Save the World

in their shoes

2008-08-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

i cannot even imagine what it feels like
the pain the suffocation the isolation
the constant reminder of your assummed inferiority simply because of your gender
i cannot imagine looking upon my own charred skin after attempting to burn myself due to the injustices have been done upon me and surviving that experience in order to suffer more injustice
human suffering is deafening, heart rendering, excruciatingly psychologically as well as physically painful.
i cannot imagine because i do not live in that world
i am so far away that i have lost all sense of reality
the disparities and gaps are choking me
my vain tears flood my cheeks but how will those tears help the numerous women that are killed, tortured, raped and murdered.
my vain tears and simply warm drops of nothingness that express my anguish momentarily only to go back to corporate america monday morning.
i cannot help but feel helpless in this.
when suffering exists. unsurmountable suffering exists. when i think of the amount of this suffering it overwhelms me and more vain tears return. but i must find another solution.
there must be a way to alleviate the suffering.
it is perhaps their eyes i remember the most,
their tears and my tears
how different they are even though the biologically her tears and my tears and her tears are made of the same components we exist in two completely different lives and two compeltely different worlds.
i have become lost in the consumeristic and materialistic universe. but i am not slain for writing a piece of poetry or for wanting to gain an education. my tears are half in vain and other half in frustration. vain in the fact that even though i am shedding tears what am i really doing about the situaiton and the other half in frustration because i know that individuals of my gender suffer every day. 50 women die everyday in childbirth complications in Afghanistan. That is 18,250 that are dieing just because they were not brought to the hospital in time. Many other women and children die of preventable illnesses due to lack of access to health care. Women that stand up for themselves and ask for education are mistreated and brutally abused. For the women that have attempted to burn themselves but have survived..i do not know what i would say to them. the fact that an indvidual could mistreat you to such an extent that you would go through the physical pain of bieng burnt alive but survive puts a whole new level of exquisite pain that these women are facing..in which the physical pains of the burn are subsidiary to the psychological pain and torture they are feeling.

i have always taken granted of everything. of my family..of my educaiton of my opportunities. but i too was born in nepal which in the larger scheme of things isnt all that far from Afghanisthan. In fact, Nepal has its own demons. I could have been born in a poorer households in the rural area where I could have been sold by my own parents in order to "earn money" but basically to sell my body to the Bombay sex industry. they say there is a large demand of nepali girls...sometimes i cant help but feel both guilty and uneasy in my very being when i see the faces of these girls and women. i see in them so much of what i see in me. a curiosity to learn to grow..be come someone that makes a difference in the world. except when you have been coaxed by a city man who promises to marry you but then sells you off to a brothel. what happens to those dreams.
my dreams are still intact as much as i profess that soemtiems my life feels like a mess. however, isnt it all relative anyways. if my body was invaded every second of every day what would happen to my dreams...in the same light..what about thier dreams..thier ambitions..
i cant help but feel that i do not deserve this life. i just dont think its fair that so much disparity exists where some people have so much and others have so little.

the disparities weigh down upon my body and i feel overtaken by them..but what bothers me most is perahps my inaction. my complete inaction. however. things must change.
i think i have wasted too much time pitying myself for past mistakes and misunderstandings. however in order to make tommroow better i cannot dwell on the past.
if the disparities really bother me to such an extent i must do something. i must make myself worthy of the world.
Here are the things that i need to work on in order to better serve the world.
1. Attitude
this is essential to me suceeding in making a postive impact. negativity has been a part of me for so long but i really need to re-evaluate and being more positive both about my life as well the solutions i want to implement in the world. I need the power of beleif in ymself. and i know its there. it is in the gut.
2. Strength
this is emotional, psychological and physical, in order to serve others i need to be in good health. i have found that my eating habits are less than ideal. and i prefer to sit on the couch for hours rather than engage in any physical activity this needs to change. i need to find ways to become physically active..even if this means i have to force myself. i need to develop a tougher skin. we meet all differnt types of people from different walks of life. if i let every person that i do not get along wiht bother me i will never go anywhere. if anything i will welcome poeple that i may not get along with as well becasue that symbolizes a situation where i can make a positive change in that relationship and see what i can provide.

3. patience. patience. patience. sometiems i see many people achieiving the dreams and aspirations that i wanted for ymself, but just because someone else has the same dreams as mine and is acheiving them does not mean i cannot acheive mine. my dreams are mine alone and it is my sole responsibility to make my own dreams come true. the road is never smooth to get what you really want. but if you want it bad enough it will come to you and if it doesnt, you will find a way for it come to you. be pateint withyourslef. changes are gradual. you need to give your body and mind time to adjust. however being consistent and disciplined is the key. we must be the change we wish to see in the world. so be the change! your calling is calling! you have no more time to waste. time is our greatest resource, use it wisely.

4. the more i look around in the world more i see the need for physicians to work in areas of underprivileged health care. my interest fundamentally lies in health. becoming a physican will give me agency which is intergral in making and implementing policy changes and procedures. the doctor dream has been there for a while now. but i wont deny that i got lost for awhile in a pool of doubt and resentment..yet i wonder..did i ever see ymself as anyone else..everything i wasnt to do is realted to phsycians work
wanting to work in a clinical setting, interacting closely with the pateint while being able to delegate what medical procedure will be best for itehr health. planning and implmeneting public health programs. the only thing that stands between me and medschool is the mcats. and this time around i am ready. i have taken time off..thought this through..and the more i work..the more i realize that becoming a physician is the right path me. i never said it would be easy simple or short. i am still trying to figure out how i will get there but get there for sure.
5. all i want from life is that i leave this world having made a positive impact on an individuals life. i want to leave a legacy of love and compassion behind. i want to build a clinic where community health workers will be extesnively active. i want to build a clinic that not only provides the clinical services but also provides emotional, and psycholigical needs. i want to create a social support system for individuals. i want to eradicate infectious diseases from the world..and althoguh the idea of it mind sound silly its true. infectious diseases spread and manifest in very specific conditions. i want to make changes in policy that relate to health to be more inclusive to consider living status. i do not ever want to look at health, employment, property and education as independenment entities. in stead i want to see all of these as overlapping and if that is the foundation, a missing link can be devastating and i want to link this missing link to disease. that is when diseases occur. diseases will always occur. but studying diseae from a social aspect may help us understand the social issues we need to address.
6. i want my friends and family to be happy. if i could take up all the sorrow in the world and die because of it...i would die many times in order to rid the world of sorrow. if me being in pain would releive the pain and distress of another..i would bear the pain.
i want to serve the world. make this world a better place. spread access
because afterall everyone in the world should have
1. access to health care
2. access to clean food and water
3. clean place to stay
4. opportuntiies for employment
5. the right to be treated with respect and diginity regardless of gender, sexual preference or other factors..

HIV and Women

2008-07-20T18:35:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I attended an HIV outreach event. I eagerly approached the PG plaza mall in order to find members of a particular nonprofit in order to raise HIV awareness. The afternoon began with an array of intruiging incidents. First, we had set up a booth as we were not allowed to solicit people directly in the mall. On the table where we sat there consisted of two brochures. One in reference to women and the other in reference to men. The brochure refering to women said, "A call to women of color" and within the brochure only black women were targeted. In the male brochure it seemed to include both Latio and Black men. I bring this up for various reasons.

1. HIV is a growing and devastating the black population yet this cannot be regarded isolated from other incidents
2. a brochure that targets mainly black individuals may in some ways be helpful but in other ways assumes that black men and women engage in more risky behavior.

2008-07-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Author and Page information

Skip this section and go straight to the main content

* by Anup Shah
* This Page Last Updated Tuesday, March 04, 2008

* This page: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp.
* To print full details (expanded/alternative links, side notes, etc.) use the printer-friendly version:
o http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp?p=1

Poverty Facts and Stats

Author and Page information

Skip this section and go straight to the main content

by Anup Shah
This Page Last Updated Tuesday, March 04, 2008

This page: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp.
To print full details (expanded/alternative links, side notes, etc.) use the printer-friendly version:
- http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp?p=1

Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.^{Source 1}
More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening.^{Source 2}
The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.^{Source 3}
According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”^{Source 4}
Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

If current trends continue, the Millennium Development Goals target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of slow progress in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.^{Source 5}
Based on enrolment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimisitic numbers.^{Source 6}
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.^{Source 7}
Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.^{Source 8}
Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.^{Source 9}
Water problems affect half of humanity:
- Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
- Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
- More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.
- Access to piped water into the household averages about 85% for the wealthiest 20% of the population, compared with 25% for the poorest 20%.
- 1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.)
- Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhoea
- The loss of 443 million school days each year from water-related illness.
- Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.
- Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water.
- To these human costs can be added the massive economic waste associated with the water and sanitation deficit.… The costs associated with health spending, productivity losses and labour diversions … are greatest in some of the poorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa loses about 5% of GDP, or some $28.4 billion annually, a figure that exceeds total aid flows and debt relief to the region in 2003.^{Source 10}
Number of children in the world
2.2 billion
Number in poverty
1 billion (every second child)
Shelter, safe water and health
For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
- 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
- 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
- 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
Children out of education worldwide
121 million
Survival for children
Worldwide,
- 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
- 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation
Health of children
Worldwide,
- 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
- 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)
^{Source 11}
Rural areas account for three in every four people living on less than US$1 a day and a similar share of the world population suffering from malnutrition. However, urbanization is not synonymous with human progress. Urban slum growth is outpacing urban growth by a wide margin.^{Source 12}
Approximately half the world’s population now live in cities and towns. In 2005, one out of three urban dwellers (approximately 1 billion people) was living in slum conditions.^{Source 13}
In developing countries some 2.5 billion people are forced to rely on biomass—fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung—to meet their energy needs for cooking. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 80 percent of the population depends on traditional biomass for cooking, as do over half of the populations of India and China.^{Source 14}
Indoor air pollution resulting from the use of solid fuels [by poorer segments of society] is a major killer. It claims the lives of 1.5 million people each year, more than half of them below the age of five: that is 4000 deaths a day. To put this number in context, it exceeds total deaths from malaria and rivals the number of deaths from tuberculosis.^{Source 15}
In the developing world, the national share of consumption for the poorest fifth of people was just 3.9% in 2004.^{Source 16}
1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity:

Breaking that down further:

Number of people living without electricity
Region Millions without electricity
South Asia 706
Sub-Saharan Africa 547
East Asia 224
Other 101
^{Source 17}
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.^{Source 18}
World gross domestic product (world population approximately 6.5 billion) in 2006 was $48.2 trillion in 2006.
- The world’s wealthiest countries (approximately 1 billion people) accounted for $36.6 trillion dollars (76%).
- The world’s billionaires — just 497 people (approximately 0.000008% of the world’s population) — were worth $3.5 trillion (over 7% of world GDP).
- Low income countries (2.4 billion people) accounted for just $1.6 trillion of GDP (3.3%)
- Middle income countries (3 billion people) made up the rest of GDP at just over $10 trillion (20.7%).^{Source 19}
The world’s low income countries (2.4 billion people) account for just 2.4% of world exports^{Source 20}
The total wealth of the top 8.3 million people around the world “rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world’s financial assets.”
In other words, about 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s financial assets in 2004.^{Source 21}
For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.^{Source 22}
51 percent of the world’s 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations.^{Source 23}
The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.^{Source 24}
The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money.^{Source 25}
20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.^{Source 26}
In 1960, the 20% of the world’s people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% — in 1997, 74 times as much.^{Source 27}
An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about:
- 3 to 1 in 1820
- 11 to 1 in 1913
- 35 to 1 in 1950
- 44 to 1 in 1973
- 72 to 1 in 1992^{Source 28}
“Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.”^{Source 29}
For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years [of the current form of globalization, from 1980 - 2000] have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades [1960 - 1980]. For each indicator, countries were divided into five roughly equal groups, according to what level the countries had achieved by the start of the period (1960 or 1980). Among the findings:
- Growth: The fall in economic growth rates was most pronounced and across the board for all groups or countries.
- Life Expectancy: Progress in life expectancy was also reduced for 4 out of the 5 groups of countries, with the exception of the highest group (life expectancy 69-76 years).
- Infant and Child Mortality: Progress in reducing infant mortality was also considerably slower during the period of globalization (1980-1998) than over the previous two decades.
- Education and literacy: Progress in education also slowed during the period of globalization.^{Source 30}
A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.^{Source 31}

Number of people living without electricity
Region	Millions without electricity
South Asia	706
Sub-Saharan Africa	547
East Asia	224
Other	101

Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998

Global Priority	$U.S. Billions
Cosmetics in the United States	8
Ice cream in Europe	11
Perfumes in Europe and the United States	12
Pet foods in Europe and the United States	17
Business entertainment in Japan	35
Cigarettes in Europe	50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe	105
Narcotics drugs in the world	400
Military spending in the world	780

And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:

Global Priority	$U.S. Billions
Basic education for all	6
Water and sanitation for all	9
Reproductive health for all women	12
Basic health and nutrition	13

^{Source 32}

Notes and Sources

This figure is based on purchasing power parity (PPP), which basically suggests that prices of goods in countries tend to equate under floating exchange rates and therefore people would be able to purchase the same quantity of goods in any country for a given sum of money. That is, the notion that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries. Hence if a poor person in a poor country living on a dollar a day moved to the U.S. with no changes to their income, they would still be living on a dollar a day. In addition, see the following:
The 2007 Human Development Report (HDR) from the United Nations Development Program notes that, “There are still around 1 billion people living at the margins of survival on less than US$1 a day, with 2.6 billion—40 percent of the world’s population—living on less than US$2 a day.” (See page 25. The report also notes that the alleviation is limited mostly to parts of Asia.)

For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, it was understood that roughly half of humanity had been living on about $2 a day.

So, on initial read of the UN HDR report, this implies a reduction in recent years from half of humanity to 40 percent. However, the reduction may not be as much as previously thought. The previous link is to a Bretton Woods Project article noting that, “Preliminary recalculations of global economic output excluding differences in domestic prices and currencies, released by the World Bank in mid-December [2007], may undermine the much-trumpeted claims that globalisation has reduced the number of people living in extreme poverty.”)
Also note that the use of $1 a day (and $2 a day) as poverty income measurements from the World Bank have been questioned and criticized as understating the level of poverty:
- The World Bank has been criticized for almost arbitrarily coming up with a definition of a poverty line to mean one dollar per day.
- In addition, as also stated in the previous link, in the United States for example, the poverty threshold for a family of four has been estimated to be around eleven dollars per day. The one dollar a day definition then misses out much of humanity to understand the impacts. Even the two dollars per day that I have pointed out here, while affecting half of humanity, also misses out the numbers under three or four, or eleven dollars per day. These statistics are harder to find, and as I come across them, I will post them here!
- As an aside, Morgan Spurlock, the Oscar nominee for his documentary Super Size Me where he went 30 days on a diet of burgers only to see the effects, produced another documentary where for 30 days he tried to live on the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. At times he was earning $50 to $70 a day and yet the tremendous hardships he faced was incredible (including a ludicrous $40 for a bandage in a hospital, and some $500 for just being seen to).
- More fundamental than that though, for example, is a critique from Columbia University, called How not to count the poor . The report describes 3 main errors as being:
  1. An ill-defined poverty line;
  2. A misleading and inaccurate measure of purchasing power equivalence; and
  3. Incorrect extrapolation of limited data giving the false impression of precision while masking the high probably error of the estimates.
  These errors are feared to lead to “a large understatement of the extent of global income poverty and to an incorrect inference that it has declined.” (Emphasis added). This allows the World Bank to insist that the world is indeed “on the right track” in terms of poverty reduction strategy, attributing this “success” to the design and implementation of “good” or “better policies”.
Nonetheless, the statistic has not been lost on some of the most prominent people in the world:
- The New York Times in one of their email updates, in their Quote of the Day section, for July 18, 2001 provided the following quote: “A world where some live in comfort and plenty, while half of the human race lives on less than $2 a day, is neither just, nor stable.” — President Bush
- See also James Wolfenson, The Other Crisis, World Bank, October 1998 who said: “Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day; 3 billion live on under two dollars a day; 1.3 billion have no access to clean water; 3 billion have no access to sanitation; 2 billion have no access to electricity.” (See also note 21 below.)
- Koffi Anan, UN Secretary General, in a speech on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October 2000, said “Almost half the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day, yet even this statistic fails to capture the humiliation, powerlessness and brutal hardship that is the daily lot of the world’s poor.”
back
2007 Human Development Report (HDR), United Nations Development Program, November 27, 2007, p.25.
back
Ibid
back
See Today, over 26,500 children died around the world from this web site. (Note that the statistic cited uses children as those under the age of five. If it was say 6, or 7, the numbers would be even higher.)
back
See the following:
- 2007 Human Development Report (HDR), United Nations Development Program, November 27, 2007, p.25. (The report also notes that although India is rising economically, “the bad news is that this has not been translated into accelerated progress in cutting under-nutrition. One-half of all rural children [in India] are underweight for their age—roughly the same proportion as in 1992.”)
- Millennium Development Goals Report 2007
back
Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 . The report importantly notes that “As high as this number seems, surveys show that it underestimates the actual number of children who, though enrolled, are not attending school. Moreover, neither enrolment nor attendance figures reflect children who do not attend school regularly. To make matters worse, official data are not usually available from countries in conflict or post-conflict situations. If data from these countries were reflected in global estimates, the enrolment picture would be even less optimistic.”
back
The State of the World’s Children, 1999, UNICEF
back
State of the World, Issue 287 - Feb 1997, New Internationalist
back
2007 Human Development Report (HDR), United Nations Development Program, November 27, 2007, p.25.
back
2006 United Nations Human Development Report, pp.6, 7, 35
back
State of the World’s Children, 2005, UNICEF
back
2007 Human Development Report (HDR), United Nations Development Program, November 27, 2007, p.25.
back
Millennium Development Goals Report 2007
back
Ibid, p.45
back
Ibid, p.45
back
Millennium Development Goals Report 2007
back
Ibid, p.44
back
See the following:
- World Bank Key Development Data & Statistics, World Bank, accessed March 3, 2008
- Luisa Kroll and Allison Fass, The World’s Richest People, Forbes, March 3, 2007
- World Bank’s list of Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (41 countries), accessed March 3, 2008
back
See the following:
- World Bank Key Development Data & Statistics, World Bank, accessed March 3, 2008
- Luisa Kroll and Allison Fass, The World’s Richest People, Forbes, March 3, 2007
back
Trade Data, World Bank Data & Statistics, accessed March 3, 2008
back
Eileen Alt Powell, Some 600,000 join millionaire ranks in 2004, Associate Press, June 9, 2005
back
Based on World Bank data (accessed March 3, 2008) as follows:
- Total debts of the developing world in 2006: $2.7 trillion
- Total official development assistance in 2006: $106 billion
back
See the following:
- Holding Transnationals Accountable, IPS, August 11, 1998
- Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power, by Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies, November 2000
back
The Corporate Planet, Corporate Watch, 1997
back
Debt - The facts, Issue 312 - May 1999, New Internationalist
back
1998 Human Development Report, United Nations Development Programme
back
1999 Human Development Report, United Nations Development Programme
back
Ibid
back
World Resources Institute Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems, February 2001, (in the Food Feed and Fiber section). Note, that despite the food production rate being better than population growth rate, there is still so much hunger around the world.
back
The Scorecard on Globalization 1980-2000: Twenty Years of Diminished Progress, by Mark Weisbrot, Dean Baker, Egor Kraev and Judy Chen, Center for Economic Policy and Research, August 2001.
back
Maude Barlow, Water as Commodity - The Wrong Prescription, The Institute for Food and Development Policy, Backgrounder, Summer 2001, Vol. 7, No. 3
back
Consumerism, Volunteer Now! (undated)
back

Document History

Select a date or option from the list below. Then, scroll through the page to see those updated areas highlighted. (New feature for updates in 2004, onwards).

Date	Reason
March 4, 2008	Added and updated various statistics
November 24, 2006	Updated some stats related to water
April 3, 2006	Small note on living on the minimum wage in the US in comparison to the statistic of how many live on one or two dollars a day
June 11, 2005	Added statistic on concentration of wealth amongst top 0.13% of the world’s population
February 18, 2005	Added a number of statistics regarding the state of children around the world
April 28, 2004	Cited a list of global priority spending in 1998

Highlight all updates

Turn off all highlighted updates

Alternatives for broken links

Sometimes links to other sites may break beyond my control. Where I can, I try to provide alternative links to backups or reposted versions here.

The main link is

Ignacio Ramonet, 'The politics of hunger', Le Monde Diplomatique, November 1998http://mondediplo.com/1998/11/01leader

If the above link has expired, please try the following alternative

http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/hunger.htm

The main link is

Sanjay G. Reddy and Thomas W. Pogge, 'How not to count the poor', Columbia University, June 14, 2002http://www.columbia.edu/~sr793/count.pdf

If the above link has expired, please try the following alternative locations

Not of the report from the Bretton Woods Projecthttp://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/art-16224
Institute of Social Analysis, an organization set up by Colombia Universityhttp://www.socialanalysis.org

The main link is

http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/

If the above link has expired, please try the following alternative

Full report, 8Mb in size http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/pdfs/report/HDR06-complete.pdf

The main link is

http://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/index.html

If the above link has expired, please try the following alternative locations

Actual report http://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/sowc05.pdf
Home page for the reporthttp://www.unicef.org/sowc05/
News report mentioning these stats from Inter Press Servicehttp://ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=27504

The main link is

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/industries/...

If the above link has expired, please try the following alternative locations

The main link is

http://www.cepr.net/globalization/scorecard_on_globalizatio...

If the above link has expired, please try the following alternative

http://www.attac.org/fra/toil/doc/cepr05.htm

Find this page/site useful?

Other options

Want to add a link to this page on your site/blog?

Use the following HTML code on your page:<p>Anup Shah, <a href="http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp">Poverty Facts and Stats</a>, GlobalIssues.org, Last updated: Tuesday, March 04, 2008</p>

… to produce this:

Anup Shah, Poverty Facts and Stats, GlobalIssues.org, Last updated: Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Why is it important to understand and study infectious diseases?

