the cost of saving all the children

Recently, i attended a lecture on international child health where we were told that to save all the children in 3rd world countries from unnecessary deaths such as cholera, malaria, TB etc, an additional 5.1 billion USD was needed.

Undeniably, it's a huge amount. Then we were told that the cost of the Iraq war is 448 billion USD and counting. That's saving the world's children 87 times over.

And the Americans still wonder why many parts of the world view them as self-righteous, ignorant condescending pricks.

After that talk, many of my colleagues came to a similar conclusion that if everyone in the developed countries were to donate $1 each, the children of the world would be saved.

When NKF said that they were spending 50% of the donations collected on patients did you really believe them? Well if you did then you'd probably continue to live on happily thinking that the $10 that you donate every year is actually making a difference to the whatever it is that you were taking pity on.

I guess after the Durai incident we all found out that the real figure for the percentage spent on patients was only 10%.

Are not-for-profit charity organisations really helping the unfortunate or are they being charitable to themselves?

Perhaps the dire situation of the children in 3rd world countries is actually a form of evolutionary elimination. You-ain't-got-the-means-to-keep-up-with-the-rest-of-the-world-hence-darwin-is-eliminating-you-from-the-gene-pool kinda theory. Sounds cruel i know, but thinking about it, the world is suffering from over-population and if we save these kids aren't we making situations worse? If they are really that impoverished and malnourished how did the women manage to remain fertile? Surely all women need a similar percentage of body fat to maintain their menstrual cycles?

Questions that begs more questions. A never ending cycle. Yet, some wise men once said, if we don't ask how do we learn? I shall immerse myself in a moment of self-indulgence in the facetious belief that i am on the path to becoming wise.