An article published in the Kearney Hub on Monday September 20th, sent to press by the United Nations, outlines the latest attempt to control poverty. According to the article, "recent reports show that the world's poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, have made little head-way in eradicating poverty." The article states that the poorest of the countries will most likely be left out of the reform because their governments are "not accountable to their people". The article outlines some figures of poverty provided by the U.N.:
-"Overall, the world is on track to halve the numbers of people in extreme poverty, though some critics say it's mainly because of tremendous improvements in China and India."
-"The U.N. said about 920 million people will still be living on less than $1.25 a day in 2015."
-"Primary school enrollment rose from 83 % in 2000 to 89% in 2008, which means 70 million children worldwide are not in classrooms. That pace of progress is not sufficient to ensure the goal of universal primary education by 2015."
Overall, the poverty rate in the World is not changing much, and therefore the United Nations are meeting at a Summit in New York in order to attempt to fix this.
Indeed poverty can be found elsewhere in the world. Africa, India, Latin America, Russia, China, parts of Europe and the Middle East, and just about anywhere else you can go some level of poverty will exist. Some nations, especially those who would be considered third world nations, wage wars against poverty in an attempt to not only eliminate or lessen the level of poverty in their state but to also accelerate economic activity and development much like LBJ had in America. A more recent example of this is the war on poverty in Nigeria. Started just two years ago by President Umaru Yar’adua, Nigera’s fight against poverty is a collective effort to eliminate poverty at the lowest level by incorporating the village people into the process as much as possible according to www.allafrica.com. Late in 2009, India’s Congress general secretary claimed the nation needed to wage a war on the “prevailing poverty in our country” according to www.hotneus.com. Whether developed or not, whether new or old, the war on poverty has been a struggle against common ground.
Statistics to End World Poverty-
The site explains that the U.N. has stated that global poverty can actually be ended. The U.N. has developed Millennium Development Goals, which are goals to be attained by 2015. These goals include:
-"Further develop an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory, and includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction— nationally and internationally."
-"Address the least developed countries' special needs. This includes tariff- and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction."
-"Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing states."
-"Deal comprehensively with developing countries' debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term."
-"Cooperate with the developing countries to develop decent and productive work for youth."
-"Provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries and make the benefits of new technologies available— especially information and communications technology."
According to the U.N., If many of these goals can be achieved by 2015, the world poverty rate will be drastically cut.
