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Glaciered mountains in Norway – and their future

In 1989 I took part in a trek with the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association. These pictures are images of the originals in an album.

After a long bus trip up a mountain, stayed overnight at this dorm and after breakfast prepared to hike until dinner.

Before hiking on the glacier, which lasted about three days, the trek leaders had us all hitch ourselves to a strong rope, and began instruction on safety and what to do and what to avoid. Above all as you are approaching a crevice, DON’T be near more than two other people. If three people slip Into a crevice they will be too heavy to pull out and someone will have to radio for a helicopter to come to the rescue.

view from Emperor's Palace

Summary of trek

This was my best experience in group mountain trekking. If you are interested in hiking in Norway, note that Norwegian hikers are more fit than Americans. I prepared for one of their most difficult hikes by biking up and down hills in North Carolina for months until the last day I left work early and cycled until late evening.

Visit this organization at https://english.dnt.no.

The future

Norwegian ice cap ‘exceptionally sensitive’ to climate change

How will future climate change affect our glaciers? By looking into the past 4000 years, a new study lead by Henning Åkesson at the Bjerknes Centre finds an ice cap in southern Norway to be ‘exceptionally sensitive’ to climate change.

 “Today the ice is more than 300 m thick at places, which may sound like a lot. But the implication of our study is that if climate warming continues, this ice cap may disappear before the end of this century. I don’t think most people realize how fast glaciers can change, maybe not even us as scientists,” says Åkesson. [ This article is about a glacier – Hardangerjøkulen – in the same region I hiked in. ]

https://bjerknes.uib.no/en/article/news/norwegian-ice-cap-exceptionally-sensitive-climate-change

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Troubles and Solutions in the South Pacific

51st Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting July 11-14, 2022

Global Warming Effects on the Pacific Coral Islands

In 2013 I began reporting on my visit to the South Pacific, where I visited five countries including Kiribati. I was a volunteer with Project Hope, aboard the U.S. Navy ship U.S.S. Pearl Harbor, and among other things taught nursing classes to Kiribati nurses along with colleagues from the Australian military. One of the volunteers on the trip was a dentist who had lived and worked on Kiribati for a few years, and she said that she could see the ocean was rising and the atolls losing land. Similar problems were seen in the Marshall Islands, but not so much in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, whose islands are mostly formed from volcanoes. Same with Fiji which I visited in 2015 on another Project Hope venture on the U.S. Navy hospital ship U.S.S Mercy.

The islands formed from volcanoes tend to have less problems as they have a higher raise from the ocean. In a future article I will write of the details of what is going on now. For now, Let me give you some references. The above picture is from a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, which met last month to discuss issues such as global warming. It is also about their need to stay united, and not be split by political influence that could detract from common goals such as preserving habitability with rising oceans, the pandemic, environmental and social issues and so on.

Related to the problem of rising ocean levels, in 2020 in a Guardian article, Kiribati’s President Taneti Maamau said Kiribati will seek support from China and other allies to elevate islands from the sea, partly through dredging. That idea did not sit well with many of Kiribati’s Pacific allies, who worried about what China would extract in exchange. Most island nations wanted to stay together and accept support from traditional allies such as Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Since 2020 Kiribati decided it was not feasible to go it alone with China and reconnected to their Pacific allies. In Australian and New Zealand news you can find much about their relationships, and Kiribati has purchased some land in Fiji where those who think of leaving will find a more similar culture than Australia or New Zealand.

I look forward to writing more on this topic! You can contact me on this blog or if on Facebook I am the only Daniel Dlugose.

References I recommend for those interested in Climate and the South Pacific

CLIMATE CHANGE AND MIGRATION IN THE PACIFIC: Links, attitudes, and future scenarios in Nauru, Tuvalu, and Kiribati. Report of United Nations University (UNU) Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) CLIMATE CHANGE AND MIGRATION IN THE PACIFIC https://repository.unescap.org/ (there search for “Climate Change and migration in the Pacific)

Kiribati: a drowning paradise in the South Pacific A video illustrating what is happening on Kiribati as well as other island countries https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ0j6kr4ZJ0

The Kiribati Climate Action Network The Kiribati Climate Action Network (KiriCAN), which is comprised of many youth and women groups in Kiribati, is the first CC NGO established in Kiribati. Their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/KiribatiClimateActionNetwork

Climate change in the Western Pacific https://www.who.int/westernpacific/health-topics/climate-change

USAID West Pacific Energy and Environment (U.S. Agency for International Development) Projects

Asia Pacific Adaptation Network APAN is a regional program for managing and applying adaptation knowledge in the region, and supports governments and other organizations working on adaptation, with special emphases on the management of knowledge and capacity building.

