Addressing Extreme Poverty

Over 20 percent of the global population live in unsustainable impoverished conditions, surviving on less than a dollar a day, with approximately 50 percent living on less than two dollars. Over 2 ½ billion people have a 10% infant mortality rate versus the 0.006% of infant deaths in developed countries. As conditions worsen the poor-rich gap widens through progressive decades, reaching an average per capita income of 74:1 in 1997.1 A debate has emerged as the whether developed countries possess a duty to ameliorate the living condition of the global poor and on what grounds said duty is justified.

Words provoke preconceived ideas and images in the mind, when it comes to a situation like poverty these preconceived notions can have undesirable and unintended consequences. Diana George examines the semantics and the imagery of the word poverty in her article titled “Changing the Face of Poverty; Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation. While also addressing the issue of the perception poverty and what someone in poverty truly looks like (676). Prof. George is arguing that organizations like Habitat for Humanity, which are created to help people in poverty actually perpetuate the wrong image of what someone in poverty looks like (678). Most organizations created to help those in need, especially those in the US tend to portray poverty as what is seen and thought of as living conditions in Third World countries (683). In reality, poverty is all around each and every one of us in this country on a daily basis, and people might not always recognize it for what it is (681,682). Furthermore, the majority of people living in poverty in the United States do not live like or look like someone living in a Third World country. But in reality they are still living in poverty nonetheless (682,683). Organizations that portray people living in poverty here in the US as totally devastated and completely impoverished are doing a disservice to the people they are attempting to help. Consequently, by doing this they are giving a limiting idea of what someone living in poverty

The view that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer has been heard repeatedly in reference to America’s income inequality. Though ironic, it comes as no surprise that America, a continent that easily trumps other countries in terms of wealth would be affected by the issue of poverty at such high levels. While much has said regarding the poverty levels, many economists, educators and scholars feel that the income inequality in America may be the reason why it is difficult to live and maintain a middle class lifestyle or to rise out of poverty into the middle class in the current economic state. With this in mind, the only way America, has a chance of lessening or eliminating poverty altogether is by understanding how it exists.

Poverty and income inequality are clearly widespread in avoidable in an economic system that caters to the wealthy and controls how the wealth is produced and distributed. We claim to want a society free of poor people. The system that people participate in and how they participate in the system has to change but the elephant in the room is how will this change

Funding and support for those in poverty can help people get out as well as preventive measures are needed. Funding for Education, after school activities and programs, birth to three and other programs like save the children. Funding for these programs would help children’s chances of getting out of poverty. In the documentary, Breaking the Cycle of Poverty, said “”.Reasonable government aid that money margins are reasonable and not the bare minimum. Including quality food that isn’t restrictive and limited. Programs for drug use and help for those with mental health instead of just sending them to jail. Overall there is many factors to poverty that need to be aided in order for

Poverty has a large issue around the world. 1 billion children alone worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each year due to poverty. Nearly half of the world’s population – 3 billion lives less than 2.50 dollars a day. 640 million lives without adequate shelter, 420 million have no access to clean water and 270 million have no access to health services. Whether you live the wealthiest countries or the poorest ones, poverty will still exist.

According to professor Stiles, “when an individual person has a person on their side to help support them like a safety net they are more likely to do better in their life time”. Poverty has been known to cause health risks and still till this day. Research by the Center of Disease control and others have been proving that not just the state of Texas but all over the world show that obese people that live in poverty are at high risk for disease and many other terrible health risks. Individuals who deal with poverty most of the time feel helpless when left to deal with the health problems. As an individual who has lived in poverty it is very difficult to deal with because as a child things were hard to understand when there was no food in the

525.6 million live in poverty in Asia, 214 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 37 million in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Poverty is a major issue in the US today, and sadly identity influences the cycle of poverty and how it is passed down through families. To reduce, or put a stop to poverty, equal resource and opportunities should be provided. Help with education, finding a job, or fair government programs should also be provided to those who need it.

Unfortunately, it was estimated that roughly 1.2 billion people in 1993 lived in extreme or absolute poverty, that which Robert McNamara regards “‘a condition of life so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality and low life expectancy as to be beneath any reasonable standard of human dignity’” (Singer 219, 220). These estimates can be projected at nearly 2 billion today. A large majority of the people living in absolute poverty resides in underdeveloped countries. Among the nearly 4.4 billion people in these countries, “3/5 lives in societies lacking basic sanitation; 1/3 go without safe drinking water; 1/4 lack adequate housing; 1/5 are undernourished, and 1.3 billion live on less than $1 a day” (Speth 1).

In many zones around the world, natural disasters occur on a regular basis, this can pose a substantial complication in trying to defeat poverty; by making the less fortunate have to constantly pay to repair their homes if they are unable to move (Williams). One way people have tried to do to solve poverty is go to the origins; however people have been trying to do that for years, yet financial inequality is still rising because they fix the known roots and there are many unknown roots that people are incapable of solving. Now, once people around the world are aware of the predicament poverty is causing, there may be a chance for nations to work together and solve it for good. On the other hand, nothing may be able to end poverty in the world, and the distance in wealth between the upper class and lower class won’t diminish; the gap may be too big of a problem now to cure

There have many attempts to solve the problem of world poverty in recent years. Average people have begun to care and are willing to help with the age old problem. However, the world is making little progress toward the eradication of poverty. Many of the things we are doing, out of the goodness of our hearts, just aren't helping. For various reasons, the typical response to poverty of donating vast sums of money to hurting countries doesn't help the poor near as much as other solutions and sometimes may even make the problem worse.

Social security just turned 80 years old this year and it still remains the single most effective anti-poverty program ever created in the United States.

One can easily identify the fact that poverty is generally considered as one among the most serious problems in human life. But the mainstream society provides less importance to this serious problem because human life did undergo transformation from empathy to disinterestedness. The western nations are comparatively safe from poverty and related issues, but the third-world nations are under the threat of the same. The problems related to global poverty is unimaginable because it forces human beings to do anything, just for survival. Still, world nations, especially the developed nations, can play the most important role in alleviating poverty from the world. Thesis statement: Global poverty, the most serious problem faced by humanity primarily

Poverty is widespread throughout the world, with around 20% of the entire population living on less than $1.25 per day. Everyday struggles for survival may include not having enough food for nourishment, no access to clean water, no proper shelter, lack of clothes, or no doctors and medicines. This lack of essential supplies and inability to improve one 's life may be caused by a country 's lack of resources. These countries either do not or cannot provide water, electricity, houses, or jobs to its citizens. The first Millennium Development Goal of the United Nations is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Their job is to: a) halve the number of people living under the $1.25 per day line, b) provide employment for all, and c) halve the amount of people who are hungry. Past actions have included connecting countries to the resources they need to improve economic and social state, providing farmers without land pait work to fund a long-term job, and campaigns for medical assistance and outreach. The World Food Program bring humanitarian aid in the form of food to over 75 countries, both after disasters and emergencies, but also helps to prevent hunger in the future to countries in poverty. These have helped reduce poverty, however The Global Poverty Project has been working toward eliminating extreme poverty by 2030. They have been working to changing international policies, running awareness campaigns, and creating global