Poverty In Africa

By: Megan Smedley

Essential QuestionWhy is Poverty a widespread problem throughout African countries?

What are the main causes? Political Instability Wars over children Desertification HIV/AIDS No access to employment opportunities No access to markets where they can sell

their goods

Where and Who? Most poverty is Sub Saharan Africa. 45 to 50% of people live below the poverty

line. 300 million people in Africa are living in

extreme poverty

Statistics 700,000 children will die before their first

birthday 40% of Africans in poverty live on less

than 1 US dollar a day 800 million go to bed hungry every day 12-14 million children have been orphaned

by AIDS 18,000 people in West Africa are on the

verge of starvation

What is being done? The New Partnership for Africa’s

Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) are aiming to tackle HIV/AIDS, reduce poverty and sustain long-term economic growth.

Many countries are also helping out. Live Aid is a benefit concert in the US to

help raise money for Africa

Why is this topic important to me?

This topic is important to me because many people know about the situation in Africa but don’t do anything about it. People need to know how bad it is over there.

What I already knew I knew that the situation over there was

really bad. I also knew that many Africans are poor and living in horrible conditions.

New Important Things That I Learned

Most Poverty is in Sub Saharan Africa People see education as the way to end it People think that poverty will end in 2015

Surprising Facts One child dies every minute due to

measles One child dies every three seconds due to

AIDS and extreme poverty 1 out of 6 African children will die before

their fifth birthday

What Questions Do I Still Have?

What does the government do about this? Why do so many women drop out of

school? Why aren’t there many schools? Why is most poverty in Sub Saharan

Africa?

Resources Fight Poverty African World Bank World Bank NPR Cozay Borgen Project Practical Action Consulting African Fellowship

Resources Cont Tcsc BBC