Child vaccines.. CMD latest idea..

[joe_90]

I was listening to Radio 4 this morning, and they were discussing how 40% of under fives deaths are due to treatable illnesses.

Now on the face of this its ridiculousness, the vaccines cost pennies, and as a father having one of my kids die due to a simple treatable illness would be unbearable.

However, something was nagging at me. One of the poor mothers has lost 5 (i think) of 8 kids, which is just horrific but im not 100% sure vaccines will work.

Will you just not then shift the problem onto starvation etc? As I cannot see these mothers (or the fathers) cutting there children count down to 1 or 2.

The main issue her I think is female education, and this would need to be sorted first..

[grumbledoak]

Lower child mortality does eventually drop the number of births. But, in the short to medium term we'd be saving their lives just for them to starve. And not because there isn't enough food in the World but often because they cannot afford it.

[LongQ]

Ah ...

When I read the title I thought someone had come up with a way of preventing people catching children.

Seemed like a good idea ... disappointed to find it meant something else.

[ChiChoAndy]

joe_90 said:

I was listening to Radio 4 this morning, and they were discussing how 40% of under fives deaths are due to treatable illnesses.

Now on the face of this its ridiculousness, the vaccines cost pennies, and as a father having one of my kids die due to a simple treatable illness would be unbearable.

However, something was nagging at me. One of the poor mothers has lost 5 (i think) of 8 kids, which is just horrific but im not 100% sure vaccines will work.

Will you just not then shift the problem onto starvation etc? As I cannot see these mothers (or the fathers) cutting there children count down to 1 or 2.

The main issue her I think is female education, and this would need to be sorted first..

Well, changing the view of condoms and family planning in Africa would be a big help.

[Fittster]

And these deaths occur in the UK?

[ChiChoAndy]

Fittster said:

And these deaths occur in the UK?

Sounds like a world issue, not a UK issue to me.

[Fittster]

ChiChoAndy said:

Fittster said:

And these deaths occur in the UK?

Sounds like a world issue, not a UK issue to me.

Ahh, so the role of the UK government is to solve global problems, gotcha.

[LongQ]

joe_90 said:

I was listening to Radio 4 this morning, and they were discussing how 40% of under fives deaths are due to treatable illnesses.

Now on the face of this its ridiculousness, the vaccines cost pennies, and as a father having one of my kids die due to a simple treatable illness would be unbearable.

However, something was nagging at me. One of the poor mothers has lost 5 (i think) of 8 kids, which is just horrific but im not 100% sure vaccines will work.

Will you just not then shift the problem onto starvation etc? As I cannot see these mothers (or the fathers) cutting there children count down to 1 or 2.

The main issue her I think is female education, and this would need to be sorted first..

I didn't hear the program so I am speculating in content but I would guess that among the 'treatable illnesses' would be malaria, assuming the figures are for worldwide deaths.

If so one then needs to look into why malaria is not as well controlled as it might be in certain parts of the world despite the caring western economies and their agencies providing quite significant amounts of funding over several decades.

Once one has iscovered what the reasons might be it may be worth seeking similar information about the other major 'killers' that, by and large, are not problems all over the world.

Please exclude from your list anything to do with 'accidents', especially road accidents, and the NHS which cannot be deemed culpable for anything (so they tell us).

[ChiChoAndy]

The annoying thing is that malaria was almost wiped out. DDT was banned and millions have died as a result.

[Zod]

Fittster said:

Ahh, so the role of the UK government is to solve global problems, gotcha.

Who gives a fk about them, eh? Just let them die.

Even if you are a selfish, cold-hearted bd, you have to be thick not to understand why it is in our interest to alleviate the problems of the developing world. We need these countries to develop to become markets for our exports. Many of them have valuable resources, from minerals to vast fertile areas that can be exploited for growing crops. Cutting child deaths cuts births. I could go on and on.

[Fittster]

Zod said:

Fittster said:

Ahh, so the role of the UK government is to solve global problems, gotcha.

Who gives a fk about them, eh? Just let them die.

Even if you are a selfish, cold-hearted bd, you have to be thick not to understand why it is in our interest to alleviate the problems of the developing world. We need these countries to develop to become markets for our exports. Many of them have valuable resources, from minerals to vast fertile areas that can be exploited for growing crops. Cutting child deaths cuts births. I could go on and on.

If one of your family is sick who do you think will sort out better care you or the state? Surely the history of the last 60 years has shown that the state is very inefficient at providing any services. If you cut the tax levels in the UK and allow people to determine their own priorities you'll see more effective outcomes.

[Jasandjules]

Well if we can help avert needless deaths then this can only be a good thing? (though my concern would then be starvation, but I'd assume that people would have less kids are they would survive rather than having 6-10 kids to get 3 through to adulthood!?!).