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The Tibetan exile and a future trip to Surmang in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Since I started studying meditation from Tibetan Buddhist teachers in 1987, I began learning about Tibetan culture – a blend of nomadic culture similar to the Mongols, and Buddhism coming from India early in the Christian era. In 2013 I first visited Kathmandu Nepal for four months, living in a Tibetan neighborhood and volunteering at a Food kitchen for street people who were not Tibetan. The Tibetan population is self-sustaining because of their traditional communal values of welcoming, feeding and providing work for other Tibetan immigrants.

A Tibetan monk serving children https://flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/3030795133

In the spring of 2014 I went on a medical trek sponsored by Himalayan Health Care. A movie Hearts In The Himalayas about this experience is displayed at https://www.himalayanhealthcare.org/node/56

In December 2015 I went to Nepal again for a month, studied under Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, one of the early exiles in Kathmandu after the Chinese invasion, and spent four days opening a clinic in the farm village above the Kathmandu valley called Tarabir, meaning the mountain of Tara, the protector of travelers and Tibetans. The villagers were not familiar with going to the hospital if you were having a stroke, or coughing up blood from tuberculosis. I did give a class to young adults in the village about why it was important to recognize signs of TB and go to the hospital. One patient with TB in the area did go as she was bleeding so profusely out the nose that she was afraid of dying.

I am now invited to go to a clinic in the fall in the Chinese part of the Himalayas with my wife Carol Myers, an Occupational Therapist. The Surmang Clinic at Surmang Dutsitil Monastery is on a dirt road that leads over a 16,000 ft. mountain to a paved road several hours to the Chinese city Yushu of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southern Qinghai.

From the Surmang Clinic Support website, http://www.surmang.org/
The region in Kham home to the epic hero, Gesar of Ling (upper right on map), and with monastery and clinic at Zurmang (Surmang) Dutsitil upper left.

Surmang Dutsitil is home of the Trungpa master teachers of Tibet, who fall under the lineages of the Karma Kagyu, and the Nyingma (Ancient) Lineage. In his book Born in Tibet, Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche writes of his childhood training at this monastery and his escape from Tibet in 1959 over the Himalayas on foot. Most of his party died along the way, captured by the Chinese, or starving, or freezing to death.

A decade ago most of the women in the area gave birth to their babies unassisted in the high altitude pastures among their yaks. Now there are birth attendants from the monastery clinic available, some of them monastic nuns. Carol and I will be raising money but subsidizing the trip mostly on our own. I owe it to the culture I have learned so much from! So far the Clinic has been successful enough that the Chinese government has asked for assistance in improving other rural clinics.

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Warsaw’s largest Jewish cemetery underground?

Bródno Jewish Cemetery (also known as the Jewish Cemetery in Praga) is one of several such in Warsaw. Here are pictures I took July 24, 2019 while visiting with my wife Carol Brandstatter.

We had already visited museums in Warsaw related to the history of the Jews in Poland. We are in the midst of two months in Poland discovering our roots. My fathers parents emmigrated from Poland to New York State soon before he was born. They were Polish Catholics, though there are some Długosz (the Polish spelling of what in the US is Dlugosz or Dlugosh or in my rare instance Dlugose) who were Jewish in Poland. Carol’s Jewish family has a large number of Brandstatters that fled Poland before the war and many that perished, usually in the camps there.

This cemetery is a neglected and Must See if you want to feel the magnitude of the events leading to and during the Holocaust. Unlike Auschwitz, you can have a private or almost so visit without crowds, without expenses and the distraction of the busy life of today. Alone or almost so with the tragedy and your feelings. There is a tram stop near the entrance in the Praga part of Warsaw across the river.

