Today, nearly half the world lives on less than two dollars a day.  Because of this, certain medical conditions that could be alleviated are in regular occurrence.  Approximatley 790 million people in the developing world are still chhronically chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.  As a result of being undernourished children are born all over the world with a medical condition known as “cleft lip/palate“  The interesting fact of this is that the developing countries who show thousands of cleft lips a year could greatly be reduced by a 10 cent vitamin supplement.  Yes, 10 cents.  According to Global Issues “The world’s 497 billionaires in 2001 registered a combined wealth of $1.54 trillion, well over the combined gross national products of all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa ($929.3 billion) or those of the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa ($1.34 trillion). It is also greater than the combined incomes of the poorest half of humanity.”  

Poverty in many developing countries is hindered by the lack of funds needed to ensure proper nourishment of its society. Although there are many reasons why cleft lips happen including genetics there should be no reason why millions of people are left with deformities like a cleft palate, blindness and even death just because they did not have access to 10 cent vitamins.        

One organization which is dedicated to helping children with cleft lips and other medical conditions is the Doctors Without Borders Organization. They are committed to helping the under privilege who never have the opportunity either by means of economic or location constraints to see a doctor. For many children in countries like Vietnam, Doctors Without Borders maybe their only way of having a medical procedure done.

The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the same income as 2.7 billion poor people.   In my opinion a greater commitment must be done on both private citizens and governments to help alleviate global poverty.  The deaths and medical conditions that come from being poor is an embarrassment to the wealthy governments and organizations who use their money for war and power.  We truly live in a society that is fed by the Elitist theory.  Will this ever change?