One of the good things about Western aid to less developed countries is that it brings technology and medical aid where it has been previously lacking. However, this is not always a wholly positive thing. In the two articles you read tonight from The Economist ("Hailing the Google Bus" and "Growing Pains") identify and discuss some of the failings of Western aid to developing nations in terms of medical support and technology support. What is the motivation of Google in providing a free mobile cybercafe? Why is the medical support being given to the developing world not necessarily helping people in the long run? What do you think might be a better way to provide the type of technology and medical care that will help the developing world?
Ranna
10/9/2011 03:20:39 am
Many developing countries around the world are facing problems on medical care. Western aid is very helpful for less developed countries because it brings technology and medical aid in which the country may be lacking. But, sometimes western aid fails to support developing countries in medical and technological aid. In Uganda for example, cancer, diabetes, and heart and respiratory ailments, have not been priorities for the country’s health-care system. Only 4% of the Ugandans who died of cancer went to a medical practitioner. Only one institute has a cancer unit in Uganda. Developed countries should help the less developed countries in technological aid so they could be able to treat their patients. Also, in equatorial Africa, a type of cancer, known as Burkitt’s lymphoma, is linked to malaria. The article I read on Growing Pains mentioned that in India, more than two-fifths of children under the age of five, are malnourished. Nowadays, developing countries have more than 80% of the chronic illnesses. Diseases are increasing every day in poor nations. The World Health Organization expects deaths from diseases, to rise by 15% in the years between 2010 and 2020. And in Africa and South-East Asia, it might jump to over 20%. The medical support being given to the developing countries is not very helpful to people in the long run because non-communicable diseases keep on increasing in poor nations and developed countries can’t find a way for reducing these diseases. I think rich countries should try to give more money to poor nations, so they would be able to buy technology used medically. The more medical technology, the more people will be able to get cured and live a healthier life. The Google Bus provides mobile cybercafe that passed through 120 towns and in 11 states, since it first operated in 2009. About 1.6 million people had their first online experience in this Google Bus. 100,000 of those people signed up for internet connection of their own. Google says, this way, it gains a better understanding of the people’s needs and so this lets it develop products for the local market. From 2000-2010, internet users in developing countries, almost tripled and in the rest of the world, grew almost ten times more.
Omar
10/9/2011 03:34:52 am
In previous years developing countries did not know the cause of their diseases. But now they have an understanding and that’s because of the spread of technology. Google for the past 2 years has been sending this bus, now being called the “Google Bus,” to roam around India’s small towns and inviting locals to access the internet. And shocking as it might be for some users it was their first time online! Google has estimated that of the 1.6 million people that have been offered their first online experience 100,000 have signed up for an internet connection of their own. As Sam Pitroda said, “We are trying to democratize information.” And that on its own might save many lives. The key word here is ‘might’. Just because now it is easier to get hold of information to properly diagnose individuals with non-communicable diseases, many of which include cancer, diabetes, heart and lung disease. Does not mean the government or other organizations will help fund necessary equipment, medicine, and facilities. So far the world’s response has been to have meetings. And those meetings passed a “political declaration,” but of course could not meet and agreement on goals to reduce non-communicable diseases. Guess why..? Well because it costs a lot of money.
nehal
10/9/2011 03:39:05 am
Like the article states, Google's motivation in providing a free mobile cybercafé is to "hook them young and keep them coming back". Google might be doing this, like it says, to get a better understanding for the users' needs and to spread awareness of the benefits of the internet. However, Google is doing this mainly for profit. Also, a big disadvantage of this cybercafé is that it won't be actually spreading awareness. For example, in India, the bus will attack all the urban areas, who already knows about the internet. However, the villages, which form 2/3 of the population, would be neglected. I think a better way to provide this type of technology is to establish permanent, government-funded cybercafés in the areas that are not able to have internet, like the villages of India.
Raya
10/9/2011 03:54:02 am
After reading ‘Hailing the Google bus’ I think that spread of internet is more in the world. This does not have any negative aspect as internet will definitely have a very big positive effect as it will open the people to globalization. So, I really support the idea of Google bus. However other than internet, kinds of technologies such as transportation means (vehicles) can become disadvantageous. Too many vehicles can cause pollution. Pollution causes deadly diseases like cancer and breathing problems. These types of diseases, which are not infectious, are rich-country diseases. The medications in the countries are especially for infectious diseases and there for these non infectious diseases are being ignored. As the developed countries are spreading their technologies and medications to the poor countries they are also spreading their diseases to the poor countries. The types of food (like food from McDonalds) and the cheap tobacco are causing obesity and lung diseases. So, the medical support given to the developing world is only to fight infectious diseases where as there are more people dying due to non communicable diseases for which medication has not been provided enough. Therefore it is not helping most of the people. The motivation for Google Buses is that they are spreading the idea of internet, then more people will buy internet connections it and they will profit in the market. I think that medical support by the developed countries can be improved if they primarily concentrate on the diseases like cancer (non infectious). I think that the developed countries are doing well enough with the technology sector. However I think they should improve the environmental factors of the developing countries.
