The World's Biggest Problems

These are 10 of what I think are the world's biggest problems:

1. Access to education
In many countries, children do not have access to education. This is primarily because of gender, social class, and intelligence. In some countries, if a child is not deemed smart enough, they are kicked out of school. When a girl starts her menstrual cycle, she cannot go to school for one week out of the month and falls behind. There are some organizations that don't believe girls should have access to education. A simple way to solve this problem, which has started to be implemented, is to build more secure schools. However, the schools need to stay open. Some are built and opened and then not sustained. In some third world countries, schools are too far away. If the schools were closer to villages and safer for children, there could be more accessible education.
2. Access to technology
Another issue that goes hand in hand with the prior is access to technology. Technology provides a singular person access to almost the entire world. One child in the third world could see something on the internet that could change the course of his life forever. To make this happen, infrastructure would need to be implemented first. If one cable company or philanthropist was willing to donate internet cafes throughout the third world, access to the internet and other technology would become a reality.
3. Access to clean water
Water access is a huge issue. Unclean water can contain pathogens that kill people within days. There are already some solutions to this problem, including the filter straw that allows people to drink from almost any source of water. Another solution would be to put filters on water outputs, so instead of having to filter the water through a  straw, the water would already be clean.
4. Gender Equality
In many places, men and women are not seen equally. In the workplace, women on average earn less then men. A simple solution would be to offer incentives to companies who pay equally. Another solution that reaches outside of the workplace would be to have companies with a reputation for treating the sexes equally to start programs in which the gender inequality gap is larger.
5. Access to information (news)
There are countries that restrict the news their citizens can see or hear or read. In other countries, where the press laws are more liberal, stories can be skewed to present a certain point a view. A simple solution would be a news company that presented only the facts. No back story, no filler words; short, simple sentences that presented all the facts from a story. This would allow more people to be informed and make their own conclusions on their opinions.
6. Cost of travel
In a world that is globalizing so quickly, it is very expensive to get from point A to point B. Young people who want to travel can't afford it because airfare and lodging is so expensive. A solution would be a travel agency that offered student/young adult discounts so students could see the world before they had to settle down.
7. Fast Food
There are two reasons fast food is so desirable. First is convenience. Many people like the aspect of having a meal in 15 minutes, especially in this face paced world. The second is affordability. Nothing pleases a poor college student more than a dollar menu. These appeals lead to and have led to a very unhealthy generation. A solution would be a restaurant chain that offered healthy, cost effective alternatives to fast food. If the prices and wait times are the same, maybe people would choose a healthier sandwich over a burger.
8. Road Safety
So many young people are dying on the roads due to distractions. I think our generation feels they need distractions to focus. For example, listening to music while reading a textbook. However, a textbook isn't going 80 miles an hour on the interstate. I think there are two solutions. 1. Drivers education courses teach students how to drive with distractions. The car is never going to be silent, and drivers are never going to be confined to a drivers course, So, a driving simulation with music and people talking would allow drivers to be used to distractions and not let them effect their driving. 2. Cars with systems that cut down on distractions. Ones that block text messages from coming through to the phone, or allowing the driver to only accept calls if they are connected to a Bluetooth device.
9. Housing
In many developed parts of the world, housing is hard to come by. Business hubs that house many jobs are often very expensive places to live (New York, for example.) Even in college towns where students don't have very much discretionary income to spend on convenient apartments, rent is high. If there was a company that offered low rent nationally only to people under a certain age, they could do very well. It would be similar to a rent controlled model.
10. Addiction
Addiction is a gateway disease. It leads to a spiral of more and more destructive behavior. One could make the argument that if there was more access to addiction cures, it could take a domino effect to cure other problems. Public rehabilitation centers often having waiting lists for months and few private centers accept insurance. If more private rehabilitation accepted wider varieties of health insurance, more people could get the help they need instead of continuing down the dangerous path they are on.