Shoutbox » The Lottery of Birth

No-one can decide where they are born – but this first fleeting moment of all of our lives matters more than anything that happens after. It affects everything: health, education, your future, even how long you live. Where you are born is not something you can control but its impact will follow you throughout your life.

Every day thousands are born into abject poverty and there’s nothing they can do about it. And, sadly, there’s very little they can do to change their situation even as they grow up. Children born into poverty in countries like Ethiopia, for example, are 30 times more likely to die before they reach their first birthday than if they were born in a rich country. Every day nearly 30,000 children under the age of five die. And most of these are from preventable causes; diseases like diarrhoea, measles and malaria are huge killers but they are easily treatable and preventable.

As these children grow up they are less likely to have a basic education – only one in two children of primary school age complete primary school. This has lasting effects: in Mali, for example, only 20% of the population can read. And those who go to school learn about how to avoid fatal diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria. They learn about how important clean water and washing hands is. They learn skills to take themselves out of poverty. They become more interested in politics and supporting the community. And they are more likely to treat women as equal to men.

Where you are born makes a difference to what you do in life. With little education and money, those born into poverty have a really hard time getting out of poverty. There’s so little opportunity to develop skills and talents to take charge of one’s life.

Think of all the people you went to school with; they are probably doing so many different things, each using the skills and talents they are best at. But for those born into poverty there is no opportunity to do that – farming a piece of land that is too small and too infertile to feed yourself and your family is probably as good as it gets.

Where you are born and where you live also makes you more or less vulnerable to things like the environment and natural disasters. An earthquake in London would be tragic. But the same earthquake in Haiti gives tragedy a whole new definition. Hundreds of thousands in Haiti died, and even more are left destitute following the earthquake in January. With the majority of Haitians living in poorly-built shacks, it was not surprising that so many died. But imagine if you lived in a shack that was destroyed by the earthquake – what do you have left now? No home. No savings. No food. Nothing. Without help how can the Haitians rebuild their lives? And for children being born in Haiti now what can the future hold for them?

And finally the Lottery of Birth affects how long we live. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re from a developed country, and chances are you’ll live well into your eighties. And if you don’t smoke, eat or drink too much you can up these chances even more. But if you’re born in some of the world’s poorest countries you’ll be lucky to live past 40.

The Lottery of Birth is a tragedy every day – why should where you are born affect you so much? Why can’t there be opportunities and education for everyone? Why are babies, children and adults dying in their thousands every single day from diseases we can prevent or cure?

UYDO aims to change all that. We provide employment and training opportunities for young people in sub-Saharan Africa and give them the chance to make something different from their lives.

You can be a part of this movement. Become a member today and join us in our fight against poverty, inequality and injustice. You can use your skills and talents to make a difference.


Posted By Rachel Schofield on Monday 8th March 2010 a 11:18am

0 Shoutbacks Made