Zero Discrimination Day: Humanity Needs Compassion, Not Further Divisions

By Dr. Namwinga Chintu, Africa Partnership Director, WomenLift Health

This Zero Discrimination Day, I encourage you to use your voice to advocate for the improvement of poor health outcomes that have been perpetuated by gender and other types of discrimination, especially in low-and-middle-income countries, to make health for all a reality.

I challenge you to — in your own way — create spaces for open, constructive dialogue. To reflect on the biases that have shaped your world view, to open your eyes to the inequalities around us and take action to create a world that is just, inclusive and equitable, where compassion trumps the need to be loud, right and “better than” others; where we can all thrive not in spite of our differences, but because of them.

To be human is to base our ideas and opinions on personal experience and deep-seated beliefs, whether consciously or subconsciously, and to project these views and their accompanying prejudices onto those around us. It’s to discriminate against that which is different, that which we do not understand and that threatens to push us out of our comfort zones, and to lean towards the familiar; the safe.

To be human is also to have the ability to recognize these biases and to acknowledge their impacts on our relationships, and to want to do better not just for us, but for those around us. It’s to recognize that we are all connected, and that these connections can only thrive when we embrace both our similarities and our differences.

Imagine how conversations would be if we all shared the same views and ideas; how uninteresting life would be if we were all cut from the same cloth. What would a homogeneous world mean for culture, food, fashion, entertainment, growth and development and indeed, our evolution as the human race?

We live in interesting times. This is the Age of Information, where everything we need is available at the touch of a button or tap of a screen. Thanks to the Internet, social media and mobile phones, we are producing more data and information than ever before, generating at least 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day (that’s 2.5 followed by 18 zeros by the way) and approximately two billion tweets a year.

Yet even with all the information around us, we lean towards what we already know, to use information to reinforce our beliefs rather than familiarize ourselves with that which is different. Instead of using all the information at our disposal to create connections with people whose opinions and experiences differ from ours, we often gravitate towards likeminded groups and build walls to keep anyone different out.

But what if we changed this? What if we tapped into the wealth of knowledge around us to address the crippling biases that lead us to discriminate against fellow human beings because of differences in gender, race, religion, tribe, age, income and so on? What if we leveraged information to deepen connections instead of creating divisions; if we embraced all the little nuances that make us unique and used them to enrich the human experience and bridge the increasingly widening equality gap?

Acknowledging the existence of discrimination and the resultant inequalities it creates is the first step towards making the world a better place. We all deserve to live in a world where nobody has to demand equality or justify its importance, where women can lead alongside men, where we can all have the same access to quality, affordable healthcare, to economic opportunities, and where we can all enjoy the freedom to express ourselves in word and deed.

In seeking to create this world, we can address the impact of discrimination on the health outcomes of segments of the population often referred to as “marginalised groups”. Men, women and children who are discriminated against because they are poor, live in relatively less developed areas, have lower levels of education and whose voices are often silenced by their circumstances.

By ending discrimination, we can stop the vicious cycle of inequality, disenfranchisement and discontent we are increasingly finding ourselves in, where income disparities and failure to protect basic human rights and freedoms are threatening the fabric of humanity. We can reduce maternal mortality from the current 533 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births (that’s about 200,000 maternal deaths a year) and ensure that no woman loses her life to bring forth life; that no man, woman or child dies from diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS — diseases of poverty and glaring inequality that are all treatable and preventable.