Friday, October 15, 2010
Education, not war
Nicholas Kristof's October 13 posting on the role of education in Oman (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/opinion/14kristof.html?src=me&ref=general) was music to my ears. It has become increasingly clear to many that education brings dramatic gains to areas of conflict and crisis, and yet, the amount of funding that goes into education pales relative to virtually all other categories of humanitarian aid. If you increase education, you decrease pregnancies by young girls. If you decrease pregnancies by young girls, you reduce infant mortality rates. If you reduce infant mortality rates, you help families succeed, both because they have healthy children and because they invest less in the continued attempt to obtain surviving children. And if you have healthy children, because their parents are educated and know how to take care of them, then you have children who will achieve greater cognitive growth. Oman is certainly a success story, but so too are all the charter schools that have been popping up in the United States, including those in low income urban areas. In a study of the relationship between birth rates and education in North America, uneducated African American women had the highest birth rates, whereas educated African American women had the lowest. Whether it is areas stricken by poverty, war, or natural disasters, education is, in the words of Gerald Martone of the International Rescue Committee, a lifeline out of exile. Bravo to Kristof....please read the article:
Monday, October 4, 2010
Humanitarian efforts begin in the womb!
Nicholas Kristof has a nice op-ed piece, clearly summarizing research showing how the uterine environment of the fetus critically affects its future well being. This has monumental consequences for humanitarian efforts. Many humanitarian organizations rightly focus on the mother's nutritional status, the importance of breast feeding, and physical contact within the first few hours of life. But what this new research suggests (note: this work was actually in play over 20 years ago, and is still in the early stages... which is why the slight hedge with "suggests") is that the mother's general psychological and medical well being will directly impact her child's well being. If the mother is stressed, the "normal" state of affairs for women living in poverty, war afflicted areas, regions of oppression, and so on, the fetus will suffer during development, and so too will this fetus turned child, turned teenager, turned adult. If there has ever been a warning cry to humanitarian organizations, it is this: we must find ways to reduce the stress of women as they enter the journey of giving birth. This journey starts with conception.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/opinion/03kristof.html?src=me&ref=general
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/opinion/03kristof.html?src=me&ref=general
At Risk From the Womb
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: October 2, 2010
Some people think we’re shaped primarily by genes. Others believe that the environment we grow up in is most important. But now evidence is mounting
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)