Be
a Hero for a Better World ... Every Act of Kindness Makes
a Difference!
HEALTH
Good
health is one of the most important ingredients for
a happy and productive life. And yet, many people
do not have access to health care and live in conditions
that spread disease.
-- Robert
Alan Silverstein
"The
Gesundheit Institute is a pie in the face of greed
- by taking the most expensive thing in America,
health care, and giving it away for free."
-- Patch
Adams
*
Because
we are interested in promoting wellness, we will
integrate medicine with performing arts, arts and
crafts, agriculture, recreation, nature, and social
service.
--
Patch
Adams
It [The
Gesundheit Institute] also won't separate the healing arts.
All of them work together - traditional medicine and surgery
with acupuncture, homeopathy, etc. We want to make the hospital
a place a person can't wait to come to, whether they are
working there or being there as a patient. Because we are
interested in promoting wellness, we will integrate medicine
with performing arts, arts and crafts, agriculture, recreation,
nature, and social service. Those are some skeletal parts.
-- Patch
Adams
"In
health there is freedom. Health is the first of all liberties."
-- Henri-Frederic Amiel
*
"World
Health Day is an opportunity to highlight the problem,
but above all, to stimulate action. It is an occasion
to call on all partners -- governments, international
donors, civil society, the private sector, the media,
families and individuals alike -- to develop sustainable
activities for the survival, health and well-being of
mothers and children. On this World Health Day, let
us rededicate ourselves to that mission."
~ Kofi
Annan
"Children
are our future, and their mothers are its guardians. And
yet, this year alone, more than half a million women will
die in pregnancy or childbirth. Almost 11 million children
will die before they reach the age of five -- 4 million
of them in the first month of life. Almost all these deaths
will happen in developing countries. A large number of them
could be prevented.
When
adopting the Millennium Development Goals five years ago,
the world's governments promised, by the year 2015, to reduce
maternal deaths by three quarters and cut child mortality
by two thirds. While there has been progress in some regions,
there has been stagnation in others. In some countries,
progress has even been reversed.
World
Health Day is an opportunity to highlight the problem, but
above all, to stimulate action. It is an occasion to call
on all partners -- governments, international donors, civil
society, the private sector, the media, families and individuals
alike -- to develop sustainable activities for the survival,
health and well-being of mothers and children. On this World
Health Day, let us rededicate ourselves to that mission."
~ Kofi
Annan
He who
has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.
~Arabic Proverb
*
Everything
is now for sale. Even those areas of life that we
once considered sacred like health and education,
food and water and air and seeds and genes and a heritage.
It is all now for sale.
-- Maude
Barlow
I think you might dispense with half your doctors if
you would only consult Dr. Sun more.
-- Henry
Ward Beecher
A
pen rather than a lance has been my weapon of offence
and defence; with its point I should prick the civic
conscience and bring into a neglected field men and
women who should act as champions for those afflicted
thousands least able to fight for themselves.
-- Clifford
Beers
*
"Creating
a world that is truly fit for children does not
imply simply the absence of war. It means having
the confidence that our children would not die of
measles or malaria. It means having access to clean
water and proper sanitation. It means having primary
schools nearby that educate children, free of charge.
It means changing the world with children, ensuring
their right to participate, and that their views
are heard and considered. It means building a world
fit for children, where every child can grow to
adulthood in health, peace and dignity."
-- Carol
Bellamy
*
A
diet higher in whole grains and legumes and lower
in beef and other meat is not just healthier for ourselves
but also contributes to changing the world system
that feeds some people and leaves others hungry.
-- Dr.
Walden Bello
*
I
do care a great deal about the environment but my
real work and my greatest challenge is trying to overcome
deceits that end up jeopardizing public health and
safety.
-- Erin
Brockovich
I
am an advocate for awareness, the truth, and a person's
right to know. I believe that in the absence of the
truth, all of us stand helpless to defend ourselves,
our families and our health, which is the greatest
gift we have.