Last year according to Jewish Heritage Europe, a new exhibit opened, consisting “of two parts. One presents the concepts of death and burial in Jewish tradition, religion and culture. The other focuses on the  history of the cemetery itself. Founded in 1780 (though burials are believed to have taken place there earlier), it is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Warsaw and the largest in terms of the number of burials — some 320,000 are believed to be interred there.” https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2018/02/06/poland-permanent-exhibition-opens-at-warsaws-brodno-jewish-cemetery/

On the cemetery’s walking path here is the first group of above ground markers evident. Note that the grave marker lower right has a stone on it. It is traditional to place stones – but this was one of the only ones we saw. We gathered a few rare stones, and several bits of cement-type gravel and placed many more on graves. May they rest in peace,

Many graves if above ground were lying flat on their back, some perhaps from explosions, some from being deliberately buried and later uncovered without time for more. The backs of markers in this cemetery look like this, and the marker is too heavy for us to turn over. In the picture above the marker is a cylindrical stone that in this cemetery was typical of supports behind the grave marker to keep it erect for a long time.

Here are two marker fragments found lying near each other. We brushed off moss and dirt to make them readible. It is not possible yet to know if these belong to each other- they were within less than a meter of each other and had similar thickness and border grooves. May they rest in peace.
Another incomplete marker and its support, and the small nearby piece may belong to it. The lettering was less clear until I brushed it off with a stick. May he or she rest in peace.
Name is Estera Pomeraniec, date 9 1939? I am guessing B.P. has some other significance as the font is different. This is easier to read after my cleaning it some. I wish I could clean the other 300,000 but we will not live so long! May she rest in peace.
We soon see many more graves a little ways off. Also to the left from this scene, perhaps also a little behind me, there is nor far away a trench with many pieces of grave markers in an area that has been noticed as there is a nearby yellow plastic flag sticking in the ground, but no work so far to unearth markers there. We had wondered if we would find many graves above ground, though finding so many is such bad condition would become very difficult to cope with. May they rest in peace.
Wire frame container of grave marker pieces at Jewish cemetery"
We come to one of many fence material containers to hold and display fragment of grave markers that have been dug up without time or manpower and money to do something better.
It is also possible they were brought here from another site in Warsaw. There is a caretaker on duty at this cemetery, but we ran out of time to ask questions.
Here is an excerp from a 8/25/2015 newspaper article that may be relevant:

“The Jewish tombstones that were found in Warsaw are believed to come from the Brodno cemetery in Warsaw’s Praga district. Once the resting place of 300,000 Jews, only 3,000 tombstones remain there today; the rest were removed during and after the war and used as building materials and to reinforce the river’s banks.
Two weeks ago, a man walking along the river in Warsaw came across fragments of the tombstones with Hebrew lettering and took Daniels there on Tuesday. In the meantime, some had already been removed, though a few fragments were still lying on the riverbed. Now Daniels hopes to take students there to do a more thorough search and return anything he can find to the cemetery.
“Jewish history is buried in the Vistula, he said.”
Some of hundreds or thousands of partly above ground grave markers and fragments. It was devastating to be here among the desecrated dead. Carol and I each found ways to cope with, pray for the dead and survivors, and at least in my case purify the negative feelings that come up sucking my energy down. We both found crying helpful. One pathway through the grave pieces was difficult to pass without stumbling on pieces.
At the end of the visitors’ trail is this memorial. The circular walls are made from some grave markers on the outside and large wired containers around the top outside and inside with countless pieces of grave markers that so far have not been cleaned and researched, or assembled into individual grave markers. Perhaps their families will never have the information of what happened to their bodies??? It is heart-breaking, and I am not a survivor, or relative or Jewish, just a human who happens to be a compassionate witness and a Buddhist, married to a wonderful Jewish woman who lost some relatives in Poland during this period.
Off to the left, another view of the masses of grave markers on the left side of the memorial. May they also rest in peace.
At the beginning of the outside of the memorial are some readable grave markers not entirely repaired but perhaps their names where written have been registered. The oldest Jewish markers were often in Hebrew without names of the deceased, and over the centuries traditions changed. We wish all graves could be restored to nearly this level of respect and readability. May they rest in peace.
The first of two recently desecrated grave markers near the beginning of the memorial.
This is a second defiled grave next to the first. According to Wikipedia ” Punks Not Dead is the debut studio album by the Scottish punk rock band The Exploited ” This or the Exploited article mentioned that one of the band members had a swastica tattoo. I have no reason to think that rock group would condone this. It is heart-breaking.
Here is one of some of the full names.. Szlama Polider, 1939. 1939 was a year when the Germans invaded – September 1939, and due to resistance of the Polish, many Jews and others were killed. Afterwards Jews who had not escaped were forced into a ghetto. See for example the record of the US Holocaust Museum, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/german-invasion-of-poland-jewish-refugees-1939-stories

