Essay

What are some of the causes to the increasing poverty rates in many African countries?

A widowed mother of two in Uganda struggles to survive after her husband died and all the money they had was used on his medical charges (Ford). Due to the lack of money, her children had to drop out of school and she cannot support her family. This story is not an isolated one, as approximately three billion people live below the global poverty level on less than a dollar a day. Each day 30,000 children die from poverty. The lives of 1.7 million children are being taken every year (Shah). Poverty is defined as having very little money or no money, which is a global issue found all over the world that needs to be examined more thoroughly. A large number of the extreme poor in these African countries are caught in a poverty trap, unable to escape from the extreme material deprivation. They are trapped by disease, physical isolation, climate stress, environmental degradation, and extreme poverty itself. According to Sachs, over 1 billion people are too destitute to make it on the first rung of the ladder of economic development, path to economic well being. These are the “poorest of the poor”. There are 1.5 billion people who are just a few rungs up the developmental ladder, but are still poor and live just above mere subsistence. The increase rate of the poverty crisis throughout Africa can be lack of education of citizens, geography and corrupt in governments.

The global aspect of poverty has such a strong effect on many foreign countries. Statistics on people in third world countries are shocking. They only generalize half of the issue of poverty.  In 2006, a severe drought swept through Kenya and much of Ethiopia. This triggered over 11 million people to the threat of starvation. The drought destroyed farmers' crops, land, and livestock. It made an increase in malnutrition and caused many parents to withdraw their children from local schools. This is in a country...