2008-07-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

1. many of them kill rampantly even in cases where diseases are easily preventable
2. diseases are critical to understanding societies: the way they manifest, the way they impact our bodies, our minds, our society
3. diseases in many contexts also highlight our societal and physiological weaknesses, insecurities and vulnerabilities
4. the philosophical and metaphoric nature of disease is insurmountable
Sometimes we often realize the devastating emotional, physiological and psychological impact of diseases on our bodies. Most people perceive diseases be be ailments of the body and although this is true we ought to look deeper.
the truth is that disease fits into the larger context of social problems
As I perceive it here are the problem areas:
1. structural inequalities
- in health
- in education
- in housing
- in employment opportunities
2. the allocation of resources
- the few rich of the world use up most of the resources
3. access
- fundamentally the first two points touch on access
- what ends up happening is that some people are never able to even get to the ladder to climb it.
4. the fixation with the top down approach
- obviously it really has not worked well
- yes, policies are important to change but they are more likely to change if more people in the ground level and aware and want these issues changes
- more community organizing needs to be done including community based participatory research so we arent just going into places and assuming thier needs
-community organizing allows us to undertstand the needs and the desires of communities first hand.
5. human nature, desire and capitalism
- it is so easy to get caught up in our own lives
when we do it ourselves it seems so harmless, but if everyone only looks out for themselves then we will all be worse off(i think, even though i know econ people would disagree with this)
- there is much less trust, respect.
- we are conditioned to compete, fight, and conditioned to be driven, even if this means we leave some people behind.
but this survival of the fittest idea is scary
-we may be black white yellow brown but what most people forget is that we are human first. human always.
and if survival of the fittest...and profit..are the only things that drive us..we as mankind will not be surviving.
all people in the world deserve
1. health
2. shelter
3. food
4. love and support
its maslows hierachy of needs.
wut is so odd is that the happiest people i have known have very little and it is the ones who own a lot are unhappy.

project idea 2

2008-07-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

problem: more black men in prison than in college
why:
- structural inequalities
- lack of employment opportunities
- prison industrial complex
- alienating and isolating inviduals
-blacklisting
solution:
- mentors for young black men
- programs in prison to positively involve black men
- programs that will allow young black men to transition into life

in continuation of dreams

2008-07-01T06:12:00.001-07:00

SAVE THE WORLD: PROJECT 1
TOPICS
1. Teenage Pregnancy: US
- 750K women get pregnant every year
Problem: not enough resources for women
- lack of support system
- lack of help with child care
- lack of networking
Solution
- instead of isolating and alienating teenage mothers provide means by which we can help them
---provide child care for teenage mothers
---provide a support system where teenage mothers can provide support
---provide tutors and mentors for women
---involve teenage fathers- it cannot be one sided
---teenagers need love support and kindness- if we are there to support them, they will not have to compromise school, their lives, thier happiness.

will my dreams stand the test of time. that is the question is it non?

2008-06-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

so here i am unemployed. i prefer to call myself a recent graduate because that word in itself sounds less threatening less final. but how long can i desperately cling to this title of the 'recent graduate' how long can i reap the benefit of attending college which now seems to be deep in oblivion. and as a 'recent graduate' the prospect of saving the world seems like a concept which continues to drift away from me. i prefer sitting in esoteric classrooms in the ivory tower discussing the plight of mankind and the social injustices in the world. the social injustices. the hatred the failing of humanity. then one day u wake up and it dawns to you. that was almost liek a figment of my imagination. a glimpse from the past. somehwere far away. a place i can barely reach. as i sit here in my much comfortable suburban home i cannot help but feel mad myself for pretending to understand suffering so acutely when i myself was very far from it. evne having spent my childhood years in nepal i was far from it. whilr my biggest issue in life is attempting to fidn a job. how am i contributing to alleviate suffering in the world? what am i doing right now except feeling self pity for myself for the lack of a job. how have i taken my education and benefited neone else. in the real world, do we forget about hte suffering? i am already missing my student days when i could ponder suffering for hours. but just becasue u can feel the angst and pain of suffering does not mean u are doing anything abotu it. and wut is the point in talking about it if nothing is being done. but here i am like so many recent grads. many of them like me do want to make this world a better place. but we get sucked into the capitalistic society we live in today...

..

2008-04-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

the distinct voices which all begin to sound like one
the aching feeling
the loss of things that did not happen
the silence in a world full of laughter
the hopes
the heart break
the things which were not said
i wish there was a way i could understand all that is going on
a way to make sense of the injustices in the world
a way by which we could understand comprehend everything
what is the purpose of my life
i wonder and struggle with everyday
is failure a sign of progress
a sign that i should not be doing what i have been doing
what are the answers
what are the answers which we all seek
what are the answers
i wish tehre was a how to live life for dummies book
or some place and time where everything becoems clear
but as i get older and older
things continue to become more complicated
so complicated that i feel utterly suffocated and entrapped
when will things be ok
or is this inerhently the sign of privelege when things are ok
and the privelege of education is one which weighs heavily
but from all those science classes what do we really learn about being human
about supporting being there for each other
in this materialistic world i struggle to find meaning
i want to find a purpose a meaning
a clear purpose
yet every time i try
i fail
time and time again
failure is inhnretly rooted in fate
and if that is so what is my purpsoe in life
what is it about be that makes me fail over and over again
as tears well up in my eyes
i hold them back
i try to keep them in
try to hold them
but somehow i cant stop my stomach from crawling
what is it about me about this place
i cant breathe
the walls are caving in on me
the walls of civilization
of education
of analzying decosntrscting
when all of this really get us
when do the doors or opportunity open
and will the world really cahnge
will the injustices of the world be righted
what are the answers
why do i grapple with forces which are out of my control
there is so much ugliness in the world that i am overcome and overwhelmed
what can we as people do
when most of world does not want to do
does not want to serve
how do we save ourselves from this all consuming materliasitc work
where are we going
what is grounding us
i dont know
i wish i had the answers but i do not
i wis there was a way i could see into my future
a way in which everything would work out
all i want to do is contribute in a positive way to the world
what is there for me to do
everywhere i turn i face failure time and time again
i am tired of failing
of never being good enough
i am tired of numbers and grades defining me
i do not the answers
i want to go back home
i want to be with people i recognize
i want to go back to eating familiar foods
i do not want to be here any longer
i do not want to be suffocated with this work like a dog attitude
patience pateince '
maybe i will just put my faith in god
have faith in the world
the world which kills
which rapes
the world where people are dehumanized brtulaized
when i made this blog i labeled it save the world with the purpose that maybe we could
but in so many ways im begging for the world to save me
save my soul
from consumerism
from destruction
from materialism
i wish there were a book of answers
i am lost
i do not know what i want
i do not know what i am suppose to be
i do not know who i am.
perhaps this is a quarter life crisis, a rant of privelenged life. or just a plain confusion
confusoin of a world which is self destructing destruction all around
over and over again..

answers

2008-01-07T23:57:00.000-08:00

perhaps it is ok to not have the answers
ok to be lost in wilderness
because it is perhaps in these lost moments we find ourselves
we find what we have been constantly looking and searching for
but maybe that is our problem.
that we are constantly searching and looking.
for what and why I do not know?
searching for the answers as if those answers would be the end all be all..
when answers only lead to more questions and more confusion
sometimes i sit back and reminince.
there are always two sides to every story
two ways of perceiving events
the largely optimistic realm where everythingWILL be alright no matter what
and the depper more fearful realm of what if it does not.
when i studied maslows hierachy of needs i did not udnerstnad the depth of his analysis until i have felt those needs in prioritziation
perhaps the desire for esteem..social relaitons..those higher needs in his pyramid are so far more complicated than the basic needs of food and shelter that one can find oneself quite confused complicated in the realm of questions
insecurities
all of us have them
some of them keep us awake at night at 3 in hte morning while ohter seep into life rather unexpectedly. but i cant help but wonder..how many of us are really lviing..living the way...to fuly enjoy every breath of every moment of every day.
all these ideas are so fun and comforting to preach. to tell anotehr person..yet this living..why are we not able to enjoy it. why are nights spend in anguish worry and pain.
if everything is in the end inconsequential why do we worry so much.
what is the root of worry
is it the fundamental disbeleif in ourslevles..is it the fundamental disbeleif in others. is it jsut the way human beignare..
never satisfied..physiclly emotionally. philisophically. in the end of the day. are we not all born with a purpose.
we are by product of a specific egg and sperm chosen. there are so eggs and sperm that could that united. but we were chosen. there must have been some determination in this act. soemtiems i feel a caling to somehwre..yet i do not know how to follow that calling. do not know how to pursue the deep desire inside of ne constantly pursuing me and pushing me to do better. i know i can. i know it is in my power to. yet i too get overwhelmed by myself. setting up such high expectations for oneself can at times be largely suffocating and tiring when u can never meet your own perception of who you should be and who you think u should be. i knwo i lose track. and get so caught up with life..with something so inconsequential to me..yet i do want to reach beyond this. oh a world wihtout desier. if i didnt constantly want more. if my heart didnt ache so sometimes. if love was nonexisitent. if relationships were not improtant. butthe turth is that fundamentally i do not want those things. if i wanted them i could have them. but i have deliberately chosen not to have them. yet i still remorse in pain for not having them. which makes no utter sense when it is clear that i have no desire for such wastes of time. sometimes..i do not even understand why people get in relationships..well here comes the pessimistic side of me. the chances of actually ending up with the one you are dating is quite slim..i do not see why people waste so much time ingetting so hurt. if i were to do it over again i would have never loved ratehr than loved and lost. but grass is always greener on the other side. and perhaps i am also being a tiny bit dramatic. but you need guts and patience to love someone. both of which are transient in my life.
come to me
i am waiting
lead the way
and i will follow
i hear your calling
but i do not know from where
i want to come
i want to be there
its the urgency
its the anguish
sometims it the loss and the confusion
but it is fear too
of overreaching
of conseqeuences
conseuqences of things that havfe not happened.
so much time goes into preventing unintentional conseuwences sometiems i wonder if i spend most of my time fighting thnigs that have not happened and so inadverstantly shit happens. its confusing. all of it. some people seem to be so good at figuring out life. i on the other hand am clueless. cannot begin to comprehend what is gonig on. i am unable to objectively and rationally crtique myself which is perhpas my greatest flaw.
yet flaws are what make us human...

How Racial Statistics Lie

2007-11-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

Even though Tukufu Zuberi poses solutions which emphasize the shortcomings of academia, the existence of his body of work itself symbolizes a positive stride towards addressing racial bias.

The book, Thicker than Blood: How Racial Statistics Lie, can be used to highlight the weaknesses of academia as Zuberi, like various other academics, seek a clear cut solution to a socially embedded problem. Therefore, Zuberi’s own solutions are not only naïve but also lack viability and practicality. His solutions to “de-racialize” statistics only weakly address the inherent racial bias from the potentially narrow perspective of the researcher. Therefore, he is quick to note that the researchers should go beyond their own social constructions in order to collect data; however, he fails to address how they would manage thinking independently from their own preconceived thoughts and beliefs about race. Zuberi also suggests that we must “demystify” the notion of racial statistics, yet one cannot help but wonder how this demystification will ever occur.

It is even more astonishing that Zuberi simply makes claims to assess partial solutions to problems in racial statistics after pointing out the complex relationship of race in the context of society. Hence, not only are his claims somewhat short sighted, they also signify a greater problem within the disciplines of academia. Academic rhetoric attempts to critically analyze and assess various matters in order to pose viable solutions to potential problems. However, because these solutions are derived largely from a theoretical perspective, they remain quite distant and inapplicable in the real world. Hence, academia falls into the trap of critical analysis in the sense that in the process of analysis it fails to intrinsically address the problems in a systematic and conducive manner. Furthermore, Zuberi’s work treats race as a factor of choice in statistics when the concept of race itself is not only dependent upon other social constructs but it is also a factor which is intrinsically present in societies. Furthermore, race also plays a factor in research regardless of whether it is indicated in explicit ways when it is reported or in implicit ways when it is not.

Zuberi’s attempts to seek a viable solution also indicate the innate nature of academia in the context of societal factors. Various academics seek a universal truth which can be highly problematic and erroneous. Firstly, because race is socially constructed with respect to which unique society it inhabits, there is no universal truth in regards to race. Secondly, societal problems cannot be solved with the proposition of a single idea. Because societal problems are deeply embedded within a larger cultural construct, potential solutions also need to be embedded in respect to this construct and should take in consideration the complexities rather than making attempts to oversimplify societal matters. Zuberi ignores the fact that even though race is a social construction, it has now become a part of our world. It is embedded in the way we view ourselves as well as those around us. This overriding social factor cannot be overcome. It would be naïve to assume that such a utopian like existence would be present where race could completely be eliminated both in the discipline of statistics as well as otherwise.

Zuberi thoroughly supports the extent to which race is a social construction, yet it is important to note that this realization exists among a very small subset of the population. Most individuals cannot escape the everlasting implications of race in their lives and consequently have internalized race. This inescapability creates a cyclic pattern of dependence and creates further inequalities and misconceptions to spread. For this reason, using race as an independent and removable entity in statistics denies its true construct. In elaboration, race basically legitimizes a system of classification where people are deemed unequal based on a factor as fickle as skin color. Many people live their daily lives in these constructs, so much so that it becomes a glaring reality rather than a socially constructed concept. Even though the concept of “race” has had a fairly short history, it has been able to create a psychological and socio-emotional havoc among various subsets of populations and manifests itself through the beliefs and assumptions about ourselves as well as others who surround us.

While clear cut solutions to such complex matters do not exist, the act of critical thinking, analyzing and questioning these statistics is what makes Zuberi’s work promising. Zuberi himself can be perceived as a positive symbol as he poses questions and dissents from blindly believing in racial statistics. Furthermore, the body of work symbolizes an optimistic step towards the future which may not ever escape the problematic nature of race relations, but may encourage a fertile ground for dialogue, discourse and dissent where individuals are able to pose questions about their social surroundings and bodies of agency instead of blindly accepting normative arguments. Even though this dissent may be in a very small sector of the population, it still indicates a sliver of hope for individuals who continue to question and reconstruct the ideas of race and how it impacts us in our daily lives.

A Critical Analysis of Biomedicine in the Context of HIV

2007-11-14T19:35:00.000-08:00

Both Impure Science and When AIDS Began: San Francisco and the Making of an Epidemic address that HIV, not only, challenges the constructs of biomedicine in terms of its manifestation but it also serves to highlight the intrinsic weakness within the systems of biomedicine.

Biomedicine often seeks a “magic bullet” when it comes to addressing a particular disease. Because there is no universal solution to HIV, as it socio-culturally manifests itself in diverse ways within various societies, such a “magic bullet” is not a viable solution in relation to this epidemic. Even if a “magic” vaccine were discovered, this would not address the social, cultural and economic ramifications of the disease.

This particular epidemic can illustrate the inadequacies within the constructs of biomedicine in various ways. Firstly, when HIV initially manifested itself among male homosexuals, homosexuality, itself, became a concept which was largely medicalized and pathologized. Furthermore, biomedicine over accounted for the role of sexual transmission in the spread of HIV. Hence, even when the data set enlisted that a number of homosexuals were also intravenous drug users, research scientists chose to assign sexual behavior as the primary risk factor. Secondly, the dangers of arrogance in research can be felt time and time again in regards to HIV. Biomedicine desperately tries to separate itself from society in order to invest in research with a scientific base, yet it is not able to protect itself from the shortcomings of the researcher himself. This downfall is especially illustrated by Gallo’s fixation with attempting to prove the relation of HIV with a specific type of cancer. Additionally, biomedicine is largely governed by systems of power and legitimacy which are more concerned with the competition within the biomedical research arena rather than a larger altruistic good. Therefore, the cults of credibility formed by an elitist group of scientists not only dictate knowledge as they see fit, but also serve to mostly hinder any other alternative hypothesis in regards to the disease. Lastly, HIV research mainly still ignores socio-cultural and economic factors. In the process of being “scientific,” biomedical research fails to capture the essence of who HIV impacts and why it impacts them. It is scary to believe that researchers sincerely did not and still do not see relations between the prevalence of HIV and its relations to socio-cultural and economic factors.

Moreover, much of HIV research which was conducted principally excluded marginalized populations such as women and intravenous drug users. Therefore, one cannot help but wonder who this research is helping. This curiosity is highly relevant as one considers how biomedicine prefers to be rather fixated with attempting to find an unlikely vaccine to magically cure HIV rather than invest in alternative treatments which show more promise as noted by Michelle Cochrane.

HIV primarily impacts marginalized populations internationally; however, much of HIV research is being done in the western world. This poses three primary concerns. Firstly, it leads to questioning the intentions of the western world in regards to addressing HIV. Because most individuals affected are marginalized populations around the world, why is the western world so thoroughly invested in this disease? Secondly, because the prevention and intervention measures are often being planned in the western world, this further hinders cultural sensitivity and adaptability. For instance, prevention and intervention methods which may have been successful in Ghana may produce drastically different results in Delhi. Thus, the predominant research being done in the western world is of concern as it may undermine cultural factors. Lastly, western researchers may have preconceived notions about countries in which HIV is prevalent. The erroneous beliefs of the manifestation of HIV in Africa being a result of “culture” and Africa’s perceived “incompetence” to implement change both largely hinders biomedicine as highlighted by Cochrane.

Even though HIV is a fairly young virus, it has certainly led to the questioning of biomedical systems of legitimacy and power which reign havoc on disease prevention and intervention measures. Furthermore, its handicap lies in its vested interest in power and money, rather than on genuinely attempting to seek solutions which promise results. HIV especially challenges the notion of “one size fits all” solution yet this does not prevent researchers to attempt to seek this solution. These two books therefore go beyond HIV in the sense that they illustrate how systems of biomedicine which claim to be largely “scientific” are actually laden with political and personal agendas which have more to do with power and funding relations and less to do with addressing the disease. Furthermore, one cannot help but wonder why the field of biomedicine itself is so afraid of looking at larger context which keeps in mind socio-cultural and economic factors. In essence, is biomedicine afraid to do this because this may actually force them into reflecting on their own shortcomings in regards to disease?

Social Capital

2007-11-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

Bowling Alone written by Robert Putnam can be deconstructed through the means of four distinct categories which primarily serve to highlight the shortcomings of Putnam’s research. Firstly, the specific use of economic language and terminology itself constricts Putnam’s work. Secondly, the paradoxical relationship which exists between capitalism and communitarianism potentially serves as a means to debunk his entire piece. Thirdly, Putnam’s overall research study can be illustrative of the large discrepancy which can unfortunately exist between one’s intentions as opposed to the manifestation of one’s actions. Finally, the link between social capital and health as presented by Putnam serves to accentuate the weaknesses of his piece as he is quick to make numerous generalizations about the implication of social relations on health.

The potency of language is clearly reflective in Putnam’s work as he fixates on using the language of economics as a means of describing the importance of social relations. This has numerous negative consequences as Putnam objectifies social relations as a means to an end, instead of a means in itself. For instance, the word “capital” implies the desire for more of a particular “good.” In essence, relationships are identified as a quantifiable “good” undermining human interaction in a broader socio-cultural context. Hence, more social interaction is preferred as a means to more social capital instead of the desire to establish these interactions outside the context of gaining “capital.”

Furthermore, Carles Muntaner and John Lynch point out the other problematic aspect of the term “social capital” itself as it identifies social relations as independent of other forms of capital. Hence, the use of “social capital” outside the context of physical and financial capital unfortunately implies that social relationships are considered outside of financial and physical factors, a concept that is largely contradictory to the processes of the real world.

The notion of the “survival of the fittest” is intertwined very intimately with the concept of “capitalism.” Because competition is the central component of capitalism, individuals are encouraged to compete independently with each other in order to gain the most “capital.” However, the concept of communitarianism is based more on the social interactions within a group of individuals in which social relations are dependent on both parties involved and these relations are encouraged in order for the greater good of the community. Therefore, the concept of capitalism and communitarianism present a starkly different and contrasting picture of what is valued and seen as favorable in respect to each scenario. Putnam is utterly entrapped by the “power of capitalist ideology” as pointed out by Vicente Navarro as the researcher fails to address the contradictory nature of the idea of social capital itself.

The discrepancy between Putnam’s intentions and the consequences of his piece of work serves to be both unfortunate as well as puzzling. Putnam’s intends on encouraging the trend towards rekindling social ties within the context of the family and the community in North America. In order to do this, he mostly illustrates the importance of social interactions in relation to the overall wellbeing of individuals. Even though his intentions are grounded in a sincere desire to encourage social interactions, his methods of articulation and presentation of data sets are largely flawed and erroneous. Primarily, the lack of contextualization is unfathomable as Putnam does not take race, gender or ethnic relations into consideration. Secondly, Putnam has an overriding tendency to oversimplify contexts in order to suit his own assumptions. This is clearly illustrated as pointed out by Navarro in the case of laborers during the Progressive Era. Putnam urgently labels young laborers as apathetic towards the labor movement when in actuality large oppositions enforced by the US government and employers severely hindered laborers from joining unions even if they so desired. Hence, Putnam’s “depoliticization” of numerous matters is shocking as he is highly respected as a political scientist yet his work lacks knowledge based on his own personal expertise.

In addition, Putnam is quick to make “naïve epidemiological assumptions” linking health to social relations. His main flaw lies in the fact that he uses individual manifestations of disease and attempts to make implications in regards to a larger social context. Additionally, the quantitative analysis of happiness as attained by particular salary in relation to the happiness attained by marriage or education seems largely oversimplified and questionable. Even though, Putnam himself points out that the data is ambiguous he still inherently assumes that comparisons between happiness attained by marriage vs. happiness attained by a certain increase in salary can actually be related and quantifiable.

In essence, Putnam presents an intriguing concept of “social capital,” yet as the deconstruction of this term occurs, one cannot help but question its viability and sustainability in the real world. Furthermore, the construction of social capital in the backdrop of the psychosocial model hinders such a concept even more so as it fails to contextualize both race and gender which play an integral factor in social relations. Thus, the language of economics has infiltrated the way in which social relations are perceived, so much so that Putnam cannot see beyond his own quantity driven capitalistic perception.

