The UN came to town (not in black helicopters)

So often in my deployments I see poverty tied to the disaster I am responding to; this trip has been different I spent my whole time in the nation’s capital working. Poverty was everywhere, not just under employment but people who will probably spend their lives in the poverty they are in.  I wonder what the world would be like if the first world focused on helping people build wealth, so they were not trapped in poverty?   

Okay so I get our current administration is focused on USA first. So, let’s do that; let’s bring our population out of poverty.  Let’s take some pennies from our militarybudget which in 2015 was $5.98 Billion!  Supposedly our current president is MAKING our allies pay a larger share of protecting their country, so we should have a savings.

A recent investigation of the US poverty by the UN; yes, kind of embarrassing for us, but no one seems to care? What did they find in their investigation? 

·      They found the infant mortality is the highest in the developed world!

·      They found that most Americans can expect shorter lives than any other rich democracy.

·      They found tropical disease making a comeback in the US (Zika anyone)

·      They found that AMERICANS living in poverty in this country were infested with hookworms, a parasite that was eradicated in the US, and thought to be a developing world problem.

  In the article from NPR, they note that 19 of 55 people tested in Alabama had hookworms.  You might say that’s not too many! But it is for a parasite thought to be wiped out in the 1980’s.  It is passed by walking in sewage (defecation) of someone infected. What would it cost to make sure that people had safe bathroom facilities?  Less than 0.5 Billion? 

According to the US census the poverty level is 12%, not too bad, eh?  That’s 38 million AMERICANS.  Okay so not everyone is going to be a millionaire, but did everyone start off on an even playing field?  Have we focused on early childhood development, have we done everything we can? 

I know not everyone wants to be helped, many do not care, but is that due to decades of not being cared for?

What about our education system? How do we rank as one of the leaders of the world? How about 14^th?  We are turning out citizens without the knowledge or thinking skills to read and comprehend some of the most difficult problems facing us today.  We do have some top universities here in America, but we need to look at our national education as a whole, from the poorest kid in ________ (you pick the US city) all the way to Harvard.

How about our infrastructure (Roads, Ports, Etc.) The American Society of Engineers   (I think they would know) rate America a D+?  That’s horrible. I’m sorry are we talking about a developing country?  Well maybe so when you look at where we are and where things will continue to go without any measurable investment.  

There are a lot more questions that need to be read, thought about, dealt with in the full report which is here>> UN REPORT <<

So am I saying I have the answers?  No I do not, it will take people smarter and with more knowledge of Public Health, making laws and delivering care.  But I do see the problem and  can only hope that others with more power (than the vote) do, and do something with the knowledge...

DisasterDave