Response 2: Jahan and Rosling
Sarena Oberoi
02/04/2020
Jahan begins his podcast by straying away from the conventional definition of human development and describing it with a greater focus on increasing the opportunities and choices of the people. He emphasizes the fact that human development is not only comprised of economic success, but also the well-being and happiness of humans. He explains that as humans, we are active participants in the variety of difficulties we face that impact our everyday lives. Jahan also touches on an equation to briefly describe human development: the left side being human capabilities and the right side being opportunities. The human capabilities side of the equation has the opportunity to be enhanced using methods such as placing more emphasis on education about nutrition and health, while the opportunities side can be enhanced by creating more jobs. I believe that putting a greater emphasis on the well-being of society and people’s choices is extremely important when it comes to human development. Although economic development is important, we have learned from Jahan and Rosling that countries can achieve economic growth following an increase in health and well-being.
Jahan identifies and expands on some of the targeted issues we see in communities around the world. One of these large issues includes youth employment which has seen to be extremely prevalent in a number of countries throughout the world. Secondly, gender related work is also a common issue in which the primary care givers are usually women. Furthermore, research has shown that the informal sector and agriculture and rural sector are integral in providing jobs for a number of people. Although it provides numerous employment opportunities for citizens, these individuals are not living in the best conditions. Many people involved in this line of work do not have access to many neccessities such as nutrition and education.
He delineates the important aspects of the focus measure of the HDI (Human Development Index) and points out three details: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living. These focus measures are important because focusing on each of these things will allow individuals to create more opportunities for themselves in the future. These go hand in hand with the breadth measure which specifies a variety of indicators of human development. These can be measured using aspects such as unemployment and infant mortality rate. The breadth measure provides individuals with a more thorough and holistic overview of human development around the world.
In his Ted Talk, Rosling presents the audience with different charts and graphs that show how a variety of countries have changed throughout the years when it comes to aspects such as average family income, child survival, and more. He touches on a very common misconception that explains how a countries wealth typically determines the health of its citizens. This was soon disproved, as a surprising discovery showed that after variety of countries including China, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Arabic countries, put more emphasis on health, these countries foresaw wealth following their emphasis on health. For example, in Bangladesh, Rosling explains that following the Imams and their emphasis on health and family planning, Bangladesh saw an increase in health and moved up on the graph. Rosling also indicates some of the great dangers of utilizing averages to explain data that describes human development. He emphasizes the point that even in countries, there are so many differences in data within each region. Rosling furthers his point by giving an example regarding the HIV epidemic in Africa. He explains that it would be illogical to utilize the same strategy for combatting HIV in one region, as in another region. It is important to apply different strategies in each region of Africa because every area may experience the issue to a different degree. Using the exact same strategy in each region of a continent would be unwise and ineffective, as every area is different.
## REVISED:
Jahan begins his podcast by straying away from the conventional definition of human development and describing it with a greater focus on increasing the opportunities and choices of the people. He emphasizes the fact that human development is not only comprised of economic success, but also the well-being and happiness of humans. Rosling further explains some of Jahan’s ideas by utilizing different charts and graphs that show how a variety of countries have changed throughout the years when it comes to aspects such as average family income, child survival, and more. He touches on a very common misconception that explains how a countries wealth typically determines the health of its citizens. This was soon disproved, as a surprising discovery showed that after variety of countries including China, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Arabic countries, put more emphasis on health, these countries foresaw wealth following their emphasis on health. Both Jahan and Rosling explain their ideas on the importance of focusing on health and increasing standard of living in order to soon see a rise in economic growth.
Jahan identifies and expands on some of the targeted issues we see in communities around the world. One of these large issues includes youth employment which has seen to be extremely prevalent in a number of countries throughout the world. Secondly, gender related work is also a common issue in which the primary care givers are usually women. Furthermore, research has shown that the informal sector and agriculture and rural sector are integral in providing jobs for a number of people. Although it provides numerous employment opportunities for citizens, these individuals are not living in the best conditions. Many people involved in this line of work do not have access to many neccessities such as nutrition and education. Rosling expands on Jahan’s ideas by indicating some of the great dangers of utilizing averages to explain data that describes human development. He emphasizes the point that even in countries, there are so many differences in data within each region. Rosling furthers his point by giving an example regarding the HIV epidemic in Africa. He explains that it would be illogical to utilize the same strategy for combatting HIV in one region, as in another region. It is important to apply different strategies in each region of Africa because every area may experience the issue to a different degree. Using the exact same strategy in each region of a continent would be unwise and ineffective, as every area is different. In sum, both Jahan and Rosling explain that there are issues and dangers we see in different societies that greatly effect how we analyze human development. Together, Jahan and Rosling urge the public to find solutions to these problems and give the public more access to the big data around the world.
I believe that putting a greater emphasis on the well-being of society and people’s choices is extremely important when it comes to human development. Although economic development is important, we have learned from Jahan and Rosling that countries can achieve economic growth following an increase in health and well-being.