In December, I had the privilege of attending the Africa Bitcoin Convention (ABC) in Accra, Ghana. As a public well being professor with a background in well being training and group well being, this may increasingly seem to be an odd convention to attend, however this journey was pivotal for me because it introduced me to my father’s start nation for the primary time and linked me to the wonder and resilience of Ghanaians, their combat for freedom, and cemented my concepts that cash is a public well being subject.
Whereas in Ghana, I met extremely vivid folks from engineers to grassroots group educators from varied elements of the continent and the world, together with just a few fellow Canadians. I additionally had the prospect to fulfill with one in all my uncles for the primary time, and we walked round Kwame Nkrumah sq. on a superbly sunny and scorching day. We toured the park the place Nkrumah’s Mausoleum was, and my uncle proudly walked round with me, taking a look at every landmark and memorabilia, and we discovered about Kwame Nkrumah’s life and political reign because the President of Ghana. I used to be in a position to revisit Nkrumah’s story which led Ghana to independence in 1957, a day celebrated by Ghanaians and lots of Africans, as this present day represented hope and true freedom.
A couple of days later, I toured the College of Ghana, Legon campus, a stunning and intellectually vibrant campus. Amongst different locations, I walked into the campus bookstore and was immediately interested in books on matters of decentralized authorities and central banking, particularly books by Kwamena Ahwoi and Ivor Ageman-Duah.
This led me to mirror on among the discussions at ABC about points associated to the centralization of cash. These points made me notice that centralized cash, particularly fiat cash, which is imposed on many voters the world over by governmental decree, is dangerous to public well being as a result of it’s marred by debt, corruption, colonial management constructions, and lack of clear guidelines. What number of tens of millions of African lives might have been saved, wars averted, staff, and companies free of financial shackles if cash was not constructed upon debt?
Public well being is in the end about what we, as people in society, select to do to guard ourselves, households, and our communities. If we proceed to repeat our previous actions, we supply on to construct public well being interventions on a flawed socioeconomic basis and treating signs of a damaged financial system. Thus, I’ve come to the conclusion that we have to discover the deserves of latest cash like bitcoin so it could type a extra sturdy base layer of society.
What’s Cash?
Cash is meant to be a medium of alternate, unit of an account, and a retailer of worth [1]. Nonetheless, our cash in the present day is way from a retailer of worth. These days, folks should earn their cash twice: first, work to earn a paycheck, and secondly, determining a option to make investments a portion in property or monetary merchandise as a result of their {dollars} lose worth resulting from inflation and forex debasement. This example impacts on a regular basis peoples’ capacity to maintain up with the price of their dwelling and thus negatively impacts their lives and well being in devastating methods. It additionally causes costs of meals and power to rise [2]. Research present that debt and monetary stress is related to varied antagonistic well being outcomes akin to despair, suicide ideation, weight problems, and heart problems [3, 4]. World wide these well being points are at epidemic ranges.
Traditionally, the economic system of fiat cash and debt has been ignored by earlier analysis [5]. In lots of nations, cash is centrally managed, printed out of skinny air by authorities, and serviced by debt contributing to disaster conditions. Additionally, the principles of how cash is created and circulated is opaque to the on a regular basis particular person. This hurts working-class individuals who save in cash that depreciates over time. Subsequently, there’s a want for cash that can not be debased by central authorities so folks can protect the fruits of their labor. Cash, like bitcoin, might encourage extra low-time choice behaviors the place folks might really save and work much less thereby decreasing stress and detrimental psychological well being issues related to monetary worries of the longer term.
Bitcoin is public software program code that permits for an open peer-to-peer system of cash that anybody can be a part of and is dominated by guidelines and never rulers. Extra particularly, it’s a new financial community that’s deflationary and counter to the prevailing inflationary system of fiat cash that operates world wide. In the event you haven’t already, I invite you to re-visit Bitcoin and ask your self why it’s possible you’ll be dismissing it. Bitcoin isn’t “crypto” and isn’t the reason for the scams on fraudulent exchanges like FTX. To study cash creation and the ills that it spawns in society, I encourage you to learn books like:
- The Fiat Customary by Saifedean Ammous.
