Poverty has such a drastic influence on health in developing countries because of the lack of education regarding proper dieting and exercise in other countries. In the United States, we have an abundance of programs, from physical education and health courses in our school systems to the NFL’s What Moves You program that attempt to teach everyone from pre-schoolers to senior citizens about their health needs. In contrast, during my travels in Vietnam, I noticed no such programs existed anywhere. Consequently, there is the start of an obesity problem over there in the wealthier populations, who see it as a status symbol instead of a life-threatening problem.
From this, I believe people have the right to knowledge about how to live a long and healthy life. Unfortunately, setting up and achieving this goal will be extremely difficult due to the lack of an educational and communication structure in some countries. This is similar to the situation with the AIDS epidemic in Africa where many believe the implementation of a system that teaches about how AIDS spreads and its effects would drastically reduce the prevalence of the disease. The control of worldwide health problems is similar but much broader and would require much more resources.
The ideal situation would be through the means of communication we use today (television, radio and internet). In order to do this, we need to put money in to the situation and to garner political support to even get started. These are the two things that are very difficult to acquire but impossible to move forward without.
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