Development as Freedom

2007-11-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

In reading Development as Freedom written by Amartya Sen, I could not help but feel quite titillated and enthralled by his work. The importance of embedding economics in the larger context of other socio-cultural and political factors in order to address developmental concerns serves as the central argument of Sen’s work. Hence, Sen presents a beautiful piece which challenges economic growth as the primary mode of addressing development, nevertheless, the lack of the mention of power as noted by Vincente Navarro does prove to be quite fatalistic in Sen’s sincere attempts to deconstruct the functional nature of development.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sen’s critical analysis of economic theory which largely functions on individual agency and free market competition. In his chapter on justice, Sen analyzes how the “utility” derived from a individual gaining a particular good lacks contextualization indicating that all individuals in all circumstances, whether ill, poor, rich and/or disabled will gain the same amount of “utility” from a particular good. I recently noticed this same pattern in my modest attempts to analyze economic models which indicated that all individuals with “agency” will have the same desires and will act in the same exact way. This concept seemed quite baffling to me for various reasons. Primarily, economic models assume that individuals have the “agency” to act in their own free will and therefore will choose strictly for their own profit. The overarching expectation of this type of behavior in all possible circumstances is actually a suffocation of this “agency” that an individual possesses. Secondly, Sen’s concern of the ambiguity of individual “agency” also serves as an important point of discussion as “agency” is constructed by an array of complex interrelated factors such as income, gender, and social standing among other factors which are often undermined by economic theories.

Sen strongly establishes the inherent relationship which exists between different forms of social, physical, economic, political freedoms and their respective relations to the process of development. Vincente Navarro’s critique of Sen’s work notes the lack of a scale between these different forms of freedoms as an indication of weakness. In contrast, I propose to think that Sen may have intentionally left out a distinct scale deliberately in order to emphasize that these freedoms tend to heavily bleed into each other. Hence, establishing a clear cut scale would not only have been highly presumptuous but also restricting in the light of his argument which seeks to present development as a mosaic of larger economic, political and social factors which contributes to its overall functioning. Navarro is right to point out that Sen’s weakness in further elaborating on these relationships is a point of limitation, nonetheless; his lack of a decisive ranking order should not be used as sign of failing but should be seen as intentional.

It is fascinating to note that Sen’s work is not the first piece of work which lacks the emphasis of power relations and power structures in the context of society. We were faced with this fatalistic problem only last week in reading Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone. Hence, this trend leads me to one primary conclusion. The discussion of power and power relations in a body of work can make the arguments more substantial but they can also make them murky and can consequently create hindrance of presenting clear and coherent arguments. Nevertheless, this leads to various harmful consequences in the context of Sen’s work. The lack of the contextualization of power relations weakens his fundamental argument that development can only take place with the culmination of an array of factors that go beyond economic growth. By largely ignoring the omnipotent presence of power and power structures, he falls into similar traps of oversimplification of social, economic and political relations as the various institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund he is quick to criticize. Because the discussions of power and power relations are often times implicit and difficult to assess from a strictly objective perspective, Sen’s arguments about development are more neatly aligned because of the absence of these very factors.

The deconstruction of development which goes beyond the economic growth model to include the contextualization of social, cultural and political factors is Sen’s most thought provoking argument. Hence, Sen’s strengths lie less in his actual work but what his work symbolizes in the larger context of development. Sen’s emphasis of freedom with its relation to development proves to be a fundamental strength in his work as it serves as the driving force for the majority of his arguments. Even though Sen’s overall body of work does challenge the current development discourse, one cannot help but notice some of the larger inconsistencies and drawbacks of his arguments.

The Importance of Location

2007-11-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

Location has various negative physiological, social, and psychological implications on a particular society. Root Shock written by Mindy Fullilove, explores these psychosocial implications associated with urban renewal projects which displace numerous individuals from their homes leading to both a loss of a social support system as well as feelings of isolation and confusion. In the article, “Racial Residential Segregation: A Fundamental Cause of Racial Disparities in Health” presented by David Williams and Chiquita Collins, we can clearly see the physiological manifestations of location driven racial segregation which has proven to cause an overwhelming account of health disparities. Hence, the importance of race and power relations are brought to attention as these factors play an integral role in establishing reasons for why the displacement of individuals occurred, reasons for why a cycle of inequality exists and finally, why this cycle is constantly and repeatedly propagated.

Fullilove’s explains root shock and its potential impact by creating an equal parallel to burn wounds. This leads to two primary implications. Firstly, root shock is further understood as a phenomenon which impacts different individuals not only by different methods but also in different degrees. This contextualizes the psychological manifestations as one is required to approach different “victims” of root shock through different levels of care and support. Secondly, this example aids in illustrating the very impact of root shock itself. By using burning, a highly painful and sometimes permanent wound, the author helps us understand the potency of root shock and its manifestation on the mind. Therefore, by equating a physiological condition to a psychological one, Fullilove presents an argument which allows an individual to appreciate the extent to which the experience of root shock can be utterly devastating and life altering.

Fullilove’s work also deconstructs race and power relations by analyzing why such an incessant need for urban renewal projects initially took place. She distinctly notes that such projects were executed more so for economic advantage and for hiding poverty for the visual convenience of the rich rather than addressing it through effective means. Hence, the process of such “hiding” also has unfortunate physiological consequences as discussed by the Williams and Collins article.

Diseases often times thrive in conditions of structural inequalities making such inequalities even more pronounced and incapacitating. Hence, racial segregation by location as a product of institutionalized racism can be perceived as a fundamental social cause of disease. Disease and health, in this context, can be used in some regards as a scale of social inequality. Certain conditions such as tuberculosis flourish among vulnerable populations where individuals are living in poor and crowded housing conditions. Other health conditions like asthma have also been linked directly to the exposure to pollutants and other airborne toxins. Recently, even the occurrence of heart disease has been higher among populations with compromised living conditions as noted by Williams and Collins. Therefore, in analyzing the relationship between health, race and location, we must not only look at the social conditions for disease but also how certain diseases only occur in specific social conditions. Hence, we have to begin to perceive the presence of many diseases as a manifestation of a fundamental problem within the social and structural system itself.

Therefore, racial segregation by location leads to the lack of access of proper housing, nutrition, education and work opportunities all contributing to poor health conditions. Such limitations foster more inequality as individuals are not able to escape the cycles of disparity which have been set in place by systems of institutionalized racism. On the other hand, such conditions also have other connotations for marginalized populations. The social and economic inequalities in such societies provide a fertile ground for crime, violence as well as other grave occurrences. Furthermore, these occurrences are then in turn used to crucify individuals and justify both explicit and implicit expressions of racism by portraying marginalized populations in a largely negative light. The conditions caused by institutionalized racism are also the very conditions used to validate such injustices. This catastrophic relationship of consequence is one which is both cyclic and inescapable.

In the light of such injustices, strong social relationships play a crucial role in fostering a community which supports positive growth and development. Hence, when urban renewal projects took place, they fragmented and disintegrated the community unit making individuals feel largely disconnected. This only served to add to the many other inequalities that the communities were already facing. In addition, the projects socially crippled individuals who found comfort in social ties and relations. By disregarding such ties and relations, the urban renewal projects not only displaced numerous individuals but also created one more obstacle in the lives of individuals.

Urban Decay, Contagion and the Environment

2007-11-14T19:26:00.000-08:00

Deborah and Rodrick Wallace present a fascinating piece of work, A Plague on Your Houses, which analyzes the consequences of urban decay and disintegration using the metaphor of disease contagion. The manner in which urban decay is presented as a state of disease draws light on two primary factors. Firstly, to contextualize a problem as “diseased” in itself implies that the conditions are detrimentally impacting the “body” of the community. In elaboration, the “benign neglect” as discussed by Wallace & Wallace along with “planned shrinkage” only further serves to propagate the disease process, so much so that, these methods develop into the main modes of “disease transmission.” Hence, overcrowding, unhygienic living and working conditions all contribute to this “diseased” state. Secondly, we need to place the “physiological”[1] diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis among others within the contexts of the “diseased” socio-cultural and economic states. Therefore, in truly appreciating the discussion of space, one must keep in mind both physiological and ideological disease contexts which are intimately bound together at various structural and functional levels of the individual, community, as well the world.

Even though to some of us the diseased state of socioeconomic and structural inequalities stand out as glaring problems which clearly relate to health disparities and therefore need to be acutely addressed, this concept is unfortunately far removed from many of our academic and medical colleagues. Thus, the arguments presented by Wallace & Wallace sincerely serve to present a more complete picture of not only how the role of class and socioeconomic conditions propagate diseases like HIV and TB but also how these diseases symbolize a manifestation of greater inequalities and injustices which are deeply embedded within our societies.

As discussed by Wallace & Wallace, biomedicine, unfortunately suffers from the symptoms of resorting to superficial measures which temporarily relieve “diseased” states, but do not fundamentally address the problem. Hence, much funding is allocated to X drug for Y disease, even when underlying social conditions are clearly perpetuating conditions of disease. There are several potential reasons why such omissions are made. Firstly, identifying a physiological diseased condition as contributed by factors outside of biomedicine would indicate that the expertise of knowledge and a viable “solution” through that knowledge may not be inherently rooted in biomedicine. This rather humbling experience may be quite discomforting to those medical professionals that pride themselves so intimately to the successes and strides of biomedicine. Secondly, it is a less daunting task to find a “magic bullet” for a disease: a method of treatment which would ideally involve the consumptions of an array of pharmaceutical drugs which would serve to cure X disease. HIV has proved to be the most challenging from this perspective, as the mutative nature of the diseases makes vaccination an impractical solution. Hence, if a disease does not have a “magic bullet,” this may consequentially imply that unfortunately biomedicine does not have a “cure” and therefore may need to look out of their laboratories in order to assess socio-cultural and economic factors which may play a large role in propagating disease.

Deborah Cohen’s article, “Broken Windows and the Risk of Gonorrhea,” presents a substantially weak argument. Cohen suffers from a lack of proper contextualization as we have seen before in authors like Robert Putnam. The “broken window” theory assumes that individuals who live in poor and mismanaged neighborhoods intentionally neglect their environment consequently leading to their own suffering and downfall: such a hypothesis is both ignorant and largely naïve. The structural inequalities and conditions created by those in power victimize certain communities to live in a dire manner. Furthermore, the marginalized populations are in turn being blamed for their own “environment” as if the environment is some all encompassing concept which controls the lives of whole populations. In addition, Cohen implies that repainting of walls and fixing broken windows could mend our cities as well as our world, which is largely erroneous and presets a rather skewed perception of reality. Quickly into the article, one realizes that Cohen’s arguments are also superficial in that they do not assess class relations and socioeconomic conditions which all play a large factor in propagating certain disease conditions. Furthermore, her use of the word “environment” in order to encompass an umbrella of possible definitions severely weakens her rather awkward and presumptuous overgeneralizations.

The Cohen article presents a stark contrast to the Wallace & Wallace book as the Wallace’s quite beautifully contextualize urban decay and its manifestations, where as Cohen utterly fails to even see the larger context of disease. Some academics like Cohen blame dire health conditions solely on the environment where as Amartya Sen discusses the importance of socio-cultural conditions but leaves out the discussions about power, the Wallace’s in contrast cover urban decay in a manner which successfully contextualizes the larger picture to the greatest extent in comparison to the other readings we have had the opportunity to read thus far.

[1] The term physiological is in quotation marks because HIV stays dormant for many number of years before outward symptoms appear, however, it devastates the body when it manifests and hence, becomes quite heavily symptomatic in its active state.

Medical Apartheid

2007-11-14T19:24:00.000-08:00

Medical Apartheid

Medical Apartheid, written by Harriet A. Washington presents a horrific history of experimentation and exploitation of the African American population starting as early as the nineteenth centaury. Although much of the novel is rather graphic in describing physical measures of torture and exploitation, this form of vivid imagery actually serves to establish the poignancy and importance of the matter. In the much revered and respected discipline of medicine, Washington sheds light upon the ugly brutalities committed against African Americans through out the course of history. Hence, Washington’s work serves to illustrate three primary concepts. Firstly, it addresses how black bodies were largely dehumanized and exploited. Secondly, it discusses the dark history of medicine in which African Americans were repeatedly used for human experimentation for the prestige and success of medical professionals. Finally, Washington’s work allows us to deconstruct the field of medicine in a manner which opens our eyes to the entrepreneurial and predatory nature of the profession and how such traits are paradoxical to how we perceive physicians and their roles in our societies.

Human experimentation existed to satiate the sick curiosities of the medical academia as well as occurred with the intentions of discovering the secrets about how the body was physiologically structured and how it functioned. Such curiosities largely led to the dehumanizing of the bodies of the individuals studied as academics perceived the body more as objects of study and observation rather than subjects who held value and meaning. Unfortunately, this dehumanization occurred mostly in the context of African Americans bodies. The omnipotent belief of black inferiority and curious assumptions about how African Americans reacted to pain and disease only further served as a justification for black exploitation in the minds of white physicians. Such dehumanization is horrific to note from the painting by W. Gibson from Dr. Henry Clay’s collection, which illustrates how a white doctor drops a dead black baby from his coat. The picture is quite heartrending as baby is not only shown with his face down but in an awkward position which clearly serves to symbolize a mass of flesh devoid of all human characteristics. Considering that children in the context of society are much loved and revered, the dehumanization of a child because of his race is quite a scary reality.

Various doctors like Marion Sims gained great respect and success at the cost of numerous botched up surgeries on African American female slaves. It is heartbreaking to see that doctors like Marion Sims are granted marble memorials in Central Park in New York City for having made “brilliant achievements,” but the stories of the women he tortured and exploited at the cost of this prestige lie hidden in the covers of Washington’s books. It makes me well up in tears to think about the numbers of lives lost at the cost and vanity of medicine. The very discipline which is built on the foundation of saving lives not only takes lives but does so in a horrendous and humiliating manner.

Being that I myself want to pursue a career in medicine, Washington’s work raises serious doubts in my mind about my future. As a naïve student, I have always assumed the nobility which is attached to the field of medicine and have perceived the power of “healing” as a gift that a few members of society are fortunate to practice. However, in the more recent years, it has become more apparent that the discipline of medicine is largely run for entrepreneurial gain and success and often times has little to do with the wellbeing of patients. This phenomenon is seen through out Washington’s work where even though a physician has the responsibility of treating the wounds and pains of African Americans, their bodies are often used for experimentation. Furthermore, medicine is presented more as a privilege as it is enjoyed by the wealthy white community. Unfortunately, the privileged and wealthy members of society still enjoy extensive health benefits in comparison to those members of society who may be in most need of health care but cannot afford such benefits.

I am left here wondering about the stories behind the bodies. I do not want to know of Marion Sims. I want to know of the women whose lives and bodies he so deeply invaded. Why have they been forgotten? And if anyone, should not they be remembered? Why are these stories untold? Perhaps I will never know the answers to my curiosities. However, I am gratified that I was fortunate to have seen a glimpse of realities under the large cloak of credibility, nobility and perceived altruism even though in some way these realities scare me and shatter my very existence.

Random Thoughts

2007-09-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I am afraid of all that goes on in the world. I feel at times I am very naive about what the world is really like and what the people in it are really like. I also find myself to be exceedingly odd in comparison to my peers. What is this greed for money? As if it is the end of be all, and i agree that it is certainly important in order make a living, is it not given way too much importance in this world. I guess I am not being realistic about it at all. and I go grow older i will probably realize the value and importance of money and why i need it so much. but so many poeple are me suffocate themselves with the concept of money where they want to live breathe and die in money. and i guess i just dont see the point of it all. what if one gets all the money they want, then what. does money sincerely solve all our problems. another thing that has been bothering me lately is the fact that we are so quick to fixate on our own lives..our own problems. when the rest of the world has grimmer problems then we can ever imagine. what makes us so selfish? what makes me so selfish? sometimes, i just find myself dwelling on my own problems and not recognizing that they are to a large extent petty and irrelevant. i am so confused. all i want to do is help the world become a better place. how does one begin? now that i delayed medical school for one year, i have all year next yr to do something productive. but i just dont know. a part of me wants to pursue the mph degree only one yr programs though since im tryin to matriculate med school fall 2009. another part of me just wants to go to nepal and do extensive volunteering health world. i just want to do something..anything. something that goes beyond me..im taking my mcats in jan. hope i do well. i hope this semester is all i want it to be. sometiems i just feel so alone in the context of wanting to do something that is genuinely good for the world or for someone. i find that most people want to get a job..earn money. take care of their OWN family. OWN friends. and so forth. but why isnt the whole world considered our family? why is it that someone else dying..suffering in pain does not make affect most people? I just dont know. i want to beleive that the world is my family. and in that context i want to care for everyone. here or internationally. i just think many people are quick to draw lines amongst people they know..but honestly i think we are the only species which intentionally kill each other in vain. what is this money and power bussiness. why do we live in such an unequal world? why was i fortunate enough to be born in a family that gave me opportunities of education? what makes me so special? nothing, luck. thats all. we cannot control which family we are born into. but if we are fortunate enoufh to be born into families which have taken care of us and propelled us to higher education and so forth, do we not hold some sense of responsibiltiy? when did the people across the world become strangers? are we not made of the same bones..same blood..are not our bodies the same. then why do we treat others like strangers. why do we dehumanize? therefore, sometiems im just afraid of what lies ahead of me. perhaps i am naive to feel this way. to want to do soemthing about it. but there is fear in me that ceutnaries of racism, colonial rule, hatred, betryal. what can be done. how do we change gender relaitons? how do we change whole societies? education serves to both liberate and suffocate me.
i am liberated with the power of knowledge. with the art of knowing. realzing so much about the world.
yet i feel suffocated for not being able to do anyhting about it. or perhaps i can and i am not seeking the ways?

Partnerships in Health

2007-08-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

Health Care is definitely one of those fields where partnership is integral for growth and sustainabiltiy. Mutually beneficial partnerships allows for individauls to share ideas and learn from each others strengths and weaknesses. Partnerships which exists between two organizaitons is much like relaitonships which exist between two poeple. The relationship requires time, effort communciation and patience. Often times if expectations are not clarified, it causes problems later in the partnership. Partnerships are also key for non profit organizations. Often times non profits face large concerns as many small nonprofits exist which stand for similar goals and obejectivec yet are competing against each other for allocation of funds and resources instead of working together for the greater good of the poeple. This hinders various organizaitons as they get caught up with the challenging funding aspects, and the exponential rise of new nonprofits certainly does not help the cause.
Another challenge faced in parthernship is the allocation of power. If one party controls a greater portion of resoruces this may be a potential cause for a strained relaitonship. Other unfavorable conditions include a partnership where one party is clearly beign taken advantange of, the orgnaizations within the partnership are not clear and upfront of their goals and ideals and so forth.
But with more partnership in the non profit health sector great strides could be reached.

Culture and Global Health

2007-08-26T22:22:00.001-07:00

Health is a universal concept. It is something which binds us all and connects us and makes us whole. Yet one cannot forget that health has various interdisciplinary aspects inherent within its context, and until these disciplines are addressed, one cannot truely address health matters. One such matter which comes into mind is the concept and importance of culture. Culture binds a group of individauls together who have been brought together by family, religion, ethnicity or particular location. A particular culture can arise from a group of individuals who chose to spend a considerable amount together in a specific type of activity or behavioral pattern. Perhaps this too is a very limited definition of culture symbolizes in society, especially to certain individauls. Therfore, when dealing with disease culture is important. integral even. in order to maintain cultural relevance and sensitivity is perhaps one of hte hardest tasks of propogating care yet this sensitivity and relatedness is essential in order to build relationships of trust and respect not only among a patient and a health care provider but in the health care bussiness and industry as a whole.
I think that my thesis will potentially focus on this very topics. The importance and relevance of culture in the medical practice especially in regards to specific diseases. I think I will study case studies from various countries and research on thier practices. Their percpetion of medicine and how the western perception of medicine compares and contrasts with that of other cultures. Furthermore with a disease like HIV, it will be fasicating to study the implications of cultural practices among individauls who are affected by the disease. Are there poeple who are cured with concoctions proposed by local medicine men, and if not, what does one trained in western medical practices do in order to respect cultural practices while attempting to respect the rights of individauls to receive medication which exist outside of cultural norms.

The Wives of International Graduate Students: Session 3

2007-08-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

Each week I await for this day. I wait to meet new women and listen to them talk about thier lives and thier children. I am particularly curious about what their experiences have been like in a new country. I have the feeling that when one comes to the US at a younger age, he or she is able to adapt to the new culture. Whereas if one come here after thier teenage years they are still very much grounded in thier own cultures and traditions. All of these women have husbands that work for the unversity. However becasue most of the women are on a depended visa tehy are not able to work nor go to school. When quesitoned about thier choice of actvities, many women showed a vast interest in reading. Some saif they enjoyed reading romance novels and I agreed with them. A women confessed she loved romantic tragedies because they were quite touching and some even made her cry. Sometime I wonder what it is that makes these women happy. Whenever asked about thier happiness, they usaully talk about thier husband and their families. They do not seem to identify themselves indivuadually but are more concerened with the greater good of everyone. Some mothers are not completely able to participate in the class due to the fact that they are paying a lot of attention to thier chidlrne. A women expressed her desire to travel, but later mentioned that she couldnt due to the fact that seh had a little boy. Sylvia, the instructor, repleid by saying that despite the fact that young children can be hard to handle in trips one should not travel becasue of it. She reflected on her own experiences of taking trips with her chidlren even when they were very little. She explained that children learn in these journies, and ,many places are geared towwards chidlrends activities.

The Wives of International Graduate Students: Session 2

2007-08-11T22:15:00.002-07:00

Each meeting provides its own meaning. And with each meaning, I feel like I know a little bit more not only about the women in the group but also about myself. Today I would like to take the time to describe some of the women I work with. Each one is so charming in thier own way that when it comes time to leave I find myself not wanting to leave thhis group of women that I feel very much close to. Although I know the names of most of the women, I would like to keep it annoymous in order to protect thier thoughts and thier own privacy.The lady that sits beside me is from Iran. She has been here with her husband for three months and is very much delighted to come to English classes. She speaks very well english but sometimes has trouble with idioms and slangs. She intently listens to Sylvia, the instructor, and writes in a bright red pen. I have gotten very fond of this particular lady. Every time I explain somehting to her, she is overjoyed and thanks me with all her might and heart. I was delighted when I got a chance to meet both her and her husband at the street fair. It was nice interacting with her outside the classroom and getting to know the wonderful person that she is. The lady that sits across from me is from Germany. She has really curly blond hair and is always on or before time for the class. She is very proficient in English but she too has trouble with the numerous idioms that Americans use. She rides along on her bike every morning and talks of Germany frequently. SHe expresses that she likes it here, but she wishes the air were cleaner. There is a Mexican woman that has come two times during my whole service learning experience. She usually sits on the floor behind the tables and takes care of her little son. When asked about her likes or dislikes, she talks about her husband's likes and dislikes, and does not ever refer to herself individually. When asked about her opinion about living here. She soft spokenly responds that her husband has a good position here and a place like this would provde a good education for her children. Never have I once heard or seen this lady refer to her individual needs. WHen i first met her, I was rather shocked that there were still women that dedicated their whole lives to thier families. It made me wonder if I was ultimately the antithesis of this woman, and was that a good or a bad thing. As I listened to her talk of her devotion to her family, I thought of my devotion to a career in medicine. I began to ponder whether I was selfish not to want a family until I was 30, or perhaps it was her expreinces that made her want a certian way of life, and my experiences that shaped my way of thinking.

