Zimbabweans are severely malnourished, and deaths from starvation occur even in the cities. The country has not yet suffered nationwide famine only because international donors have stepped in.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the severe malnutrition and starvation issues in Zimbabwe, despite the lack of a full-scale famine, thanks to international aid.
Samantha Power's quote sheds light on the dire situation in Zimbabwe, where malnutrition and starvation are rampant, particularly in urban areas. It emphasizes that while the country has managed to avoid a nationwide famine, this is largely due to the assistance provided by international donors. This situation underscores the critical and ongoing humanitarian crisis faced by many Zimbabweans, revealing the limitations of local resources and the role of global support in alleviating suffering.
In practice
During a speech about global aid efforts, one might reference this quote to discuss the importance of international support in crisis situations.
Sanctions did indeed help to bring Iran to the negotiating table. But sanctions did not stop the advance of Iran's nuclear program. Negotiations have done that, and it is in our interest not to deny ourselves the chance to achieve a long-term, comprehensive solution that would deny Iran a nuclear weapon.
Western governments have generally tried to contain genocide by appeasing its architects. But the sad record of the last century shows that the walls the United States tries to build around genocidal societies almost inevitably shatter.
No more than a surgeon can operate while tweeting can you reach your potential with one ear in, one ear out. You actually have to reacquaint yourself with concentration. We all do.
When dictators feel their support slipping among adults, it is not unusual for them to alter school textbooks in the hope of enlisting impressionable youths in their cause.
Throughout history, when societies face tough economic times, we have seen democratic reforms deferred, decreased trust in government, persecution of minority groups, and a general shrinking of the democratic space.
All advocacy is, at its core, an exercise in empathy.
We know a great deal more about the causes of physical disease than we do about the causes of physical health.
A doctor, like anyone else who has to deal with human beings, each of them unique, cannot be a scientist; he is either, like the surgeon, a craftsman, or, like the physician and the psychologist, an artist. This means that in order to be a good doctor a man must also have a good character, that is to say, whatever weaknesses and foibles he may have, he must love his fellow human beings in the concrete and desire their good before his own.
Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people's hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.
The aim of medicine is to prevent disease and prolong life, the ideal of medicine is to eliminate the need of a physician.
We are coming to understand health not as the absence of disease, but rather as the process by which individuals maintain their sense of coherence (i.e. sense that life is comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful) and ability to function in the face of changes in themselves and their relationships with their environment.
It's not about curing the disease, but healing the life; then the physical benefits come.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.