I would like to raise some questions, partially as a devil’s advocate. And I hope some of you will read and answer because I really am interested in what others think on the matter. I am wondering, with so many philanthropists, health scientists, doctors, and so much government funding aimed at problems oversees, are we overlooking the problems in our own backyard?
As an Anthropology and Global Health student, I have always been taught about the miserable, disadvantaged, poverty-stricken “Other” of South Africa, Haiti, Vietnam, Romania, etc. My attention has nearly always been directed abroad to places I have only seen photographs of and read about. As a result, I feel extremely sympathetic toward people who I have never met, and passionate about bettering their lives, protecting their rights, and curing their diseases. Yet I feel significantly less connected with people suffering in my own backyard. I simply have not been exposed to their plights on an intellectual level or even in a personal context. (I admit that most of my volunteering/social improvement efforts have been with organizations providing international aid.) Finding myself in such a situation—caring more for and knowing more about Kenyan AIDS orphans than the Kentuckian poor—makes me wonder if others are in a similar place? Shouldn’t government officials, human rights lobbyists, and charity programs focus on America’s own problems before tackling some distant countries’? (And yes, I do understand that we are all interconnected, and that Africa’s problems affect our own. But how much more do Kentucky’s problems influence our lives than another continent’s?) And finally, shouldn’t university professors address our AIDS, poverty, sanitation, and women’s rights concerns before someone else’s? How did I find myself knowing about the “types of advanced diseases” (p.2) plaguing Filipinos, but nothing about how they similarly threaten my neighbors?
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2 comments:
I agree with you completely. I have always learned about poverty and health problem in developing countries in Africa or Asia, or South / central America. There are numerous medical mission trips organized to go overseas, there are many different national non-profit organization advocating for health improvement in these countries. Growing up in South Korea, where there is universal health care, it was only few month ago that I learned more than 50million people in U.S. doesn't have health insurance. With election approaching, more attention is given to health care issues, but in general, health care problem in this country is not "advertised" so much. I wonder, is it because emphasizing lack of sufficient health care in U.S. would show weak side of the World's strongest country, where as showing the problem of the others and reaching out to them would enhance the image of the country as the wealthiest country in the world? I understand and do agree that no matter what part of the world people are living in, we really are ultimately connected to each other, and that in some countries, very basic health care is lacking, such as clean water, of malaria vaccine. But as you pointed out, at least in academia, there should be opportunities to learn about America's own health care issues, not just the ones of other countries.
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