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talkpoliticsI want to you to take a look at these maps. They show the state of the world and show that in spite of what we see in the media , the fight against endemic world poverty is being won.
The images are big, so behind an LJ cut to save your bandwidth.
First , lets understand IMR - it stands for Infant Mortality Rate.
If you were to look at Britain since the year 2000, you would find that for every 1,000 live births, less than 10 children died before their 1st birthday. Britain has an IMR of under 10.
Now in some countries, the IMR is 50, or even higher. This means that at least 1 child in 20 will die before it's a year old. Worse still, in some countries, the IMR iis 100 or over - in some cases IMrs top 200 - I child in 5 dying before it's first birthday.
Now, this IMR thing is not some random event. it is closely linked to what we call 'endemic poverty'. In the UK, it may be possible to see some homeless people sleeping rough on the streets of London. There are isolated incidents of people falling into poverty. However, for the bigger percentage of the population, things are different. most people have houses. Most, if not all children have shoes, go to school, and eat enough to stay alive.
In other countries, however, most children do not simply lack shoes, they lack homes wiith running water, proper sanitation, the means to go to school- and whole villages are like this. this is what we mean by 'endemic poverrty' poverty being widespread - it's the norm and out of control. In such countries, diseases like malaria are also wide spread, endemic and are delibitating the efforts people make to rise up out of poverty.
So- now we know this, let's take a look at the maps.
the world in 1960 - you can click the image for more detail, but basically, purple = high IMR and green = below 50.
look at how widespread endemic poverty is.
note that Europe and North America are relatively prosperous, but namy areas suffer IMRs well over 50.
1980
more green areas showing up - but still lots of places where work needs doing.
some counties are a darker shade of green - places like this have very low IMRs.
2000
The world seems to be winning the war against endemic poverty.
Any country that goes below 50 tends to stay there - only North Korea, with a communist Military dictatorship seems to have fallen back to being above IMR 50.
most places that have democratic, stable governments are making vast strides. I hope in my lifetime to see the whole world go below IMR 50.
If we change the way that international trade is conducted, if we back the initiatives of the World Health Organiisation, if we can persuade our own politicians to sponsor world health programmes instead of more expensive weapon systems, if we support democratic movements like those in burma and elsewhere against tyrannical regimes, if we educate ourselves on what's happening and how we can get involved - then that is perfectly possible.
The images are big, so behind an LJ cut to save your bandwidth.
First , lets understand IMR - it stands for Infant Mortality Rate.
If you were to look at Britain since the year 2000, you would find that for every 1,000 live births, less than 10 children died before their 1st birthday. Britain has an IMR of under 10.
Now in some countries, the IMR is 50, or even higher. This means that at least 1 child in 20 will die before it's a year old. Worse still, in some countries, the IMR iis 100 or over - in some cases IMrs top 200 - I child in 5 dying before it's first birthday.
Now, this IMR thing is not some random event. it is closely linked to what we call 'endemic poverty'. In the UK, it may be possible to see some homeless people sleeping rough on the streets of London. There are isolated incidents of people falling into poverty. However, for the bigger percentage of the population, things are different. most people have houses. Most, if not all children have shoes, go to school, and eat enough to stay alive.
In other countries, however, most children do not simply lack shoes, they lack homes wiith running water, proper sanitation, the means to go to school- and whole villages are like this. this is what we mean by 'endemic poverrty' poverty being widespread - it's the norm and out of control. In such countries, diseases like malaria are also wide spread, endemic and are delibitating the efforts people make to rise up out of poverty.
So- now we know this, let's take a look at the maps.
the world in 1960 - you can click the image for more detail, but basically, purple = high IMR and green = below 50.
look at how widespread endemic poverty is.
note that Europe and North America are relatively prosperous, but namy areas suffer IMRs well over 50.
1980
more green areas showing up - but still lots of places where work needs doing.
some counties are a darker shade of green - places like this have very low IMRs.
2000
The world seems to be winning the war against endemic poverty.
Any country that goes below 50 tends to stay there - only North Korea, with a communist Military dictatorship seems to have fallen back to being above IMR 50.
most places that have democratic, stable governments are making vast strides. I hope in my lifetime to see the whole world go below IMR 50.
If we change the way that international trade is conducted, if we back the initiatives of the World Health Organiisation, if we can persuade our own politicians to sponsor world health programmes instead of more expensive weapon systems, if we support democratic movements like those in burma and elsewhere against tyrannical regimes, if we educate ourselves on what's happening and how we can get involved - then that is perfectly possible.
(no subject)
Date: 22/5/10 17:56 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/5/10 20:23 (UTC)You cannot get below 50 while people are desperately poor.
You can't go below 50 and still stay endemically poor.
50 seems to generate a critical mass - only 1 country has gone below 50 and returned. that was North Korea, that fell into the hands of a Communist military dictatorship.
People seem to get fixated on famines. Famines don't kill as many people as poverty does. people who are poor live in slums, with open sewers running past their doors. their kids will get dysentry, and die of it. They will be undernourished, prone to infections. they will have to go work the fields or the factoriesor on the strets instead of going to school. And if they survive into adulthood, these kids wiill have a big family. because if they don't have several children, nobody will be there to look after them when they get old.have 6 kids , and maybe one or two might make it.
Poverty does not keep population down , it drives it up.
Look at the Greenest countries on the map. Check their population growth, and their GNP per capita.
One or two kids max, in every family. Kids who are immunised, in school, and have access to clean water and sanitation. that is the way to go - that is what we need to aim for, world wide.