- Bitcoin is Higher by Daniel Hershberger.
- The Hidden Price of Cash by Seb Bunney.
- The Worth of Tomorrow by Jeff Sales space,
- Fiat Ruins Every thing, by Jimmy Tune, and
- Damaged Cash by Lyn Alden.
Debt-based cash is a public well being subject, and we should begin recognizing it as such.
The Well being Affect Pyramid and The Base Layer
In 2010, Dr. Thomas Frieden, an American infectious illness physician and public well being doctor revealed “A Framework for Public Well being Motion: The Well being Affect Pyramid,” a principle that’s broadly utilized in well being promotion in the present day [6]. In it, the five-layered pyramid reveals a hierarchy of public well being and well being interventions. On the base layer are socioeconomic elements which are foundational to creating the best inhabitants affect. Frieden goes on to say that “interventions specializing in the decrease ranges of the pyramid are typically simpler as a result of they attain broader segments of society and require much less particular person effort.”
Given the significance of socioeconomic elements, I imagine that public well being and well being care professionals ought to intervene to enhance this base layer of inhabitants well being by analyzing the underlying well being of fiat cash and advocating for higher cash. If fiat cash is certainly damaged it can’t adequately assist public well being intervention. “Earnings” or “dwelling wages” are incessantly advocated for; nonetheless, these elements are downstream from cash. Successfully, if we maintain advocating for secondary elements to vary when the bottom layer of cash is damaged, it is sort of a physician treating the signs of a illness with out first addressing the basis trigger.
Public Well being Advocacy
Nearly 100 years in the past, earlier than Frieden’s work, the Canadian Public Well being Affiliation (CPHA) was established as a sovereign voice within the nation with connections to the worldwide group [7]. World wide, related organizations exist, just like the American Public Well being Affiliation, Africa Healthcare Federation, European Public Well being Affiliation, Affiliation of Asian Pacific Neighborhood Well being Organizations, Public Well being Affiliation of Australia, and Public Well being Affiliation of New Zealand to call just a few. These organizations play an lively function in shaping coverage and public discourse within the area of public well being and well being care. For instance, CPHA performs a serious function in advocacy for bringing consciousness to points that warrant nationwide consideration. Over the previous seven years, CPHA has referred to as consideration to a number of points together with naming psychological well being, local weather change, and even racism a public well being subject. More and more, points associated to the social determinants like anti-racism have obtained a whole lot of consideration each nationally and domestically given its associations with colonialism and inequality. This and elevated nationwide recognition of inequality in Canada has contributed to the renaming of distinguished locations within the nation like Ryerson College, which is now generally known as Toronto Metropolitan College and most not too long ago there have been talks led by Toronto’s Metropolis Council to rename Younger-Dundas Sq. to Sankofa Sq. [8].
As a Ghanaian Caribbean Canadian, this actually strikes me as a superficial option to tackle social inequality in Canada. Sankofa is a time period that derives from the Akan Tribe of Ghana that’s depicted by a hen that’s trying again with an egg that signifies the longer term, saying “At all times bear in mind the previous for therein lies the longer term, if forgotten we’re destined to repeat it.” [9] Renaming historic and distinguished locations within the metropolis could also be acceptable ought to there be sufficient community-backing; nonetheless, if it fails to deal with the basis dysfunction on the base layer, debt-based cash.
If we’re to mirror upon historical past, cowrie shells had been as soon as used as cash in West Africa. Ultimately, European merchants infiltrated the system and debased the cowrie shells which decreased their financial worth [10]. Whereas the European merchants disturbed the native economies, we have to have a look at the bigger subject that no matter race, man’s coronary heart isn’t glad and is lured to need extra. This identical trait is existent in our present centralized financial methods in Canada and world wide. We want cash that can not be debased by one other human being.
