National Defense and Global Security- AFIL Seminar #9

Hi everyone,

I just got back into College Station today so this is a pretty late post. Even though I missed the last seminar, I would love to hear about what happened. It sounds to me that it was a very interesting seminar with moral/ethical issues being discussed. 

Global Health Issues- AFIL Seminar #8

I hope that everyone is having a great Spring Break so far! I've been out of town this past weekend and this week is extremely busy for me trying to get things completed before my upcoming trip (which explains the lateness of this post). I won't be in town for the next seminar, but I'll create a post regardless and hopefully you guys (AFILers) can fill me in on what I missed.

As promised, here are some pictures of what a typical AFIL seminar looks like. I didn't get to take pictures of our first guest speaker (Dr. Dickey), but during the transition to our next speaker (Dr. Mann), I managed to grab a few shots.

Getting ready to listen to our guest speaker, Dr. Mann

Amal

Intense concentration

Allison and Maria listening to Dr. Mann

Mario

Dr. Dickey and Dr. Mann touched on a number of points during our seminar. Here's a glimpse into some of the notes I took.

• 1 in 16 women die from childbirth in developing countries whereas 1 in 3,700 die in developed countries
• Association of Academic Health Center International -> takes students to study local diseases in developing countries, brings international students to the U.S to study, and videotapes faculty lectures to send abroad (or hosts webinars).
• Brain drain occurring in developing countries because of lack of infrastructure/lower pay
• Vaccines need to be made cheaper and more affordable to individuals living in countries where the average level of income per household is much lower 
• *****Education and health disparities need to be smaller
• Global population could reach to 10 billion by 2050
• An architect has to think like someone from the public health or statistician fields (a 10,000 bed hospital may not be suitable for individuals living in a country where death is highly prevalent)
• Hospitals in countries with high temperatures (that cannot afford air conditioners) need to have natural ventilation
• "Vision is the art of seeing things invisible"
• *****"We shape our buildings and then they shape us" - Winston Churchill

Hospital in a developing country

Hospital in a developed country

------------------------------->
[economic growth/development]




In the United States, many of us take our access to healthcare for granted. Some of us are lucky enough to have insurance to cover some/most of the costs. Fortunately there are charitable clinics that provide their services to help the uninsured and under-insured patients. But what about the rest of the world?

Thoughts?

Strategic Issues Facing Asia - AFIL Seminar #7

For the 7th AFIL seminar, we had an open session so that future AFIL leaders could see what the AFIL program was like. There was a very strong turnout and many current AFIL Fellows were interacting with the prospective AFIL Fellows. Refreshments (fruit punch or coffee and cookies) were also provided. I kind of wish I took pictures so that I can post them on this blog. I think I'll do that for the next AFIL session (even though it is not an open session).

The topic for discussion was on Asia, but most of it focused on China. I found a really funny picture that kind of helps summarize one of the key points Dr. Gaspar discussed.


*Disregard the caption on the bottom right*

 I didn't know that the citizens of China (and India) saved at least 20% of their disposable income (compared to around 3% in the United States). China's consumption share of GDP is 30.4% (compared to 70.6% of the U.S). Overall, China is not spending enough and the U.S is spending too much. American citizens have relied on credit to finance their purchases and now many are struggling to pay it back. Chinese citizens, on the other hand, have cash reserves laying around and can spend the money however they want.

• Raise the debt ceiling even higher? No, I don't think we should hurt future generations by taking this short-term option.
• Stop trade with China? Probably not a good option. We depend too much on products made from China and blocking trade (enacting quotas/tariffs) will probably hurt us more than help us.
• Force China to increase the value of its currency (which will decrease net exports and net capital outflow)? Hmm...

One of the key reasons why China's economic growth is so strong is due to their large labor pool of skilled/unskilled workers. The problem is, many of these workers are CHINESE MEN.

Dr. Poston gave us details about China's demographic structure. The sex ratio at birth (SRB) is hovering around 120, meaning 120 boys are being born per 100 girls. In the United States, this ratio is 105 (which is optimal because research shows that women live longer than men). In just a decade or so, there will be 55+ million Chinese men unable to find wives to marry.


What a lucky woman. She gets to pick who she wants to marry.

Who doesn't love a good bachelor party?

Bachelor ghettos are already established in areas around China (particularly in the major cities). This causes problems such as increased prostitution and spread of STI/STDs (especially HIV). Also add in these other issues...

• China's population is aging + there are not enough babies being born = the old age dependency ratio will increase (similar to Japan and countries in Europe like Germany).
• Increased internal migration from rural areas to urban areas.

I wanted to ask what China was currently doing to remedy some of the effects of the imbalanced sex ratio, but we ran out of time. Are there subsidies being given to families who have girls? Is there any propaganda in promoting the importance of females?

And then I found this...

--
"Dudley Poston, a Professor of Sociology at Texas A&M University, estimates that if China's sex ratio hold steady there will be a projected 55 million extra males by 2020. Unfortunately, even if it improved to almost natural levels by 2020 there will still be an excess of 51 million males."

Source: http://www.allgirlsallowed.org/category/topics/gender-imbalance-china
--

I'm planning on doing a reciprocal exchange abroad next semester in Beijing. I was talking to someone from China for some advice. He said "hey, maybe you'll find a girlfriend in Beijing". I thought that was kind of funny.

But for any single ladies out there, you're probably more likely to get your "MRS degree" in China than anywhere else.

Any thoughts on the seminar?