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Rodney Bettcher
Global Perspectives
Dr. Michael Griffin
4 April 2014
Goals to Shape the World
“Limits, like fear, are often just an illusion”. The era that we live in today, Michael
Jordan couldn’t said it better. Technological advances combined with the pure power of
the human mind, you could make an argument that there virtually are no limits in the
world that we live in. Therefore, when your parents said, “you can be whatever you want
to be or accomplish whatever you want to if you put your mind to it” they meant it. For
someone like myself, who has been blessed with the region I was raised in, along with the
opportunities that I was presented, limits, for me, are often just an illusion.
Unfortunately, there are millions of people in extreme poverty stricken areas all over the
world that would beg to differ. Imagine walking around all day in the blazing sun
scorching your back along with constant cuts and blisters on your feet from walking
around all day with no shoes.. Then you lay down for bed with cottonmouth from the lack
of water and as your looking at the sky, because you don’t have any type of shelter, your
stomach groans from hunger and you are forced to think to yourself about the next time
you will be able to eat. To these people, these limits are real, they are placed right in
front of their face every single day and to a great extent, there is nothing that they can do.
This is why in 2000, the United Nations held massive conference to bring together other
nations with a plan. This plan is now known as the 8 United Nations Millennium
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Development goals. With a focus on ending poverty, the United Nations and other states,
came up with eight goals to strive to achieve by the year 2015. These goals have been
put in place to in a sense, transform the world. Through these globalization tactics, the
hope is to ensure that every person in the world has the same opportunities to not only be
successful, but also have the ability to live a long healthy life. Below is a table that states
the 8 United Nation Millennium Goals and the target goals to be completed by 2015. 1
All of these goals will provide a very solid foundation for enhancing our entire world
along with giving over a hundred countries/states to come together for a common goal
that will prove beneficial to everyone. To me, these individual goals represent spread
fingers on a hand trying to punch an object. If you try and punch the object with open
fingers, they will break. Just as how you need to bring your fingers together to make a
punch, these goals must all come together to pack the punch that the United Nation and
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Emeraldinsight.com
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all other countries were striving for. With all of this being said, I was able to distinguish a
couple of specific goals that will prove to be the most beneficial to the global society.
The specific Millennium Goals I will be discussing are: the eradication of extreme
poverty and hunger and combating HIV/AIDS. These goals I have selected have the
potential to be the most beneficial and will very possibly be the hardest millennium goals
to achieve. With the deadline of 2015 soon approaching, it is beginning to be crunch
time when it comes to the completion of these goals, and with a good mix of contribution
from the government, the Church, and business we will be able to complete these goals
by 2015.
A World Stricken By Poverty
It is very easy to recognize that poverty is a major epidemic around the world. People are
being completely deprived of the basic essentials of life and this is why a huge focus is
put on extreme poverty. The MDG’s helped to shift the perceptions of poverty as a lack
of income to poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon.2 What this means is that the
Millennium Goals provided a change in perspective on how we attempt to win the war on
extreme poverty. We now are able to realize that poverty isn’t solely based on income,
rather than the lack of necessary resources in a whole. This is also goes hand in hand with
economic growth and how in the past, when the economic growth has risen it caused a
larger gap between the richest people and the poorest people of the world. When
examining the eight goals, you will notice that extreme poverty is the root of many
problems that our world faces. When people live in extreme poverty, they don’t have the
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Alfredo Stein
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necessary things to live a healthy sustainable life. Living in extreme poverty makes you
vulnerable to many life-threatening diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and various
other diseases. When being born into extreme poverty you are faced with those real life
limits that I discussed earlier. You aren’t presented with the opportunity of an education,
a steady job, and conditions that would enable you to better your life. You are basically
put into a death trap with all of the horrible possibilities that can come due to lack of
money, food, medication, etc. According to the United Nations there is 1.2 billion people
living in extreme poverty and only living on less than $1 per day. There is also another
1.8 billion people that live on $1-$2 per day. 3 Now if you do a little addition, you will
find out that around 3 billion people are living under $2 per day. Although we have made
great strides in reducing these poverty numbers over the years, this number in my eyes is
still unacceptable. When you break it down, it is very disturbing that people living in
extreme poverty are living off the same amount of money it takes me to buy a soda. To
be able to reduce these poverty numbers we will need involvement from the government,
The Church, and businesses. The government involvement will prove huge to the
reduction of extreme poverty and hunger and here is an example of an action they are
taking.
