and happiness when I was
excited about such a fun way for the kids to help their community by bringing
fresh water through active fun playing. I was so excited this, “white” man had
helped the people from South Africa and I was ready to help promote the cause.
These overly positive feelings ended suddenly when listening to the class
discussion pertaining to child labor and the white man trying to fix the world
problems as well as the reliance on the west to solve the problems elsewhere.
These negative thoughts at first came as a shock to me but made much more sense
after watching the second video and I couldn’t help but feel bad for my
original feelings of anger when listening to the negative comments.
I chose the quotes that I did based
on my initial thoughts that first day. I am a very positive person and enjoy
seeing the good in everything however it is eye opening to realize the greed
that goes on in this world. I am blessed to have what I have and it makes me
feel bad that there are so many people suffereing and unable to achieve the
resources that I access everyday. These quotes show the necessary
acknowledgment towards the fact that there are enough resources if it was
properly distributed around the world. Given that, “the world is not fair” some
of these inequalites are due to location and culture and those are not things
that the western world can necessarily help fix however still awareness can
help when determining and considering the most efficient way to help a different
community.
The
readings as well as lecture have shown me that there are a lot of problems and
inequalities in the world. One wouldn’t be so quick to call them a “collection
of problems” as Paul Farmer said. Based on the readings I am able to see statistics
and through lecture I am shown that statistics can be hard to read when
determining each persons individual and unique situation. For example, “about
half the world’s opulation is at risk of malaria, and an estimated 216 million
cases in 2010 led to approximately 655,000 deaths -86% of these in children
under the age of five. In a total of eight countries.. there was more that 50%
reduction of deaths” (WHO) This statistic shows us how global
health is helping communities but the story professor told during lecture about
the bearded man makes me realize that in order to actually help a community,
you must get to know the culture first so the people will not be afraid and
will take the help. That is how medical anthropology and global health work
together.
Over spring break I travelled to
Nicaragua with the American Jewish World Services program and we helped the Ojo
de Agua community create a grain storage facility so they can grow and properly
store grains and have a safe place for storage during the winter months. This
will help them be able to sell their grains and make enough money to support
their community all year round. Going on this trip was a great experience and I
was able to get to know an amazing group of people and see how different their
life is from mine. While this was a humbling and appreciative experience, I
could not help but feel the white mans burden and a sense of inequality. While
the community was incredibly grateful that we came with supplies and they were
overly welcoming and excited to meet us and get to know us, I couldn't help but
feel like they could have done so much more work if I wasn’t there getting in
the way or if instead of paying for my flight to Nicaragua, we just sent that
money that they could have done so much with.
The aspect of global health that I
was involved with, was helping a community be able to support their own
community. While doing this, we got to know the people and how, as humans, they
relate and interact with one another and on a daily basis. We were able to help this community and give them the resources they needed in this unique situtation. My connection to global health stems through being
interested with the world and what goes on outside of the United States. While
I am not fully educated on all the different problems and issues that different
countries face, I do stay in contact with the people from Nicaragua and see the
progress that they are making from the resources that we helped build.
Another way that I made a
connection to the readings and lecture was the topic of Noncommunicable diseases.
I have a long history of cancer in my family that took my mother away 5 years
ago and my 20 year old cousin is suffering through a fight for her life right
now. The chapter scared me when the statistics showed that more and more people
would be dying from noncommunicalbe diseases. For this reason I am more aware
that each individual has a unique situation and I hope that through global
health and medical anthropology we can help more people live longer and
healthier lives.
