People’s power in people’s hands: the lesson we need to learn

At the advent of the 21st century it is not only sickening but a matter of shame that half of the world’s population live in dire conditions haunted daily by poverty, illiteracy, and disease. It is all the more disturbing when you are bombarded daily with television pictures of severely malnourished, half naked kids with dried up intravenous lines reminding us of the crisis situation we are facing. This is despite the fact huge amount of monies, skill, and manpower have been transferred to the developing world, especially in the past few decades. Scientists, academicians, and alike may have termed this scenario “the 90/10 divide” or have used expressions like “Oh! What a big black hole it is” but it does raise the moot question—Why is there no progress being made? Or if there is any, why is the progress so slow?

The scientific and public health community has wrestled with this question and have put forward ideas and hypotheses but I feel …