Vaccinations and malaria pills

I went to the travel doctor yesterday. I honestly expected to have to spend a lot of money on the shots and pills, but I ended up only have to get one shot and buying the typhoid pills and malaria medicine. Still $205 worth of medicine, but only one needle stick so I am grateful.

When I stop and think about that, however, it messes with me a little bit. $205 is not a small amount of money. Yes it could have been more, but I was just thinking about how that would feel if I had no means of supporting myself and had a greater chance of getting those diseases I got immunized against. What if this weren't for an upcoming trip, but instead for my life, of for the life of a loved one? To me, the price is one to pay as I set out on this journey. One that is included, just like the cost of the airline tickets. But what if that were not the reason I needed the vaccine or the malaria medicine? Considering that the average Rwandan family makes under $200 a year, I know exactly what that would do to me. Exactly how that would feel. Discouraging. Insurmountable. Hopeless. 

And the sad truth is that there are thousands of people who die every year from the diseases I just got vaccinated for. Thousands of people, probably millions of people, who die of PREVENTABLE diseases every year. 

It begs the question, why? Is it just because I was born here and they were born there? Because I live in a country that is prosperous and blessed and they live in an impoverished and developing one? Why does that matter? Is my life worth more than those? Should my life be worth any more than the 5 year old Ethiopian child who died today of malaria, possibly without anyone knowing his name? Or is my life worth any more than the daughter of a prostitute who is dying of AIDS, whose mother is only trying to provide (by whatever means) for her children? Why can they not receive medical care also? Why is the price so high?

I have worked in health care here and I can see that the price is too much. The price for health care in the U.S. is huge. But what is worse than that is that the price is great around the world, in countries without programs and things in place to help those who can't afford to be treated. Preventable, treatable diseases killing children. That messes with me. Makes me wonder what does the price tag on those lives say? And who decides?