--
Erin
Brockovich
*
There
can be no real growth without healthy populations.
No sustainable development without tackling disease
and malnutrition. No international security without
assisting crisis-ridden countries. And no hope for
the spread of freedom, democracy and human dignity
unless we treat health as a basic human right.
-- Gro
Brundtland
you
cannot tackle hunger, disease, and poverty unless
you can also provide people with a healthy ecosystem
in which their economies can grow.
-- Gro
Brundtland
We are
working towards a shared vision of the future for health
among all the world's people. A vision future in which we
develop new ways of working together at global and national
level. A vision which has poor people and poor communities
at its centre. And a vision which focuses action on the
causes and consequences of the health conditions that create
and perpetuate poverty.
-- Gro
Brundtland
You
cannot achieve environmental security and human development
without addressing the basic issues of health and nutrition.
-- Gro
Brundtland
Never
have so many had such broad and advanced access to health
care. But never have so many been denied access to health.
-- Gro
Brundtland
*
Peace
is no mere matter of men fighting or not fighting. Peace,
to have meaning for many who have known only suffering
in both peace and war, must be translated into bread
or rice, shelter, health, and education, as well as
freedom and human dignity - a steadily better life.
If peace is to be secure, long-suffering and long-starved,
forgotten peoples of the world, the underprivileged
and the undernourished, must begin to realize without
delay the promise of a new day and a new life.
-- Ralph
J. Bunche
"There
is simply no good reason why in the 21st century, thousands
of women and children in developing countries should be
dying during childbirth and the early years of life.
~ Honourable Aileen Carroll, Minister of International Cooperation,
CIDA
*
The
awareness that health is dependent upon habits that
we control makes us the first generation in history
that to a large extent determines its own destiny.
~ Jimmy
Carter
*
Ill
health is an important factor that forces the poor
to remain poor. If they make a little bit of money,
one episode of illness can wipe them out.
-- Zafrullah
Chowdhury
"Demand
that your government pays more attention. It's immoral
that people in Africa die like flies of diseases that
no one dies of in the United States. And the more
disease there is, the more political unrest there
will be, leading to more Darfurs, which the U.S. will
have to pay to fix."
~ Bill
Clinton
*
"I
have never believed we had to choose between either
a clean and safe environment or a growing economy.
Protecting the health and safety of all Americans
doesn’t have to come at the expense of our economy’s
bottom line. And creating thriving companies and new
jobs doesn’t have to come at the expense of the air
we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, or
the natural landscape in which we live. We can, and
indeed must, have both."
~ Bill
Clinton
*
Drugs
are not always necessary. Belief in recovery always
is.
-- Norman
Cousins
*
"The
risks of transporting deadly nuclear waste, the environmental
justice impacts and the long-term health effects of
both these projects are untenable...We cannot afford
to be silent on these important issues."
~ James
Cromwell
*
America's
health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor
a system.
-- Walter
Cronkite
*
"UNICEF
is helping mothers realize their dreams for the future
— a future in which the basic needs for a child’s
survival: food, clean water and simple health care
— are guaranteed."
-- Jane
Curtin
"...we
all have an obligation as citizens of this earth to
leave the world a healthier, cleaner, and better place
for our children and future generations.”
~ Blythe
Danner
The
power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into
folklore, common sense, and everyday experience. Love moves
the flesh, it pushes matter around.... Throughout history,
"tender loving care" has uniformly been recognized as a
valuable element in healing.
~ Larry Dossey
Social
entrepreneurs are married to a vision of, for example,
a better way of helping young people grow up or of
delivering global healthcare. They simply will not
stop because they cannot be happy until their vision
becomes the new pattern.
-- Bill
Drayton
*
Nothing
will benefit human health and increase chances for
survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution
to a vegetarian diet.
-- Albert
Einstein
Sickness
is poor-spirited, and cannot serve anyone; it must
husband its resources to live. But health or fullness
answers its own ends, and has to spare, runs over,
and inundates the neighborhoods and creeks of other
men's necessities.