The Wives of International Graduate Students: Session 1

2007-08-11T22:15:00.001-07:00

Today was a very special day for me. I got the oppurtunity to listen to the women intently as they answered some of my questions. I told Sylvia it was my second last day doing service learning, so she game me the wonderful oppurtunity to question the women in the meeting. I asked them about how they felt regarding accepting a new culture and traditions, coming from a very different background. I further went to tell them that I myself still have a hard time trying to assimilare myself into the American culture, and what thier experinces have been. I was very eager to see that many women wanted to answer my quediotns. A lady from Taiwan disccused that her seven year old daughter knew very good english having been to the elementary school in Montegommery county for the past few months. She went to describe how difficult it was for her to teach her duaghter about the Taiwaneese culture and tradition, when her dauther was constantly being influenced by American pop culture. SHe stressed that her daughter was forgetting taiwanense slowly, making it harder for the mother to communicate with her own child. Another woman described her own loneliness in a foreign country. SHe talked about her fear in bieng in a new country in which she was not very familiar with the language and was of different ethinicity. SHe was afraid that people were ignoring her becasue of the lack of her ability to speak proper english, and perhpads for being Korean. SHe admitted that she at times still feels alienated in this society beucase of her supposed lack of english proficiency. It was very ironic that the Arabic women expressed that she was very happy and found a good communtiy to live and she her troubles with. She went to describe the fact that she had a storng community of friends and that she felt very welcome in this country. Although I would have percienved that perhaps people woul quesiotn her about her hijab and the conservatism in thier culture, but she seemed quite well adapted to a culture that was quite opposite of her own more conservative society.

Kolkotta

2007-08-11T22:13:00.001-07:00

the cotton sticking to my skin
the half melted ice cream
the crinkled skin of the old man in the corner
the smiles of the children in the streets
the non lane lanes
the optionary red lights
the bigness of it all
the smallness of life
puppies and kittens
dirt hunger and fear
lack of emotion
abundnce of emotion
tired hands
worn out feet
old chappals
rocky rikshws
the beauty parlors
the slums of the city
school buses
school uniforms
tiffin lunches
undried clothes
warm breeze
humidity
comfort
suffocation
isolation
sadness
lost and confused
stuck
helpless
used and abused
late night indian movies
glorified indian channels
gucci armani, the "beggers" stop
lack of food
hunger
anorexic
malnutrition
pain death and disgust
disease
the smell of phenol

Why pursue public health?

2007-08-11T22:08:00.001-07:00

I want to change the world. I find that it is so easy to become caught in a world which often times seems unfair, judgmental and untrustworthy. We live in world where people are dying for numerous reasons, many of which, they shouldn’t be dying for. I, therefore, feel a strong affiliation to all individuals in our global community and think that we all have a vested responsibility in making this world a better place. It is perhaps lofty to believe that one can change the world, yet if everybody felt that they could, the world in which we live today would be different

Why choose public health of all disciplines? Public health, itself, implies the health of a population. I strongly feel that the health of a population is often times linked very intimately to the health of an individual and that public health officials are specifically needed in order to establish partnerships and relationships among specific health care provider groups which facilitate care. It is with the collaboration of population and individual based care that the need of the greatest amount of people can be met. Public health also proves to be an exciting field which is rapidly expanding. A public health degree essentially is able to supply students with tools in order to plan, evaluate and implement health projects on a larger population scale. Hence, my undergraduate major, faculty within the University of Virginia, the important relationship which exists between service and health, the essential tools which this program is able to provide, the novelty of the program itself as well as the importance of a broad culturally conscious foundation all serve as reasons why the BA-MPH degree is of great importance to me.

Majoring in Infectious Diseases in Developing Countries allows me to see the world of health from a completely different, context driven, perspective. My desires for creating my own major are very much in line for my desire to have the opportunity to participate in this graduate program. My major essentially looks at disease from a broader context and allows the combination of a science background fused with a liberal arts enriched program. My aspirations for the major have been focused on looking at disease from a socioeconomic, cultural and economic perspective, and highlights the fact that often times health is governed by various other factors which may not directly be linked to health care per say. To elaborate, my major establishes the importance of interdisciplinary and creative solutions which are necessary for health care problems. I strongly believe that this education process has been integral to the growth of me as an individual as well as a student. As an individual, I feel that my course of study has clarified my future purpose. As a student, I feel a great inclination to go to my classes and finish my coursework because I thoroughly enjoy the process. I feel that this graduate degree will reward me with similar feelings of happiness and academic fulfillment.

I have always deeply desired to invest in an education and career path which keeps this particular goal in mind. Before one can ponder why service itself is so important, it is important to question why health itself is integral to the quality of life. Firstly, one’s health is deeply associated with one’s overall wellbeing. An individual who is not healthy may not be able to work, pursue their aspirations, or complete simple tasks independently. The positive state of the health of an individual allows him or her to function not only in daily simple activities but to engage in a more complex role that the individual plays in society, at work, as well as in the home. Health, therefore, is so deeply connected with an individuals overall ability to function and conduct their lives independently and securely, that I strongly feel that it is a field which desperately needs more individuals from all sectors and aspects. Health and service are also deeply associated together in various ways. Because health is so deeply connected with the individual’s ability to complete simple as well as complex tasks, the service aspect allows a health care worker to facilitate the lives of the individuals who are not able to independently live their lives due to some health conflict. Therefore, this line of service is particularly intriguing and fascinating as it addresses a basic need, and facilitates the lives of various individuals at a very integral level. It is the connection between service and health which deeply draws me to this line of work. Public health therefore facilitates this relationship by extending the health care services from an individual to a population. The extent and impact of this form of service holds various promises for the future of health care. Furthermore, public health initiatives often times focus on preventative medicine vs. the more traditional treatment based medicine, making this aspect of this field particularly fascinating. This approach deeply appeals to me as it not only is often times more cost efficient to invest in preventative initiatives, but these programs often help save and facilitate the lives of various individual nationally as well as globally.

On my journey as an undergraduate, I have discovered that my goal in life is to facilitate the lives of individuals who face dire conditions due to socioeconomic and/or cultural reasons from a health conscious standpoint. Although I have been having many challenges in sorting out how exactly this facilitation should take place, I strongly believe that this degree will provide me with the strong foundation which will be the building blocks both for my educational as well as career initiatives in the future. Because the foundation will be based on a fairly interdisciplinary curriculum, this degree will prepare me for various fields explicitly and implicitly related to health for future opportunities. A public health degree also encourages an individual to see the bigger picture. One is encouraged to put any health situation in a larger context which allows one to appreciate and analyze the intricate relationships which exist between health and various other aspects of the lives of individuals. This degree also holds promise as it has wide applications and can be sufficiently utilized in any future academic endeavor as well as career path.

Additionally, my interest in this field of study is also deeply vested in my deep belief that public health scholars are able to facilitate the much needed communication and collaboration between the disciplines of law, medicine, and business. The novelty of the program itself further encourages me to be involved in it as I feel that it is able to change the most at this stage. A new program would potentially be more open to various options and initiatives potentially suggested by students. Recognizing that this program is very new, I feel that I would also provide a valuable contribution to the program in various ways. I hope to transform and/or hone my passions towards initiating partnerships with international as well as national organizations which deal specifically with public health. I find that my undergraduate degree in Infectious Diseases in Developing Countries, will allow me to further hone my education towards a path which not only deeply fascinates me but towards a path which will allow me to contribute in some fashion to the overall program. My undergraduate educational experiences thus far indicate my drive for taking leadership and initiative

Hence, a public health degree, therefore, offers individuals the toolkits for evaluation and research, a broad foundation of health in a larger context, as well as the ability to collaborate, initiate, and maintain partnerships not only locally but also internationally. Furthermore, it allows one to put any health situation in a socio-cultural and political context, which is often times integral to truly understanding and appreciating a health care situation. The degree also provides a strong foundation for any career path as it focuses on honing skills rather than investing only on specific results. Additionally, the opportunity to collaborate and work with various individuals who are passionate in the same field allows one to establish mutually enriching strong relationships and partnerships with other individuals within the masters program.

Major Proposal: Infectious Diseases in Developing Countries

2007-08-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

Abstract: The objective of this interdisciplinary major is to look at infectious diseases from a microscopic to macroscopic scale in developing countries. In order to attain this goal, one must initially become familiar with the diseases, which are currently prevalent in the world. These diseases and infections should be well researched and understood before further work can be done. Not only is it important for one to learn the details and manifestations of these diseases, but one must also keep in mind the preventative measures or the potential preventative measures for these conditions. Macroscopically, it would be fascinating to study the spread of disease in various populations through behavioral and/or cultural signals. It is also important to consider cultural and behavioral conditioning within a society that is affected. Finally, one must also keep in mind the global health care system when dealing with infectious diseases. These global concerns range from ethical issues to political ones, as a nation’s political state can often times be a deciding factor for the amount of allocations and resources which are available for a particular health care problem.

Proposal

In analyzing any health concern one must consider all aspects of the problems at hand. This includes a series of logistics, policy, as well as the society that is in question. In order to assess the context of which the problem lies, one must have a thorough knowledge of the problem and the steps that one should take in order to eradicate this problem. The potential courses for this interdisciplinary major provide a strong foundation by which an individual is able to take courses in politics, ethics, biology and philosophy. These courses compiled together from a diverse array of disciplines provide a backbone for a future that holds the promise of much involvement in the current global health care system. This major also exposes an individual to a series of disciplines which are very much intertwined, yet no other present major offers these array of courses in this particular fashion. The importance of this major’s creation lies in the fact that infectious diseases are becoming a growing problem in the global health care arena. However, individuals who wish to be part of the aid for this problem, must not only have the proper scientific knowledge about the conditions involved, but they must also be capable of considering other issues of societal constraints, politics, and resources which are available.

The fusion of a liberal arts education with a science-based education provides a comfortable balance that is ideal for any individual planning to have a career in the professional world. The science courses the individual will be taking through this major will allow him or her to learn of the various diseases affecting the developing nations along with preventative measures, which can be taken. The information provided from this part of the curriculum will provide a vast background by which one is able to make judgments and take actions pertaining to the current problem in question. The politics courses allow one to understand the political climate of these third world nations and the environment and societies, which are effected by a particular disease. Having a political backdrop will definitely enrich an individual’s education, as it will provide a certain context in which one is able to consider other factors, which also play a part when attempting to aid a health care crisis. Courses from the discipline of religion and philosophy have been chosen as they both serve to provide further knowledge of the cultural influences, which may play a factor in a particular society as well. The ethics courses chosen serve as a link between the different disciplines as it deals directly with the diseases involved yet at a level that is more concerned about the society’s welfare.

Because this interdisciplinary major is composed of a diverse array of courses, one must not look upon this diversity as a loss of purpose or pathway. This major actually serves to provide adequate background knowledge and education for an individual who plans to pursue a more specific endeavor in the future. For example, an individual planning to pursue this major would have the ultimate goal of focusing on a particular disease which effects a specific society in its own unique cultural context. Furthermore, this individual having taken the array of courses will be able to focus on a particular disease and evaluate the impacts of this disease both from a scientific as well as anthropological perspective. Although an observer may still perceive this major as broad or general, one must comprehend that this type of background is essential for any individual considering a profession in the global health care system.

Why pursue global health?

2007-08-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

Many diseases which affect many developing nations are conditions which can be prevented and controlled with the proper allocation of resources and implementation of proper medical programs. It deeply concerns me that despite the fact that some cures and solutions do exist to these problems, the world is still faced with disease which arise from poverty and unsanitary conditions. It is this disparity between the “haves” and the “have nots” that is most heart rendering and I feel that something needs to urgently be done about this situation. Because I am interested in the field of international medicine, I think that this project is critical for me as it will allow me to get first hand experience in a field which I hope to invest my life in.

I also genuinely feel that the there is a dire need for individuals to investment their time in international projects and any sort of time commitment and project can prove to be helpful to international organizations who are working in preserving the health and well being of individuals around the world. Therefore, I feel that this experience would beautifully fit into my academic and career goals. A project of this caliber will allow me to use the knowledge base which I have gained from my classes in ethics, development and politics and apply them in a real world setting. I also think that a project which allows me to experience some of the situations which were dissected in my various lectures will allow me to appreciate the hidden complexities within each of these various disciplines.

A global health experience would also complement my study of infectious diseases in developing countries which is currently my major. The initial purpose of deriving my major was to analyze the constructs of politics, ethics and society in the context of disease. A global health project will combine all of these disciplines in a format which will be conducive not only to my academic goals but also as a human being. In a world which is driven by so many materialistic incentives and ambitions it sometimes becomes difficult to see beyond oneself and put situations in perspective. A project of this caliber will allow me to put various issues which I have faced in my academic as well as my personal life in perspective so I can learn from even the challenging experiences instead of simply being hindered by them. I sincerely believe that there is also a dire need to be aware of the circumstances which affect us all. It is so easy to get caught in the daily life of school work that one often forgets the deeper importance of why it is so integral to get an education and the value of that education which goes beyond the prospects of a new job. A project of this type will allow me to be further aware of my academic goals and aspirations and will allow me to appreciate the value of my education and real work experience.

Lastly, the disparities in the world are so devastating to the point where it seems like it would be a crime to not attempt any humanitarian effort. I feel like the world we live in and its wellbeing is just as important as the local community which affects us on a day to day basis. A simple matter of distance does not make a location’s problems insignificant and therefore I always want to involve myself in projects which will allow me to do humanitarian work on a global scale as I feel like it is essential to our world community.

Calling

2007-08-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

Show me the way and I will follow you

Take me to the path which I am suppose to follow

I know there is a calling I know there is need

I sense it tonight more deeply than anything

Show me the path show me the way

I sense a calling which is waiting for me

I am glad

2007-08-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

I am glad I have the power to feel

The power to show emotion

The power to cry

I am glad that I feel for the world

For its pains and agonies

I am glad that I am aware

I have begun to see what many do not see

I am glad that now that I can

I can move further

And be of some use

I am glad that I have the power of words

I am glad that I have the power of my mind

I am glad that I have the power of my destiny

I am glad that the world is the best teacher of all

And I am only a young student at the face of a tough but good teacher

The Girl

2007-08-11T21:49:00.000-07:00

I still remember her smile

The way she grinned at me shyly

She loved to smile I think

I never asked her so I don’t know for sure

She would tell me of her dreams

Of her wishes to get away and get out

And I wished so badly I could do something but I could not

She worked so hard

Washed so many dishes

I felt so bad when people were mean

I saw cry and her tears ached me

She had such small hands and feet

I still remember her big smile

I didn’t get to talk to her much

Her work overtook her life

Yet I felt bad

I watched her work so hard

Yet they did not stop yelling

Continued to yell

At times I would lock myself up and cry

Cry because I couldn’t do anything

Why did she have to be here in this way

Why did she have to be in so much pain and agony

She talked about her mom and said she missed her

She talked fondly of her village at home

I saw the sparkles in her eyes

The aspirations dreams the desires

How was she any different from me?

I hope the world will care

2007-08-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

The world today

Oh mother earth

I am sorry for the destruction and the pain we have caused

I am sorry for the lost lives

And I am sorry for it all

Where has humanity been lost?

What and who have we turned into

Sometimes I look in the mirror I do not recognize myself

I see the mirror and I see the vanity

When did it all become about being skinny and fashion magazines

When did the rich begin to care more about their pets than the dieing children around the world?

Why don’t more people care?

Why aren’t more people concerned?

I am sorry to all those who stay hungry

To those who don’t have a place to live

I am sorry to those who have lost their loved ones

To those who are ill and cannot speak

What makes me entitled to the life I live?

What makes me entitled to this vanity?

Sometimes I wish I could escape and do something

Although I try I cannot help but feel locked in

Sometimes I feel like the doors of materialism and selfishness are closing in on me

I too flip through the magazines of vogue and wish

But why has this world become so vain

When did we begin to care about fashion more than people?

When did people from another ethnicity become strangers?

I am sorry to those whose dreams never come true

I am sorry to those who are exploited

I am sorry to those who have felt loss and pain

Sometimes it disgusts me to be here and live in this way

Knowing the type of things which are going on

Consuming as much as we are consuming

What gives me the entitlement?

What gives me the right to live this way?

This is the type of thing that keeps me awake at night

I sit here 2 am writing this poetry

But is this also not in vain?

What use it is to write these words with nothing being done

I want to do something

I need to do something

I’m sorry for those who do not have

I am sorry to those who cry

I do not know why but I feel your pain

I can feel your heart aches and your desires

I want to be there

I want to hold you

Console you

And tell you it will be ok

But perhaps it won’t

And often times I know it won’t

Yet I want to sit here and cry for you

Cry for the world

Oh mother earth

I am sorry for the pain

I am sorry for the destruction and the tragedy

I am sorry for the ones who have died in vain

I am sorry for those all in pain

Each day I watch and see

And each day pains me more

How much pain and suffering lies in this earth this very day

How can I continue living in this bubble and not care

How can anyone not care about what goes on today

What have we become?

Are we still humans

Do we still feel and do we have compassion

What happened to the kindness what happened to the love?

What happened to the generosity which lived in all of us?

When did it all become about money and capital

When did we make the transition to the beast world?

I am sorry for the ones whose dreams do not come true

I am sorry for those who die of hunger and malnutrition

I wish there was a way I could make everyone feel

Sense the pain and the tragedy

How not one could be devastated and affected

How can one move on and keep on pretending

I am tired of my bubble I want to escape

I want to do something

I want to change the world today

I don’t know how and I don’t know when

But something needs to be done soon...

I am sorry for those who have lost and loved

I am sorry for those who do not have anyone

I am sorry for those who sleep bare in the cold night

I am sorry for those who have been inflicted by pain and sorrow

I hope that one day things will change

I hope one day that people will care again

I hope one day for the sake of the world that people will care again...

From AIDS to Imperialism: A Critical Analysis of the History of Sexuality from Diverse Perspectives

2007-08-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

The concept of sex, sexuality and sexual relations all still remain a matter of controversy. Therefore in order to deconstruct such concepts and truly understand its different meanings and implications for our society today, one must thoroughly analyze the history of sexuality from an objective and an insightful perspective. The six articles chosen specifically address the complicated and intricate nature of not only sexuality but also the method by which it is and was studied. There are certain themes which run parallel in all articles. These themes ground the notion that sexuality in fact cannot be confined solely to one realm or another realm of academic scholarship. Therefore, the study of sexuality demands the attention and scholarly efforts of various different academic disciplines. It is this collaborative approach which leads to the most comprehensive understanding of the history of sexuality. Other themes range from the gender constructions which so deeply define the role of sex in any private or public arrangement to the ignorance, hypocrisy, and ambivalence in certain cases surrounding sex itself. These factors and various others make it very difficult to objectively analyze sex and its deconstruction in various different contexts. Hence, the history of sexuality can only be analyzed and understood only if certain conditions are met. Firstly, sex and sexual history needs to be put a socio-cultural and economic context which is unique to the environment in question. Secondly, only an interdisciplinary approach to the study of sexual nature and relations will be able to suffice this course of academic endeavor. Thirdly, because medicalization of sex is done in a very culture conscious manner it is very difficult but also important to reason if a sexual medical diagnosis is based on physical manifestations or social constructions. Fourthly, sex should be looked upon as a vesicle through which different societies and individuals express themselves, however, it is integral to understand that sex does not hold absolutely direct correlations with any other social phenomenon. Lastly, because the history of sexuality is still very young in the academic context, it is important to consider academic work with some form of skepticism as they often tend to be narrowed perspectives of issues which may affect a much more diverse and extended society. Hence, keeping these objectives in mind, the six articles in questions will therefore be evaluated and analyzed based on how clear and concisely they present their argument; the importance, originality and the interdisciplinary nature of their topic of their topic; along with the overall flow and harmony of the piece which strengthens the integrity of the piece.

One of the first pieces from The Reader: History of Sexuality, the ‘Game Girls of VNS Matrix,’ is utterly fascinating because it completely debunks the notions of gender constructions and identities which are preordained by the constructs of society. This article is especially thought provoking because it probes one to question the specific gender constructions and perspectives in regards to sex and sexuality which are largely governed and strictly controlled by societal rules and regulations of how sex is perceived and practiced. The VNS system is chiefly captivating as it takes a hyper-feminist approach of taking charge and control of a fantasy world which is empowered largely by females. This too is an intriguing idea as the players who hope to succeed only win the game if they identify themselves as gender less. This loss of gender itself empowers being female as it does not constrict or confine females to one particular prototype which is assigned by society. The article presents gender in a fluid scheme where males and females are both not only, sexual objects of pleasure but are also functional objects of power in their own respective realms. The originality of this article and the way the article presents the material is unconventional yet entrancing. Because the content itself is quite alluring and far from ordinary, it is easy to distinguish this article among the others. The incorporation of various scripts from within the game into the article also serves as one of the key tools to making this article particularly engaging and enthralling. By incorporating the actual script into the article, it serves to hold the readers attention to the very end without losing purpose or motive within the article itself.

The other two articles from ‘The Reader’ which are ‘AIDS and the Discursive Construction of Homosexuality’ along with ‘Regulated Passions’ both address the societal implications of the medicalization of sex itself. Even though medicine is often considered to be a hard science, the study of sexuality and sex itself challenges the previous paradigms of medicine. Specifically two articles directly address this matter from two different perspectives. Primarily, the AIDS article brings to attention how HIV was initially classified as a ‘gay’ disease. The article extensively discusses the seriousness by which even the medical practitioners clearly associated AIDS with being homosexual. Furthermore, the article also constructs the notion of how homosexuality itself was considered a “disorder.” This claim clearly illustrates the impact of socio-cultural influences on medicine. These socio-cultural implications can also be seen in the ‘Regulated Passions’ article which addresses the fixation of classifying every behavior outside of the social norm as “abnormal.” It addresses how any behavior which deviates from the heterosexual norm is considered a disorder.

