TakingITGlobal - Panorama - The plight of...

Published on: Dec 9, 2004

Topic:

Type: Opinions

https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=4894

The statistics on the level of indebtedness of most of the so-called third world countries are shocking and quite substantial. The more shocking statistics from these countries indicate they the level of poverty is so high, that more than half (above 50%) of the population lives below the poverty line. This is below one dollar a day!

Families, youth, women, and children all grapple with this sorry state of affairs. The most basic of necessities are elevated into luxuries as households find it rather cumbersome to attain them.

Meals are hard to come as other things as well and poverty levels, malnutrition, poor infrastructure as well as meagre daily income all weigh down on such countries. Households strive to eke a living and meet the nagging family obligations by engaging in the most crude of ways.

It is noteworthy that the biting levels of poverty fuels the spread of the AIDS pandemic that is known to ravage many families unabated. The rate of the spread of the pandemic is so immense in the Sub-Saharan Africa, with youth and women being the most vulnerable. This is fueled by prostitution that is a scion of extreme poverty levels and nagging foreign debt levels.

The level of insecurity is ever rising in these countries and more often than not the vital Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are redirected to other regions. This retards economic growth and development.

The multiplier effect is the continued rise levels of foreign debt and declining standards of living, increasing mortality rates, reduction on per capita income of individuals and dilapidated infrastructural facilities.

This is a clarion call for the cancellation of the debt of the so-called third world countries to inject a new lease of life into their economic development and ensure long term World Sustainable Growth and Development.

The achievement of the Millennium Declaration Goals (MDG) by “we the peoples” making up the United Nations (UN) hinges on effective implementation of the domestic macroeconomic variables. The goals which encompass the eradication of extreme levels of poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowerment of women, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS and ensuring environmental sustainability, cannot be realized if proper economic frameworks in all countries are not in place.

The so-called first world countries, the Bretton Woods Institutions, and other lenders ought to heed this clarion call and rise beyond any parochial inclination to effectively cancel all debts accruing to them from developing countries if all nations are to attain the dream of a sustainable world (as envisaged by the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) that was held in South Africa).
We should not wait until an issues pricks our conscience so that we can act. We should be proactive and act carpe-diem to ensure a better united world free from nagging poverty levels and deteriorating standards of living after all we are covered by one veil, one world, one people and one planet!

To the youth of our world who are always perceived as the leaders of tomorrow, the “tomorrow” is elusive and therefore we are leaders of today. To this end we should fight for social justice and ensure the unwavering respect of the inalienable right and dignity of the human person as epitomized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. We should hold our hands and fight towards a better, more equal and united world.

Kudos, as you all think globally and influence things locally.

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by Geoffrey Kipyegon Koech
Published on: Dec 9, 2004
Topic:
Type: Opinions
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=4894


The statistics on the level of indebtedness of most of the so-called third world countries are shocking and quite substantial. The more shocking statistics from these countries indicate they the level of poverty is so high, that more than half (above 50%) of the population lives below the poverty line. This is below one dollar a day! Families, youth, women, and children all grapple with this sorry state of affairs. The most basic of necessities are elevated into luxuries as households find it rather cumbersome to attain them. Meals are hard to come as other things as well and poverty levels, malnutrition, poor infrastructure as well as meagre daily income all weigh down on such countries. Households strive to eke a living and meet the nagging family obligations by engaging in the most crude of ways. It is noteworthy that the biting levels of poverty fuels the spread of the AIDS pandemic that is known to ravage many families unabated. The rate of the spread of the pandemic is so immense in the Sub-Saharan Africa, with youth and women being the most vulnerable. This is fueled by prostitution that is a scion of extreme poverty levels and nagging foreign debt levels. The level of insecurity is ever rising in these countries and more often than not the vital Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are redirected to other regions. This retards economic growth and development. The multiplier effect is the continued rise levels of foreign debt and declining standards of living, increasing mortality rates, reduction on per capita income of individuals and dilapidated infrastructural facilities. This is a clarion call for the cancellation of the debt of the so-called third world countries to inject a new lease of life into their economic development and ensure long term World Sustainable Growth and Development. The achievement of the Millennium Declaration Goals (MDG) by “we the peoples” making up the United Nations (UN) hinges on effective implementation of the domestic macroeconomic variables. The goals which encompass the eradication of extreme levels of poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowerment of women, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS and ensuring environmental sustainability, cannot be realized if proper economic frameworks in all countries are not in place. The so-called first world countries, the Bretton Woods Institutions, and other lenders ought to heed this clarion call and rise beyond any parochial inclination to effectively cancel all debts accruing to them from developing countries if all nations are to attain the dream of a sustainable world (as envisaged by the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) that was held in South Africa). We should not wait until an issues pricks our conscience so that we can act. We should be proactive and act carpe-diem to ensure a better united world free from nagging poverty levels and deteriorating standards of living after all we are covered by one veil, one world, one people and one planet! To the youth of our world who are always perceived as the leaders of tomorrow, the “tomorrow” is elusive and therefore we are leaders of today. To this end we should fight for social justice and ensure the unwavering respect of the inalienable right and dignity of the human person as epitomized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. We should hold our hands and fight towards a better, more equal and united world. Kudos, as you all think globally and influence things locally. « return.