-- Ralph
Waldo Emerson
"...In
a world riven by inequity, medicine could be viewed
as social justice work." -- Paul
Farmer
“If
access to health care is considered a human right,
who is considered human enough to have that right?”
-- Paul
Farmer
*
"Clean
water and health care and school and food and tin
roofs and cement floor, all of these things should
constitute a set of basics that people must have as
birthrights."
-- Paul
Farmer
Health
care for all Americans is the most pressing domestic
issue today.
-- Russ
Feingold
*
"Our
health relies entirely on the vitality of our fellow
species on Earth."
~ Harrison
Ford
*
Medical
science has proven time and again that when the resources
are provided, great progress in the treatment, cure,
and prevention of disease can occur.
~Michael
J. Fox
*
Even though I'm not running anymore,
we still have to try to find a cure for cancer. Other
people should go ahead and try to do their own thing
now.
-- Terry
Fox
*
"It
is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold
and silver.”
-- Mohandas
K. Gandhi
*
It is still just unbelievable to us that diarrhea
is one of the leading causes of child deaths in the
world.
-- Melinda
Gates
*
We
started our foundation because we believe we have
a real opportunity to help advance equity around the
world.. to help make sure that, no matter where a
person is born, he or she has the chance to live a
healthy, productive life.
--
Melinda
Gates
"It
will take a massive effort to move society from corporate
domination, in which industry's rights to pollute
and damage health and the environment supersede the
public's right to live, work, and play in safety.
This is a political fight. The science is already
there, showing that people's health is at risk. To
win, we will need to keep building the movement, networking
with one another, planning, strategizing, and moving
forward. Our children's futures, and those of their
unborn children, are at stake."
~ Lois
Gibbs
"The
main lesson to be learned from the Love Canal crisis is
that in order to protect public health from chemical contamination,
there needs to be a massive outcry--a choir of voices--by
the American people demanding change."
~ Lois
Gibbs
When
it comes to global health, there is no 'them'... only 'us.'"
-- Global Health Council
*
It's
important for people of color to link up with issues
around globalization, food security, health, the environment.
-- Danny
Glover
"...
leadership has to be focused on some very radical ideas
that only we as 21st Century people can talk about: making
sure people have a livelihood, making sure people receive
a living wage, making sure the environment, the Mother Earth,
is embraced and cherished and not destroyed. Making sure
people are healthy in what they eat, making sure we hold
people and corporations accountable for the damage they
do not only to our environment but to our institutions."
-- Danny
Glover
"Ionizing
radiation may well be the most important single cause
of cancer, birth defects and genetic disorders...
The stakes for human health are very, very high in
radiation matters. It is essential that people take
no chance that conflict-of-interest is producing radiation
databases which cannot be trusted."
-- Dr.
John Gofman
Do
you realize that $150 billion of our tax money is
given to the corporations, unions and wealthy people
for tax breaks, special subsidies and special regulations?
That money would be available for health and education
and building bridges. -- Doris
Haddock (Granny D)
*
We
have proven that with a clear vision of a better tomorrow,
a strong dose of determination, and the hard work
of many dedicated people, we can ease suffering and
save lives around the world.
-- Dr.
Victoria Hale
If
you have health, you probably will be happy, and if you
have health and happiness, you have all the wealth you need,
even if it is not all you want.
~ Elbert Hubbard
Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation,
which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say
more necessary because health is worth more than learning.”
~ Thomas
Jefferson
*
women
are the victims of war... as widows they've faced
the trauma of being single parents and livelihoods
of families are affected. A lot of gender-related
problems come up in terms of health, education, domestic
violence, etc.
-- Kumari
Jayawardena
*
Every
day we hear about the dangers of cancer, heart disease
and AIDS. But how many of us realize that, in much
of the world, the act of giving life to a child is
still the biggest killer of women of child-bearing
age?
-- Liya
Kebede
*
The
message of our campaign is "Make every mother and
child count". This campaign is not just about health.