Megan Macoubray
I am choosing to comment on Megan Macoubray’s blog about the limitations on resources in the world. In the blog Megan describes what she was thinking at the time when she watched the PBS special about the “Water Wheel” in South Africa. At first Megan was more than delighted that a possible solution was found to help the people of South Africa have access to clean portable water. She went on to stating that she was more than excited to promote the cause, but was suddenly erupted when the discussion about child labor was held in class. To think that a “white man” was more than eager to help those in need was initially inspiring, but underneath the humanitarian efforts had something more sinister and dark. And that is greed and child labor. From the blog it is apparent that the author is more than thankful about the opportunities she has from comparing the disparity between herself and the children in that PBS special. And that such inequalities reflect on how the “world is not fair” and such disparity stems from the difference in location and culture that is different than the western world. The blog goes on to stating several statistics about the risk of malaria and that “about half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria, and an estimated 216 million cases in 2010 led to approximately 655, 000 deaths -86% of these in children under the age of five. “ (WHO). This statistic says nothing about the individual or the story of the person who is affected by malaria. And according the professor during the class lecture, that in order to help the community that is affected by such a disease one must also understand the culture in addition to the statistics and scientific facts. By doing so, the people of that community will be more susceptible to help.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that in class when we watched the PBS special about the water pump everyone was initially excited that the “white man” who was probably making a comfortable living through advertisement and marketing would go out of his way to help the people in Africa have access to clean water. And in doing so it may seem that he did find a feasible and efficient solution to a problem that many could only donate money to. However in the second video proceeding the first one shows a more dark side to the water pump. Initially donors were more than excited to raise money for the pump, but to me it only seems as if these donors were celebrities, businessmen/women, politicians and etc. While that is a good thing that the elites (those who can afford it) are more than willing to fund a good cause, but I do have to ask, “where are the average folks?” Where are the people who are actually traveling to developing countries and helping the people at a community level? Also, the issue of child labor and whether the water pump that was originally designed to not only pump clean water, but to give children something to play on. In the second video, the children are not seen playing on the pump and the women are struggling to pump the water, which is more work than the original pump that proceeded before the play pump. I do have to agree with the post that Megan posted about how the resources in this world is not limited because it is limited, but rather it is limited by greed. In applying the context of this quote to the second PBS special about the water pump it shows that the elites were less willing to be public about the water pump once it was deemed as inefficient or less useful. No one was willing to take the responsibility in admitting that something was wrong and perhaps the publicity from its success originally is more important than the actual cause.
Hi Megan!
ReplyDeleteYour blog has struck me because I'm struggling with some of the shock and disillusionment you mentioned in your first two paragraphs a lot right now because of this class. You said that you try to see the good in everything and I do too, but we've learned about so much greed and power in global health it's hard to see the good.
I always thought that there could be no wrong way to help someone as long as your intentions are good. I figured I would go out there in the world and help sick people as a doctor or whatever and there could be no question about the good I was doing. But that’s wrong! It seems like as Americans our help is poison because we can’t possibly understand the social environment of people living totally different lives from ours. And not only that, but health has to come from the community. I can’t imagine how sad I would be if I had a very sick little kid treated by say a French NGO doctor and then later that kid only had faith in French knowledge and technology. I would be so grateful to have a healthy child again, but it would feel like a rejection of my own culture.
That example is random, but I mean that theoretically people should be better adapted to help themselves locally. That way, health is experiential and small scale. What works for one community or country doesn’t have to work across the whole world. Most people in the U.S. will take cough syrup when they have a sore throat. But that is not the only way to sooth the inflammation. People in other countries should use their own healing, and in this example, US aid efforts should not just deliver ten thousand bottles of Nyquil to places with sore throat epidemics (not a real thing, I know). Not only will this discredit what other medicine they have, but also it creates a long-term dependency on a U.S. produced good.
Theoretically this is true, but I guess the sweeping disruption of social and economic homeostasis caused by colonialism and globalization has created an adaptive lag. In places that never experienced a sore throat epidemic and don’t have a system in place to deal with it, what do you do? Maybe this is where Medical Anthropology and new, smarter global health come in. Like you say, MedAnth and global health need to work together. It’s not just about understanding people enough to make them accept new health care, it’s about giving suffering people a way to help themselves in their own way. Like in the U.S., the American Indian population has been experiencing astronomical rates of depression anxiety and child suicide. So many efforts funded or run by the government have been to install psychiatric counseling, help centers, and therapy into reservations. These solutions, which work in regular U.S. urban areas, have had no affect on the health of tribal communities. The only thing that has worked is help from within the tribe in the form of their own religion. It’s clear that if the government wants to help reduce suicide rates, they should just provide the means to strengthen these internal religious efforts.
I’m just trying to readjust my idea of what form “help” should take after this class has challenged my super idealized view of global health. I liked your blog because you seem to be working through the same thing.
Molly Reid