Conclusion and Thoughts

Over the past five weeks I have learnt a lot about the world and how it works. I find it hard to believe that by the time I have finished typing this paragraph 250 children will have died due to poverty. They didn't do anything to deserve this but yet they still die. I also find it hard to believe that while I'm writing this paragraph $275 million will be spent today on an apparent "War on Terror". Personally I don't think these two add up yet we are doing nothing about it. People can argue that these people (yes they are people just like you and me) were just born in the wrong place and the fact that their country is geographically in a poor location is just not acceptable. I don't see why we in the "First World" cant sacrifice a small slice of our luxurious lives so that our fellow human beings can just simply live. I've learnt that the world is an unfair place but that we can all help out in our own ways to make the lives of the less fortunate bearable. Finally Id like to say that if you are reading this on your computer the chances are that you are fairly well off...enjoy it, and if you have a chance, help out someone in need not just because it is the right thing to do but because you might be giving them a chance to get through the day or week.

Diseases Due to Poverty

Source of photo- Poverty

Because of the lack of money and supplies many diseases and illnesses are very common in third world countries. Some of the most common diseases are Pneumonia, Diarrhea, Tuberculosis and Malaria .

Pneumonia- Is a form of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI)and it kills over 2 million people every year. Pneumonia is a very contagious disease and is transmitted when the infected person coughs or sneezes droplets that contain the disease in to the air. The reasons that pneumonia is so common in poorer is that there such a small supply of doctors, hospitals and health centres for treatment.

Diarrhea- Diarrhea kills approximately 1.6 million people every year. Sadly enough most of these victims are children. Healthy people can overcome this disease in a couple of hours or days at most. But when a weak, malnourished person contracts the disease it can be fatal. They lose huge of amounts of fluids and salts and become dehydrated. This can continue until the person actually dies of dehydration.

Tuberculosis- Tuberculosis is highly contagious and is spread through the air when an infected person coughs. People with tuberculosis infect about 10-15 new people every year. Tuberculosis kills about 1.5 million people every year, unfortunately most of those killed by this illness are in third world countries.

Malaria- Is a disease that is transmitted by mosquitoes and it causes severe fever and exhaustion for up to weeks on end. Abot 90% of malaria cases are in Africa. Although it is a dangerous disease it is easily preventable. By buying a $6 dollar mosquito net the chances of getting the disease is dramatically reduced.

Although many eforts are ongoing to try and prevent disease in thirdworld countries millions people still die.

HIV / AIDS and Poverty

Source of photo- HIV/AIDS Map

Its something we have all heard about but very few of us actually know what happens when someone is diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. AIDS (Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is caused by the the virus HIV ( Human Immunodeficiency Virus). It can be caught when someone comes into contacts with the bodily fluid of an infected person. AIDS is now a pandemic all over the world and in 2007 33.2 millin people were estimated to be infected with the disease and someone dies from AIDS or HIV every 15 seconds (over two million every year). Of the 33.2 million people infected the majority of those live in the undeveloped countries. Surprisingly it is the children of these countries that suffer the most as they can be born with HIV or get it when feeding on breast milk from their infected mother. Although it is a devastating disease that has killed millions it is becoming increasingly manageable in developed and undeveloped alike.

Wealth and Poverty

I chose this video because this shows the horrible truth about our world and how unfair it really is. The first half of it shows the world as we see it every day and the second shows what life is like for millions of people all over the world and how they struggle to survive in their cruel surroundings.

I got this video from EllinasKommounistis on youtube.

Poverty and the "First World"

source for photo- Poverty

The defintion of poverty is as follows

"Poverty is the deprivation of common necessities such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include the lack of access to opportunities such as education and employment which aid the escape from poverty and/or allow one to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens".
source - Google Dictionary

Taking from this we can see that poverty is basicly the lack of the fundementals that people need to survive. For example, a safe place to call home, drinking water, food. As well as necesseties such as education and a job. Everyday 25,000 people die due to poverty. That is approximately one person every 3.5 seconds. This is very hard for us to imagine as we are used to everyday things such as water, food and our jobs. This is only a dream for roughly 80% of people in the world today.

Probably to group of people that are hit hardest are children. Of the 2.2 billion children that are in the world about half of them will never drink clean water, will never eat a full meal and will probably never recieve a full education.

As this goes on in many countries all over the globe, we in the "modern", "first world", "developed" contries gorge ourselves on fast food, treat ourselves to cosmetic surgery and in general waste our money on selfish and pointless possesions.

Hi Im Jack and Im a student at Wesley College, Dublin. Im writing this blog on poverty and focusing mainly on some of the underdeveloped countries world. I hope you find this blog interesting and that it opens your eyes to what our commercial and material world is really like. This is my first blog so if you like it please let me know.