It is also a powerful call for radical progress in
women's rights and the rights of their children. Too
often, the health of mothers and children does not
count. In too many parts of the world, they are forgotten.
-- Liya
Kebede
*
"...the
gross national product does not allow for the health
of our children, the quality of their education or the
joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of
our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence
of our public debate or the integrity of our public
officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage,
neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion
nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything
in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. "
-- Robert
F. Kennedy
*
I
think it's important for me as an actor that I say
these are the issues I'm going to be committed to.
One of them for me is women and children's health
around the world and their rights;the other is ovarian
cancer.
-- Nicole
Kidman
"Everyone
should have health insurance? I say everyone should
have health care. I'm not selling insurance."
-- Dennis
Kucinich
*
Of
all of the forms of inequality, injustice in health
is the most shocking and the most inhumane. --
Martin
Luther King, Jr
*
There
are all kinds of things you can do to marry literacy
with health.
-- C.
Everett Koop
*
...Poor
health care is a weapon of mass destruction. Poor
education is a weapon of mass destruction. Discrimination
is a weapon of mass destruction. Let us abolish such
weapons of mass destruction here at home.
-- Dennis
Kucinich
Poverty
is a weapon of mass destruction. Joblessness is a
weapon of mass destruction, homelessness, a weapon
of mass destruction... racism, a weapon of mass destruction,
fear, a weapon of mass destruction. We must disarm
these weapons and renew our commitment to quality
public schools and dedicated teachers and good housing
and quality health care and decent jobs and stronger
neighborhoods.
-- Dennis
Kucinich
*
We
have an opportunity to focus global attention on what
should be obvious: every mother, and every child, counts.
They count because we value every human life. The evidence
is clear that healthy mothers and children are the bedrock
of healthy and prosperous communities and nations.
~ Dr.
LEE Jong-wook, WHO Secretary-General
"...thousands
of women could be saved each year if they had access to
skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth, and access
to emergency obstetric care. Most of the interventions they
need are simple, affordable, and highly effective."
~ Dr.
LEE Jong-wook, WHO Secretary-General
"Our
message today is one of hope. It is about potential waiting
to be fulfilled: the surest way to meet the global challenges
we face now and in the future is to make every mother
and child count.
~ Dr.
LEE Jong-wook, WHO Secretary-General
*
"Poor
countries are being forced to deal with an unprecedented
health crisis without the means to tackle it . Governments
can only show how seriously they are taking this crisis
by taking immediate action to provide four million
extra health workers and to grant those in need access
to affordable medicines." --
Annie
Lennox
All
mankind... being all equal and independent, no one
ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty
or possessions.
-- John
Locke
*
The
International Declaration of Human Rights says the
right to housing, health, education should be guaranteed
to everyone. The moment these things are provided,
we will have a different world order and nuclear
weapons will become less of a threat.
--
Bernard
Lown
*
Well-fed
people can enhance their dignity, their health and
their learning capacity. Putting resources into social
programs is not expenditure. It is investment.
-- Luiz
Lula da Silva
Life
is not merely to be alive, but to be well.
~ Marcus Valerius Martial
Love
cures people - both the ones who give it and the ones who
receive it.
~ Dr.Karl Menninger
*
"Words
cannot fully express the devastation and horror caused
by NTDs. Until now, these diseases have been hidden
in the shadows, but working with the Global Network,
I am focused on bringing this tragedy to the public
eye."
-- Alyssa
Milano
*
We
are the richest country in the world. We spend more
on health care than any other country. Yet we have the
worst health care in the Western world. Come on. We
can do better than this.
-- Michael
Moore
The
worst enemy of humanity is U.S. capitalism. That is
what provokes uprisings like our own, a rebellion
against a system, against a neoliberal model, which
is the representation of a savage capitalism. If the
entire world doesn't acknowledge this reality, that
the national states are not providing even minimally
for health, education and nourishment, then each day
the most fundamental human rights are being violated.
-- Evo
Morales
*
"Our
motto is to work for peace based on social justice.