Next some of the evidence in the exhibit hall of the cemetery
Early and 19th Century abuse and effects of World War I Grave robbers followed for years the loss of the surrounding wooden wall which was burned for firewood by Russian troops.
With the coming of the Germans in WWII, the wall that had been rebuilt was demolished and Jews sent to the Ghetto in Warsaw from Praga, while other Jews were forced to do the demolishing work by hand
Photos from the exhibit showing the destruction of wars and neglect. The exhibit was created and is cared for by the Jewish Community of Warsaw. Their description is at http://warszawa.jewish.org.pl/en/for-visitors/warsaw/brodno/

Thank you for visiting my blog. Feel free to comment or ask questions. I am sorry if you find this painful, but many are looking for information like this. I have a friend I can recommend who is a much better writer on the Holocaust, Ellen Mains, author of Buried Rivers: A Spiritual Journey into the Holocaust, see https://ellenkormanmains.com/

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Featured

Abuse of Women in Nepal

There are a large number of ethnic groups, so I am generalizing, but in most of the Hindu ethnic groups a newly married woman goes to live with the husband’s family. She is expected to work for the family under the supervision of the husband’s parents. After the initial bonding between the couple, it is not unusual for the husband and his mother to become more demanding, and in poor families sometimes blamed for bringing in to the family a small dowry.

WFNnewBldg
Woman learning weaving as a job skill
A Nepali woman builds her weaving skills for a new future


I am in Kathmandu Nepal, for the fourth time, working as a volunteer for a small NGO – The Women’s Foundation of Nepal. It is one of at least several organizations around Nepal that operates shelters and other services for women who have been abused and sometimes raped by their husbands or their husband’s family. In Nepal it is still customary for girls in their late teens to be married. In the capital Kathmandu it is probably less frequent to marry that young, as most teens may have the opportunity to finish a standard 10 years of school, sometimes at a subsidized public school, but if the family can afford it, a private school which provides a better education.

A woman is often punished for mistakes she makes, such as not getting enough work done in a day, and even among these women, they tend to feel that in some circumstances it is justifiable for the husband to beat her.

It is common in South Asia – India and Nepal, and Southeast Asia, for families to use corporal punishment and anger when they correct their children. In the same countries it is also common in public schools, as well as some private schools that are expensive by local standards.

Pit in the ground being excavated by manual labor
A worker hauls soil on her back, one of countless ways to save money in construction. Bricks later are carried from 100 meters away. No crane or backhoe is ever used. No level for vertical or horizontal lines.

At the headquarters of Women’s Foundation a new building is being put up next door, as it has outgrown the existing building, which looks like other nearby buildings. These buildings look pleasant on the outside, but inside lack many of the features we almost regard as necessities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, etc. Drinkable tap water that exceeds World Health Organization standards, hot water, two sinks in the kitchen or an automatic dishwasher, heat, cooling…

The Shelter in Kathmandu, one of a few shelters of Women’s Foundation of Nepal If you would like to donate to them, visit their website. If you want advice on helping Nepal in other ways, leave a comment and I will get back to you.

I have been in Asia since early September with my wife Carol, usually working as volunteers in healthcare in developing countries. It is stressful accepting all the things you cannot do in a month in these countries (I am not related to Bill Gates, bless him!) I am learning to do things to a standard that I could not tolerate in the United States, and so I am also often tempted into eating on a budget I would not tolerate otherwise. You could help us with our work in general by giving to the GoFund me on a postinghttp://scholarship-for-karen-refugee-in-thailand-july-win about education for a refugee from Burma in Thailand.

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Migraines, Color Vision and the Brain

  • Recent research is fast developing on how light is processed in the brain
  • People with migraines are apt to be triggered by bright light
  • Colors of light affect different patients differently
  • Understanding options can reduce or eliminate the need for medication

Light effects on the brain

Study Traces a Neural Circuit Behind Green Light–Mediated Pain Relief

Neural Circuit Behind Green Light–Mediated Pain Relief

At The-Scientist.org this morning about new research they state that in recent years, studies in rodents and humans have suggested that exposure to light may reduce chronic pain. Green light, in particular, has been reported to relieve pain in people with migraines and fibromyalgia. However, little is known about the mechanism behind these observations.

