Somewhere in Jakarta a child is sleeping in a train station because he has no home and the station is the most comfortable place. Somewhere in Singapore a woman is digging through a garbage dump, searching for things to sell and eat. Somewhere in Pakistan a 52-year-old man scrapes what produce he can off of his family-owned, half-acre plot of land. Somewhere in Zimbabwe, an eight-year-old child mourns the AIDS-induced death of his mother.
Nearly half of the six billion people in the world live in some form of poverty according to the World Bank. They have classified three types: extreme (or absolute), moderate and relative. Extreme poverty entails living on less than $1 per day. These people cannot afford basic necessities like shoes or clothes, have had little to no schooling, live on very little food, usually lack safe drinking water and sanitation and possibly lack adequate shelter (or any shelter). Economist Jeffrey Sachs, author of \The End of Poverty,"" calls extreme poverty ""the poverty that kills.""
Moderate poverty is defined as living on $1 to $2 per day. Basic needs are met, but just barely. Relative poverty is defined as a household income below the national average. People in relative poverty cannot afford things that the middle class takes advantage of.
Extreme poverty only exists in developing countries. These countries make up four-fifths of the world's population, yet have far less income, both nationally and personally, than industrialized countries. More than half the world's children are deprived of basic education, health care, shelter and food due to HIV/AIDS and war epidemics.
Every four seconds, a person dies as a result of poverty-related issues. Sadly, once people fall into poverty, it is often a downward spiral that creates future generations of extreme poverty and the possibility of group extinction. These societies seem to have very little hope without some sort of intervention, but what can anyone do? Sachs has an answer to this very question.
Sachs is a former economic advisor to countries including Russia, Poland and Bolivia, a United Nations consultant and director of the U.N. Millennium Project. The project's focus is on cutting ""the world's extreme poverty in half by 2015."" He says if the U.S. alone gave .5 percent of its gross domestic product toward ending poverty, we would be giving around $55 billion, much more than our current aid of .15 percent, or $16 billion.
President Bush says that America, as ""the greatest power on the face of the earth, we have an obligation to feed the hungry."" He does not say the United States gives only $200 million to foreign farmers, which amounts to less than one dollar per year per farmer. The United States has repeatedly signed agreements to give more foreign aid. For example, in the 2002 Monterrey Consensus, the U.S. promised to give up to .7 percent of national income. We keep failing to follow through and keep slipping in terms of worldwide credibility-something that maybe even President Bush is interested in-because he sure is not interested in world poverty.
We need to remember there are people other than Americans in this world, and many people are faced with life and death issues on a daily basis. It is time we look beyond the petty problems in our lives and put out a hand to others. There are people who need help, and we are the ones who can deliver. Please learn how to help at websites such as UNICEF , the United Nations at and Bread for the World at
