Global Essay

A Poverty Stricken World

Don Sanford

English 102

Leslie Jewkes

November 19, 2012

Abstract

            Many countries are plagued with the presence of poverty and hunger. A majority of the concentration of poverty and hunger can be found in the regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. When Southeast Asia is analyzed as a region, it is on track to meet the goal of Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG 1) which is reducing the number of people living on less than one dollar a day 50 percent by 2015. The MDG’s were formed in 2000 by the United Nations. 189 nations created a pact to face issues from reducing the presence of extreme poverty and hunger around the world MDG 1, to developing a global partnership for development MDG 8. Unfortunately, the global economic crisis has slowed down the progress toward the attainment of MDG 1. More must be done by governments and aiding organizations to drastically reduce the presence of extreme poverty and hunger throughout the world.

A Poverty Stricken World

Poverty and hunger are persistent issues in developing countries in all areas of the world. The United Nations along with 189 different countries developed a plan against this and 7 other major world issues. The name of this plan is the Millennium Development Goals. Many organizations exist that are tirelessly working to eradicate this ongoing problem of extreme poverty and hunger. These organizations are making steady progress globally toward vastly reducing the number of individuals affected by extreme poverty and hunger. Without their assistance poverty, hunger, and disease would be drastically higher and living conditions would be much worse. It may seem impossible that conditions could be worse, but upon looking at the progress these organizations have made it is evident that conditions are continuously improving. Although steady progress is being made at a global level, some areas are hit harder than others such as, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. These countries are not seeing the progress required to meet MDG number one. More must be done by governments and aiding organizations to drastically reduce the presence of extreme poverty and hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

In 2000, 189 members of the United Nation took a pact to meet certain goals ranging from eradicating poverty and hunger to environmental sustainability. These goals are referred to as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). MDG 1 sets a goal to “halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day” (UN News Center 2010). Unfortunately, the world economic crisis has significantly slowed the progress and placed additional families and individuals in poverty. “The economic crisis is expected to push an estimated 64 million more people into extreme poverty in 2010” (UN News Center 2010). The death toll poverty has had on people over the past few decades has been devastatingly high, “between 1990 and 2007, 270 million people throughout the world have died from poverty-related causes” (Reeves 1). More resources need to be allocated to developing countries to reduce this outstanding death toll. “A 10 percent increase in official international remittances as a percentage of GDP will lead to a 2.7 percent decline in the share of people living in poverty” (Anyanwu and Andrew 22). Developed nations need to increase their disbursements to developing countries to successfully reach the target set by MDG 1. J. K. Granberg-Michaelson of The Alliance to End Hunger elaborates on the progress made on the MDG 1, during an interview he states, “Poverty has been cut significantly and I believe it is on track to meet the goal of MDG 1, hunger on the other hand is not. A new round of goals will be set post 2015 and will include a renewed strong commitment to reducing and eradicating extreme hunger around the world.” The need of a new round of goals paints a vivid picture as to the size of the global situation.

Some countries see higher numbers of people living in extreme poverty and hunger. Sub-Saharan Africa undoubtedly has the highest concentrations of these two issues. “About two thirds of the 627 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Almost half of them live on less than US$1 per day” (Ehui 225). During an interview with J. K. Granberg-Michaelson of The Alliance to End Hunger he States, “There are natural causes for poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Some of the natural causes we are starting to see are changes in climate, causing increases in droughts in some of these areas, which is affecting crop yields”.  Improving farming techniques will assist individuals in sub-Saharan Africa that are struggling, to start yielding productive crops. The incorporation of technology into developing countries can help reduce poverty. Parts of Africa are experiencing this first hand. In Ghana, African Radio Research Initiative which is run by the Canadian organization FarmRadio International, provides radio broadcasting that links farmers together, allowing them to inform others on the problems they are encountering and the solutions found in respect to farming techniques (Tuning In To Secure Food 87).  The inception of additional organizations like FarmRadio International will help guarantee developing countries overcome poverty and hunger.

More needs to be done to assist developing countries in becoming more self-reliant. Later in the interview with Granberg-Michaelson he proposes, “The fix for this problem is not having developed countries continue to grow more, but to help African and Asian small holder farmers improve their overall yields and productivity so that sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia can feed themselves with food that is produced there.” This approach would drastically decrease the reliance of developing countries on outside resources. “There are 854 million people in the world who are chronically or acutely malnourished. Most are in Asia but sub- Saharan Africa is the only region where hunger prevalence is over 30%, and the absolute numbers of malnourished people are increasing” (Sanchez 1). The increase in malnutrition numbers indicates just how gravely this area needs assistance.

Southeastern Asia has had some promising progress toward reducing poverty and hunger and as a whole are on track to meet the MDG 1. “By international standards, Southeast Asia has done remarkably well in both economic growth and poverty reduction. The region’s economic growth rate during the past 25 years averaged about 5.0% per year, while the corresponding figures for Asia and the world were about 3.9% and 2.6%, respectively” (Balisacan, Rosemarie, and Piza 25). Unfortunately countries still exist in Southeast Asia that are in need of more assistance. Some of these countries include, “The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia … account for about 72% of Southeast Asia’s total population and roughly 50% of the poor” (Balisacan, Rosemarie, and Piza 26). Cambodia is a country of great concern, “Despite progress, one-third of the Cambodian population were still living on less than $0.60 a day in 2010, and rural poverty is a fundamental challenge” (Renwick 73). Focus needs to be turned to countries with the largest amount of the population living below poverty, of whom are undoubtedly suffering from hunger daily, if any uniform progress is to be expected.

