Good morning, Hank, it's Tuesday.
So I am very nearly 40,
which as it happens, means that I'm almost exactly
twice as old as the median VlogBrothers viewer.
When I was their age, half my life ago, I was a sophomore in college.
I had just fallen in love for the first time. I was taking my first creative writing class.
I looked approximately like this:
Of course, my life was very different then, and the world was different then too.
Specifically, it was worse.
That year 1998
More than 10 million children under the age of 5 died.
over 50% of kids in low income countries weren't vaccinated
and 30% of all humans lived in absolute poverty
meaning that they survived on less than $2 a day
in current US Dollars.
Today 80% of kids in low income countries are vaccinated
Fewer than 10% of people on earth live in absolute poverty
and this year fewer than 6 million children will die
Child mortality isn't just falling, the rate it's falling has been accelerating for 2 decades
and after very slow progress for most of the 20th century
and for that matter all of human history
the cycle of poverty is suddenly breaking worldwide
How did that happen and whats left to be done?
well every year Melinda and Bill Gates
release there annual letter on those topics
And for me it's kinda required reading every year
Because like the news can tell me what happened yesterday
but reading the Gate's letter allows me to zoom out
a little and think about what's happening
in the larger human story over time
this years letter is written to Warren Buffet
Another Billionaire who's pledged almost all his wealth to charity
but it begins by pointing out
that most money for global health initiatives
comes not from private individuals but from governments
here in the US about $32 billion went to foreign aid last year
which is less than 1% of the federal governments budget
but it still goes a long way
and I know foreign aid has a reputation for not working
but in fact it is extremely effective
and I also strongly believe that it's in our national interest
like poverty and poor health are associated
with an increased risk for conflict
and also microbes are not aware of national borders
so better healthcare systems around the world
mean less disease risk for all of us
ok. so as brilliantly explained in this video by in-a-nutshell
we know that when child mortality goes down
families chose to have fewer children
which ultimately slows population growth
it also means that kids on average will be healthier
and more likely to go to school
that there parents will be more likely to work
Because they won't have to be home with sick kids
so reducing child mortality has huge benefits
not just for individual families but for entire social orders
as bill says:
for one thing its often inexpensive
like many vaccines cost less than a dollar
and vaccination is the number 1 reason child mortality declined so much
but still most children who die do so only because they were born poor
that is not acceptable
and also we don't have to accept it
we need to continue to close the gap between rich and poor countries
when it comes to vaccination
we need to improve healthcare for infants
45% of child mortality now occurs within the first month of life
and we need to improve nutrition
not just preventing starvation
but ensuring that kids get all
the nutrients they need
thats a really big deal
as Bill puts it:
because malnutrition can stunt not just
physical growth but also cognitive development
which jusy compounds the disadvantages
that the poorest kids in the world face
this year's Gates letter also focuses on
access to contraception
Melinda writes:
and this is another place
where whats good for indivuals families can also
have really positive impacts on the community
as Melinda points out:
Hank, 20 years from now
when today's median vlogbrothers viewer
is as old as I am now
it is genuinely possible that
both absolute poverty
and child mortality will be rare everywhere on earth
and I really belive that as a species
our sucess is best judged
not by how the richest
or the best connected amoung us live
but how the poor and the oppressed and the vulnerable live
and I know that it may feel like absolute poverty
and child mortality are beyond our control
that only the Gateses and the Buffets of the world
can move the needle
but in reality it's up to all of us
like when my kids get through
a diarrheal illness with just Pedialyte
and Advil it's up to me to remember
and to prioritize the kids who die of the very same
disease for want of rehydration solution
when we vote, when we talk to our friends about
what matters to us
when we choose who's lives to pay attention to
we are deciding what our future will look like
Hank you told me once that bad news usually happens all at once
while good news usually happens slowly
and that makes it hard to pay attention to the good news
but we still need the good news
maybe now more than ever
so I really hope you'll check out the Gates' letter
in the doobly-do below
it's honest and level-headed
while still being optimistic
which is what I want to be when I grow up
Hank, I'll see you on friday