Farah
10/9/2011 03:56:04 am
Helping people be developed and civilized is a relatively difficult thing to do. When the Google bus shifted to places that are not technology friendly, it did so in interest of itself and the company it belongs to. While they gave people free internet, they were looking at the profit they'll make on the long-run. I don't remember a time when I didn't have internet but I do remember when I had dial-up connection. It was cheaper than the fast internet we have today, but as soon as the fast internet was available, people bought it without thinking twice. These people gave 3 months of internet for free. The reason why they did that is similar to the reason why the Google bus is there. Both of them want people to get so attached to the internet that when they stop giving internet for free, people would buy it blindingly. Google bus claims that it intends to solely help people be civilized which is not logical. IF they gain 0 money out of the internet industry, how will they get money to pay for the electricity bill and the internet bill and the computers they buy to help the industry grow?
Hussein Zahran
10/9/2011 04:31:25 am
Google, the multi-billion dollar company is promoting internet use in India by launching a "Google Bus" that allows people who have never been online to get online and on the internet. Google believes that by getting the remaining 92% of the Indian population that is not yet online. If the rest of the Indian people and the population of the world get online that will provide a better education and work for everyone. Google claims that the internet can lead to fewer illiterate people and more educated people in the world. They are giving people a taste of a drug so that they can run back for more. Internet.
Nadim
10/9/2011 05:19:32 am
A vast amount of developing countries suffer from a poor medical system. The Article Growing pains talks about the development of rich people’s diseases in impoverished countries. For example people are getting cancer and diabetes when they can barely afford food, let alone buy a pack of cigarettes. They have lung diseases, when there is nothing to cause it other then their poor health care, but in developed countries you have things like cars, pollution, and cigarettes. Western aid is very beneficial to the developing countries, because it provides them with both medical care and technology. In Uganda people were dying of cancer because they lacked knowledge of the disease. 96% of cancer patients die without seeking medical care, and the other 4% would go check up after it was too late for them to survive. Another failing of Western Aid is how they focus all their attention on diseases that have no cure, like AIDS. Thousands of dollars are being spent on ONE patient with HIV but nothing is being spent on a cancer patient, and cancer is a disease you can control now, and patients can get better. But HIV is basically death sentence when they could treat patients with diseases like diabetes.
Adam
10/9/2011 05:32:01 am
In these articles, one talks about some of the negative aspects of medical care, although positively delivering medicine and a variety of medical needs to countries that lack these things, and the other on technology, which like medicine, can be delivered to countries that are lacking. But there are negative aspects for both. In medicine, certain diseases that are non-communicable are always in a sense "ignored" compared to the larger diseases like HIV and AIDS. Back then, people were not obese becasue they were too busy working for their lives, and most ended up starving in the process. But in some countries, well, the developed countries, they have developed to such an extent that with food, there's so much of it, it's like it's an infinite source. They keep eating and eating until they become practically huge, whereas in other, less developed countries, people are practically starving for food, for at least a handful or at least a mouthful of something to eat. I think what would be better in medical care is if the hospitals focus more on the more common diseases that are killing so many people, and leave the "big-deal" diseases to the scientists, who can analyze the cells of the disease and eventually figure out a way to treat it.
Ashley
10/9/2011 06:00:37 am
After reading “Hailing the Google bus,” I have clearly understood the motivation behind this. Google is trying to get a chunk of population who haven’t gone online to come online for the first time. It has already covered 43,000 km and has already offer 1.6m people to come online for the first time in their life. The whole point is that they show and interest the young to like the idea and keep them coming back for more. The bad part about all of this, is that they are trying to aim it at the cities where only 1/3 of the population lies. 2/3 of the population still lack basic internet access. I think they should direct their resources to go into villages and set up connections over there. Another reason that it isn’t spreading a whole lot in India is that, it’s expensive for a common man to afford this “luxury.”
Sarah
10/9/2011 06:02:57 am
In Uganda, if you have a non-infectious disease, like cancer or diabetes, you will most likely die. 96% of Ugandans that die of cancer never see a medical practitioner because non-infectious diseases are not a priority of the country's health care system, whereas infectious disease are, such as tuberculosis. The only cancer unit for 34m people is Dr. Orem's Institute. Uganda has only seven dialysis machines and the cheapest transplant is $40,000. Two thirds of Dr. Orem's cancer patients also have HIV and none of the HIV resources went to cancer. Thousands of dollars are spent on those with AIDS, but not with those with diabetes. Drugs needed have tariffs on them and are poorly distributed. Dr. Orem spends most of his money on drugs and more money would increase palliative care and help to train nurses. The medical support is not helping people in the long run because it is ignoring the non-infectious diseases, only focusing on the infectious ones, such as AIDS, and this is causing a lot of people to die from cancer in Uganda and other parts of the world. A better way, I think, would be to help train nurses to help the ill and pour in a lot of money to spend on drugs needed for non-infectious diseases because these diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, are being neglected and need to be taken care of.