Our mandate is to improve the condition, health and
safety of workers, and our mission is universal."
-- David
A. Morse
*
I
am convinced that whenever we exaggerate or demonize,
oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever
we dumb down the political debate, we lose. For it's
precisely the pursuit of ideological purity, the rigid
orthodoxy and the sheer predictability of our current
political debate, that keeps us from finding new ways
to meet the challenges we face as a country. It's
what keeps us locked in "either/or" thinking: the
notion that we can only have big government or no
government; the assumption that we must either tolerate
forty-six million without health insurance or embrace
"socialized medicine."
-- Barack
Obama
*
"Society
may be formed so as to exist without crime, without
poverty, with health greatly improved, with little,
if any misery, and with intelligence and happiness
increased a hundredfold; and no obstacle whatsoever
intervenes at this moment except ignorance to prevent
such a state of society from becoming universal."
-- Robert
Owen
The
welfare and the future of our societies depend on our capacity
to remain mobilized so as to improve the health of every
mother and child.
~ Jean Ping, President of the UN General Assembly
*
Kids
are dying from diarrhea ... that just shouldn't be
in this day and age, and it's that kind of thing that
needs to be changed. Enough is enough
-- Brad
Pitt
*
Let
us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child
dies every three seconds simply because he does not
have the drugs you and I have. Let us be the ones
to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth
determines your right to life. Let us be outraged,
let us be loud, let us be bold."
-- Brad
Pitt
"Well
being of the society is linked to safe mothers and childhood."
~ Honourable Anbumani Ramadoss, Minister of Health and Family
Welfare, India
*
Free
education and health care are essential for the welfare
of the population.
-- José
Ramos-Horta
*
We
live in a time when the words impossible and unsolvable
are no longer part of the scientific community's vocabulary.
Each day we move closer to trials that will not just
minimize the symptoms of disease and injury but eliminate
them.
-- Christopher
Reeve
*
Your
emotional state has a tremendous amount to do with
sickness, health and well-being. For years, my husband
and I lived on -- and because of -- hope.
-- Dana
Reeve
*The
time has come to end this charade. The debts are unaffordable.
If they won't cancel the debts I would suggest obstruction;
you do it yourselves. Africa should say: 'thank you
very much but we need this money to meet the needs
of children who are dying right now so we will put
the debt servicing payments into urgent social investment
in health, education, drinking water, control of AIDS
and other needs.'
-- Jeffrey
Sachs
The
essence of Africa's crisis is fundamentally its extreme
poverty and therefore its inability to mobilize out of its
own resources even the barest of minimum resources to address
any of the public health crises that Africa faces.
-- Jeffrey
Sachs
"Shamefully,
the United States remains the only major country on
earth that does not guarantee health care to all people.
The United States must move toward a Medicare-for-all
single-payer system. Health care is a right, not a
privilege."
~ Sen.
Bernie Sanders
Sometimes
the lack of substantive freedoms relates directly to
economic poverty, which robs people of the freedom to
satisfy hunger; or to achieve sufficient nutrition,
or to obtain remedies for treatable illnesses or the
opportunity to be adequatley clothed or sheltered, or
to enjoy clean water or sanitary facilities. In other
cases, the unfreedom links closely to the lack of public
facilities and social care, such as the absence of epidemiological
programs, or of organized arrangements for the health
care or educational facilities, or of effective insititutions
for the maintenance of local peace and order. In still
other cases, the violation of freedom results directly
from a denial of political and civil liberties by authoritarian
regimes and from imposed restrictions on the freedom
to participate in the social, political and economic
life of the community. -- Amartya
Sen
*
Of
all the anti-social vested interests the worst is
the vested interest in ill-health.
-- George
Bernard Shaw, 1911
*
"My
goal in life is to leave behind a safe and healthy
world for our children. Before I leave this world,
I want to be satisfied that at least I tried. I know
I can make a difference, even if it might only be
a small one." -- Maisie
Shiell
*
“Children
who grow up getting nutrition from plant foods rather
than meats have a tremendous health advantage. They
are less likely to develop weight problems, diabetes,
high blood pressure and some forms of cancer”
-- Dr.
