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According to [[buddhism]] birth is the beginning of suffering, and death is the end of it. Death can be a mercy, and a beautiful thing. I hope to die well one day, and not live forever. If modern medicine would be able to prevent my death forever, I don't think I'd opt in. This is not about that.

Some deaths _should_ be prevented. Deaths resulting from violence ([[war]], [[crime]], but also car accidents) are preventable, and we should do something about them. Child mortality through preventable diseases falls into the same category in my mind. 

Max Roser puts it very well:

> What is true for child mortality is true for many other large problems. Humanity faces many problems where things have improved over time, which are still terrible, and for which we know that things can get better.

[[https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better|Max Roser (2022) - “The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.”]]

====== Scale of the problem ======

It seems unrealistic to from now on prevent all preventable deaths. That means we need to choose which ones to attempt first. The  [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preventable_causes_of_death|preventable causes of death]] are reasonably well documented. Amazingly, in the western world the top cause of the problem is physical inactivity, which is very easy to remedy in theory. Just go for a walk with a friend that has trouble to go alone, and you're working on this problem already :). In lower income countries, the problem gets hairier and low socioeconomic status and poor healthcare become more prominent as a cause. 

I think we should not underestimate the power of simple good habits. My plan is to list some habits we can have personally that would have an impact on the problem of preventable death.

======  Go for a walk  ======

Whenever the doubt about what to do next overwhelms me, I go for a walk. 

Walking is one of the least harmful physical activities. In that, it fits well with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primum_non_nocere|principle of doing no harm]]. This principle is best known from the hippocratic oath, but in my opinion it should be applied much wider in society. That aside, walking is a very nice activity in and of itself.

If it is desirable to meet with someone, very often this meeting can consist of a walk, instead of sitting somewhere together. This is a good habit, I try to remember as much as I can.

====== Improve socio-economic status ======
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====== Improve education ======
…