Despite the incredibly advanced society that we live in with treatment for almost all of the threat posing illnesses, much of the world is not as fortunate and is victim to diseases treatable in other areas of the world. It seems that people are as philanthropic as ever and are looking to solve the world’s problems of hunger and disease. The world’s donor countries have raise $12 billion over the past three years for the treatment of AIDS, Tuberculosis, and malaria.
I feel that country to country to aid is important. If one country has excess, while another is still in development (which is obviously always the situation) then the able country, barring any major misunderstanding or conflict between the countries, should provide aid in any way possible. Nowadays there are major donating foundations. At the same time, there are a select few of extremely wealthy people that are charitable. Bill gates is one of the more humanitarian and charitably active people. In 2007, Bill Gates set an initiative to completely eliminate malaria by donating $4 billion a year for the fight against AIDS, TB, and malaria. In recent years, global aid has been helpful. With the help of more widespread insecticide nets, sprays and drugs, malaria deaths have dropped to about 650,000 per year compared to one million in prior years.
Charitable donations will hopefully continue to grow in future years. Selfishness with money is not an option; money funds research which is the ultimate answer to the worlds problems. In the meantime, money has its uses and makes the distribution of medicine and preventives readily available to those in need. Global Medical Brigades and Doctors Across Borders are examples of the many foundations that are committed to aiding through action as opposed to monitory donations.
I too agree that the wealthy are unaware and therefore less likely to empathize with the struggles of others. To most wealthy individuals I have encountered, its always an easy fix to problems like hunger. “They’ll be fine. Why don’t they just get a job?” is the most popular response I hear from others who are unaware of the struggles of others.
Hi Sean! Although I did enjoy reading your post I do not completely agree with all of your views. I agree that it is important to help the less fortunate, however there is a fine line, and as a nation I believe that we are sometimes more worried about the problems people are facing outside of our country rather than dealing with the ones we face as a nation internally first. I am not saying that we should cutoff aid to less fortunate countries around the world all that I am saying is that as a country we face poverty, disease, and other issues that can be solved and I feel as though we need to focus on them first before being so generous to other nations.
You made some good points. I like how you incorporated Bill Gates in your blog because he has done a lot and is known for giving back. Some charities are legit, but you sometimes have to watch out because they are up to no good. The BBB of Denver talks about ways to catch those shady charities before you donate: http://denver.bbb.org/article/beware-of-shady-and-imposter-charities-this-season-23903
Sean,
You make a valid point about the wealthy sometimes remaining stingy with their personal donations to charity. From my personal experience with planning THON canning trips I try to stay away from areas of high income because our organization usually doesn’t do as well in these places. To many people this is a surprise but I believe that its mainly due to the rich not being aware of the struggles that other people face. With your example of ending hunger especially, many well off people have never dealt with this pain or seen it at the forehand so they don’t feel as inclined to donate for the cause.