[Thanks for reading the article- posting. I was not quite done, in terms of putting the proper link, and I appreciate the question].
The question is a good one, to answer you one look no further than the ladies of "The View" to get a glimpse of how some people are responding to the issue of U.S. fiscal insolvency. This morning Joy said, in paraphrasing her- they have not finished building a bridge or have not found money for the bridge and they are talking about saving money for social security forty years from now (missing the point). Sherri added that savings of four decades from now would affect today's toddlers, one of them being her son, Jeffrey. Meanwhile, Ms Barbara Walters was congratulating the bipartisan commission, while trying to evoke the seriousness of the issue, which they never got to discussing.
On another show, one of the commission members (Ken Conrad) said social security is insolvable, that is "broke", we are looking at $400 trillion debt, (400 percent of the GDP?) and we must solve this problem now, not two years from now. Would Americans buckle down to sacrifice something or would they keep on voting from their heart, you asked me? I think the premise to solving a problem, is first to accept that one has a problem. As the saying goes an alcoholic never admits he has a problem till he is is the gutter. So to systematically think about this, the citizens needs to be educated about the seriousness of the problem. They must be told the factual truth. Not biting around the bush. [To the best of my knowledge that has not been. So far, the media seems to gloss over the issue, that is why I cited Mr. Herbert's article in the New York Times. California voted their way due to the realness of their fiscal problem that has affected every facet of the state]. Second, illustrate (as in CA) the effects of the fiscal problem and the consequences, then have a panel to propose solutions and put this out to the public. In terms of politicians the dictionary defines a politician as one who is involved in the business-art of governing, and another definition is one interested in the political office for selfish or short run interests. I think the public would be served well by the first definition rather than the second.
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) contributes to the global high infant mortality rate. Nigeria is a major contributor (200-300 per 1000 live births), and to the estimated stillbirths of 32.2 per 1000 deliveries in SSA. The stillbirths for a period (2005) in Nigeria translated to a crude rate of 158.6 per 1000 deliveries, compare to 5.3 stillbirth rate per 1000 deliveries for developed countries. I want to bring this issue to bare and seek solutions in a public-private partnership model.
Nno, Welcome, Ola,
I visited Nigeria in 2006 and was bitten by a bug called High Infant Mortality Rate. I read about the issue in a local news paper in Abuja. This information was buttressed while on holidays in my father's village (Nnewi); an elderly woman informed my cousin and I of 2 infant deaths that Christmas week from childhood preventable illnesses. I was aghast. I sat down, dumfounded, then a flashback of I (as a child), at the end of civil war, women carrying their dying babies of kwashiorkor to my father's compound seeking relief; food, water, medicine anything to help their infants. In 2007 I returned to finish my graduate school in Public Health and my community health class provided a platform to research infant mortality rate. Hence, I wrote a paper on it, and proposed a three year strategic pyramid solution.
This blog is about being part of the solution:
(a) bringing the issue to bear
(b) envisioning seamless integrated strategies
(c) visualizing adapting innovative, sustainable solutions to mitigate variables that give rise to high infant deaths.
At issue is the continent of Africa. Some may say I gave money to Africa, yes you did but in reality you gave money for a project in Mali, or Sierra Leone or Liberia. That is 3 countries out of 50. From my research, high infant morality rate in SSA is attracting international, national and individual researchers seeking effective methods in implementing sustainable measures or solutions towards reversing the numbers. I am suggesting that more man power is needed to combat the problem at least in Nigeria.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_FS_4_EN.pdf
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