Why do so many Asian country’s keep poultry like they do.
The world loves their chicken et al.
Is it possible to rid the world of Influenza Pandemics via hygiene programs brought about by specified aid programs? Do they(The infected country’s) need aid to bring about a change?
UMMMMN
The saying goes that Influenza repeats every 30 year’s…does it always originate in these Asian country’s?
If so; why?
If Hygiene; why can’t it be fixed?
Let’s broaden the quest!
Because they are not as rich as americans and europeans.
they say the 1918 pandemic started in Kansas.
there are ways to farm that are both safer and more profitable: using biodigesters between chicken poo and pigs is one example - such digesters give biogas and degrade viruses before the output from biodigesters is fed to algae
we have a lot to (re)learn - no-one talks about it in fluwikie - thanks for bringing it up
Let’s broaden the quest!
Heard about some sort of Biodigester…
If it were possible to rid the world of Flu Pandemics…let’s all pay an extra dollar in taxes and do that!!
Make it a conditon of foreign aid or….?
anonymous- at 19:34,
You said, “Because they are not as rich as americans and europeans.”
What do you mean?
anonymous- at 19:34 One need not be rich to have the common sense to know you do not live in the same building where animals are running loose defacating anywhere they please. Anyone with any sense at all has to know that doing so would only help to spread disease.
Apparently one can get richer using biodigesters and other sensible ways to grow food.
Poppy-
I agree…so why do “they” continue to do so…and how does it change, more importantly!
Blue
Indonesia’s record in reducing poverty in the two decades preceding the crisis has been exceptional. From a country with widespread poverty, it rose to the ranks of a middle income country in two decades. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the incidence of poverty fell from 40 percent in 1976 to about 11 percent in February 1996. Indonesia’s rapid economic growth thus proved to be effective in reducing poverty, although the crisis in 1997 revealed unsustainable elements in this pattern of development. The crisis in 1997 had an immediate impact on the poor and near poor. Although the sharp increase in the incidence of poverty has receded with the economic recovery, the surge in poverty during the crisis has left a large segment of the population in a vulnerable state. 3. There is, moreover, a wide dispersion of the incidence of poverty across regions. While the largest number of absolute poor live on Java, the incidence of the population below the poverty line is greater in the outer islands. Java has 7 percent of the land and 60 percent of the poor. Another 20 percent are in Sumatra, with the rest spread across the archipelago. While Jakarta has the lowest poverty incidence at 7 percent, Irian Jaya,Maluku, and East Nusa Tenggara are the poorest with the poverty incidence exceeding 35 percent. 4. Poverty is not just the lack of income. Poverty is a matter of a lack of access to basic social services, shelter, social protection, and basic security. In these broader aspects of poverty, Indonesia has also made significant progress. Yet clear challenges remain. The indicators of human development vary by region. They do not always coincide with the incidence of income poverty. There is a need for measures that specifically address the differential provision of public services across regions.
Although I have never lived in Indonesia or Southeast Asia, I have lived in South America. Poverty in the Third World is something we don’t really see here in the US. These folks keep pigs and chickens not only to feed themselves but also as portable wealth. They cannot afford to feed their chickens chicken feed - therefore the chickens run loose and feed on worms, insects, etc. As to the pigs - the same goes there. I’m sure in most homes there is not alot of “slops” left over to feed pigs.
Add to the above mixture and you also have lack of clean water to drink; lack of medical care (mostly first aid stations); lack of education; volcanoes erupting; the tsunami, etc. etc.
In South America, the rural and urban poor live in, literally, cardboard shacks. They usually only have 1 lightbulb in the shack hanging from the center of the room. The electricity is tapped into directly from an electrical pole (i.e. - stolen). Most of the rural poor are “subsistence farmers” meaning that they grow barely enough to feed themselves on a daily basis.
These folks are truly the poorest of the poor. A good day for them is something to eat for dinner - nevermind breakfast and lunch. Small children are put to work almost as soon as they can walk and talk. I’m talking about folks who make less than $600 a YEAR!
Most of these folks live on tiny plots of land due to the lack of arable lands in these countries. Sometimes a family of 5 or 6 will live on 1/4 to 1/2 acre of land carved out of the jungle. They live on bananas, rice, beans and meat on very special occasions - usually feast days. And yes, livestock is still used for dowerys.
Poppy – at 09:22 One need not be rich to have the common sense to know you do not live in the same building where animals are running loose defacating anywhere they please. Anyone with any sense at all has to know that doing so would only help to spread disease.
I strongly disagree with you.
Money has a lot to do with choice of lifestyle, level of education, access to knowledge about hygiene, and the ability to generate change when you want to. Do you truly believe, if offered the education and resources necessary to understand what might be “common sense” to you, people in the slums in Asia, Africa or South America would not try and change behavior contributing to their own and their childrens health?
The generation of my grandparents (and probably yours, unless there was money in your family) did exactly that, living with their farm animals. It was not only normal, but oftentimes necessary. If you don’t have enough wood to heat the house…a cow, a pig, even your chicken keep you warm during the winter.
I would like to ask you this: How much traveling have you done outside the US (assuming the US is your home)?
Have you been to Third World Countries? Have you seen the poverty that forces people to live a life “we” could never imagine? Can you imagine what kind of a relationship you develop to your five or ten chicken, if that is ALL you have? And all you dream about is to, maybe in a couple of years, buy a cow for your daughter’s wedding?
I am not even talking about sending your children to school, have your wife see a doctor because she has been sick for three months now, or read a pamphlet about bird flu (given that most likely you don’t know how to read), distributed by white people who don’t even speak your language; I am talking daily survival, having food to feed your family. And what if nobody ever thaught you the relationship between hygiene and disease, as it is true for thousands of people on this planet.
Why do you think so many people in Africa are HIV positive? Do you truly not see any relationship to money? I am stunned by your perspective. It is not only “them,” it is US who help spreading disease in countries like Indonesia. Us by being arrogant enough to believe we have the answer to problems arising in a culture we don’t even know how to properly great the other person.
Being poor has a lot to do with decisions made in regard to your living environment.
Bluebonnet - That was an excellent analysis concerning the roots of third world poverty, and I learned quite a bit from your essay. It seems appropriate to add that although the U.S. is one of the richest countries in the world, we are far behind many countries in education and health levels. Furthermore we have third world conditions within our own borders. I live in a border city where many legal residents from Mexico were sold undeveloped land without running water or utilities, and they must purchase bottled water on a daily basis to survive. Two years ago I wrote an educational grant for one of these communities to provide after-school tutoring and academic programs in order to improve high school graduation rates. Of course, it was rejected. And so the cycle continues.
I haven’t got a solution…but maybe someone does?
Worth a shot…or are we hoping for a mild pandemic …followed by another mild pandemic!?!
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