The content in both of these articles present fascinating intertwined relationships between medicine, sex and society. However, the presentation of the content itself suffered for various reasons. For instance, the ‘Regulated Passions’ article tended to be both redundant as well as unclear in certain parts of the article. The argument which was initially clear became cloudy and distorted due to the discussion of the career differences of sexologists and addiction specialists. Although one can see the importance of this distinction, it also leads one to wonder if it is more important to talk about the individuals who are being “regulated” or those who are doing the regulating. The article is unclear in identifying a clear relationship between those who are seeking help and those who attempted to appease the situation. The AIDS article, in contrast, is perhaps one of the strongest among the six as it presents issues in a manner which is very perceptive and insightful. The interdisciplinary nature of the article itself is also quite impressive. The writing style is clear and orderly as the arguments are in harmony with each other.

In summary, the three articles from A Reader: History of Sexuality are chosen for various reasons. Firstly, all of the three articles possess originality. For instance, the ‘AIDS and the Discursive Construction of Homosexuality’ article sheds light on how homosexuality was isolated in the late 1970s not only because of its own nature, but more so because of the political and socio-cultural factors such Watergate, a recession, and a rising of divorce rates. Hence, homosexuality was isolated and identified as the antithesis of heterosexuality and was as a result associated with promiscuity along with other lose moral standards as well as with the utter loss of family values. Even though much hostility still exists in relation to homosexuality, this article sincerely sheds light on why and how these stereotypes were and are constructed in a society. The ‘Regulated Passions, ’the weakest of all six articles, is chosen because of the nature of its topic. It draws light on the fascinating notion that sex must be regulated to the heterosexual norm. Furthermore, if sex is not regulated to this norm, it is therefore classified as a disorder and help should be immediately consulted. The weakness in this article particularly stems from the presentation of this article which is somewhat disorganized and tends to drift off topic. The third and final piece which discusses the VNS matrix is by far the most shocking of the three. Because of the provocative nature of the article, the article illustrates the keen sense of intelligence and creativity of an individual who is able to come up with such an idea in the first place. It also generates an appreciation for the actual author of the article who presents the piece in such an engaging and impressive manner. The originality of discussion as well the authors agency within the context of the arguments both serve as functioning units of sound analysis of a body of work.

This authorial agency and control can also be felt very strongly in the first article from the online journal which discusses sexuality under the Nazi regime. Before beginning the discussion of the functionality of sex in the Nazi regime, it is important to put sex in particular socio-cultural context. Because often times it is not realized that a specific socio-cultural, political and economic construct is integral for the analysis of any social phenomenon, one may risk making assumptions and drawing grossly inaccurate conclusions. The author of the Nazi article successfully paints a picture of the Nazi regime which views sex for only its functional purposes of producing “superior” children as well as a means for the soldiers to gain “vigor” in the battlefield. This established social construct is critical in the article as it provides a backdrop on which sexuality within the Nazi regime is further understood.

The Nazi article is also very keen in pointing out the gender roles which are respectively played by men and women, as well as how these roles relate to sex. For example, the author cleverly presents a situation where both male and female sexualities are de-individualized and sex, as a result, serves as more of a communal means to an end rather than a pleasure source. Although the author does not explicitly state these nuances in the article, the manner in which the author presents the information alludes to this phenomenon.

Another nuance is seen in the second article from the online journal which discusses the impact of imperialism in the regulation of sex in Sierra Leone, West Africa. This article too, clearly and successfully addresses the sociopolitical climate of the British colonizers. The article very succinctly addresses disparities within the British colonial system from one area of the world to another. However, it also addresses that these very disparities are done intentionally in order to allow for the growth and flexibility of the empire. The author of the imperialism article addresses the lack of perspective in the presented piece, and discusses the limitation of information which allows one to understand that the article is based on British perspectives only. This limited the scope and effect of the article as the main subjects within the article itself, who were the prostitutes and the individuals who actually resided in Sierra Leone, were all ignored. Nevertheless, it is respectable for the author to acknowledge the lack of perspective and present the article in a manner which is objective to the extent it can afford to be.

Both of these articles are similar in that they use sex for a very specific purpose. For instance, Nazi Germany uses sex as a means of producing “superior” offspring and increasing the “strength” in soldiers. On the other hand, the British colonizers present West Africans as over sexual beings that were savages and therefore justified their imperialistic entrapment and their refusal to implement communicable diseases laws. These two articles are different in that Nazi Germany completely internalizes the sexual system in order to suit its needs where as the British system does not. The British imperial system, in contrast, decided not to pass communicable disease laws because of certain external reasons such as financial limitations for example. To elaborate, the British regime did not invest a great extent in a health care system, which makes it understandable why they would be unlikely to explicitly support and implement communicable disease prevention initiatives. The Nazi regime completely internalizes the sexual system as both males and females are expected to have sex for its very functional uses. This external and internal nature of the functionality of sex allows one to notice the distinct nuances between the two circumstances.

In terms of scholarship, the Nazi regime article proved to be a stronger candidate than the Imperialism article for one main reason. The Nazi regime article was presented in a clear manner through out the article as it presented ideas in a systematic and controlled approach. Although the thesis for the Imperialism article was strong, the article tended to be superfluous and therefore lost its initial affect.

The last article from the online journal discusses sexual education directly. This article was specifically chosen in order to enforce that fact that one cannot discuss sex in terms of medicine without stressing the importance of sexual education above all other public health parameters. The article brought to attention the duality of sexual knowledge itself by identifying the potency of its knowledge as well as its devious roots. The article stresses the fact that although some adults felt sexual education was integral, others saw it as a means of corrupting the youth. This delicate relationship which exists between sexual knowledge and sexual activity is integral to understanding how a particular society feels about sex. The manner in which this article is organized and presented proves to be very affective. The article addresses a very integral point which sheds light on sex education and its opposition. This very topic serves to draw a reader in as it directly relates sex to not only society but also to education and medicine. The interdisciplinary approach once again proves to be one which brings much thought provoking insight and enlightenment to the piece.

The online pieces differed from the ones in the book as they seemed to lack as much agency and control which the authors of most of the articles from ‘The Reader’ possessed. Although the articles online were thoroughly interesting, the presentation of ideas was done much better in ‘The Reader.’ For instance, the article about the imperialism in West Africa from the online journal suffered similar symptoms of lack of control and agency as the “Regulated Passions” article. Both articles begin with very strong and concise beginnings however both indicate an inclination for various minute details which takes away from the whole piece of the work. Although, the Imperialism article does address the lack of perspective with which the author is writing, this then draws attention to the fact that perhaps the author is drawing many conclusions which may or may not be true especially because the article was written purely from British sources which were available. Since much of her position is rather critical of the role of the British in the Sierra Leone case, it is curious that the author assumes so much decisive knowledge which the British may not have expressed explicitly.

The imperialism article in the online journal also strongly contrasts to the AIDS article and VNS matrix article in ‘The Reader’. Both the articles from ‘The Reader’ possessed an elegant style of writing and presented their argument in a delightful and cleverly constructed manner. Because all the articles were compared one to another, it quickly becomes clear that the two articles from the reader are far more organized and succinct than the Imperialism article. In addition, The ‘Regulated Passions’ being the weakest of the articles in ‘The Reader,’ is fairly weak compared to the Nazi article. These two articles also present a strong contrast as the Nazi article commands the reader’s attention and stays on point where as the ‘regulated passions’ seems less focused and more off point in discussing sexual relations.

In comparing and contrasting various different articles, it becomes clear that originality, clarity of argument, the overall harmony of the work, along with the functional importance of the body of work all serve as imperative assets in any piece of academic work. Hence, it is not only important to draw insight and value upon the different ways the arguments within the articles have been presented, but it is also important to draw certain parallels within the articles themselves.

Because of the nature of sexuality itself, the academic environment of this discipline demands that the author draw certain conclusions even if those conclusions are not clearly seen in action as demonstrated specifically in the West Africa article. Sexuality therefore poses to be an extremely challenging course of study as it is hard to find many sources of hard facts. Furthermore, so much of the realm of sexuality occurs in the private sphere, which makes it harder to deconstruct this phenomenon in hindsight. Hence, even though scholars do their best in finding sources to support their work, the limited number of sources, in many cases, represents a very narrow range of scope and perspective when a large populous still remains silent and unrepresented. Therefore, all the articles successfully deconstruct sexuality from a socio-cultural and political context. The articles allow individuals to partially understand the intricacies of sexual nature itself which constantly continue to change and affect the sexual paradigm. However, it is integral to keep in mind that these perspectives represent a very small percentage of the populous that have been directly affected by the social phenomenon known as sex.

Book Review: A Perspective in Development

2007-08-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

In the book, A Perspective in Development, Raana Haider presents the fascinating and intertwined relationships between women and the socio-cultural and economic roles which they play and are expected to play in society. Haider’s perspective is specifically poignant as she brings importance to the fact that although modernization may have occurred, this may not have had a direct correlation with the improvement of women’s lives. Therefore, Haider not only recognizes the grave gender divisions which still exist despite various changes in society, she also identifies other means by which development among women can be measured. The construction of gender within a society serves to function in the marginalization of women and this phenomenon specifically manifests itself in terms of development, work and education, among other sectors.

Haider begins the book with an intricate discussion about development and the means through which it is measured. These measures are specifically helpful as they go beyond the simple assessment of mortality and morbidity rates to looking at a range of factors such as health, migration, nutrition, credit, work environment, and food security among others. She illustrates the fact that ‘feminization of poverty’ has occurred specifically because women are sidelined both in the development process as well as otherwise. The trickle down effect of development which still plays a large role in most countries, Haider claims, only further serves to increase the dependency of women on the male members of society. Haider presents her argument in a systematic and organized fashion as she not only illustrates the different approaches to mainstream development which have been pursued, but she also deconstructs these methods of development which helps to point out why many mainstream development processes serve to further entrap women in a cycle of dependency.

In the next section of the book, Haider elegantly distinguishes the difference between gender and sex and how the manifestations of gender have graver consequences on females than they do for males. Hence, her main argument is that development needs be perceived through a gendered lens so that it functions to not only include women in the development process but also functions to recognize the fact that women are inherently a part of the development process itself. She strongly supports her main argument sufficiently by making the claim that because men and women have to live up to different social and economic expectations; these very expectations serve to entrap women in a cycle of dependence. For example, the household labor which is done by the female is completely discounted in contrast to the field work a male is performing. This very divide in the division of labor and how this labor is rewarded, serves to isolate women from economic empowerment as their role in labor is not rewarded in the same aspect as a male. Although Haider makes various intriguing points in her discussion, it is essential to recognize that her assessments have been made previously by other individuals who have also analyzed gendered development. Haider’s argument therefore serves to further enlighten the existent knowledge in gendered development but does not present a completely novice argument. Perhaps, this is justified as the role of women have been so ignored in the process of development that reinforcing and reinstating how gender roles have impacted the socio-economic status of women is integral to truly understanding and appreciating the role of women in this society.

Haider’s strongest asset in her writing is conceivably her ability to draw connections within the realm of development and illustrate how these cultural and economic factors have affected women and their role in society. For instance, the next section discusses women and self image. A correlation is established between women who lack economic empowerment and those who seem to consequently suffer from low self confidence. She specifically supports this point by using case studies from women in Mexico. Haider identifies that this happens for various reasons. Firstly, the men in the lives of these women may have a negative impact as they may be both emotionally as well as physically abusive. Such situations can obviously lead to a dramatic loss of self esteem and self worth. Secondly, financial empowerment is so intricately attached with the quality of life that women solely identify confidence or, happiness with self, distinctly with the accumulation of wealth. The women therefore perceive their very dependency as a sign of weakness and a loss of self.

This loss of self esteem may be tackled with the access to education; however, Haider discusses the notions of why many societies are apprehensive of the education of females. Haider establishes the fact that many individuals associate education with liberation and view liberation for women as “dangerous.” This very false notion already leads one to assume that communities would rather choose to isolate their female children than to give them an access to education.

Hence, the ‘feminization of poverty’ has occurred specifically because of the gender construction which isolates females and controls their access to education as well as financial empowerment. Haider’s arguments are practical and sound however lack in originality as they have been discussed in development discussions at a previous point. Haider does not present her work with constancy and switches from presenting her work from one format to another repeatedly. This discrepancy in style from one section to another somewhat leads to a disconnected overall piece. However, her passion and enthusiasm for the subject can be clearly felt through out the piece and it is this passion which propels the reader to be engrossed in the piece. This piece is only one of the arrays of pieces which deconstructs the reasons why women are integral part of development and debunks the notions of perceived gender equality which many development projects and/or theories claim to establish.

Preparing for a Pandemic: The Ethical Considerations of Allocation and Intervention

2007-08-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

The threat of a pandemic which may weaken much of the population is one of the greatest threats from a health care stand point. In order to protect a population from a pandemic, health officials need to take various steps. Initially, development of new vaccinations should be updated as viruses like influenza have a fair rate of mutations which make certain strands immune to previous vaccinations. Secondly, an efficient allocation scheme needs to be devised in order to properly ensure that affected individuals are provided proper measures for controlling the persistence of the condition.

There are certain ethical conditions which need to be analyzed in order to determine who is eligible for these vaccinations in a situation where vaccinations need to be allocated based on certain factors. The considerations which are often used are factors such as age and health. This type of blind categorization leads to various obstacles. First of all, it clumps individuals in numbers. An individual’s age is a very small component of what makes up an individual. Therefore, having a vaccination allocation program strictly based on age may allocate vaccinations to individuals who may be young but are not in the condition to benefit from the vaccinations. Secondly, individuals who are very close to the age mark ranging from a few days to months will come into question as the core reason for denying care for these individuals would be based on a mere matter of a few days. Health may be a more suitable method of allocation as individuals who have the most potential to gain from the vaccinations would be given these measures. However, this too brings about certain ethical considerations. Firstly, basing factors on health basically isolates the individuals who are not considered in this category as not only are they subjected to their own particular condition but they are also being discriminated in a larger sense. Therefore using age and health, may offer easy measures of intervention, nonetheless, this type of blind clumping leads to the isolation and mistreatment of individuals who for whatever reason are not encompassed in the “will get vaccination” lot.

A pandemic outbreak will also bring various other ethical issues into question. An individual’s right to privacy may not be respected in order to protect the “greater good” of other individuals. A health care official in a crisis faces the challenge of determining the importance of treatment for other patient while considering his or her own protection from the infection. Although health care officials have an obligation to care for sick persons, an infection which leads to many dire consequences may hinder an official’s desire to work in an environment which threatens his or her own health.

Recognizing that finding a cure for all the diseases which exist today would be a nice solution, however, this would certainly not solve all the complexities of disease which will continue to exist despite of cures. There is likelihood that even if all the disease of today’s world may be cured, another disease or virus may very easily arise and devastate the population again. Although this “disease” can be one which weakens the individuals physically, socially or economically, the diagnosis and treatment needs to be customized in the context of cultural and social factors of the location. Medicine should perhaps be more focused on disease preparedness and prevention rather than eradication. Although one does not have a way of knowing what diseases or how these diseases will come about, massively increasing public health interventions in preventative measures will definitely help.

Women, Abortion and Religion

2007-08-11T20:55:00.002-07:00

There exists a certain sense of fallacy in the Roman Catholic position on abortion as the ideologies value the “right” course of action, in terms of religious standards rather than human life itself. This is rather ironic as the very point in question is the life of a fetus. This religious perspective establishes certain secured factors under which abortion may be permissible through “indirect” means when the mother’s life is in danger. However, Daniel Callahan strikes at a fascinating situation where if the mother and the child were both in danger and the mother’s life could be saved by the “direct” death of the fetus, this would be considered immoral. This example is particularly effective in establishing the fact that rules of morality take greater precedence over human life. In this situation, two people die of “natural” deaths, yet the person, who decided not to do a craniotomy, in order to save the life of the mother, is morally not at fault. It is difficult to comprehend why rules are respected more than people, and how “god” would want a human being in this situation to die, considering the fact that the fetus had no chance of living anyway. Roman Catholic tradition strongly emphasizes the saving of a human life above all else, how then does the mothers’ life not count?

Most situations may not pose such an extreme circumstance; however this religious tradition devalues the quality of life of both, the mother as well as the fetus. If an undesired fetus were to be brought in this world, the “living” fetus may be treated horribly by the family which was forced to keep it. For instance, this could cause constant resentment in the family, in which, if the fetus does grow to become older, he or she may be belittled and blamed for coming into the world unwanted. In another situation, where a fetus’s disability may be extremely painful and fairly weakening, the quality of life is once again compromised when the fetus is born and raised.

In a world where women and men are unequal already, banning abortion would only increase these disparities. In this context, a woman’s right to her own body and sexuality give her the same freedoms as a man. A man who engages in sexual activity in an isolated case does not face the responsibility of “killing” a fetus. However, the woman, who out of her own sexual freedom, has also engaged in this activity, has to make a series of life altering decisions about her potential future and her course of action. If it takes two individuals to procreate, why then does the woman face the brunt of it? It is also important to point out that because females primarily face pregnancy along with the social implications of this action, should she not have the right to decide?

Abortion in the Jewish religious context posed more practical constructs towards treating the fetus as a human life. The fetus is not considered a human until a portion of it has been exposed to the world. This construct is far more realistic as once a baby has been living in the womb for nine months, it would seem significant to give the fetus importance. The Jewish perspective also treats the fetus as a part of the woman’s body, and to some extent allowing her to take initiative. This is not to say that abortion is advocated, however because the fetus is not considered a human life separate from the mothers, the mothers actions and lifestyle are given more emphasis.

Keeping in mind both the Roman Catholic perspective as well as the Jewish perspective, there is a lack of female autonomy. The argument remains not in the fact that whether or not fetuses should be “killed,” it remains that the mother should have the freedom to make the choice one way or the other. The Jewish context at least considered the fetus part of the mother, where as the Roman Catholic context seems to give precedence not necessarily to the life of the mother or the child, but more to its own moral constructs. Women still have a long way to go in attaining equality with men, and the prohibition of abortion would only make this wait longer. Furthermore, most women who are ready to become mothers do choose “life,” yet women who are not ready should not be coerced into having a child due to religious principles. Religious principles should be followed on an individual basis, where a mother can choose to keep her child due to her own religious convictions.

Justice and Access to Healthcare

2007-08-11T20:55:00.001-07:00

Justice and Access to Health Care

Medicine has entered a new frontier of technology where the possibilities of treatments and procedures seem limitless, yet one often struggles with who is entitled to these treatments. Medical procedures range from physical augmentations based a fixation with preserving youth to circumstances which dictate quality and preservation of life. It is important to look at allocation from both a macroscopic as well as microscopic level in order to appreciate the various nuances which exist in the system as well as to analyze ways in which one could potentially create a more efficient system. Health care systems often tend to favor certain groups over others due to the lack of resources and funding. The integral question in this situation therefore becomes on what basis can one individual really override another for a particular treatment on a national as well as an international scale?

Callahan makes a convincing point about the improvement of quality of life rather than a mere extension of it. This is important to consider as the advancements in technology has led to a fixation in preserving youth. The notion of older age is seen through a negative light as people want to slow down their aging process. The constant strides in medicine in order to lengthen the amount of years one is alive along with the preservation of skin and body in order to prevent signs of aging all indicate a negative perspective towards older age. The disparity is produced by the influence of media which dictates that young is beautiful and that somehow “old” needs to be avoided by all means whether by changes in diet or physical augmentation among other procedures.

it is important to consider all factors before judging someone based solely on their age. This circumstance should nevertheless be conditional on the basis that the treatment is done for the improvement of quality of life of the individual and not merely due to a desire to extend that life.

Although one can sense of what a “fair” health care system would be like based on the principles presented in B & C, it is an idea which is discussed more in theory than seen in practice. Furthermore, one certainly cannot discuss fairness without addressing global implications of health care as we live in a world where our lives are very much intertwined with lives of the people who live in other parts around the world. The notion of a “fair” health care will only hold true when health care systems around the world implement a system by which every individual has some access to some form of care. Therefore, one must keep in mind that although the word “fair” is used interchangeably in many health debates, it seems to be used more in the context of an isolated location and does not take into account the global health care system.

The global health system and its numerous subsystems suffer not only from the scarcity of resources but more so because of the inaccessibility to treatment and medications. Although finding a cure for a disease like HIV/ AIDS is important, it seems that this may not be the solution. Even if a cure was found there is definitely no guarantee that this treatment would be able to reach the numerous individuals who are affected in Sub Saharan Africa and in many parts of Asia. The cure would most easily be provided to individuals who can afford this care and will be allocated to these individuals merely due to their ability to pay for these medications. It seems that the only way the problem of allocation would ever be tackled were if severe adjustments in infrastructure and health policy were made in countries which actually have the means to help out in many parts of the world but chose not do so because they are overly involved in matters which protect their own interest.

A critical analysis of NGOs

2007-08-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

Tvedt emphasizes the strengths of nongovernmental organizations by elaborating on their

grass roots level work and their intention of helping the poor through direct means of support in

the community. Tvedt discusses the typical NGO project cycle which assesses needs, implements projects

and then evaluates project performance. MSF actively does this through its organizational structure which

is broken down by core countries which plan, implement and evaluate projects while other peripheral

countries which are responsible for outreach, education and innovative funding avenues. The interaction

and communication between these two sectors is essential as funding needs must to be assessed by the

core sectors so that peripheral sectors can plan accordingly to meet these respective financial needs. Tvedt

also stresses that NGOs are “non-governmental” which takes away the source of mistrust and

apprehension that one usually feels about state led development projects. Furthermore, NGOs are screened

for productivity and efficiency periodically which allows them to evaluate their performance and improve in future projects. Many development projects run by government officials lack this evaluation process and continue with methods without ever testing for their efficiency or productivity. Therefore NGOs provide a means by which development projects can be monitored in order to determine which strategies should be kept while which others should be abandoned.

Another positive aspect of NGOs is that they are most responsive to the people who have dire

need. Their concerns and goals deal with the actual community members who are affected by a particular

crisis situation. This goal allows NGOs to work face to face with individuals in order to provide more

suitable conditions for aid and development. For example, MSF caters to communities who have been

struck by natural disasters, disease, and famine among other circumstances. MSF is usually one of the

first organizations to enter any crisis situation. They are able to provide urgent medical care and

rehabilitate patients immediately after a particular crisis has occurred. This type of aid and investment is a

tangible means of development which proves promising for future projects. Other forms of development

which seem to target the economic and political structures are less efficient and effective in meeting the

needs of the community.