One dozen Earth Institute experts will work with local leaders to
apply a package of proven interventions that are aimed at helping
pilot villages escape extreme poverty within five years at a total cost
of $110 per person including government and community
contributions. Some of these interventions include increasing food
production through a host of soil fertility measures, obtaining a
village vehicle for transporting villagers to hospitals, access to water,
and providing nutritious lunches. 4
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Joan Ferrante Ph.D.
IBID
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This is a great step in the correct direction towards the fight for poverty, however, I feel
that they could even push the issue further and take these villages to bigger levels and
issue more villages similar to this one. Even if they push the issue of more villages, I
don’t know if it will ever overcome the pure desire to help and serve others like the
church does. Through my eye opening experiences during my Service Learning and
Global Perspectives class, I am able to relate better with the Church and how to serve
others that may need it. During service learning, I volunteered at the St. Vincent DePaul
Society and there I personally went into the homes of people that have been struck with
hard times and delivered food to them. I am able to relate the feeling that I felt during my
service to others, with the feeling people must get when they serve the people who live in
extreme poverty and if you have ever truly served someone else, you know the feeling
that I am talking about. The Catholic Social Teachings mentions how we are put on this
earth to serve others. With this being said, the Catholic Relief Services offers services
where you can personally donate money and serve others like we were put on this earth to
do. Little things like donations from people who are more fortunate is what can start an
epidemic of donating and spreading the awareness to help the people that are in need.
The only troubling part about services that are more personal like the CRS is that they are
somewhat restricted to the extent of helping because they are a nonprofit organization.
However, these services could be maximized by the business taking a role in the fight for
poverty. With the support of big businesses, there is no limitation on how much we can
help the people of the world living in extreme poverty. Businesses could take over
marketing and advertising by sponsorships of these Catholic Relief Services, and put
them on a massive scale. In doing this, the CRS would be able to access greater funds for
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helping the poverty stricken areas. Putting all of these components together, will allow
everyone to do their part in serving others for a greater good.
The Virus of Death
In the fall of 2004, Ken Mwansa was working in the Copper Belt collapsed in a friends
arms on the job. After he woke up, Ken feared the worst possible case, HIV/AIDS. He
was referred to as case 001, and was the first Zambian to receive American anti-retroviral
drugs, or ARV’s, through Catholic Relief Services.5 If you were unfamiliar with what
HIV/AIDS are, here is a brief description of what it is and how if affects a person that has
it.
HIV/AIDS is a major global pandemic that could preclude
the nation from achieving any meaningful development
because of the devastating effects of the disease on the
physical, social, economic, and physcosocial well being of
the individuals, families, and communities infested or
affected by the virus.6
We were first introduced to this disastrous virus called AIDS in 1981 and 6 years later in
1987, AZT ( Azidothymidine) became the first anti-HIV drug to be approved by the
FDA.7 Now we have further vaccines that are more affective, such as the ARV’s. These
ARV’s that were provided to Ken also provided millions of other people with the ability
to live a normal life. According to UNAIDS/WHO, the sub-Sahara Africa is the hardest
hit area with about 67% (30 million) of people infected with HIV, and 2.3 million out of
3.1 million AIDS deaths cases occur in the continent of Africa.8 Areas like the subSahara and other locations with enormous HIV/AIDS victims are where our focus needs
Jeffery Odell Korgen, Solidarity Will Transform the World
F.I. Etadon
7 Dr. Cyrill P. Rigamonti
8 F.I. Etadon
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to be. In order to combat this disease you will have to dig down to its African roots and
start from there. A huge advantage to this problem is that we have vaccines such as the
ARV’s that saved Ken’s life. These ARV’s are essentially a small piece to a massive
puzzle. CRS does a great job in providing aid to people like Ken, who are established in
developing countries. Now what the CRS could do is find a way to go into the depths of
where the virus has stricken the worst and give aid in anyway that they are able to.