The Way forward for Public Well being and Cash
As public well being professionals, it’s essential for us to dig into the problems we stand behind and perceive the function that cash itself performs within the social determinants that affect well being. At the moment, in Canada, common fundamental earnings is a scorching subject, and intense analysis and debate is underway to suggest a nationwide framework [11]. Such proposals by previous presidential candidates in america and elsewhere have additionally introduced this as much as tackle inequities. Election years are presently upon us, now in america and in 2025 in Canada and public well being and healthcare professionals ought to have an lively voice in defending decentralized cash, i.e., bitcoin, so the free market can select the most effective cash for society.
Public well being and well being care professionals ought to take into account the next three main factors:
- Be taught concerning the historical past of cash: Learn books, watch, and take heed to podcasts that discover the evolution and improvements of cash and the way centralized fiat cash can result in poor outcomes for society. Some notable podcasts embody Natalie Brunell’s “Exhausting Cash” present; Preston Pysh’s “Bitcoin Fundamentals”; Robert Breedlove, “What’s Cash?”; Peter McCormack’s “What Bitcoin Did”; and movies by Luke Broyles and BTC Classes (Ben Perrin). Additionally, take into account becoming a member of your native Bitcoin meetup group to be taught extra about Bitcoin with folks in your group or take into account volunteering with nonprofits like Bitcoin is Higher that goals to introduce Bitcoin as sound cash to the working class.
- Naming Debt-Cash as a Public Well being Situation: As we enter election years now in nations akin to america and Canada, public well being and well being care professionals ought to take into account elevating their voices to call debt-money as a well being subject. The detrimental results of a centralized monetary system on the socioeconomic standing of people, which instantly impacts well being outcomes, needs to be explored, acknowledged, and addressed.
- Selling Public Discourse on Bitcoin: Public discourse ought to embody conversations round what insurance policies are wanted to guard all residents’ entry to a decentralized system like Bitcoin. Extra particularly, we must always brazenly look at what well being outcomes and social fairness would appear like if there was a world economic system that drew its financial power from a base of solely 21,000,000 divisible models. Might life, and particularly public well being, be higher?
References
- Manuel Tacanho, (2022) https://mises.org/wire/money-what-it-more-important-question-why-it Date accessed February 17, 2024
- Ainul Mohsein, A.M., Taib, F.M, & Sani, S.A. (2019). Rising Price of Residing: The Function of Fiat Cash and Cash Creation. Worldwide Journal of Accounting, Finance and Enterprise (IJAFB), 4(22), 116-125
- Swarup, S. S., et al. (2024). “Cardiovascular penalties of economic stress: A scientific assessment and meta-analysis.” Present Issues in Cardiology 49(2): 102153.
- Turunen, E., Hiilamo, H. Well being results of indebtedness: a scientific assessment. BMC Public Well being 14, 489 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-489
- Friedline, T., Chen, Z. & Morrow, S. (2021). Households’ Monetary Stress & Effectively-Being: The Significance of the Economic system and Financial Environments. J Fam Econ Iss 42 (Suppl 1), 34–51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-020-09694-9
- Frieden, T.R. (2010, April). A framework for public well being motion: The well being affect pyramid. American Journal of Public Well being, 100 (4), 590–595. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.185652
- Canadian Public Well being Affiliation, https://www.cpha.ca/vision-and-mission, Date accessed February 17, 2024
- Toronto Metropolis Council Approves “Sankofa Sq.” as new title for Yonge-Dundas Sq. and initiates plans to rename different Metropolis property that embody the title Dundas:https://www.toronto.ca/information/toronto-city-council-approves-sankofa-square-as-new-name-for-yonge-dundas-square-and-initiates-plans-to-rename-other-city-assets-that-include-the-name-dundas/ Date accessed February 17, 2024
- Kwarteng, Appiah Kubi (2016), Journal of Utilized Christian Management: Vol. 10: No. 1, 60-69.
- The Shell Cash of the Slave Commerce, Jan Hogendorn, Marion Johnson https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/topics/historical past/regional-history-after-1500/shell-money-slave-trade
- When might Common Primary Earnings begin in Canada, Christl Dabu, https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/when-could-universal-basic-income-start-in-canada-1.6770762, Date accessed February 17, 2024