Balancesheet of Globalisation

Balancesheet of Globalisation
Social and economic inequalities translate into nutritional and health inequalities. Despite remarkable achievements in global health over the last four decades, there is a 16-fold difference in infant mortality between the 26 wealthiest nations and the 48 least developed countries. Of the world's 6 billion people, an estimated 3 billion survive on the equivalent of less than $2 a day; 1.3 billion of them on less than 1 $ a day. Every day 840 million people go to bed hungry. Half of the people in the world's poorest 46 nations are without access to modern health car; three billion people - half the world's population - do not have access to sanitation facilities; one billion do not have access to
safe drinking water. Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are multi-national corporations and only 49 are countries. The ratio between the wealthiest and the poorest countries in terms of per capita income has grown from 11 to 1 in 1870, to 38 to 1 in 1960, to 52 to 1 in 1985. In 1988, the
average income of the world's wealthiest 5 per cent of people was 78 times that of the world's poorest 5 per cent; just five years later, this ratio had increased to 123 to 1. The gap continues to widen. The per capita income in 100 countries is now lower than it was 20 or 30 years back. In Africa, the average household consumes 20 per cent less today than it did 25 years ago. 1 billion people saw their real incomes fall between 1980 and 1993. At the end of the 1990s, the wealth of the three richest individuals on earth was greater than the combined annual GDP of the 48 least
developed nations.

[Is this what globalization is about? Or is it about the imposition of certain patterns of development over the whole globe that benefits a small section of the global population
while depriving the vast majority?]
10
Three hours of world-wide military spending is equal to the WHO's annual budget. Three weeks of world arms spending could provide primary health care, including water and sanitation, for all individuals in poor countries.
"Globalisation" is a word that has been increasingly heard over the last three decades. It means many things to many people. To some it means a large variety of goods, increasingly available all over the world. People who can afford to buy such goods argue that globalisation provides people a choice in the market place. A small section of people in India can now have access to the best of products available from abroad – from clothes to cosmetics, from perfumes to Porches, from cars to
computers and from banks to insurance. Such people see globalisation as not only inevitable but
also as desirable. Usually, of course, these are also the people who have gained from the process
of globalisation. There are others who see globalisation as "Westernisation". They object to the loss of "Indian" values and culture, contaminated by ideas from the "West". These are simplistic and often mistaken understandings of globalisation. Globalisation is a complex process that is having profound impact on all people across the world. No one would deny that globalisation is indeed to
be welcomed if it means greater exchange of ideas and people across
countries. But is that happening?
[Is this why so many people across the world are rising up to protest the current pattern of
globalisation?]
{How has globalization affected different countries & who are the winners and losers in globalisation?}
How does it impact on health?
R.S.Dahiya