Virtual and Real Worlds, Together Toward Progress

I read The Millennium Development Goals Report and I feel that the eight goals are relevant, important and essential. My first reaction is that the best use of information technology is the rapid dissemination of the best approaches and practices. Access to information and studies, and the documentation of successes could bridge the fragmented distribution of the public health initiatives and the myriad of organizations.

If the Information Age refers to a time when the velocity of information trumps physical progress, the challenge is then to preserve the human element. While we can fund literacy programs, education programs, computers in classrooms, we must also get the children into the classrooms. We should seek to ameliorate the human condition.

What I am unclear about--and would certainly be curious to learn--is the context of the Information Age in achieving these goals. It is important for program managers to share ideas and progress, but can information channels alone help the poorest of the poor climb out of abject poverty without the physical, human presence?

The realization of today's leaders of the importance of fundamental health issues is triumphant. Together, virtual and real worlds are tasked to carry this progress forward. The prospect of the Information Age may close the digital divide, but it may also hold promise to close the global divide.

I would be honored to listen to and participate in the UN's Forum on the Millennium Development Goals.