Because NGOs like MSF do grass roots level work, the individuals who are in dire need are getting some sort of assistance immediately. However, even with the best of intentions, NGOs like MSF have many obstacles which they face. MSF is constantly concerned about the availability of funding options which are open to them. Because it is largely funded by public donors, the amount of donations varies from year to year. Since 85% of its funds do come from public donors, MSF is expected to portray a certain image of itself to the donors. Donors usually want to have the benefit of the doubt that the contribution which they are making to the organization will go to where they (the donors) think is most suited. Sometimes there may be a discrepancy between projects which actually have a need in contrast to projects which the donor chooses to support. This constant struggle which exists between assessing the desires of the donors to meeting the needs of the beneficiaries proves to be a major hindrance for NGOs like MSF.

NGOs also struggle with the image which they are trying to encompass. The donor pool for MSF is diversified not only by region but also by language, culture and ethnicity. This indicates that an organization like MSF needs to maintain a mission which suits the needs of donors in all these categories without alienating a particular group. Yet if the mission is too generic and broad, donors may be deterred to contribute. NGOs like MSF are often caught in the middle between creating a mission which satisfies the desires of its diversified donor pool, yet at the same time ensuring that the actual mission is specific enough that donors will contribute. NGOs like MSF may therefore feel obligated to compromise some of the needs of the beneficiaries in order to appease donor wishes.

Another problem faced by NGOs is the rise of other NGOs. For example, MSF would perhaps get much more money from donors if other organizations like “Partners in Health” with similar missions and aspirations did not exist. Although it is encouraging to see the creation of more NGOs , there is also a growing concern that if the amount of donated money is divided among so many little NGOs, the actual money which each NGO is receiving may not amount to a great extent. This becomes a major concern for NGOs which compels them to compete with other NGOs for funding.

Because NGOs need to be constantly concerned about funding and need to find various means and ways to do so, it may undermine their work in a particular community. For example, 13 sectors of the organizational hierarchy within MSF need to work to find funding avenues. If financial security and sustainability were available through other means, these countries could contribute in more effective ways by potentially planning and implementing their own programs.

The development argument is one that brings about much melancholy and somberness in the atmosphere because one can often times feel helpless due to the difficulties and complexities which exist in trying to implement any form of change. Nevertheless, NGOs do serve as the primary way by which many individuals can contribute. In the future, NGOs may be made more efficient by being given a certain amount of funding by the government with the condition that the governments gift, in no way obligates the NGO to act in ways which is biased to the government’s wishes. Furthermore, organizations like the World Bank and IMF should fund a greater number of NGOs far more regularly then attempting to implement project themselves. If more projects were assigned to NGOs, the source of funding would be secured to a greater extent. In addition, projects run by NGOs are evaluated and therefore can be regulated. This would save a lot of money as World Bank will not be compelled to give blindly but instead will consider funding options for qualified NGOs. This form of development may provide a more efficient way for NGOs to function and promote their already noble cause. Lastly, NGOs are only a sector which contributes to development and that true development and change can only be attained through changes in policy and infrastructure which may take far more complicated measures than we have access to. Nevertheless, the grass roots work and awareness is definitely the first step towards a better future.

Social Engineering

2007-08-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

“Simplification” refers to a limited scope of vision which isolates one or two variables which are of the state’s interest. This process mainly serves to organize the state into patterns which can be manageable and controlled in order to best serve the state. “Legibility” refers to the ability to manipulate and isolate regions in order to quantify resources. This may range from accounting for the number of inhabitants in an area for taxation purposes to setting up a grid system so that a region’s roads can be easily maneuverable. Legibility and simplification projects often times overlook socio-cultural factors which affect a region due to their narrow focus on their specific goals of economic and/or political control.

The engineers of ‘The German Forestry Project,’ isolate a particular area in order to extrapolate resources for the state’s interests. The forests are simplified and made legible by removing the natural flora and fauna of the location. Furthermore, the trees are standardized according to type and organized in rows for aesthetics and practical purposes. Because the interests of the developers are so limited, they fail to account for the other factors which also play a substantial role in the sustainability of trees. For example, if the trees are standardized, and a type of tree which serves commercial profit is planted in abundance, a disease which affects one of these trees is bound to affect the others. The trees get seriously affected because monocultures tend to be more susceptible to disease. Diversity leads to the sustainability of these trees as they are able to withstand various adversities. Because diversity is disregarded, the project proves to be a failure as the second generation of trees show limited growth and sustainability. Scott finally points out that when the perception of “nature” transforms to “natural resources,” it is bound to get exploited and misused.

The Tanzanian villagization example reflects the other inadequacies of simplification and legibility projects. In this circumstance, state officials attempt to relocate masses of people under the disguise of better farming conditions and medical services among other reasons. Although this project was done under the mask of helping locals, its primary purpose was to set up communal farming in order to satiate the state’s desires. This project proved to be futile and unsuccessful for various reasons. The pilot projects which were set up initially in order to test if the system could be self-sustaining, consisted of ideal conditions. These pilot projects received abundant funding for schools, clinics, clean water, as well as tractors for farming. When the villagers actually moved in, these new villages strongly contrasted with the picturesque image of the pilot villages. These villages lacked clean water and an education system. Furthermore, villagers were not provided with tractors and fertilizers as promised and were expected to farm in poor soil conditions. Many locals began to feel resentment as they felt that they were worse off than their previous condition. Additionally, when Nyerere realized that people were not voluntarily moving, he set up a coercive strategy through which people were moved forcefully. This built further resentment as individuals who had lived all their lives in a particular location were being moved without their permission. The locals rebelled by taking flight, smuggling and engaging in unofficial production and trade which all served to further weaken the infrastructure. In conclusion, the failure of this project was due to the weakness in infrastructure along with the ignorance of the developers towards the locals.

Scott suggests that the inherent problem with all projects is that simplification and standardization leads to a synoptic vision which does not account for all the other factors that affect a location. Furthermore developers are ill prepared for change and test their pilot projects in isolated and optimistic conditions which do not give accurate representations of realistic outcomes. One of the other reasons of failure is that often times developers view local farmers as “backward” and do not account for their wishes. Furthermore, these projects only account for short term goals and do not keep the long term consequences in perspective.

2. “Techne” specifically refers to the tangible and formal methods of acquisition of skills, by which results and processes are standardized and can be adaptable on a larger scale. This method relies heavily on factors of measurability and legibility. “Metis,” the more holistic approach, stresses the importance of experience and the access of knowledge through intangible means. “Metis” is unique to every individual’s own life and practical experience. In an agricultural setting, an individual may devise his or her own method of farming and assess needs according to specific locations and resources. These assessments are done in a manner which produce successful results for one farmer, but may not necessarily meet the needs of another farmer. For example, Scott mentions that the local edition of the Farmer’s Almanac may suggest planting corn after the first full moon on a particular date. However, because the locations of different parts of the world with respect to the moon are relative, a farmer in England cannot rely on these same methods.

An example of the “techne” approach can be clearly seen in the contract farming of chickens. When chicken farmers are faced with the problematic situation of disease and unhealthy conditions in chicken fryers, some farmers approach contract farming. Through this process, the farmers are expected to produce a certain number of chickens who meet specific standards. Additionally, farmers are required to buy a building which can be carefully monitored using standardized methods of feeding and medicating the chickens. This deduces the farmer’s role as it does not give him any initiative to act on his own accord. The intentions of setting up these farms serve more for the purposes of fitting a grander scheme of production and efficiency model rather than the needs of the farmer.

The risk of loss and poor yield allows a farmer to fully invest his powers in attaining the best possible conditions. However, by accepting these chicken farm contracts, the farmer is put more at risk as he is no longer in control of even his own chicken farm. His resources are allocated according to a standardized system controlled by a large contracting company. In this scenario, it can be observed that the modernization of farming may be leading to more efficient technologies. Nevertheless, these benefits may not necessarily be allocated to individuals who produce the output.

Scott sees the gravest problem in development projects as the undermining of the importance of “metis” in state projects. He suggests that a project which incorporates “metis” into “techne” approach would create a more efficient process. “Metis” and “techne” exist in a dichotomous relationship which asserts the need of balance and appreciation of both of these constructs. “Techne” provides the technology and organization needed for a large scale project, where as “metis” is more able to control long term sustainability.

3. The book establishes the integral role of the state in trying to implement simplification and standardization projects. Scott not only addresses the inherent problems with state projects, but he also addresses potential ways a state could go about implementing successful plans. Scott’s main argument is convincing and revolves around the idea that states undercut the knowledge and intelligence of the locals which leads to the very failure of these projects. Scott also points out that the state may not be dedicated to improving the lives of the locals, even though they may have some intention to do so. I find the relationship between intent and outcome fascinating as it seems a regular trend that although developers want to do “good” their results may not necessarily indicate these intentions. Scott writes about the relationships between the state and the locals and often times his perception of intentions deal more so with the state’s need of control rather than its desire for providing service. Nevertheless, circumstances produce complexities as often times the façade of altruism can be misleading and ambiguous. The overall theme of Scott’s work establishes that the officials perceive a region through the spectacles of their own experiences. It is an enlightening process of looking at development because it addresses the potency of the developer’s schema in the way he or she goes about attaining progress. The inadequacies in these projects may suggest that developers have a narrow perception of the world before even going into a project which inadvertently dictates their actions. This skewed perception blurs the vision of the state officials along with the developers, leading to a false notion of knowledge and expertise. This reading among others has not only made me aware of the many inadequacies within the system, it has also made me appreciate the complexities of the state. One would be naïve to see this situation as a black and white matter because so many convoluted relationships dictate state politics and economy that substantial change cannot be implemented without mass internal changes within the infrastructure of these governments.

On Development in Lesotho

2007-08-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

The inherent fact that developing institutions ignore the political and social aspects of a region leads to various misunderstandings and wrong notions about a particular location like Lesotho. The World Bank reports an array of statistics in order to represent Lesotho accurately but fails to do so, as these statistics are often times irrelevant to the inner workings of the region. Development institutions are willing to offer only tangible and straight forward, on the surface, solutions. Delving in the political and cultural aspects of a society involves a much more abstract process of actions. These institutions view these abstractions as a block in their path of development. The looming issue remains that because development institutions are constantly fixated on providing superficial solutions to the problems of the developing world; their surface solutions prove to be unsuccessful and unproductive. These misunderstandings deeply seem to be rooted in the type of discourse in which development institutions participate. Development institutions engage in a particular type of discourse which carefully discusses the logistics of a region without accounting for any other factors. Discourse among these institutions involves strict rules and regulations on what can be legitimately discussed as well as the topics which are considered out of place, like politics and culture. Keeping this in mind, it becomes clear that development institutions may not necessarily be ignorant but choose not to consider certain factors in their reports which inevitably lead to their own demise.

For the people of Lesotho, cattle symbolize pride, social standing, and long holding

values in their society. Men cannot be taught to treat their cattle as an asset which can be

used for monetary benefit because they are fond of their cattle as it represents wealth and

prosperity in a much deeper sense than the actual monetary worth of the cattle. This notion

of holding cattle on a pedestal of respect and awe is known as the “bovine mystique.” The

men in the society also view the cattle as an investment whereby in an emergency, a family

can turn to their cattle for sources of food and nutrition. Their perception of cattle as an investment further strengthens their attachment to their cattle and makes it therefore impossible to condition them into selling their cattle. The women in this society are more open to using cattle as a commodity because they perceive cattle as a means to an end. Furthermore, keeping in mind the gender relations of Lesotho, the women also socially benefit from the selling of cattle. The trade of cattle would bring a larger income to the house, where this monetary sum may potentially be given to the woman in the family for household expenses. This directly leads to a slight loss of power for the men and a slight gain of power for the women in this society. In general, the Basotho men are unwilling to give up their cattle because they prefer to hold on to their traditional values which give them a great concentration of power and pride. Whereas, the Basotho women are more open to cattle trade as they do not hold the power, and are therefore less attached to the cattle.

Development institutions view “bovine mystique” as an attachment to the past and perceive it as a phenomenon which can be changed with proper guidance. These institutions are trying to implement changes based on their vague and ambiguous reports which do not take into account the cultural climate of Lesotho. Their perception of cattle is based on the fact that because these cattle are not in good health, they should be considered a liability instead of an investment. However, development institutions deeply misunderstand Lesotho and the role of cattle in this society. Another discrepancy among development institutions involve the World Bank report which simply mentions that South Africa is Lesotho’s neighboring country and the relationship between these two locations is purely geographical. This portrayal of their relationship fails to account for the deeper ties which connect Lesotho to South Africa. The reports do not account for the large Lesotho population which is employed in mines in South Africa, and also how the rights and regulations of these employees are manipulated by South African powers. By ignoring this important aspect of Lesotho’s relationship with its neighboring country, the development institutions fail to account for the considerable employment of the people of Lesotho in South Africa. This employment also suggests a deviation from the traditional society which the World Bank claims Lesotho to be. In the grander scheme, development institutions are trying to treat Lesotho as a traditional society when, in fact, it has already had some exposure to concepts of modernization. Both their long term investment planning along with the Lesotho work force in South Africa suggest that development institutions naively failed to account for these signs of progress. As a direct consequence for perhaps this intentional ignorance, development projects are implemented on a very superficial level. By using cattle as the main trade object, the development institution humiliates the people of Lesotho. This humiliation is specifically caused by the very fact that cattle, which are highly regarded and used as a form of investment, are being explicitly used for monetary benefits. These monetary benefits, no matter how large, do not justify the selling of cattle as these cattle hold the very essence of Lesotho society. The development institutions failed to recognize the major role of cattle in the lives of the people in Lesotho and misunderstood the Lesotho society as one which is traditional. Both of these factors lead to the very failure of this program.

Development project continue to be supported and funded due to the desire for some progress, even if this progress cannot be seen in a grander scale. Although the cattle business proved to be a big failure, this project allowed more roads to be formed and gave the government of Lesotho a stronger hold. Although these side effects may not be as productive as attaining successful results in the actual development goals, it does show some extent of progress. It is this progress and the sign of some change which keeps these projects going. Development institutions view failure through a perspective which allows them more avenues for new projects. Instead of looking at failure as a dead end, they view it as a stepping stone for the future. These institutions maintain a considerable amount of hope even in dire conditions. Furthermore, these projects get a great amount of money from developed countries, which may also lead a government in a developing nation to pursue these endeavors. In these cases however, the money may be going to isolated pockets of power who may potentially misuse the money and therefore the resulting projects in these countries may present themselves as futile.

Ferguson presents a compelling and enlightened argument by portraying a fundamental problem within the idea of development institutions themselves. However, his style and approach is one which is rather accusatory and slightly condescending. Before even presenting his argument, one can sense that Ferguson seems to be against the very idea of “development” itself. However, one later realizes this apprehension is rooted in his reservations about how development institutions seek their means of “development”. Ferguson’s main arguments are mostly convincing as he successfully proves that development institutions fail due to a lack of understanding of the social and political context of a region. However, some of his arguments lack depth in understanding the intricacies of the very relationships he describes. For example, he does not explicitly describe the partnership between development institutions and the government in question as he undermines the complexities of their relationship when accounting for the continuation of development projects despite their failures. The repeated redundancy in Ferguson’s work also tends to weaken some of what Ferguson is arguing as it makes a reader wonder why the author feels the need to stress a certain point so much to the extent where one begins to question the author’s beliefs in his own ideas and theories. This is not to say that Ferguson doubts himself explicitly, but the redundancy in the book takes away from the potent and compelling message of the work. Ferguson highly criticizes “development” yet does not give a clear solution to the current problem. This leads to some sense of annoyance and frustration from the reader. The book promotes the belief that intentions tend to be relative to the institutions that are running a project. From the perspective of a development institution, they may have good intentions which may attain their institutions with the greatest benefits however this may not necessarily prove to be the most productive investment in actually helping those in need. Because intentions tend to be not only relative but sometimes also ambiguous, they are irrelevant. Ferguson places importance on the actual consequences of their actions rather than intentions which is one of the strongest points of his argument.

Adolescence: The Suppression of Female Sexuality

2007-08-11T20:34:00.001-07:00

The female form intrinsically holds a duality of nature as a woman is capable of both creation and destruction. Womanhood is brought forth by an onset of various mental, emotional and physical changes. The initiation into womanhood is one which is unique to each woman, yet often times it is not she who has the prerogative to choose the way she presents herself to the world, but it is society that governs her existence. As a woman’s body develops breasts and curves, these characteristics make a traditional and conservative society apprehensive and fearful as it does not know how to deal with the femininity nor the power of female sexuality. Therefore, a society’s apprehension dictates the suppression of female adolescence. These societal pressures, in consequence, strongly impact a woman’s self perception and confidence. This suppression of sexuality and femininity manifests itself in the form of isolation, loss of identity and entrapment for these women. In the stories “Library Girl” by Dhiruben Patel and “Crushed Flowers” by Vishwapriya L. Iyenger, two young girls find themselves transitioning into womanhood in a rather salient form. A young girl is considered to “bloom” into a young woman; nevertheless, the two young girls in these particular stories find themselves in a state of “wither.” There is striking difference between the changes which are occurring within their (the young girls) bodies that lead to their physical appeal, yet they find themselves “withering” because of society’s rejection of their new and changing form. Therefore, there is an inherent irony in the fact that adolescence comes in the form of “withering” instead of “blooming.” The short novella, “Housing Society” written by Qurratulaine Hyder takes place in the backdrop of Partition. Partition and Salma’s mental state both hold strong parallels as both exist in fragmentation. All these three pieces of literature enforce that female adolescence is dealt with apprehension due to society’s ultimate fear of female sexuality and femininity. These fears therefore negatively manifest themselves in the female consciousness as a woman constantly feels insecure of herself making her feel invisible, unimportant and unworthy. The stories, “Crushed Flowers” and “Library Girl”, encompass this very idea of unworthiness and invisibility which makes the girls in these two stories feel entrapped and isolated.

In the story “Crushed Flowers,” a young vivacious girl loses herself in the trials and tribulations of societal norms. Khushi is initially shown as an amiable young girl who talks to everyone and has a delightful personality. She “doesn’t care about the face” (Patel, 103) of the individuals who happen to smile at her due to the fact that she values the truth which lies within their eyes. The eyes which are “full of warmth” (Patel, 103) and “full of life” (Patel, 103) allow her to feel comfortable smiling at them, as she feels these individuals are genuine and friendly. Her perception of people indicates not only her innocence but also the optimism with which views the world and the people within it. She smiles at everyone she sees because she finds kindness in their eyes. Although her mother does not consider it “proper” (Patel, 103) to smile at everyone, Khushi cannot help but respond to the “sunshine in their eyes” (Patel 103). Her name, Khushi, symbolizes happiness and laughter and is a true reflection of her own personality. Khushi loves her father dearly and remembers the times when she used to “dive deep into his happy laughter” (Patel, 102). As a young girl, she feels like her father “likes her.” But as an adolescent, she no longer feels like her father loves her because he “rarely looks at her” (Patel, 102). Furthermore, Khushi finds herself lonely as she is quite fond of her father yet is subjected to his ignorance and rejection of her new form. With Khushi’s adolescence comes her fathers “strange, apprehensive, and anxious” (Patel, 103) nature which further isolates this young woman into feeling lonely and depressed..

Khushi also feels the presence of her adolescence because of her mother’s behavior. Her mothers numerous propagations and torments cause the “petals of her smile” to “crumble” (Patel, 102). Her mother cannot forget that Khushi is “a girl, seventeen years old, completely unselfconscious, smiling at any one that comes along” (Patel, 101). This implies that Khushi’s mother wants her to be self-conscious of her every move and action, even if it is not characteristic of Khushi to do so. Khushi, as a young girl, feels free to smile and be herself. Kushi’s adolescence however is shadowed with much darkness and isolation as she feels constantly self-conscious and judged especially by her mother. Her smiles which are like a “rivulet in a river” (Patel, 102) end abruptly due to her mothers incomprehensible objections to her smiling. It is at this point in which she seeks isolation. Her desire for isolation reveals a distinct change in her character from her previous state. The very fact that she seeks isolation is symbolic of her withdrawal into a world in which she feels lonely and cold. In this dark world, no warm eyes look upon her and the darkness of the “cramped house” (Patel, 102) seep away her happiness. Khushi (happiness) transforms into a “crushed [flower].” She is symbolized by a crushed flower once delicate and beautiful but now bruised and withered. This comparison contrasts the innocence and wonder involved in being a young girl to the more damp existence in which women are forced to live. Khushi’s suppression is initiated by her own mother due to societal pressures and expectations. This suppression eventually manifests itself in Khushi’s feelings of loss and bewilderment. Her nature changes from a “blooming” young girl to a “withering” adolescent. These changes are referred to as “withering” because Khushi no longer is a “blooming” flower but has “withered” into a woman who is much more reserved and isolated. This “withering” adolescence is also very much apparent in the story “Library Girl.”

In the story, “Library Girl,” a young girl loses her identity in her teenage years. Before adolescence, Talat and her brother Tahir are in a level field. Both of them go to school and are allowed to play outside, yet at the onset of womanhood Talat’s education is “abruptly” (Iyenger, 146) stopped. Adolescence serves to bring forth gender discrimination. When Talat’s mother inquires about how there is enough money for her son to study but not for her daughter, her father responds by saying, “Buy her silk, satin, velvet, silver- but fool woman, don’t compare her with Tahir” (Iyenger, 147). Talat hears these words clearly and “shudders” (Iyenger, 147) in her very being. Even after this serious setback, Talat religiously goes to the library frequently and has a passionate love for books and knowledge. Talat loves “to see aero planes, trucks and women working in the fields,” (Iynenger, 148) because these pictures symbolize the type of world in which she longs to be. Talat also likes to read about “people who change things which seem unchangeable,” (148, Iyenger ) since Talat herself has a deep desire for discovery and exploration, which is not advocated in girls. Yet in her heart and mind, these “people” (148, Iyenger ) symbolize hope and change that perhaps she herself wants to instill within her own life. Talat has the curiosity of a child yet the body of a woman. Her choices in her reading material reflect a mind which sees no boundaries, and a child who wishes to reach beyond the stars. However, when her father comes home with a little brown bag, this liberation vanishes into mist, and she finds herself utterly cold and isolated.