Priyanka
10/9/2011 06:54:45 am
Western aid helped less developed countries by giving then the use of technology and medication. This is a good and helpful but at the same time it is also harmful in some other ways. Google brought a free internet bus in some poor villages in India. They gave free access to the people there. For some people it was their first time to use the Internet. Google’s main purpose to do this was to tap India’s internal emerging markets. The bad part about this is that there are still places in India that don’t have the access to Internet. Google is doing this because once people start using the Internet they will want more and they will then end up buying the Internet connection. This process will mostly benefit Google. Moving over to medicine. Of Ugandans who die of cancer 95% don’t see a medical consultant. The countries system is to treat infectious diseases like tuberculosis. Diseases like cancer, diabetes and heat and respiratory has not been treated properly because they are non-infectious diseases. As globalization spreads the medication problems also spread. For example obesity is spreading rapidly for all the fast food restaurants that are all over the world. The best way to provide technology and medication is to do it the right way. To see that if you are providing technology that it does not affect the people around and if your providing medication then you should also think about the non-infectious diseases too.
Baheya
10/9/2011 07:02:24 am
Internet plays a major role in development, communication and access to the web is one of the most useful things. The Google Bus is like a free cybercafé that passes by a lot of developing countries, 120 towns in 11 states. This is actually designed to let the poor people access the internet for free. This event for google is to get a better understanding of the people's needs. This would spread the idea of using internet more in the world. All of this is related to globalization of course because poor people are actually learning more about communication and accessing the internet and make the best out of it. When the bus went to India, for 1.6m people, it was their first time to access the internet and 100,000 of them have signed up for settled internet at home.
Hania Sultan
10/9/2011 07:10:30 am
Google created something called the "google bus" it is a white but the went around in India. It invited local people to try using the internet and for free. It passed through 120 towns in 11 states. Google did an estimate and it turns out that for 1.6 million people this was the first time they use the internet and of those 100,000 have signed up for an internet connection in their homes. What I liked about this article is that it compared using the internet with using drugs. Because once you try it you are automatically hooked. The internet development there is far behind than those in the west. The global average of internet users is 30 out of 100. But that number is changing rapidly as the internet is growing. In India only 8% of the population are internet users, compared to china's 36% there is a big difference. The internet development is not distributed amongst the world fairly.
Youssef
10/9/2011 07:33:06 am
The productivity of Internet usage is becoming one of the most important factors nowadays. There is a massive number of people using the Internet around the globe, but there is also too many others that have no idea about its usage. Therefore, Google launched a bus that moved around towns and cities in India. Its goal is to aid people in their knowledge on how to use the Internet. When more people gain ideas through the Internet, it will develop products for the potentially huge local market. Only 8% of Indians are using the Internet, which leaves 92% of the population with less knowledge. Google are trying to use the Internet as a drug, so after people have a taste of it, they come back for more.
Faisal
10/9/2011 07:48:28 am
The web is a major role in our lives, interaction and accessibility to the web is one of the greatest and most amazing things you need. The Google Internet bus is a free, mobile cybercafé. It has covered over 43,000km and spread through 120 towns in 11 states since it hit the road on February 3rd, 2009. Nowadays, developing countries have more than 80% of the chronic illnesses. Many of the diseases include cancer, diabetes, heart and lung disease. This does not mean that the government or other organizations will help fund necessary equipment, medicine, and facilities. So, the medical support given to the developing world is only to fight infectious diseases where as there are more people dying due to non-communicable diseases for which medication has not been provided enough. Therefore it is not helping most of the people. I think that the developed countries are doing well with the technology that they have nowadays. However I think they should improve the environmental factors of the developing countries.
Mounzer Sammakieh
10/9/2011 10:18:42 am
It is known that Western countries provide aid to less developed countries by introducing technology and medical services to them. Is this always a positive thing?
Autumn
10/9/2011 05:42:27 pm
Google wants a world that can access the internet from EVERYWHERE. That is why they created this mobile internet cafe. 92% of india is blind. I mean that in the in the cyber world, they are almost non existant. India reminds me of Uganda, so blinded from the internet world. That is why Google has came to save the day for India, and delight them with internet, but only like a biscuit given to a puppy before the meal is actually made, which, in Indias case, might be never. Or, at least, in a long time.
AbdelRahman
10/9/2011 06:38:31 pm
Western aid is very helpful for less developed countries because it brings technology and medical aid in which the country may be lacking. This issue is being improved by the spread is technology. Google is attemptong to contribute to the world and help spread knowledge and technology through something they have been doing for a couple of years; something called the "google bus" . To wander around India’s small towns and streets to invite locals to access the internet. And to my suprise some of them were accessing the internet for the first time. Google has estimated that of the 1.6 million people that have been offered their first online experience 100,000 have signed up for an internet connection of their own. Why is the medical support being given to the developing world not necessarily helping people in the long run? well becasue it helps them only for a short period of time... nothing lasts forever, plus these things cost money, although some people are very genourous, they will NOT keep paying money out of their own pockets to help others FOREVER! What do you think might be a better way to provide the type of technology and medical care that will help the developing world? the best way is to give poorer countries a chance to engage in trade and earn money and have a stable gross income to sustain their living conditions and help mainitain a moderate, healthy way of life. Leave a Reply. | AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesMay 2012 Categories |
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