Issues+and+Background+Hum3+Group1

=ISSUES AND BACKGROUND=

__Opening Statement__ The eradication of poverty will help people afford medical treatments, tuition fees, food, clean water, and avoid conflicts that are caused by poverty. "More than 1 million African children, and perhaps as many as 3 million, succumb to malaria each year." (Sachs). If poverty was eliminated, poor people would be able to afford the medical help/treatments they need, or be capable of meeting the expense of crucial items. This statistic demonstrates to us that diseases are part of the consequences of poverty. "More than one billion people do not have access to safe water; some eight hundred forty million people go hungry or face food insecurity" (Poverty). This quote exhibits that food and water shortages are another root of poverty. More people would be able to go to school and become educated if poverty was ended. http://www.flickr.com/photos/freechina/413559824/ "Nearly 1 billion people are illiterate." (Poverty). Furthermore, the number of conflicts due to poverty would be greatly reduced. "Many of these people living in poverty live under a poor government that gets itself involved in conflict." (Poverty). Therefore, the abolition of poverty will help people afford medical treatments and tuition fees, reduce conflicts, as well as basic necessities needed to survive.

__The Main Problem__ The main problem of poverty is that it is a cycle. For instance, disability, disease, and poor health may stop people from working full-time, which reduces their income and makes it even harder for them to leave poverty. Furthermore, household expenses rise to pay for health care and medicine. Family members are also needed to tend to the ill person (Poverty). Another part of the cycle of poverty is lack of sufficient education. People with less education have a greater likelihood of being unemployed or having low-paying jobs. Usually it is extremely hard for poor people to send their children to school, because they are not able to afford the tuition, and also because they need to have as many family members as possible out working- even the children. When the children grow up, they are not educated well, so they also have low-paying jobs (Poverty).

http://www.stolenchildhood.net/images/r_hungry_children.jpg __How Poverty is affecting the World__ Poverty is affecting the world because almost half of the six billion people on Earth are poor, more than 1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar each day, and over one billion people don’t have access to safe water. “More than one billion people--one-sixth of the world's population--live in extreme poverty on less than $1 a day” (“Extreme Poverty: A Global Emergency”). This statistic tells us that many people are suffering because of lack of money to buy enough food or basic items. Like what Jeffrey Sachs said, “Extreme poverty, defined as getting by on an income of less than $1 a day, means that households cannot meet basic needs for survival” (Sachs). “However, about 450 million rural people in the country, or 40% of the rural population, continue to use unsafe water. Among this number, roughly one quarter lack access to any improved water source, while the remaining three quarters have access to improved water that does not meet national safety standards” (Dwyer). This statistic demonstrates that people are risking their lives to drink water. Therefore, poverty is affecting the world because more than one-sixth of the world’s population live on less than one dollar each day, and more than one billion people don’t have access to safe water. Everyday poverty is killing more and more people. We need to get to action right away and help the suffering people.

__What is being done to end Poverty__ [|NetAid] is an organization that educates young people about the causes of global poverty, and encourages them to help end it and also make differences in poverty. They believe that youth are important to ending poverty, because youth are the future's voters and leaders ("About NetAid"). Another organization is [|CARE], a humanitarian organization that is dedicated to global poverty. It especially focuses on poor women, because they think that when women are equipped with the right resources, they are able to help whole communities move out of poverty. CARE's community-based efforts include preventing the spread of HIV, improving basic education, and making clean sanitation and clean water more available ("About CARE"). The [|Food and Agriculture Organization] of the United Nations "leads international efforts to defeat hunger" ("About Us"). It works with developing countries as well as developed countries to help them improve and modernize forestry, fisheries practices, and agriculture so the people there can have healthy nutrition ("About Us").

Sources Sachs, Jeffrey. "The End of Poverty." 171. <[|http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1034738,00.html>.] "Poverty." 1725 jan 2007 <[|http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/poverty/poverty.pdf>.] "Extreme Poverty: A Global Emergency." __The Earth Institute__ http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/1780. Dwyer, Graham. "Safe Water a Key Element in Raising Living Standards for PRC's Rural Poor." __Asian Development Bank__ 26 January 2004 [|http://www.adb.org/media/Articles/2004/4183_PRC_Safe_Water/.] "About NetAid." <[|http://www.netaid.org/about/>.] "About CARE." <[|http://www.care.org/about/index.asp>.] "About Us." <[|http://www.fao.org/UNFAO/about/index_en.html>.]

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