Benjamin Spock
It's
bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my
children's health than the pediatrician.
~ Meryl Streep
*
“A
real medicine can only exist when it penetrates into
a knowledge which embraces the human being in respect
to body, soul and spirit.”
-- Rudolf
Steiner
“The
result [Republicans winning the Senate] would be devastating
for reproductive choice, the environment, civil liberties,
Social Security and health care, as well as corporate
accountability.”
-- Barbra
Streisand
*
People
are ready to say, 'Yes, we are ready for single-payer
health insurance.' We are the only industrialized
country in the world that does not have national health
insurance. We are the richest in wealth and the poorest
in health of all the industrial nations.
-- Studs
Terkel
I
read somewhere that when a person takes part in community
action, his health improves. Something happens to
him or to her biologically. It's like a tonic.
-- Studs
Terkel
*A
society is judged by the way it cares for its most
vulnerable citizens. As an American, I am ashamed
that we have turned out backs on millions of our children.
I want to do my part to rectify this terrible situation.
-- Marlo
Thomas
Every
child deserves a chance at a life filled with love,
laughter, friends and family. We are working to find
the cures that will give these youngsters a fighting
chance. When a child or parent faces an uncertain
disease like cancer, they can find hope at St. Jude
-- a place where miracles can and do happen.
--
Marlo
Thomas
Every
child deserves a chance
at a life filled with love,
laughter, friends and family.
--
Marlo
Thomas
"Be
careful about reading health books. You may die of a
misprint."
-- Mark
Twain
*
We,
The World is dedicated to bringing about a new vision
of a world where every life matters. In this world,
societies are organized to cultivate holistic health
of body, mind and spirit in which individuals look
upon themselves and all other life with compassion,
caring, cooperation and goodwill.
--
Rick
Ulfik
Poverty
is multidimensional. It extends beyond money incomes
to education, health care, political participation
and advancement of one's own culture and social organisation.
-- Atal
Bihari Vajpayee
On
issue after issue, the polls -- and these are not
snapshot polls; these are polls over a consistent
period of time -- show that most Americans share what
one could call core liberal or progressive values:
investment in health care and education over tax cuts;
fair trade over free trade; corporate accountability
over deregulation; environmental protection over laissez-faire
policies; defending Social Security and Medicare over
privatizing them; raising the minimum wage over eliminating
it. The country prefers progressive alternatives to
the failed policies of the conservative right.
-- Katrina
vanden Heuvel
The
greatest wealth is health.
~ Virgil
*
I
believe that humanity has an uphill battle to wage
in its fight to attain real health, and I honestly
believe - from hard-earned experience - that homeopathy
can offer some solution to this problem.
-- George
Vithoulkas
*
War
and the preparation for war rob resources from human
security. As long as we honour war and warriors we
maintain fear and hate, always based on ignorance;
and fear is the enemy of learning, it gives ignorance
its power. As long as we misplace money for weapons
– we keep water polluted, we keep far too many women
illiterate and unskilled, we prevent health care and
education from being universally enjoyed – we promote
poverty. These are among the root causes of violent
conflict.
--
Cora
Weiss
*
"A
federation of all humanity, together with a sufficient
measure of social justice, to ensure health, education,
and a rough equality of opportunity to most of the children
born into the world, would mean such a release and increase
of human energy as to open a new phase in human history."
-- H.
G. Wells
*
“We
must not leave the health of our families and protection
of the world ecology to corporations, governments
and military organizations preoccupied with profit,
power and armed conquest. Rather, we must take that
responsibility into our own hands. It’s up to us to
come together across cultural and political divides
to prevent these military-industrial polluters from
degrading the earth and threatening the well-being
of our communities for their own selfish interests.”
-- Craig
Williams
Health
is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being,
and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
~ World Health Organization, 1948