When Talat’s father hands her the burqa from the little “brown bag,” (Iynenger,149) Talat transitions instantly. Although she physically sees an image in the mirror, she finds it hard to reconcile with the fact that the image in the mirror is actually she. “ She sees her own veiled face and feels afraid”(Iyenger, 149) of this woman in black who is staring back at her. This is the pivotal point at which she transitions from a girl into a woman. Talat’s transition comes with a loss of liberation and identity. She also recalls that “no one smiled at her” (Iynenger,150) on the day she wore a burqa. Within the blackness of the burqa, no one recognizes her and as a result does not acknowledge her presence. Her mother sees Talat transform from the “beautiful sun and star child” (Iynenger,149) to one that has now “become night” (Iynenger,149) in front of her very eyes. Talat recalls that the burqa makes her feel “sick and cold.”(Iynenger, 150) This symbolizes not only the entrapment of her body but also the entrapment of her mind. She no longer is able to reach beyond the stars, as blackness has swallowed her little frame, leaving her feeling empty and distraught. The burqa acts as a cloak of invisibility and suffocates her little voice. Her role becomes from a young girl who is able to travel with the power of her mind and has the insatiable desire for knowledge, to a woman who has to hide in the confines of a burqa and as a result loses her identity. The burqa symbolizes the imprisonment of a young girl trying to hide the “bloom” which is womanhood. The mere fact that this “blooming” is hidden, causes her to “wither” into a woman.

Both “Library Girl” and “Crushed Flowers” alludes to the fact that the very entrapment of these girls is due to their actual “blooming.” One reason for this entrapment is that society does not consider women fruitful investments. A family with a daughter constantly feels the pressure to get her married, which dictates much tension and stress for the family. It is not only essential to find a groom who belongs to the same socioeconomic status or class, but it is also important to have the financial standing in order to pay for the wedding along with dowry if it is initiated. This further makes a patriarchal society nervous as having more than one daughter serves to weigh down on the male bread winners of the family. Hence the term: “women lower the shoulders of their families.” Therefore, women are not only subjected to the entrapment and isolation as they reach adolescence, but they are also sometimes resented by family members due to the added pressure of trying to get these women married. Adolescence serves as a way of isolation and entrapment not only due to societal pressures which suppress women, but also due to implications by, certain if not all, family members who make these young women feel guilty for having to put them(their family members) through stress and turmoil. Female adolescence initiates a family’s responsibility of finding a suitable groom and making marriage arrangements.

The second reason that societies feel the need to suppress adolescent girls is due to the fact that a young girl becomes a liability when she transitions into womanhood. Because the sanctity and purity of a woman is highly valued, both the burqa as well as Khushi’s mother’s behavior are ultimately a manifestation of societal influences. Both Khushi’s and Talat’s families follow societal rules in which the girls after a certain age are protected and watched with a close eye as to prevent potential deviant behavior. If this type of behavior did occur, it could lead to the loss of integrity and honor for the whole family.

It is once again important to point out that both Talat and Khushi “wither” because of societal pressures which serve to suppress their “blooming.” Therefore although womanhood is said to be a time when a woman “blooms,” these stories serve to show quite the opposite trend. The irony lies in the fact that their “withering” is based on the fear of “blooming.” This is so because “blooming” essentially refers to a woman’s femininity and sexuality. Thus a society is intrinsically afraid of a girl who is “blooming” and attempts to suppress her resulting in her eventual “withering.”

“Housing Society” exposes the life of a young girl, Choti Bitiya, and her transition into womanhood. As a young girl growing up as royalty Choti Bitiya(“little daughter”) is very much pampered and is treated with extra comfort and attention by various members of her family. Every whim and desire of hers is fulfilled by numerous servants. This includes taking rides on an elephant through the guava groves to watching her mother iron clothes. She is always full of many questions and concerns. She too like Talat, is an inquisitive child, yet she is afforded the pleasure of luxury and comfort.

Her lifestyle of luxury and comfort vanishes as she enters womanhood. The young girl who is initially treated like a princess morphs into an adult form who has a complexion that has “wilted under the desert sun”(Hyder, 214). As a woman she gets a simple teaching job which can barely pay her bills, yet there is a curious prospect which she considers. She interviews for a position which requires her to “receive foreign guests” (Hyder, 228) and entertain them. Salma realizes the hidden sexual connotations of this job yet she is so desperate for money that she takes it. Salma’s womanhood has been brought upon by the realization of life and the difficulties she is facing not only as an individual but also as a woman. As a young girl, Salma enjoys all the luxuries pleasures of life, yet as a woman she finds herself lost and misplaced. She attempts to survive in a land that is not her home and among people she does not recognize. Her displacement is similarly felt by numerous other families who were obligated to move during Partition.

The Partition not only provides a backdrop for Salma’s onset of womanhood but also parallels her emotional and mental state. Salma feels confused and fragmented in a world where her family has lost its aristocratic social status. She struggles to adjust into the new world where she goes from sophistication to mediocrity. It is because of Partition that she has lost her place in society, and therefore needs to find a new way of life. Partition is the sole reason which causes the displacement of Salma’s family, yet Partition itself also has other implications of its own. The historical fragmentation of Partition symbolizes adolescence. The two countries which evolve out of Partition are both changing and adopting a new way of existence which is quite unfamiliar and challenging. Although this change is dealt with a certain amount of apprehension, it is a change which is inevitable. Salma and Partition are both fragmented in their accord. Salma is in a state of fragmentation due to her uprooting from her place in society to a class which cannot even earn her a decent living wage. Partition is in fragmentation due to creation of two independent countries that are changing, and discovering their own place in the new world. Partition takes away a great sense of identity, dignity and pride which existed within the previously united nation. Yet, new identities are being created for these two independent countries and these new identities are gaining ground. Salma’s struggles with her place in the new world, yet she manages to survive. Partitions reflect change, evolution and formation of new identities in an unfamiliar world. Salma’s character can be seen as the manifestation of all of the deep emotional and mental turmoil which accompanies change and novelty. As the novella progress, Salma finds herself dealing with the other realities of being a woman as well.

Salma feels conscious of the other realities of being a woman when she rides in the city bus. She feels self conscious when strangers stare at her and she desires to hide from their disdainful looks. At this point in the novella, Salma requests for a burqa because she wants to lose her identity in the bus. Because the burqa is a cloak of invisibility, it presents a favorable situation for Salma as she wants to be invisible in the bus. However, the burqa serves to suffocate Talat due to the fact that she is not recognized nor greeted by anyone on the way to the library. Although the burqa has strong social implications for the entrapment of women, it is important to address that this cloth does make some women more comfortable in their own skin. Talat enjoys socializing and talking to people in a delightfully innocent manner in her little basti. The male shopkeepers with whom she interacts never make her feel self-conscious. The burqa serves as a way of reminding her (Talat) that she is transitioning into a woman and that she should not feel so uninhibited in talking to members of the opposite sex. Salma who grows up in a partially closed world and feels exposed when numerous strangers stare at her in the bus. She feels quite self conscious of her femininity and desires to hide under the confines of a burqa. The burqa used in this situation is advantageous to Salma because it keeps her invisible among all the strangers that entrap her in the bus. In this scenario the burqa serves as a way of liberating the woman rather than entrapping her. It is not the physical cloth of the burqa, but the contextually in which it is used that holds primary value. The burqa serves to make some women feel safe and secure as strangers do not gawk at their beautiful feminine form. Yet a burqa also makes a woman feel invisible as nobody greets her nor recognizes her in the streets. The role of the burqa further points out the complexity of the role of women, as it serves to liberate and inhibit women in its own accord. It serves as a form of invisibility for women who feel self conscious of themselves, and find themselves wanting to adopt the confines of the burqa for the peace of mind of not being looked upon. Yet because the burqa makes a female feel invisible, a young girl attempting to transition into womanhood, feels a loss of identity and purpose because the burqa serves to inhibit her voice and individuality. Therefore, the burqa essentially serves as a form of invisibility and every woman who wears or seeks to wear this cloth has a different reason for their invisibility. One woman’s confinement is another woman’s peace of mind.

A woman’s confinement essentially allows a patriarchal society to manipulate her in a manner which results in her isolation and entrapment. Because femininity and female sexuality are suppressed to a great extent, it makes one curious as to why a patriarchal society is so fixated on the suppression of female adolescence. Adolescence brings with itself a sense of rash liberalism and choice. A patriarchal society is apprehensive of this sense of female liberation because they have a great fear of the female power of creation. A conservative society realizes a woman ultimate power of creation, and feels threatened that this power will also yield itself into other aspects of life. A woman who is able to bear a child is symbolic of fertility, strength, and commitment which all play a factor in birthing and raising that child. A woman’s breasts and curves are also a proof of this fertility and femininity. Perhaps a male dominated society is fearful of the ultimate strength that women possess and feel the need to suppress it. By suppression, these societies wish to control the way women function and represent themselves, and this control manifests itself in many negative feeling of isolation, entrapment and loss of identity in women.

Citations:

· Hyder, Qurratulain . A Season of Betrayals. 1st ed. New Delhi: Kali for women, 1999.

· Patel, Dhiruben. "Crushed Flowers ." Slate of Life . Kali for Women. New York: The Feminist Press, 1994.

Iyenger, Vishwapriya . "Library Girl ." The Inner Courtyard: Stories by Indian Women. Lakshmi Holmstrom. London: Virago PressLtd , 1993.

An Interdisciplinary Approach towards Alleviating the AIDS crisis in South Africa

2007-08-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

Improvisation of Grameen Bank Project for Female initiative and Economic Empowerment

INTRODUCTION

Among various infectious diseases, HIV proves to be one of the most problematic due to both its physiological as well as socio-cultural manifestations. The rampant spread of the HIV epidemic around the world is, hence, leading to a growing public health crisis which needs to be urgently addressed in order to ensure the security and wellbeing of all members of the global health community. Sub-Saharan Africa, among other parts of the world, is especially facing the most devastating and heart rendering consequences. South Africa, a country within Sub-Saharan Africa, has also distinctly faced the violent wrath of HIV first hand. In terms of South Africa, three distinct factors need to be addressed. Firstly, any program which chooses to address the HIV crisis, must work under a socio-culturally relevant context and be both culturally sensitive as well as culturally conscious. Secondly, any program needs to ensure long term sustainability factors such as initiating programs which make individuals self sufficient rather than dependent on that very program. Thirdly, and most importantly, the program must address gender disparities and should try to alleviate the situations for women by providing programs which encourage the empowerment of women both economically as well socially. Hence, a program improvised on the Grameen Bank project, may allow sustainability, and feasibility permitting the women of South Africa to access financial and social empowerment along with an access to education.

POLITICAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT

Many non-white South Africans are still suffering the grave repercussions caused by Apartheid. Apartheid, which led to the strict segregation among the races, was instated from 1948 to 1994. Apartheid led to the empowering of the minority white elite which controlled much of the socioeconomic and political power in the country. The segregation took away voting rights and citizenship of individuals who resided in South Africa but were not of European descent.[1] The schools and medical systems were completely segregated but the nonwhite South Africans were not provided with the same technology and expertise as those of the minority elite.[2] This not only created a deep divide in society but also lead to very poor health, education and living conditions for the nonwhite South Africans. Apartheid also led to a range of factors which still affect gender relations as well as the family unit in general.

The impact of Apartheid can still be felt because Apartheid served as the leading catalyst for the displacement of numerous men from their “ethnic homelands” (also called Bantustans [3] during the Apartheid movement), to crowded and hazardous working conditions in Johannesburg and other neighboring cities. These men continue to travel these far distances even today to find job opportunities. The conditions for these men are especially dire since they receive minimal wages and are forced to stay away from their families for six months or more at a time. Many of the former “ethnic homelands” are left with mainly women who are waiting for their loved ones to come home. They are a few men who stay in the village due to either injury or a lack of employment. But these men too grow resentful of their circumstances as they are unable to support their families and are left behind with the women.

The isolation of women in the former Bantustans along with the massive dislocation of the men from their “ethnic homelands” to Johannesburg and other cities prove to be one of the leading factors which leads a disease like HIV to spread like wild fire from one isolated area to many new areas. The National Health Department in South Africa reported that the number of cases of HIV between 1991 to1993 increased by 60% in the span of those two years.[4] The influx of men in South Africa who were and often times still are away from their families led and leads not only to the growth of the sex industry in the area but also leads to the sporadic spread and outburst of HIV.[5] HIV reins havoc among both men and women in South Africa also for a variety of other socio-cultural reasons.

Since promiscuity was and is often times seen as a sign of masculinity in the black South African culture, the men in these conditions often times seek the solace of a prostitutes in times of loneliness and distress. The stressful and hazardous conditions in factory and mine work in Johannesburg also persuaded men to seek prostitutes. [6] Many men therefore began to become infected through their visits the brothels. Many of these men would return home to their wives after six months to a year and transmit the infection to their wives. HIV, therefore, also has specific socio-cultural implications for women.

GENDER DECONTRUCTION, INEQUALITY & GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Women hold a subordinate role in society making them more susceptible to coercive or various types of unwanted sexual behavior. A woman in these circumstances has no choice but to submit to her husband or another man for an assortment of reasons. Firstly, a woman’s wish to use a condom may not be respected due to the gender disparities which are still largely prevalent. Secondly, a woman’s desire to use a condom may be construed as a woman not trusting her husband as well as not accepting him fully. Thirdly, a woman who proposes to use a condom can be construed as ‘lose’ by her very suggestion to use protection with her partner despite the fact that it is socially acceptable for her male partner to have multiple sexual partners. Condoms are also perceived as uncomfortable and unnatural in monogamous relationships. Even though, a woman may have reasons for not trusting her husband, her husband may still be humiliated by the suggestion of a condom and this may propagate more of an abusive situation.[7] Additionally, much physical violence and emotional violence still persists. It is estimated that 80% of rural South African women are victims of domestic or sexual violence.[8] That being said, a women may not even be given a choice to consent and may be subjugated to abuse by her spouse. Furthermore, practices like “dry sex” also further propagate the spread of infection of HIV in women. “Dry sex” is a practice in which the women are intentionally wiped dry in order to increase the sensational pleasure for the man. This practice makes the woman’s vaginal canal more prone to bleeding, further leading to the spread of HIV. [9] Additionally, even if women are monogamous there is no guarantee that the males in the relationship are the same way. Men who are promiscuous are often times considered more masculine and therefore having multiple sex partners is, in a way, encouraged from a cultural stand point. Consequently, the spread of HIV is also reinforced due to certain cultural influences.[10]

Women are also very much economically dependent on the male members in their life, and economic stability is sometimes conditional upon the consent to have sex. [11] Other factors such as, the myth that having sex with a virgin will cure one of AIDS, also leads to many cases of sexual abuse and violence on individuals as young as infants who are female.[12] These and other myths which surround AIDS and treatment for AIDS make women very vulnerable not only to their own partners, but also to other men in the community. “One in every three women in SA is in an abusive relationship, a woman is killed by her partner every six days and there is a rape every 35 seconds.”[13]

A female is especially put in a compromising position in these circumstances because she is very much dependent on the male members of her family for survival. Even though physical and emotional abuse may be prevalent, women may see it as a better alternative than to starve themselves.[14] Therefore, allowing a way in which women are able to be educated and empowered may provide some hope for the future. Although it cannot be explicitly stated that this will stop all men from abusing their wives, this may boost the level of self confidence of these women so that they can sustain a living for themselves independent of the men in their lives. If women have a way to economically empower themselves, this may lead to better conditions in the months in which her husband is away.

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND EDUCATION FOR WOMEN

Economic empowerment and education are, thus, essential for women in South Africa for various reasons. Firstly, rural South African society is heavily a patriarchal system where women are still treated like second class citizens. In a typical family unit, the men are expected to work outside the home either on the farm or away in the city, where as women are left to take care of the children and the home. This system grants much economic power and access to males as they are the ones who are directly financially benefiting from their work. Although some of this money does go to the woman for household expenses, the primary money holder persists to be the man. This creates a strict divide among men and women, as men continue to gain economic strength and wellbeing where as women continue to work just as much or more than the men, but do not get financial compensation for their work. With a separation of the private sphere of the home and the public sphere of the work place, it creates a society in which men have economic power and gain this through their work, however all the hard work which takes place in the home such as cooking, cleaning and rearing children becomes free labor leaving the female vulnerable to exploitation not only from her husband but also other male members of the family.[15]

Furthermore, economic empowerment for women also holds other optimistic promises. Some studies have shown that women led households potentially show a 12% decrease in malnutrition compared to their male counterparts. This is predicted due to the fact that females are more likely to spend their incomes on the collective need of the families such as school fees or winter clothes, whereas many men are more likely to expend money on beer and other pleasure central activities. These studies therefore assume that a woman’s income proves to be more “multiplied” in the sense that it can lead to the raising of standard of living of the whole family, as a woman is more sensitive to the needs of her family and is more likely to spend her income in ways which will better support both her family’s health as well as overall wellbeing. Therefore, because women spend more of their incomes on alleviating dire conditions, women are predicted to be better able to climb the social ladder than men are able to do in similar circumstances. [16]

The access to education for women also leads to considerable economic growth of the whole country for various reasons. Firstly, access to education lowers the fertility rate as it slows population growth. Secondly, raising the education level of women also decreases infant mortality. For instance, even in a country with a GDP as low as $300 per person, the “doubling of female secondary school enrollments” has indicated a decrease in infant mortality from 105 to about 78 for every 1000 individuals.[17] This is another interdisciplinary solution which may allow for empowerment of women from a broader context, leading to the overall wellbeing and health of not only these women but also their families.

Numerous other reasons exist for why economic empowerment and access to education are integral not only in promoting the wellbeing and health of the society but also in promoting economic growth of the country. For instance, if more women are educated leading to the slowing of growth of population, this would allow for “long term sustainable development.”[18]

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS AND IMPLEMENTATION

Investing time and effort in order to explore the cultural and social factors of each and every location would indicate that development projects would have to spend much time and energy in these endeavors. Many development projects are, however, executed and implemented in a very superficial level as development workers move from one location to another in a fairly quick manner. In order to spur a real growth and change in any society, it requires a very intimate familiarity with that culture. Development managers therefore do not have the time or the resources in order to heavily invest. Therefore, this leads to abundant development projects yet a low success rate as the institutions implementing these projects do not evaluate cultural and social influences.[19]

Recently programs have been implemented in South Africa in order to alleviate the massive public health crisis caused by the AIDS epidemic. For instance, “critical interventions” from the CDC (Center for Disease Control in the US) have included the implementation of a HIV literacy program through which numerous booklets are being passed out informing individuals of the nature and scope of the disease.[20] Additionally, a range of non governmental organizations such as the South Africa Development Fund grant small amounts of money to various development projects involving human rights concerns. These programs range from projects which teach certain skills, such as sewing and bead work to HIV affected women, to other programs which have set up cooperatives in neighboring villages. These projects, although small scale, have given much hope and accessibility to many parts of rural South Africa. The Health Ministry of South Africa has also, very recently, initiated a five year plan for tackling HIV.[21] Although many attempts, like the, five year initiative, are being made to alleviate the AIDS crisis in South Africa, other interdisciplinary solutions also need to be evaluated in order to be constantly critical and focused on not only what programs should be implemented, but also, how these programs prove to be cost affective, beneficial and sustainable in this society.

SOLUTION: GRAHMEEN BANK PROJECT

Keeping the concerns of feasibility, sustainability and accessibility in mind, a program which has recently shown much success and promise in meeting these goals has been the Grameen Bank (GB) established in Bangladesh. Although the socio-cultural and political climate differs between Bangladesh and South Africa, women are still treated as second class citizens. This project basically set up a “bank for the poor” by establishing a banking system which loans money with no collateral. GB has successfully provided credit for the “poorest of the poor” in Bangladesh and has allowed individuals who were bound by poverty to change the quality of their lives. The “credit delivery system” is based on various factors. Firstly, women are given priority. Secondly, credit is given in small amounts to individuals who qualify to receive a loan. Qualifications may range from age and skill to the amount of time available to dedicate to a particular “business.” The delivery system is based specifically to meet the needs of the poor, so individuals are less likely to be trapped in an inconvenient financial situation in which they feel overwhelmed. The delivery system is also set up so that “borrowers are organized in small homogenous groups.”[22] This allows the building of relationships based on trust and reliance. This also further facilitates the sense of community women feel with each other. The payment methods are set up so that it is most suitable for the poor. For example, individuals are given small loans which they are able to pay off in installments in the span of a year. The individuals who wish to participate either engage in a skill which they are already familiar or take classes to learn a new trade of their choosing. This very choice allows women to feel empowered economically and otherwise. Another very intriguing part of the project is the “undertaking of a social development agenda.” The bank, hence, also serves to raise social and political awareness in the groups which are involved and encourages women to partake in “social and physical infrastructure projects” which address the needs of sanitation and clean water among other factors. Grameen Bank therefore facilitates the lives of women in Bangladesh by providing them access to both economic empowerment as well as self sustainability.[23]

GRAHMEEN BANK: BANGLADESH VS. SOUTH AFRICA

Another reason why a program like the Grameen Bank project may be suitable for South Africa is due the approach which the bank itself has taken for formulating practical solutions. It states that the bank is and should be based on “social background” rather than “pre-established technique.” This is critical as the banking system needs to be customized to the specific society. For example, a system which is based on this type of socio-cultural context rather than pre-established notions of banking techniques already holds promise as it does not assume universality in how individuals will approach the bank.[24]

SUSTAINABILITY

This project differs from the less successful development projects defined above as it addresses that development is a “long term” process, and that sustainability is therefore essential. A program which is founded on long term sustainability certainly holds promise of being successful in its attempts of program implementation. The failures of many development projects are not because the intentions are not good or just, but perhaps that these intentions are not carried out in the proper cultural context in which these intentions ought to be carried out. Therefore, both cultural sensitivity and long term sustainability is critical to any development project.

A project like GB for its entire caliber can be foreseeable and imaginable in the near future in South Africa for various reasons. Firstly, the GDP of South Africa is $8506 in the year 2006, compared to the GDP of $2018 in Bangladesh.[25] This indicates South Africa may provide fertile ground for a project of this type. When looking at GDP, often times the numbers can be misleading as they are based on averages. However, because, both Bangladesh and South Africa has a large gap between the rich and poor individuals in the country, it is partially being assumed that South Africa will be able to sustain a project of this sort. Although the mortality of adult lives in South Africa is much higher, this is largely due to the devastation of HIV in South Africa. However, if an economic empowerment program of this sort is implemented, this may allow females who are HIV infected to gain easier access to medication further extending the duration of their lives.

