The poor cry for help

<a href="http://phpweby.com/hostgator_coupon.php">new hostgator coupon</a>


Poverty cuts across age, gender, racial and international boundaries. It has existed since the first man appeared on planet Earth, and by the looks of the situation, it will continue to plague mankind for some millennia.  

   Currently, there are more than two billion of poverty-stricken people worldwide  -- from Asia and the Middle East to Africa and North America. 

   Nearly one billion people of all races entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.  Almost 1.6 billion – a quarter of humanity – are living without electricity. More than two billion are surviving without access to safe water supply.

   The picture of global poverty is grim. It is a world where 2.5 billion people rely on biomas – fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung – to meet energy needs for cooking. Yet 12 per cent of the world’s population – the rich – use 85 per cent of its water.

   More than one billion people across the globe live on less than US$1 a day,  and another two billion have to make ends meet with only US$2.5 each daily. Nearly 35 per cent of them are illiterate adults. At least one billion of them do not have telephones or TV sets.  

   Despite the advances of science and technology, 1.5 billion people do not have access to medical care and one billion children are deprived of education. Each year about 11 million  needy children die before their fifth birthday. Another four million children die of pneumonia yearly.

   Each night more than one billion people go to bed hungry. In the streets, back lanes and slums, you find 80 million beggars, another 80 million supported by garbage collection or recycling and 300 million homeless children. Elsewhere 520 million slum dwellers and 50 million cave-dwellers look for food and whatever they can salvage. Joining their ranks are 90 million unemployed workers and one billion part-time vendors in urban areas.

   Life expectancy declines

  

   Compounding the situation is the plight of 450 million orphans, 450 million people on the verge of starvation, 100 million urban street children and 50 million exploited children.

    More than one billion illiterate adults are found in Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries. Two thirds of them are women. Another nine million illiterate adults join them annually, notably from south and west Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.      

   Diseases are rampant. At least five million poor people die of malaria and another five million children succumb to diarrhea. In the midst of the undernourished and poor are 60 million AIDS carriers with 400,000 deaths yearly. The leading causes of death among the poor are parasitic, circulatory, cardiovascular and prenatal diseases, cancer and tuberculosis.

   In nine poor countries, life expectancy has declined by six to 20 years owing to contaminated water, poor sanitation, severe indoor pollution, high population growth, malaria and spread of HIV/AIDS. Ninety-five per cent of the 60 million people with HIV/AIDS are in developing countries.

   On the flip side, the wealthiest one per cent of the world’s adults own 40 per cent of the world’s assets; the richest 10 per cent of adults control 85 per cent of global wealth. The combined GDP per capita of the 10 richest African countries is only 11 per cent of the GDP per capita of Luxembourg.  The  GDP per capita of the world’s 10 poorest countries totals US$6,100 compared with the tally of US$ 349,400 from the world’s 10 richest nations.

   Heavily indebted countries

    Out of the world’s 10 richest people, three hail from the US. One is William Gates III whose net worth of US348 billion is enough to pay the US President’s salary for 611,000 years (that is, if he lives that long). On the Forbes list are 946 billionaires around the world; their net worth is US$348 billion.

   The GDP of the 41 heavily indebted poor countries (with 567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s seven richest people combined. The world’s low-income countries (with 2.4 billion people) account for only 2.4 per cent of global exports. In plain terms, 0.13 per cent of the world’s population control 25 per cent o the world’s financial assets.

   The huge divide between the rich and the poor is due to factors such as environmental destruction, migration, conflict, unequal distribution of resources, inadequate governance and lack of access to education, healthcare and social security.

    Ironically, military spending in the world amounts to US$780 billion. Spending on cosmetics in the US totals US$11 billion. Ice cream sales in Europe come to US$12 billion; spending on alcoholic drinks in Europe stands at US$50 billion. Pet food sales in Europe and the US net another US$17 billion. In Japan, business entertainment totals US$35 billion.

    The projected annual cost of eliminating global starvation and malnutrition is US$19 billion. In contrast, the US splashes more than US$420 billion annually on defence alone.

   Now you know who are affluent or impoverished. The cries for help are loud and clear, but the solutions are remote. 


   How can you expect the poor countries to progress when they spend almost US$37 billion to service debts and when aid pledged is tied to purchases of goods and services from seven rich nations?