U.S. And Developing Nations - Hardship Before and During Coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic highlights the hardships and differences between the lives of most people living in developing countries from the lives of those living in the United States and other developed nations.

In developing nations, there are minimal to no safety nets for those that are poor. The health care systems of these countries were overwhelmed before the coronavirus. Many people that are sick, injured and dying cannot expect to receive medical care if they do not have money. Government hospitals and clinics, along with charitable hospitals and clinics, could not meet the needs of millions of poor people in developing countries before coronavirus. Coronavirus patients add to the already overwhelmed health care systems that have long failed.

With millions now unemployed because of coronavirus, there is no safety net in many developing countries to provide food for those without work. In those places where the government or private charities distribute food, it is nowhere near enough for the vast majority of people in need.

Coronavirus is causing malnutrition and disease by the breakdown of already fragile economies. There is simply not enough food available.

In places like the Philippines, where there were once waters rich with coral reefs, mangroves, fish and other marine life, much of this has been destroyed. With millions out of work from the pandemic, people no longer have the bounty that the oceans once provided. The oceans no longer sustain life for millions as they once did.

For a long time now religious, political and economic leaders have ignored environmental degradation and how this impacts health and food availability and increases poverty.

Throughout the Philippines, Borneo, the Nigerian Delta, the Congo, Vietnam, and many other places, mangroves, forests, coral reefs and more have been recklessly destroyed or contaminated. People that were able to sustain themselves by relying on the oceans, mangroves and forests can no longer do so.

Basic freedoms that people in the United States and west enjoy are nonexistent in many developing nations.

People in the United States, no matter how poor, are not turned away from hospitals in an emergency.

Americans can stand on the street and denounce Trump or any politician and not be hauled away to prison or shot on the street.

Political dissidents are not murdered or imprisoned because of their beliefs.

Apostates and blasphemers are not murdered. There is religious freedom.

No mullah, sheikh or other religious figure controls everything, with unlimited power to shove their beliefs down the throats of others.

The United States is not a nation with a dictator looting, murdering and treating the nation as a personal possession.

There is the rule of law in the United States. There is individual freedom unmatched by most other places in the world.

Affordable and accessible birth control and family planning are available in the United States. Women can make choices regarding family planning by the availability of contraceptives, without  having to rely upon abortions or having children that they do not want.

In many developing countries, simple travel is difficult by the lack of infrastructure.

 Such things as good roads, sewer systems, schools, water treatment, garbage removal, proper garbage disposal, and more are nonexistent for millions upon millions of people.

The United States is an imperfect society. It is a place with its share of problems and injustices. But it is not a stagnant place. It is not ruled by dictators or religious tyrants. It is place with more than its fair share of rotten leaders. But there are elections. And there is a strong constitution with a bill of rights.

Many people in the United States are blissfully unaware, purposely so in some instances, of how many people in the world live without running water, toilets, electricity, proper food, clean water, health care, dental care, education, struggling each and every day simply to survive.

No matter the internal problems inside of the United States, the United States must not stop being a beacon of hope and help for countless people the world over suffering from extreme poverty and oppression.

Many developing countries are in a crisis from the coronaviris pandemic far worse than what the United States and developed countries are experiencing. Americans should count their blessings and not forget the suffering that exists outside its shores.