We can't address rapid population growth or poverty with economic sanctions. We cannot attack hunger with armies or smart bombs. The education of girls and young women has been acclaimed as the most important investment countries can make to improve their economies and their societies. Female education not only supports increased productivity and incomes but also has important social benefits. Research shows that the child of a mother who has even a single year of education, has a 9 percent better chance to live to the age of five.
Gains increase substantially with each additional year of schooling.
I highlight education because it is a very important area in which we work, but it is only one issue that must be tackled if we want to achieve lasting development in many countries. As public health professionals, you understand how all these factors relate. You know that climate change could cause diseases now confined to tropical areas to explode into what are now temperate zones. You know what nuclear meltdown did to the children of Chernobyl. You know the dangers of encountering new and dangerous micro-organisms when people push farther and farther into wilderness areas.