Population and Health
Health is important to every human being and there’s a saying that says it cannot be bought by money. However, is that really true?
We are all aware of the poor condition in rural countries, the people there lack money, food, water, education and the list goes on. They are not educated enough to know what they are doing might affect their health, or rather, do they even know what health is? They have no money to get proper food and water. In poor countries like Africa the people eat whatever they can find, bath and drink from the same place. In Africa, more than one billion people have to travel a significant distance to collect water and almost half the population has no access to basic sanitation. Due to this, 4000 children die everyday from waterborne diseases. On the other hand, in Singapore, we get water with just a turn of the tap. Do we even know what waterborne diseases are?
In Singapore, the hospitals are able to cater to people with different illnesses. People are encouraged to go for health checkups every years for early detection of any diseases. For the less well off people, we have different organisations subsidising them. In South Africa, at least one in ten people are HIV positive, the number still increasing. By the time the people reach adulthood, most were already dying, be it from aids, tuberculosis or malaria (Geffen). The life expectancy rate not exceeding sixty. The saddest thing is, most are not even aware of their own health conditions. Also, most with such transmitted diseases live in informal settlements. This shows how poor housing conditions affect a person’s health. Most importantly, how poverty deprives a person of good health and treatment for diseases that could have been easily cured if the patient is living in countries like Singapore.
The culture of such rural areas, the lack of knowledge of hygience have led to the quick spread of diseases. Just like what has happened in Guangdong province, how the consumption of wild animals has led to a deadly disease called SARS. Such examples are ample, just not commonly known because they have yet to affect us.
From this, we can see how social inequality has affected even issues like health. The rich has the access to good medical services, while the poor are struggling to even get enough food. Is it fair to leave the poor to suffer and die? But is there anything which we can do to improve their conditions? It is not able giving them the best medical services or resources. Nobody can give them anything if they themselves do not want it. Rather than health, it is natural that they are more concern about food and their immediate survival. Health is something they cannot see, something that cannot fill their stomachs.
The root of the problem is still the poor conditions they are living in. There is no use giving them condoms and to educate them about safe sex. They want as many children as possible, to them children are resources to help them with work and labour. They need to improve, step by step. There is no reason why Singapore can achieve success while a country like Africa which such rich natural resources is so backward. Perhaps conditions will be better if the other countries can stop exploiting them, be it for natural resources or cheap labour. No use giving them money today and digging for oil in their land tomorrow.
Reference:
Geffen, N. (n.d.). What do South Africa’s AIDS statistics mean? Retrieved 2006, from Treatment Action Campaign: http://www.tac.org.za/community/aidsstats
