Food, Health, and Migration Security - Essay Example

Food, Health, and Migration Security

Introduction

Security in terms of food, health, and migration is a global issue and concern of government globally. Each of the issue has corresponding causes, effects and suggested solutions, thus, achieving security not only strict implementation of policies but also active participation of every concern individuals.

In the article of Bello and Baviera (2009), it is very evident that millions of people experienced hunger because of food insecurity. The article revealed that one of the most important reasons of food crisis is the diversion of corn as food into an agrofuel. Both U.S and EU policy is the reason of the increase of food prices for three quarters between 2002 and 2008. The increasing prices of food resulted to violent actions of various countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Guinea, Mexico, etc. Further, many people died during the protest. This implies that insecurity of food not only created turmoil to the people but it also resulted to death.

Bush Administration which initiated the goal of energy independence, as well as combating climate change, is the main reason for the conversion of corn to agro-fuel. While this policy helps the environment, this also created a significant negative effect to U.S. farming. In addition, the worst part is that the impact of this policy is more severe and negative in developing countries. For instance, countries like Madagascar, Philippines and Cambodia experienced huge land rental deals. In reality, the utilization of land significantly depends on what crop is cost-effective. In line with this, the aim of the people is to cultivate the land for agro-fuel production instead of food production. As a result, millions of people suffered from hunger. Thus, it is important to take into consideration that government must not directly implement policies without weighing the positive and negative side. The role of the government is to serve and protect the people but what happened in reality is that people suffered hunger as a consequence of government policies.

On the other hand, food insecurity is not caused by government policies but also because of structural adjustments. For instance, Mexico became highly dependent on corn imports in U.S. because of the decline of services such as credit and extension support of agricultural production in the country. This can be seen as an important reason why Mexico-- a country where corn was first domesticated -- now became highly dependent with U.S. in terms of food. Similarly, Philippines also suffered from food shortage because funding of rural programs declined during the reign of President Marcos. Similarly, Philippines also suffered from food shortage because of the government focuses on land rented for foreign interests. Lastly, Africa has suffered from food insecurity because of their government eliminated the funds for fertilizers. With these reasons, government must create initiatives that can help the people rather than implementing policies or structural adjustments that led people to hunger. Food security requires precise policies, preventive planning and careful implementation.

Health Security

Poverty as a crucial problem has serious negative effect to the health of the people. Poor people suffered worse health and it is very vulnerable to various diseases. In developing countries, safe water supply is lacking. As a consequence, 3.4 million individuals die per year for water-related diseases. In addition, malaria and HIV/AIDS diseases are also a serious cause of death individuals (Durbak and Strauss 2005). Due this problem, it can be seen that there are three aspects of health in the Millennium Development Goals with the aim health security. These goals are very important to be achieved since a healthy population is the greatest country’s resource.

According to Dodds and Pippard (2005), the appropriate model in securing health is the public health model which outlines disease intervention rather than curing disease. In personal opinion, this policy is the right answer of the health security problem. Nevertheless, it requires strict implementation of health campaigns, desired government funds for the campaigns, and active participation or support for every community.

Migration Security

Migration in United States also has become an issue. The article of Gupta (2005) claimed that migration has both good and bad effects in terms of development of the country of origin which can be considered as true. In a personal point of view, there is nothing wrong with migration as each citizen has important reasons in migrating. Gupta argued that there are several important reasons which motivate people to move such as poverty, unemployment, conflict, and population growth. This implies that it is human nature to find alternatives in order to survive, live peacefully, and earn proper income.

On the other hand, according to Stephen Castles, migration control facilitates inequality (Gupta 2005). This notion can also be considered as true. For instance, there is an unemployment rate of a certain city. If the government will not allow citizens to migrate, then it can be said that they are facilitating inequalities. Abandoning proper policies in migration will lead unpredictable migration. Thus, U.S. migration policies need reform to meet the needs of the people.

Conclusion

Food security is an important issue that must be taken into account by the government. It can be traced that food insecurity is caused by government policies and structural adjustments. The rising of food prices, which resulted to hunger of millions of people, is because of the agro-fuel policies of U.S. and EU. Further, structural adjustment also has a negative impact since reducing the funds for agricultural purposes resulted to food shortage.

On the other hand, health security is also an important issue especially in developing countries. Poor people are more vulnerable to diseases. Thus, the United Nations Development Goals, which highlights three components of health, is very helpful. Aside from that, the creation of public health model, which emphasizes disease intervention, is an important and right answer in achieving health security.

Lastly, migration security should also be given attention of U.S. government. There is nothing wrong with people migrating as it is their rights to do so. Aside from that, there are important reasons why people prefer to migrate. These include conflict, unemployment, and increasing population. Government may consider reform of policies which support security of individuals and equality. Otherwise, if the policies will not be properly implemented, it will result to massive migration.