Effects of Poverty on a Globalized World

This week’s blog topic is appropriate, as representatives of UN member countries will convene in New York to discuss the Millennium Development Goals (Thanks, Luke, for providing them below). UN countries’ revisiting the MDGs and assessing progress towards achieving them—even the very existence of the MDGs—really speak to how we as a global society think about how poverty, health, and development affect political, social, and economic issues.

In our increasingly globalized world, there is no doubt that great disparities in wealth, health, and development exist among countries. This recognition has moved wealthier, more developed countries to assist those less developed—a vital component for the achievement of the MDGs. Global aid necessitates cooperation among governments of different countries, as illustrated simply by the upcoming international meeting of MDG progress. There also must be transfer of wealth between and among countries in order to achieve the MDGs—and this has no doubt increased since the UN’s institution of these goals. To illustrate, Ireland’s contribution to global aid has increased nearly four-fold since the implementation of the MDGs (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/0924/1222105169791.html). Thus, in considering the MDGs, global efforts to impact worldwide poverty affect relations between countries, in addition to the health and development of individual countries.