| The 1365th meeting of the Connecticut
Academy of Arts and Sciences was held on January 18 2006 at 5
p.m. in Connecticut Hall at Southern Connecticut State University.
Some 15 members and their guests enjoyed cocktails before the
lecture and dinner. The President, Ernest Kohorn welcomed the audience and thanked Professor Harvey Feinberg, Vice President of the Academy for Southern Connecticut State University for his hospitality. Professor Feinberg then introduced the speaker for the evening, John Nwangwu, Professor of Epidemiology and Tropical Medicine at Southern Connecticut State University and at Yale University. Professor Nwangwu's talk was entitled "Aid to Africa: A case of medical assistance to Nigeria." Professor Nwangwu is a consultant to the World Health Organization. He said that poverty and sickness remain in Africa despite the many countries and individuals who try to solve the many causative issues. One of the reasons is that too frequently the aid does not reach the necessary areas. Professor Nwangwu illustrated his concerns by describing his recent experience with "Doctors Without Borders" in Nigeria . There were between 5 and 8,000 people looking for help with problems requiring dentistry, general surgery and pediatric care. Everyone was desperate for help. Over a period of 2 weeks with the help of 48 caregivers, 8000 people were seen. There was no time to attend to public health because primary care was so urgent. All treatment was free of charge. The surprise was that there was so much chronic disease when the expectation was that infectious disease would be the prime concern. After the two weeks, in an effort to forge a symbiotic relationship with the Nigerians, all equipment was left to them together with whatever training had been accomplished. But expectations that this would have much effect were low. The Nigerian government has neglected Ofidi, once known as Biafra, and it reflects the terrible inequity in the world. One of the worst reported comments that Professor Nwangwu had heard while consulting at the World Health Organization was from a child who said that it was not her turn to eat that day! He said that if it were up to him he would reshuffle the world! Aid only goes up in relation to the gross national product of countries. However, throwing money at people does not necessarily improve their human development. Some countries have the same problems but the difference is in their solution. We need to ask did the declaration of the 21st millennium achieve what it set out to achieve? Where is the money going and what is it accomplishing? Life expectancy in Africa is going down and was better in the 1970's and the difference in human development between the rich and poor is great and getting bigger. Professor Nwangwu ended on this very pessimistic note, a sad reflection on the fact that this gentleman has spent so much of his energies trying to improve the lot of his fellow Nigerians. His disillusion with government bodies, international or national, was both sad and thought provoking. |