Population control measures such as contraceptives are rarely used resulting in population boosts year after year, while the growth and production of food is staying the same or slightly increasing. “The over-riding constraint to the improvement of the standard of living for billions of people in the Developing World … is the persistent yearly increase in rural population” (qtd. in Young 89). If population continues to increase, the only way to overcome the obstacle of food is to learn to produce more so it is possible to not be entirely dependent on foreign aid.  “From 45 years of field observation and study [Young concludes] that in poor, predominantly agricultural countries with little or no spare land, population increase has reduced, nullified or reversed advances in rural development” (Young 90). It is mandatory, if serious progress is to be made, that aiding agencies of the developed world take a look at gaining control of this problem of population growth that the developing country cannot provide food for.

The children of developing countries are hit the hardest by poverty. Parents are struggling to produce enough food to feed their children in developing regions. With the population growth rate in these areas always on the rise, child poverty will continue to be a consistent problem until some form of contraceptives are implemented to reduce the birth rate. “In Cambodia in 2007 36 per cent of all Cambodian children under five years were underweight and Cambodians had an 18.5 per cent chance of not living to age 40” (Renwick 73). These numbers are unacceptable and need to be taken seriously (see figure 1 for additional information of regions with underweight children under five years old).

Figure 1

Picture from Pedro Sanchez and M. Swaminathan’s article: Cutting World Hunger in Half

According to Senia and Godwell Nhamo’s article Macroeconomics, Adult Education And Poverty Eradication In Southern Africa, “Many developing countries have an undesirable combination of high population growth and high illiteracy rates” (316). High population growth and illiteracy are two things that should not be together. People with the inability to read or write seriously limit their potential to leave the tight grip of poverty. High illiteracy also affects the ability for a country to succeed as a whole. Later in Nhamo’s article it states “…adult education can have a significant impact on economic growth” (320). It’s no secret that a population with a large concentration of educated individuals will thrive and an area with a small number of educated people will struggle.

In conclusion, many different areas are affected by extreme poverty and hunger, but the most severely affected include sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Despite significant progress in Southeastern Asia as a whole, there are still countries that are not on track to meet the MDG 1. Population growth rates are extremely high in developing countries and crop yields are not increasing at the same rate, increasing poverty significantly. Contraceptives need to be implicated to gain control of the population growth. Children are most susceptible to poverty and hunger and this is made evident when Cambodia is analyzed. In 2007, 36 percent of Cambodian children were considered underweight (Renwick 73). Many other regions are plagued with underweight children (see figure 1). Education has an enormous impact on the success of any countries economy and quality of life. Increasing the amount of people who complete even basic education will aid developing countries reduce poverty and economic struggles. Making a difference in the lives of people living in poverty has never been easier. Since the inception of the internet, many ways exist to contribute online, ranging from donating money to joining campaigns. Visit www.un.org/millenniumgoals and click the link “Get Involved”. The link will navigate to a webpage that lists over twenty ways to make a difference in alleviating poverty and hunger around the world. Write a letter to congress or a local state government and demand for an increased commitment from them to ending poverty and hunger, one person can make a difference. Governments and organizations of developed countries must increase their commitment to poverty and hunger eradication if there is going to be significant progress in the hardest hit regions.

Works Cited

"Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. <http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtml>.

"Tuning In To Secure Food." Bulletin Of The World Health Organization 89.2 (2011): 86-87. CINAHL with Full Text. Web. 17 Nov. 2012.

Anyanwu, John C., and Andrew E.O. Erhijakpor. "Do International Remittances Affect Poverty in Africa?" African Development Review 22.1 (2010): 51-91. Print.

Balisacan, Arsenio M., Rosemarie G. Edillon, and Sharon A. Piza. "Rural Poverty in Southeast Asia: Issues, Policies, and Challenges." Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development 2 (2005): 25-38. Print.

Ehui, SimeonPender, John. "Resource Degradation, Low Agricultural Productivity, And Poverty In Sub-Saharan Africa: Pathways Out Of The Spiral." Agricultural Economics 32.(2005): 225. Associates Programs Source Plus. Web. 17 Nov. 2012.

Granberg-Michaelson, J. K. Telephone interview. 25 Oct. 2012.

Nhamo, Senia, and Godwell Nhamo. "Macroeconomics, (Adult) Education, And Poverty Eradication In Southern Africa." International Review Of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft 52.3/4 (2006): 305-322. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2012.

Reeves, K. "The Fight To Eradicate Hunger And Poverty." MEDSURG Nursing 16.5 (2007): 285. CINAHL with Full Text. Web. 17 Nov. 2012.

Renwick, Neil. "Millennium Development Goal 1: Poverty, Hunger And Decent Work In Southeast Asia." Third World Quarterly 32.1 (2011): 65-89. Military & Government Collection. Web. 17 Nov. 2012.

Sanchez, Pedro A., and M. S. Swaminathan. "PUBLIC HEALTH: Cutting World Hunger in Half." Science 307.5708 (2005): 357-59. Print.

Young, Anthony. "Poverty, Hunger And Population Policy: Linking Cairo With Johannesburg." Geographical Journal 171.1 (2005): 83-95. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2012.