Alternatives to Trump’s Wall – Third World Aid

How did Donald Trump win the US election? It’s a hot topic for debate. But one thing that may have led to his success is the constant promise to “build a wall” between the United States and Mexico. Stretching 1,000 miles across the southern border – complemented by natural barriers like mountains – the wall has been given a $31 billion price tag by experts. How else could this money be spent though?

First world problems

With all his talk of building walls, banning immigration and ignoring global warming, the new US president has hardly given off the impression that he’s concerned about helping the world. However, one of the areas his $31 billion wall money would make a huge impact is in third world countries like Somalia, Malawi and Ethiopia.

Better healthcare in first world countries means it’s predominantly more complex diseases that threaten life. This means the average cost to save a life in places like the US is over a thousand dollars. In contrast, third world countries are seeing huge amount of people die from basic diseases which can be easily treated. No forms of cancer even make the top ten in low-income countries, according to the World Health Organisation.

As a whole, infectious diseases are the leading cause of death in low-income countries. The likes of HIV, lung infections, tuberculosis, diarrhoeal diseases and malaria are the top contenders. Malaria alone kills over a million people each year, 90 percent of whom live south of the Sahara. An effective treatment – ACTs – cost just $2.50 per adult dose. With $31 billion, Donald Trump could treat 12,400,000,000 (over twelve billion) adults. Considering there are only 7 billion people in the world, it would be a pretty helpful contribution.

Build wells not walls

But tackling these diseases at source would also help. Mosquito nets, which can protect two people for around 4 years, cost just $2.50. Again, Trump could buy billions of these instead of building a wall. A number of diseases are also spread through dirty water. Around 80 percent of illnesses are linked to poor water in developing countries.

Polluted water is a problem that extends beyond the third world. The Rio 2016 Olympics were even found to be affected by “worrying trends in water pollution”. And while there is no “one size fits all” cost for building wells, The Water Project estimates the cost at $30,000 for the most advanced systems. Even for a large, deep well that uses electric pumps, diesel generators and storage tanks, the cost seems minute compared to “that wall”. Based on this cost, Trump could build over a million advanced wells. So what should it be – wells or a wall?