In 2022 I started having migraines and soon my doctor was prescribing drugs which either had no relief or had bad side-effects. I’m a retired nurse who has learned a lot about alternative medicine. Each day when I wake up I can sense the likelihood of having migraines, and I start measures to reduce or eliminate the onset of pain. I want to share quickly some information that you can use yourself.

The-Scientist article reports:

“The team of researchers behind the new study, who are based at Fudan University in Shanghai, exposed arthritic mice to low-intensity green light for eight hours per day for six days and measured their thermal and mechanical hypersensitivity—that is, whether they would remove their paw from an unpleasant heat or tactile stimulus—before, during, and after this treatment period. In accordance with previous works, the team’s findings revealed that green light significantly reduced pain sensitivity in these mice. 

Then, the authors investigated which photoreceptors were mediating this effect. To this end, they genetically or pharmacologically inhibited each of the three types present in the mammalian retina: cones, rods, and intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs)—the latter of which are associated with nonvisual responses to light”. 

I’m very busy this weekend but I will update this soon and will reply to anyone comments a

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How Volunteers Travel Abroad Cheaply

  • Choose a group or organization at Https://Workaway.info – for typically free room and some meals.
    • Workaway has hosts in most countries looking for a wide variety of skills.
    • Your commitment is usually for a short period working part time, with time off for learning about the community
    • Unlike most organizations looking for volunteers, there is only an modest annual fee.
  • The United Nations and its Partner NGOs recruit for longer term at their volunteer website
  • Volunteer for a U.S. Government agency at https://volunteer.gov/
  • Choose an organization that needs teachers
    • Project Hope takes people with health or logistic skills aboard ships visiting in Latin American and the South Pacific for a few weeks. Learn more at https://Projecthope.org/
    • Angloville needs English teachers in Europe for short periods. You don’t need experience teaching – in fact they’ll help you work towards earning a certificate in English as a second language. See https://angloville.com/.
  • MORE Questions? For a little free advice email me at lightningcub@yahoo.com
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New name of website(s) coming up!

  • When I started, the name of my site was Dlugose.Wordpress.com
  • Not long ago I changed its name to DlugoseTravel.Blog which you probably see at the address at the top (URL)
  • The new website will be HumanitarianVolunteer.org, but I expect I will keep the old blog running, at least as an archive of old posts. The new site will come with an email address to contact me- Bodhisattva@HumanitarianVolunteer.org.
  • I am unsure how WordPress will set this up. In the meantime you might know me from Facebook. Or just comment or like a page and I will get an email at my personal email.
  • In the future I will invite others interested in international volunteer work to comment or even write articles! The world is in sad shape – if you don’t agree I hope you will at least look around for some article that interests you.
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Introduction to kidneys … failing

Your kidneys’ job is filtering unneeded substances from your blood like extra sodium (salt) broken down body cell, etc. without losing too much water or minerals. You could get in dire distress if they were to stop for as little as several hours.

On the other hand, when the kidney doesn’t keep up with its work, the symptoms are things you usually would not thinking of calling a doctor for – unless you had diabetes or perhaps a blood pressure or heart problem.

There are several good kidney organizations with reliable information:

I’m going to post this unfinished now – too busy with other projects today!

Please help me by messaging me by leaving a comment if…

  • Have a question you don’t think you can easily find
  • Can’t find information without medical jargon
  • Are interested in kidney donation – giving or receiving

from Disentangling the multiple links between renal dysfunction and cerebrovascular disease –

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Blackseed oil – a useful natural medicinal substance

Blackseed oil is produced from Nigella sativa is a flowering plant found throughout India, Arabia, and Europe. The seeds, commonly known as black seeds or black cumin, are used in cooking and in traditional medicine to reduce inflammation, as well as to treat infections and cancer.

The main active ingredient in blackseed oil is thymoquinone. It also has some protein, vitamins and minerals such as potassium and magnesium. I found I should not take magnesium supplements with it or I can get too sleepy.

I’ve been reading a lot of clinical journals about it, as well as various popular articles. I know that most doctors never heard of it, nor have some local acupuncturists who also are knowledgeable about medicinal herbs, so I thought I would encourage people to look into it for its possible uses.

