The end of poverty

Do you know that:

1.       life was as difficult in much of Europe as  it was in India or China two hundred years ago?

2.     today, one sixth of the world’s population achieved high-income status through consistent economic growth while another one sixth struggle for survival?

3.     the extreme poor (at around 1 billion) and the poor (another 1.5 billion) make up around 40 percent of humanity?

4.     the amount of aid, from the entire world, is just US$30 per African per year in 2002?

5.     among this US$30, only US$12, went to Africa for its  long term development? (almost US$5 was for consultants from the donor countries, more than US$3 was for food aid and other emergency aid, another US$4 went to servicing Africa’s debts and US$5 was for debt relief operations)

In his book, Sachs distinguishes between three degrees of poverty: extreme (or absolute) poverty, moderate poverty, and relative poverty. Extreme poverty means that households cannot meet basic needs for survival. Moderate poverty means households’ basic needs are barely met. While relative poverty is construed as a household income level below a given proportion of average national income.

Sachs believes that “[e]verybody on earth can and should enjoy basic standards of nutrition, health, water and sanitation, shelter, and other minimum needs for survival, well-being, and participation in society (p.24).”

So he proposes a new approach, namely clinical economics, to empower the extreme poor countries. This holistic approach emphasizes on identifies the key underlying causes of economic distress, gives differential diagnosis, and to prescribe appropriate treatment regimen that are well tailored to each country’s specific conditions.

For examples, in Afghanistan and Bolivia, it is the geographical location and high transport costs that hinder their economic development and cause poverty. Thus, helping them to find ways to overcome the high transport costs will get them out of the poverty trap.  However, in Senegal, the main cause of poverty is malaria. Therefore, providing them bed nets, indoor spraying, and effective autimalarial medicines are the solutions.

These solutions are workable and not expensive.

Do you choose to end the poverty in our lifetime?

Sachs, Jeffrey. (2005). The end of poverty: How we can make it happen in our lifetime. London: Penguin Books.