CONCLUSION

Although HIV has various implications for women in South Africa, programs which seek an interdisciplinary solutions will prove to be most successful. For example, the improvisation of the Grameen Bank project may lead to the much needed economic empowerment of women in South Africa. Although gender disparities may still exist, giving women access to education and economic empowerment can only help to bridge the gender gap which has made women quite vulnerable to unwanted sexual behavior among other exploitative factors. Although this solution is not directly oriented to tackle HIV, economic empowerment of a woman is essential for her ability to either stand up to her husband and/or to be self-sufficient. Although gender perspectives may take a longer time to change, female empowerment will certainly facilitate economic and financial freedom which will hopefully lead to a sense of confidence and achievement among these females. Although men may continue to be abusive, this may make women less dependent on the male members of their family for financial reasons, and allow them to feel a sense of accomplishment, pride as well as a sense of control of their own lives and the lives of their children.

Bibliography

Foot Note Numbers	Title
1	“Historical images of Apartheid in South Africa”	Historical images of Apartheid in South Africa. Retrieved March 22, 2007, from Human Rights Web site: http://www.un.org/av/photo/subjects/apartheid.htm
2	“Post Apartheid South Africa: The First Ten Years”	Nowak, M. (Ed.). (2005). Post Apartheid South Africa: The First Ten Years. Washington DC: International Monetary Fund Publication services.
3	“Bantustan”	Bantustan. (2007 ). In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved March 22 2007 , from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantustan
4,14,15	“Gender Based Violence”	(2006). Gender Based Violence, Retrieved March 26, 2007, from UNICEF Web site: http://www.unicef.org/southafrica/hiv_aids_729.html
5,10	“Women and AIDS in South Africa: a conflicted history leads to a dispiriting present.”	Suich, A (2006). Women and AIDS in South Africa: a conflicted history leads to a dispiriting present. UN Chronicle, 43.2: 12(3), Retrieved march 20 2007, from http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=ITOF&docId=A152633365&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=viva_uva&version=1.0
4,6	“The scale of South Africa’s AIDS crisis”	Pemrey, Graham (2007, March 20). The scale of South Africa’s AIDS Crisis. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from AVERT Web site: http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm
7	“South Africa: Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Youth HIV Risk”	Hall, K. (2006 February 2). South Africa: Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Youth HIV Risk. Retrieved March 27, 2007, from Population Council Web site: https://www.popcouncil.org/projects/TA_SouthAfGenderHIV.html
8	“Men and Violence Are Barriers to Preventing HIV in Women”	(2004 March 24). Men and Violence Are Barriers to Preventing HIV in Women. Retrieved March 27, 2007, from EngenderHealth Web site: http://www.engenderhealth.org/news/newsreleases/040305.html
9	"Is "DRY SEX" one of the hidden reasons for the country horrifying AIDS epidemic? (Investigation)."	Tshabalala, L. (April 2005). "Is "DRY SEX" one of the hidden reasons for the country horrifying AIDS epidemic? (Investigation)." Marie Claire , 12.4:203(3), Retrieved march 22 2008, from http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=ITOF&docId=A130390260&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=viva_uva&version=1.0
11	"In Soweto, South Africa, transactional sex may increase women's risk of HIV."	(2004 November 4 ) "In Soweto, South Africa, transactional sex may increase women's risk of HIV." Women's Health Weekly , 18, Retrieved March 22 2007, from http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=ITOF&docId=A123784878&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=viva_uva&version=1.0
12	“HIV/AIDS, the stats, the virgin cure and infant rape”	Earl-Taylor, M. (2002 April). HIV/AIDS, the stats, the virgin cure and infant rape. Science in Africa , Retrieved march 22 2007 , from http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2002/april/virgin.htm
21	“ South Africa unveils five-year HIV plan”	(2007 March 14 ). South Africa unveils five-year HIV plan. Retrieved March 27, 2007, from Yahoo News Web site: http://news.yahoo.com/s/po/20070314/co_po/southafricaunveilsfiveyearhivplan
16,17, 18	“Gender Inequality and the Economy: Empowering Women in the new South Africa”	Maharaj, Z. (2000). South Africa: Gender Inequality. Africa Policy E-Journal, Retrieved March 20. 2007, from http://www.africaaction.org/docs99/gen9908.htm
19	"Oversight crisis at development banks: slashed wrists, blood-smeared offices and workers too terrified to complain: what can be done to root out alleged corruption at the world's development banks? (The world: multilateral finance)."	Andersen, M. (2003 March 4). "Oversight crisis at development banks: slashed wrists, blood-smeared offices and workers too terrified to complain: what can be done to root out alleged corruption at the world's development banks? (The world: multilateral finance)." Insight on the News 19.6, 32(2), Retrieved march 22 2007 , from http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=ITOF&docId=A98415812&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=viva_uva&version=1.0
20	“The Emergency Plan in South Africa”	(2007 January 8). The Emergency Plan in South Africa. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from Center for Disease Control and Prevention Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/gap/countries/south_africa.htm
22,24	“Grameen Bank Project: Credit Delivery System”	(2002 September). Credit delivery system. Retrieved March 23, 2007, from Grameen Bank Web site: http://www.grameen-info.org/bank/cds.html
23	“Grameen Bank Project: A Short History”	(2002 September).A short history of Grameen Bank. Retrieved March 23, 2007, from Grameen Bank Web site: http://www.grameen-info.org/bank/hist.html.
25	“World Health Organization Data”	(2007). South Africa. Retrieved March 22, 2007, from World Health Organization Web site: http://www.who.int/countries/zaf/en/
13	“South Africa: Gender Inequality ”	Ali-Dinar, A. (1999, August 22). South Africa: Gender Inequality. Retrieved March 22, 2007, from University of Pennsylvania: African Studies Center Web site: http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Urgent_Action/apic_82299.html

1 Article: “Historical Images of Apartheid in South Africa”

[2] Book: “Post-Apartheid South Africa: the First Ten Years”

[3] Bantustans: an ethnic reserve for nonwhite individuals predominantly in rural parts of South Africa which were created as part of the racial segregation policies of Apartheid.

[4] Article: “Scale of South Africa’s AIDS crisis”

[5] Article: "Women and AIDS in South Africa: a conflicted history leads to a dispiriting present."

[6] Article: “Scale of South Africa’s AIDS crisis”

[7] Article: “South Africa: Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Youth HIV Risk”

[8] Article: “Men and violence are barriers to preventing HIV in women”

[9] Article: "Is "DRY SEX" one of the hidden reasons for the country's horrifying AIDS epidemic? (Investigation)."

[10] Article: "Women and AIDS in South Africa: a conflicted history leads to a dispiriting present."

[11] Article: "In Soweto, South Africa, transactional sex may increase women's risk of HIV."

[12] Article: “HIV/AIDS, the stats, the virgin cure and infant rape”

[13] Article: “South Africa: Gender Inequality ”

[14] Article: “ Gender Based Violence”

[15] Article: “Gender Based Violence”

[16] Article: “Gender Inequality and the Economy: Empowering Women in the new South Africa”

[17] Article: “Gender Inequality and the Economy: Empowering Women in the new South Africa”

[18] Article: “Gender Inequality and the Economy: Empowering Women in the new South Africa”

[19]Article: "Oversight crisis at development banks: slashed wrists, blood-smeared offices and workers too terrified to complain: what can be done to root out alleged corruption at the world's development banks? (The world: multilateral finance)."

[20] The Emergency Plan in South Africa

[21] Article: “South Africa Unveils 5 year HIV Plan”

[22] Grameen Bank project: Credit Delivery System

[23] Grameen Bank project: A Short History

[24] Grameen Bank project: Credit Delivery System

[25] World Health Organization Data

Analyzing Disease through Constructs of Medicine

2007-08-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

The Effect of Apartheid and its consequential socioeconomic factors on the Spread and Persistence of HIV/AIDS in South Africa

Medicine and systems of politics and development are so intricately intertwined that often times they seem like parallel systems to one another. The intermingling of the three especially occurs in the global health and development arena. Disease, for example, can be analyzed as a medical, political as well as a developmental problem which devastates a country. In summary, disease has three primary connotations in the context of South Africa. Firstly, Apartheid led to political and social symptoms of instability as many native black South Africans were dislocated from their homeland and lost their citizenship and voting rights. [1] Secondly, Apartheid along with the socioeconomic factors which it created spurred the spread and persistence of HIV/AIDS which affected vast number of individuals who were not able to sustain themselves in the work force and suffered a great amount.[2] Furthermore, certain cultural practices and beliefs also predisposed the population to HIV. Thirdly, the process of development in South Africa can be perceived as diseased itself primarily because the development programs and disease interventions do not take into account socio-cultural factors which affect a region making intervention methods futile and wasteful. Finally, systems of politics, medicine and development are themselves flawed due to various factors of ignorance, greed and the notion of superiority and paternalism.

Apartheid, which led to the strict segregation among the races, was instated from 1948 to 1994. Apartheid led to empowering the minority European elite which controlled much of the socioeconomic and political power in the country. The segregation took away voting rights and citizenship of individuals who resided in South Africa but were not of European descent.[3] The Apartheid assigned locations to which people were forced to migrate. The schools and medical systems were completely segregated but the black South Africans were not provided with the same technology and expertise as those of the minority elite. [4]This not only created a deep divide in society but also lead to very poor health, education and living conditions for the black South Africans.

Apartheid can be perceived as a form of continuation of colonialism where a small European minority still controlled much of the resources. Because the labor reserve was still in South Africa, individuals from all the surrounding areas were forced to travel long distances in order to find suitable work.[5] Furthermore, this provided the European elite with a cheap source of labor as many native black South Africans had no choice but to work in poor conditions with low pay and long hours. This system also dehumanized the individuals as men were expected to stay far away from their families for long periods of times and were forced to work in dire conditions. [6] Furthermore, they were mainly used in order to provide a source of economic profit and surplus for the European elite. Although the working population was black, the economic power still remained in the hands of the small European elite. The minority elite owned 80% of the land and received 75% of the national income of the country whereas the black majority received less that 20% of the national income during the Apartheid era.[7] The elite continued to exploit the black workers in order to gain economic prosperity for themselves and continued to treat the black majority unfairly and unjustly by providing them with no share of the profits.

The segregation which was initially implemented to be “separate but equal” turned out to be systems which were very separate but far from equal. This segregation actually empowered the white elite as they were able to deny access to proper health care, education, and sanitation to the black majority. The black majority had a ratio of 1 doctor for every 44,000 individuals while the minority had 1 doctor for every 400 individuals. Annual expenditure on education was only $45 for a black pupil while $696 was allocated for each white pupil. [8] These figures clearly indicate that these two groups were segregated into a system which treated the black majority unfairly and unjustly. Apartheid and its devastating consequences during and after this terrible implementation can be classified as a disease which deeply struck South Africa.

The disease in the political system lies in the very fact that a system is not able to adequate sufficient amount of care for individuals who are most in need. ‘Politics of the belly’ ruled the governance of the country as the minority European elite mistreated the black majority.[9] The symptoms of the diseased political state can be perceived thorough various ways in the case of South Africa. Firstly, the black majority were given poor wages along with poor working conditions. Secondly, the black education and health care systems were so poorly facilitated that it hindered black individuals from accessing white collar jobs and a healthy lifestyle. The white elite intentionally deprived the black majority of much of the country’s resources in order to ensure that they did not access the power to overthrow the elite. Therefore, the black majority were even deprived of proper sanitation which led to further spread of illness and disease. This corruption in the political system was practiced in order to deny accessibility of the political systems of power for the black majority as the European minority wanted to manipulate the black majority. Disease is also indicated by the misallocation of funds which deprived the black majority from the accessibility to proper treatment. [10]

A disease in the more physiological system indicates weakness and suffering of the individual. This may range from the weakness of the immune system which leads to other infections due to the body’s state as well as the direct symptoms of the disease which may range from severe vomiting to fever. An epidemic leaves a population devastated as it affects a large population. An epidemic like AIDS leads to a great number of individuals in the older and younger brackets but eradicates the working class. This has created a huge crisis as individuals who are left are either too young or too old to work. [11]

HIV began to rein havoc in South Africa for various socioeconomic reasons escalated by the apartheid. The National Health Department in South Africa reported that the number of cases of HIV between 1991 to1993 increased by 60% in the span of those two years.[12] Initially, Apartheid led to a mass dislocation of individuals from one area to another leading to spread of disease from one isolated area to many new areas. The influx of men in South Africa who were away from their families led not only to the growth of the sex industry in the area but also lead to the sporadic spread and outburst of HIV. [13] Since promiscuity was often times seen as a sign of masculinity in the black South African culture, the men in these conditions often times would seek the solace of a prostitutes in times of loneliness and distress. [14] HIV also had various cultural implications for women.

Because a woman’s power in requesting a condom is not taken or even considered, women are highly subjected to HIV. For instance, males in South Africa sometimes practice “dry sex” in which the women is intentionally wiped dry in order to increase the sensational pleasure for the man. This practice makes the woman’s vaginal canal more prone to bleeding, further leading to the spread of HIV. [15] Women hold a subordinate role in society making them more susceptible to coercive or this type of unwanted sexual behavior. It is estimated that 80% of rural South African women are victims of domestic or sexual violence.[16] “One in every three women in SA is in an abusive relationship, a woman is killed by her partner every six days and there is a rape every 35 seconds.”[17]Often times women are also economically dependent on the male members in their life, and economic stability is sometimes conditional upon the consent to have sex. [18] For the reason that HIV/AIDS is looked upon highly negatively in society, women and men who know they are HIV positive are discouraged from speaking out to their partner. Additionally, if the sexual intimacy does lead to pregnancy, the child also contracts the disease in some circumstances if adequate treatment is not allocated. Women also have a higher likelihood of infection when exposed to HIV. Furthermore, even if women are monogamous there is no guarantee that the males in the relationship are the same way. Men who are promiscuous are often times considered more masculine and therefore having multiple sex partners is, in a way, encouraged from a cultural stand point. Therefore, the spread of HIV is also further spurred by various cultural influences. [19]

Some reports also indicate that Apartheid led to a huge loss of the notion of a family in the black South African culture. Men spent most of the year away from their wives and children which led to the loss of culture and tradition in the native black South African population. Because fathers were so far away from home, the family unit was utterly destroyed. Some scholars also argue that the location of labor reserve actually hindered the reproduction and growth of the black population in and around South Africa as such a large population of men spent such long spans of time away from their wives. [20]

Additionally, when couples do have an opportunity to see each other, they are more likely to engage in unprotected sex as the very notion of a “condom” is often seen as a means of promoting promiscuity and disrupting child bearing. A woman who proposes to use a condom can be construed as ‘lose’ by her very suggestion to use protection with her partner despite the fact that it is socially acceptable for her male partner to have multiple sexual partners. Condoms are also perceived as uncomfortable and unnatural in monogamous relationships. Because the development and disease intervention specialists may not take into cultural factors of this sort into, this leads to inadequate methods of support and help. This is one of the primary examples of why health intervention fails in implementation. For example, in this situation many lecture about condoms may be given, and the individuals in a certain population may be given the access to condoms, however, if an individuals sees the condom as a hindrance of reproduction, this contraceptive method may be hindered and not practiced. Furthermore, individuals do not see condoms as a sign of protection but rather view is as a method for promiscuity. Moreover, because men have more social power, they may feel further empowered by the notion of using no protection and somehow see a condom as a form of entrapment or rejection. [21]

In addition another reason of project failure may be due to the notion of westerm superiority. An organization which goes into these developing countries for a project or a clinic sometimes makes the assumption that locals have little or no knowledge and that in some way these individuals are inadequate. Until western health care system and development systems are able to recognize other individuals in these countries as different instead of inferior it may help further. Flipping through the World Bank pages of the “end poverty” year report is filled with glossy pictures of individuals from all parts of the world yet all of these pictures seem to have something in common. There is usually a westerner intervening and this foreign intervention is somehow portrayed as a godsend to these people. Nevertheless development and health projects are appreciated but this notion of superiority does not help the pursuit of development rather builds a greater divide between the haves and have nots. [22]

The greed of economic profit and prosperity can also be seen as a form of disease in all three systems of medicine, politics and development. In medicine, large pharmaceutical companies hold much of the power and seek markets which are most profiting to the company. These companies do not necessarily want to cure disease as a cure of any disease would lead to a decline in the sale of a particular drug. The companies are far more concerned with the profits it seeks. [23] Therefore their goal lies in the fact that they want a population who are infected by a disease dependent on the medication as this would provide a constant source of profit for their companies. Although medications which slow down the progression of HIV in an individual are in existence, a drug company does not see a profitable interest in providing medication for the numerous infected both in South Africa as well as other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. These individuals are not able to pay large amounts of money for the medications and therefore pharmaceutical countries would rather invest in countries where individuals have the financial capacity to overpay for medications. In political terms, the climate in South Africa due to Apartheid created a fertile ground for the minority European elite to control much of the economic power. A small minority continued to exploit numerous workers and ensured the inaccessibility to proper health care, nutrition and education of the black majority in order to protect their own selfish economic interests. In terms of development, the development process itself involves a great amount of money and investment from various large organizations. For example, the development process involves an array of analysts, reporters, managers, economists along with various other employment positions which play various roles in the process. The process of development is done in a manner which most benefits the large organizations which possess much of the power. Investing time and effort in order to explore the cultural and social factors of each and every location would indicate that developers would have to spend much time and energy in these endeavors. Development projects are therefore executed and implemented in a very superficial level as this allows development workers to move from one location to another in a fairly quick manner. Furthermore, in order to spur a real growth and change in any society requires a very intimate familiarity with that culture. Development managers therefore do not have the time nor the resources in order to heavily invest. Therefore, this leads to numerous development projects yet a low success rate as the institutions implementing these projects do not evaluate cultural and social influences. [24]

Both western medicine as well as western development always seems to yearn for hard facts and data sets which can be easily manipulated and redistributed. Medicine like development cannot necessarily be standardized in every way and form into each society or individual. Whether as a doctor or as an economist, an individual needs to realize the importance of cultural impact and cultural significance. The failures of these development projects and the failures of trying to eradicate disease is not because the intentions are not good or just, but perhaps that these intentions are not carried out in the proper cultural context in which these intentions ought to be carried out. When looking at medicine it is so much easier to systemize and categorize every symptom and every disease. Every condition is given its own name then why are individuals not? It is perhaps this discrepancy between treating a patient for an illness vs. understanding the patient with the illness which leads to the various failures in development as well as health interventions around the world. The large inadequacy of western medicine lies in the fact that often times finding the cure may not necessarily be the answer. As for in medical practices, the political systems of development face a similar situation. The disease of corruption, “politics of the belly” and red tape bureaucracy may never end, however some changes in infrastructure and policy among these political systems may allow for a positive future. Recognizing that finding a cure for all the diseases which exist today would be a nice solution, however, this would certainly not solve all the complexities of disease which will continue to exist despite of cures. There is likelihood that even though all the disease of today’s world may be cured, another disease or virus may very easily arise and devastate the population again. Although this “disease” can be one which weakens the individuals physically, politically, socially or economically, the diagnosis and treatment per say needs to be customized in the context of cultural and social factors of the location. Medicine should perhaps be more focused on disease preparedness and prevention rather than eradication. Although one does not have a way of knowing what diseases or how these diseases will come about, massively increasing public health interventions will definitely help.

[1] http://www.un.org/av/photo/subjects/apartheid.htm

[2] Post-Apartheid South Africa: the First Ten Years

[3] http://www.un.org/av/photo/subjects/apartheid.htm

[4] Post-Apartheid South Africa: the First Ten Years

[5] Post-Apartheid South Africa: the First Ten Years

[6] http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Apartheid.html

[7] http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html

[8] http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html

[9] Source Citation: Nevin, Tom. "Apartheid era crooks exposed: a damning new report exposes instances of deeply entrenched grand corruption involving high ranking politicians and businessmen during the apartheid era. The report gives the lie to perceptions that corruption in South Africa is a post-democracy era phenomenon. Tom Nevin reports.(Apartheid Grand Corruption)." African Business 322 (July 2006): 44(2). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Virginia Library. 28 Nov. 2006
.

[10] Source Citation: Nevin, Tom. "Apartheid era crooks exposed: a damning new report exposes instances of deeply entrenched grand corruption involving high ranking politicians and businessmen during the apartheid era. The report gives the lie to perceptions that corruption in South Africa is a post-democracy era phenomenon. Tom Nevin reports.(Apartheid Grand Corruption)." African Business 322 (July 2006): 44(2). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Virginia Library. 28 Nov. 2006
.

[11] http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm

[12] http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm

[13] Source Citation: Suich, Alexandra. "Women and AIDS in South Africa: a conflicted history leads to a dispiriting present." UN Chronicle 43.2 (July-August 2006): 12(3). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Virginia Library. 28 Nov. 2006
.

[14] http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm

[15] Source Citation: Tshabalala, Lerato, and Suzy Brokensha. "Would you put any of these into your vagina? Of course not. But hundreds of thousands of women in South Africa do every day. Is "DRY SEX" one of the hidden reasons for the country's horrifying AIDS epidemic?(investigation)." Marie Claire 12.4 (April 2005): 203(3). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Virginia Library. 28 Nov. 2006
.

[16] http://www.engenderhealth.org/news/newsreleases/040305.html

[17] http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Urgent_Action/apic_82299.html

[18] Source Citation: "In Soweto, South Africa, transactional sex may increase women's risk of HIV." Women's Health Weekly (Nov 4, 2004): 18. InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Virginia Library. 28 Nov. 2006
.

[19] Source Citation: Suich, Alexandra. "Women and AIDS in South Africa: a conflicted history leads to a dispiriting present." UN Chronicle 43.2 (July-August 2006): 12(3). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Virginia Library. 28 Nov. 2006
.

[20] [20] Post-Apartheid South Africa: the First Ten Years

[21] Source Citation: Maharaj, Pranitha, and John Cleland. "Condom use within marital and cohabiting partnerships in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa." Studies in Family Planning 35.2 (June 2004): 116(9). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Virginia Library. 28 Nov. 2006
.

[22] Seeing Like a State

[23] Source Citation: Silverman, Jennifer. "Where drug dollars go. (Policy & Practice).(Brief Article)." Family Practice News 32.16 (August 15, 2002): 34(1). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Virginia Library. 28 Nov. 2006
.

[24] Andersen, Martin Edwin. "Oversight crisis at development banks: slashed wrists, blood-smeared offices and workers too terrified to complain: what can be done to root out alleged corruption at the world's development banks? (The world: multilateral finance)." Insight on the News 19.6 (March 4, 2003): 32(2). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. University of Virginia Library. 28 Nov. 2006
.