Africa’s Problem With Poverty
Some places in our world are so unfathomably poor that it is almost difficult to comprehend. These places are so poor that it is hard for us in developed nations to fully grasp the situation in these regions. This is discussed in Clifton Crais's book titled Poverty, War, and Violence in South Africa.
How Poor Is Africa?
Crais’s book, particularly the introduction, does a great job at giving statistics to try to help the reader understand the level of poverty some live in, in particular, he focuses on the poorest continent, Africa. He reports that “1.3 billion people live on $1 a day” (Crais, pg. 2). This number is tough to quantify and wrap our heads around, with over 1 billion people struggling just to stay alive. One dollar a day is not enough to eat well, let alone buy any personal goods for enjoyment. Another shocking statistic is that “In 2000 alone, 1.7 million children died from inadequate food or healthcare” (Crais, pg. 2). These are children who couldn’t live out their lives due to how poor they were, and this is extremely tragic and a huge problem our world faces today.
Poverty And Violence
Along with having the most poverty in the world, Africa is also the most violent continent on the planet. Crais writes that “Poverty is often closely associated with violence” (Crais, pg. 2). This strong correlation between violence and poverty is no wonder, without peace it is nearly impossible to focus on building up your infrastructure, improving education, and generally just caring for the basic needs of the impoverished. Instead of the impoverished gaining useful skills through education, they are sent to fight as soldiers in war. According to Crais, several wars in Africa have been “grinding for decades” (Crais, pg. 3), meaning these regions have no time to help improve the wellbeing of their people and effectively save lives.
The Future Of Poverty
There is hope in the future, however. While more people live in poverty than ever before, “formal wars between nation-states have been declining” (Crais, pg.1). This indicates that several countries and regions will have more money and resources to help poverty-stricken areas, rather than spend those resources on war. Furthermore, while according to Crais the life expectancy in large areas of Africa isn’t above 40 years old, it can improve rapidly.
Crais states on page 4 that in 1850 in the United States, the life expectancy was just 43. Today, however, that number has increased dramatically to 76 years old. This is due to the advances in modern medicine and technology that are already available to those in Africa. The main goal is to get these regions in a place where they can afford these luxuries. When that happens, we will see massive improvements in the quality of life of billions of people across the world. In order to achieve this, however, we must end violent conflicts and wars to focus on economic development.
References:
Crais, C. (2011). Poverty, war, and violence in South Africa. Cambridge University Press.
