Introduction
In most of the third world countries throughout the world, many children do not have access to basic medical care and even essential vaccinations that can prevent the various childhood diseases that pose a deadly risk to mortality rate of children. This is because of the extreme levels of poverty in those countries. A lot of these children pass away everyday due to nutrition related illnesses and also form water supplies that are contaminated. The efforts of global institutions like the WHO and UNICEF has helped to alleviate the intensity of this menace but it is quite clear that there is more that needs to be done.
So, as citizens of the most powerful and prosperous nations in the entire world, what role do we have in helping these little brothers and sisters who are in dire need? My general sentiments are that a huge obligation lies on our part in contributing to this course of disease prevention and hunger elimination in children and even older people residing in the third world countries.
As college students, there is definitely a lot that we can do. The first thing that we can do is to cut on our spending. In his article The Singer Solution to World Poverty, that appeared in the New York Times Magazine Peter Singer a bioethics professor suggests that a mere donation of about 200 dollars would help a two year old child who is sickly to transform a physically and emotionally into a healthier child. Most of college students on average spend about 65 dollars a week. This is considerably a huge amount and I believe that we can significantly trim this amount and use the extra money for a good course such as contributing to an international aid body.
If each one of us makes a contribution of this extra five dollars or even less per week to an international donation centre like UNICEF and the Red Cross, it will go along way in helping the course of poverty, hunger and diseases elimination. To use a practical example, in a class made up of 40 economics students, if every student contributes about four dollars a week, this will total up to about 200 dollars weeks. This is definitely more than enough to significantly change the life of a child in a third world country since it will facilitate the provision of basic medical care and food. If the trend continues for an entire month, the amount contributed will total up to about 800 dollars. If we multiply this by say 7000 college students, it is clear to see that the total amount accrued is very huge indeed.
Helping people out is a virtue that should be deeply cultivated in the souls of each one of us. Many of us might be apprehensive in contributing to such a course since we might not see the results directly. However, I would like to assure each college or undergraduate students that although the results may not be witnessed directly, they are indeed there. Global organizations like UNICEF, WHO and the Red Cross are credible aid organizations whose achievements are well documented. Thus, forwarding our donations to such organizations will definitely ensure that our money is put to good use.
Every member of the humanity race deserves to lead a quality life that is free for hunger and even diseases. It is therefore our civil and moral duty as members of the world community to ensure that this quality life is achieved I everyone. I therefore appeal to every undergraduate student to engage in this course and thus pay our moral debt to the global community.
Works Cited
Singer, Peter. "The Singer Solution to World Poverty." The New York Times Magazine [New York] 5 Sept. 1999: 60-63. Print.