Some of the uses are:

Protecting the liver (hepatoprotective) For details see the article Thymoquinone: an emerging natural drug with a wide range of medical applications

Anti-inflammatory

Anti-cancer and antitumor

Neuropharmacological effects. This is why I am taking it, for what my physician presumes to be migraines.

Other conditions such as asthma, hypertension, radiation therapy effects, diabetes … see the Sloan Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center website for safety and other information.

I also know from other sources that blackseed oil has tryptophan, which increases your body’s production of serotonin, a natural neurotransmitter that is also present in various antidepressants such as SSRI’s, SNRI’s and other mental health drugs, so don’t take them with these or ask your doctor.

Another source of information is WebMD at https://www.webmd.com/diet/black-seed-health-benefits#1

If you have questions use this site to message me and I’ll get back to you. I get a lot of email so I sometimes overlook an email (try again if no response).

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Chronic Pain – tips on handling it.

Headache? Progressing or chronic? Doctors not helping enough?

I’m learning very important things for people with chronic pain that doctors usually don’t have much time to teach people about it. Some people go for many years unnecessarily with severe pain or pain that alters their quality of life.

Please read more on this topic at an article that is better than I can probably write:

Central Sensitization: What Is It and How Do You Treat It?

“In nearly all chronic pain conditions, physicians and scientists consider central sensitization to be a key source of pain. Comorbidities that affect the nervous system, such as sleep deprivation, fatigue, and poor mood, can exacerbate the central sensitization’s effects, creating a destructive cycle between the conditions.”

This article goes on to say that pain receptors also have a relationship with the immune system and so may lead to what is called neuroinflammation.

Do everything you can when in pain to relax, shift some priorities.

Nonetheless, at times when you are feeling relatively OK get a variety of exercise to not only places that may hurt some, but to your body in general, for strength, flexibility, and endurance. Don’t overdo this advice, start gently and work your way up.

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COVID-19 in developing countries – A global health and moral issue

Someone in India not long ago on Facebook noticed that I am interested in world health and asked me for some money to finance his distribution of food and masks near Bodhgaya, India. From his pictures and feedback I could see he was doing a great job and was affiliated with a local organization, so I gave him some money. Of course donations to India are always a drop in the bucket as in India not even the government aspires to soon give out widespread healthcare to the poor. When I was working there at a poor hospital in Andhra Pradesh, I found that to get a free hospitalization, a person had to be so poor that they BOTH lacked a permanent sheltered place to live and lacked means to have enough to eat.

While India is becoming a major trade partner for much of the world, and they manufacture vaccine and other medicines in large quantities, they are struggling to deal with the pandemic. A country of almost 1.4 billion people, it has given almost 948 million doses but very few districts in the country have 40% of people fully vaccinated. Yet today- 10/12/2021- is news that its Central government issued a fresh travel advisory and made RT-PCR Test report mandatory for all international passengers, and for many it is not necessary to be vaccinated. See https://www.india.com/travel/articles/international-travel-latest-news-today-india-makes-negative-rt-pcr-test-report-mandatory-for-all-international-passengers-ministry-of-health-issues-fresh-guidelines-5062113/

India COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker visualization, from Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science accessed 10/10/2021

In Vietnam my wife and I have friends we met in Hải Dương that we keep in touch with. The parents are both pharmacists, and two children are in school- remotely. Vietnam is in lock-down, with certain essential workers allowed to move about the city. The parents have been vaccinated because they are health professions, but there is not enough vaccine in the country to vaccinate even a majority of people.

What is the United States and other western countries doing?

From “Tracking U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Donations’ Pub. 9/22/2021 at Kaiser Family Foundation (not part of Kaiser Health) accessed 10/10/2021

Only 2% of the population in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose, compared to 30% in lower-middle-income countries, 54% in upper-middle-income countries, and nearly two-thirds in high-income countries, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation at WebMD. The bar chart above shows that the vaccine we send to other countries does not very much go to the poor.

Many countries donate more than we do, as a percentage of their wealth. As most of us know we Americans are much wealthier than most people in the world. My wife and I have an income around $50,000, which is more than 10.4 times the global median. You can see how you stand at https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i.

According to Guntram Wolff, director of Europe’s influential Bruegel think tank,”pandemics are probably the most costly thing that can occur to humanity. Costly in economic terms, but of course beyond the economics also in social, human, and welfare terms. If there’s one priority on which the world community needs to deliver, it is about reducing the probability of new pandemics emerging.”