Friday, January 31, 2014

Education.

Achieving universal primary education is in my mind, one of the most important Millennium Development Goals. I believe that education is truly one of the best ways that we can change the world. If people are educated they be more able to have good jobs and to help their community. Education is really the best way to promote change.

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Education is also a way to promote good health. The more education someone receives the higher the likelihood that they will be better equipped to take care of themselves. They also know more about how disease spreads and will be able to help stop that spread. 

Education is also helpful in family planning. People that are less educated tend to have more children. Those children are then more likely to be less educated creating a horrible cycle of uneducated people who also tend to be poor. The more educated a woman is the more likely she is to be in control of her fertility cycles and to know to use some form of contraception.

People often assume that education can be increased simply by building schools. Infrastructure is obviously necessary but it is not the only part. How do you get teachers there? And even more importantly, how are you supposed to pay your teachers if your students are too poor to pay for school? It would be ideal if once the schools were built there would be no more additional costs and all students could just attend for free. It would be even better if parents could get financial help if their children attend school.  But as you know, the world is not ideal.  Teachers need to be paid, parents don't have the money to send their children to school, schools don't have the supplies they need, and children don't have a way to get to school. The list could go on and on. There are so many problems with getting universal education that do not have simple fixes.

Overall, education is a key part of public health. Without education, promoting health is nearly impossible. So while it may not seem like education is related to health, it is a key part of making sure people have the ability to have good health. 

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