Americans complain about health care and the nation's faltering economy, but compared to much of the rest of the world, they are living in the lap of great luxury, enjoying the best of everything.
A grim glimpse of what life holds for some of the globe's poor was offered at a conference recently in Toronto, Canada, and the picture is appalling, especially as it relates to children.Speakers at the first world conference of Action in International Medicine or AIM, a non-political health organization representing more than a million health professionals in 27 countries, noted that 14 million children a year die from routine childhood diseases and that one in every three children in the world under age 5 - 150 million in all - suffers from malnutrition.
There have been great strides in improving health and living conditions in many parts of the world, but 1 billion people still live in absolute poverty, 100 million are homeless and 800 million go to bed hungry every day. Millions lack safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. As a result, cholera is on the rise.
Unfortunately, the ability to deliver health care to those who need it the most is being threatened by rising health costs, the rapid spread of AIDS, the economic recession and the debt crises of many developing nations - of which the United States is the leading example.
A weak-willed U.S. Congress is not only undermining the American economy with deficit spending but also is destroying the ability of the United States to help others in their extreme poverty.
Clearly, looking to the West for economic aid is not going to take care of needs. Poor nations and those just freeing themselves from dictatorships are going to have to use their own limited resources.
Health care is going to have to be provided in poor rural areas instead of being concentrated in cities. American and other health professionals must think about doing more to share their expertise and to train people working in deprived communities.
And while government economic aid is limited, individual Americans should think more deeply about how they can share their relative wealth with millions of hungry children. Starving babies ought to take priority over politics, weapons and power.