According to un.org, more people than ever are living with HIV due to fewer AIDSrelated deaths and the continued large number of new infections with 2.5 million people
are newly infected each year.9 Numbers like this shows that the sooner organizations like
the CRS get into these areas of massive outbreak, they will have a chance to not only cure
people that are infected, but also contain the disease in efforts to minimize it. Businesses
especially pharmaceutical companies can also provide a huge helping hand in the fight to
stop AIDS. Businesses are able to set aside donations for research for a permanent cure
for AIDS or even get involved in sending money donations to organizations that are for
AIDS. On the other hand, pharmaceutical companies have the resources for the vaccines;
therefore, they have the option to directly donate the drugs to the people that are in dire
need of them. Companies such as these could also work together with the Catholic Relief
Services and donate vaccines to the villages that they are established in, or this could
even provide the opportunity for CRS to grow and take on more and more people in need.
In other efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS virus, the National Agency for the Control of
AIDS focuses on the challenges of containing the epidemic and preventing new
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UN.org
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infections.10 The NACA has played a huge role in the progression toward not only
combatting the HIV/AIDS virus, but also has played a huge role in the containment of
this virus. These efforts by the CRS and government have proven to be very successful
and it will continue to take constant effort by these organizations to prove to be
successful.
Striving for a Better Future
“Delivering a better future for all requires action by all –
Governments, corporations, citizens, consumers, workers,
investors and educators. Undoubtedly, the private sector has a
central role to play. As the world’s main source of economic
activity, business is at the heart of virtually any widespread
improvements in living standards.”11
The 8 United Nations Millennium Goals have been successful over the years; however,
some are still falling short of expectations. Along with help from the government, the
Church, and businesses, we will be able to finish what we started; however, achieving
these Millennium Goals will take determination of millions and millions of people that
are helping and serving complete strangers, just as the Catholic Social Teachings has
taught me. As you can tell, extreme poverty is a huge component to the Millennium
goals, as most of them correlate with extreme poverty being the root of the problem. If
we are able to continue to reduce the extreme poverty all around the world, we will
continue to see growth in countries such as Nigeria, the sub-Sahara, and many other
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F.I. Etadon
Unglobalcompact.org
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Africa countries. It is entirely unfair to deprive the people of extreme poverty all the
opportunities that people like myself are presented with. Taking this on may seem like a
tough and impossible task, but with the determination and focus on making this world a
better a place and equal for everyone, we as a world can conquer anything that we come
together for. As I quoted in the beginning of the paper, “Limits, like fear, are often just an
illusion”. I have been blessed with the opportunities to make my limits merely an
illusion; unfortunately there are people across the world that does have limits holding
them back every day… What are you going do to serve others and truly make a
difference in a person’s life?
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Works Cited
Etadon, F.I. & T.G. Adegoke. “ Effects of HIV/AIDS and the Millennium Development
Goals on the Physosocial and Economic Well-being of people for Sustainable
Development in Ibadan Metropolis.” Journal. 2013. Page 190
Emerald Insight. “The Millennium Development Goals”. Apr. 22.
www.emeraldinsight.com
Ferrante, Joan Ph.D.. “ Global Inequality and the Challenges of Reducing Extreme
Poverty” Journal. 2010. Page 73
Odell, Jeffery Korgen. Solidarity Will Transform the World. New York. Orbis Books.
2007. Page 37
Rigamonti, Cyrill P. Dr. “The South Africa AIDS Controversy A Case Study in Patent
Law Policy” Journal. 2005. Page. 1
Stein, Alfredo & Philipp Horn. “Asset Accumulation: An Alternative Approach to
Achieving the Millennium Development Goals”. Journal 2012. Page. 666
United Nations Global Compact. “UN- Post 2015 Development Agenda”. Apr. 22.
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/issues/partnerships/post_2015_development
_agenda.html
UN.org. “ Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases”. Apr. 22.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/aids.shtml