This is the most common misconception everyone has about making a change they want in the world — an individual can’t do anything to make that impact. Well, they are dead wrong.
I had this misconception before that the poor are poor because they are lazy and that the government is corrupt. A global intervention can’t do so much to do anything about this. Like the common bible verse “Give man a fish and he will live for the day. Teach him how to fish and he will live.” Something to that effect.
However this was just a small part of the explanation why the poor are poor. The truth is they are poor because they don’t have the tools to get their first foot towards development. While most societies that have the easy access to the right such as good roads and harbors, good climate, adequate sources of energy sources, escape poverty.
It’s not overcoming laziness and corruption but the political will to do something to solve problems of geographic isolation, disease and natural hazards.
According to a 2008 revised edition of the poverty line by World Bank, there are a number of people who thrives to survive with $1.25 a day. The revised estimates find:
- 1.4 billion people live at this poverty line or below. This means that households cannot meet basic needs for survival. They are chronically hungry, unable to get health care, lack safe drinking water and sanitation, cannot afford education for their children and perhaps lack rudimentary shelter–a roof to keep rain out of the hut–and basic articles of clothing, like shoes.
- This is more than the previous estimate of 984 million with the older measure of a $1 a day in 2004
- In 1981, the estimated number of poor was also revised upward, from 1.5 billion to 1.9 billion
I don’t have the solution to world poverty. But today I am making a stand and let my voice be heard that I am one of the many keeping a close watch at our world leaders to follow through their commitments during the Millennium Declaration to End Poverty by 2015. This was the historic promise of of 189 leaders made at the United Nations Millennium summit where they all agreed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), an 8-point road map with measurable targets and clear deadlines for improving the lives of the worlds poorest people.
The End Poverty by 2015 eight goals are:
- End Hunger
- Universal Education
- Gender Equality
- Child Health
- Maternal Health
- Combat HIV/Aids
- Environmental Sustainability
- Global Partnership
Sadly the fight against poverty and hunger slowed down due to the global economic and food crises, this was according to the progress report by the United Nations. “The assessment, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva, warns that, despite many successes, overall progress has been too slow for most of the targets to be met by 2015.”
The goal is to:
1. Reduce by half the proportion of people living on more than a dollar a day ($1.25 according to World Bank 2005 report)
2. Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
“Every human being should have the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. Unfortunately, too many children in the world today grow up without this chance, because they are denied their basic right to even attend primary school. A sustainable end to world poverty as we know it, as well as the path to peace and security, require that citizens in every country are empowered to make positive choices and provide for themselves and their families.”
The goal is to ensure that every boys and girls in the world will finish primary schooling.
“Poverty has a woman’s face. Global prosperity and peace will only be achieved once all the world’s people are empowered to order their own lives and provide for themselves and their families. Societies where women are more equal stand a much greater chance of achieving the Millennium Goals by 2015. Every single Goal is directly related to women’s rights, and societies were women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner.”
The goal is to eliminate gender disparity at all levels by 2015.
“One of the darkest characteristics of poverty is that is seems to prey on the vulnerable and defenceless. In low-income countries, one out of every 10 children dies before the age of five. In wealthier nations, this number is only one out of 143.”
The goal is to reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five.
“Many people consider the day their child was born the happiest day in their life. In the world’s wealthier countries, that is. In poorer countries, the day a child born is all too often the day its mother dies. The lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy and childbirth in Africa is 1 in 22, while it is 1 in 120 in Asia and 1 in 7,300 in developed countries.”
The goal is:
- Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio.
- Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health. (Therefore here in the Philippines, our leaders should be headstrong about the Reproductive Health Bill and do not let the church dictate what they should do.)
“Malaria, together with HIV/AIDS and TB, is one of the major public health challenges undermining development in the poorest countries in the world. Malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds. Many children who survive an episode of severe malaria may suffer from learning impairments or brain damage. Pregnant women and their unborn children are also particularly vulnerable to malaria, which is a major cause of perinatal mortality, low birth weight and maternal anaemia.”
The goal:
- Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
- Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
“Reducing poverty and achieving sustained development must be done in conjunction with a healthy planet. The Millennium Goals recognize that environmental sustainability is part of global economic and social well-being. Unfortunately exploitation of natural resources such as forests, land, water, and fisheries-often by the powerful few-have caused alarming changes in our natural world in recent decades, often harming the most vulnerable people in the world who depend on natural resources for their livelihood.”
The goal:
- Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources.
- Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.
- Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020.
“The Millennium Goals represent a global partnership for development. The deal makes clear that it is the primary responsibility of poor countries to work towards achieving the first seven Goals. They must do their part to ensure greater accountability to citizens and efficient use of resources. But for poor countries to achieve the first seven Goals, it is absolutely critical that rich countries deliver on their end of the bargain with more and more effective aid, more sustainable debt relief and fairer trade rules, well in advance of 2015.”
The goal:
- Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory. 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
- In cooperation with the developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth.
- In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
- In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies—especially information and communications technologies.
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