by Lee Ann Doskocil

Created on: April 16, 2008

Most of us who live in the United States cannot imagine trying to live on less than one dollar per day. Even those who receive welfare benefits or other forms of public assistance as well as those who stand on corners daily to beg for money have more than one dollar daily at their disposal. In Sub-Saharan Africa however, according to a publication on www.oxfamamerica.org, " More than half of sub-Saharan Africa's 600 million people still live on less than US $1 a day." Without a doubt, this staggering statistic presents a situation that must be resolved. Before we can begin to solve the problem, however, we must develop an understanding of some of the reasons this area of the world suffers from such extreme poverty.

One reason that Sub-Saharan Africa has such a high poverty rate is that health conditions are extremely poor. The number of Sub-Saharan Africans who suffer from HIV/AIDS is high. Additionally, Sub-Saharan Africa has to deal with many diseases that are virtually non-existent in the majority of countries around the world. For example, malaria kills many Sub-Saharan Africans each year. Hunger and malnutrition are rampant in Sub-Saharan Africa as well. Several factors including brain drain, a lack of resources including such basic needs as clean water, and bureaucratic limitations on aid from foreign countries hampers Sub-Saharan Africa's attempts to increase public health there.

Governmental abuse of public funds is also a cause of continued poverty in this region. Government officials frequently intercept foreign aid and use it for their own benefit. While in the United States or other countries there would be checks and balances in place to catch this type of activity by government officials, due to the fact that Sub-Saharan Africans are struggling to merely survive every day there is little attempt made to limit this activity.

Millions of refugees are located in Sub-Saharan Africa which further complicates the matter of poverty there. There is rampant violence in refugee camps as well as numerous health problems. Again, humanitarian aid is often intercepted or blocked.

Civil wars in this area of the world contribute to poverty. Many of the citizens of the various countries located in this region have been fighting for many years and this causes a vicious cycle. War creates poverty and poverty causes people to fight and so the trend of violence and poverty becomes a continuous occurrence.

Human rights issues are a serious concern in this area of the world as well. Women's rights are virtually non-existent. Women are routinely subjected to archaic rites including mutilation of their genitalia. This exacerbates the health problems and ultimately the poverty issue as well.

Until this region begins to work to solve some of these problems, poverty will never be eradicated in Sub-Saharan Africa. One can see, however, that the solution will have to be multi-faceted as the issues causing the poverty are multi-faceted. Solving the problems of the African nations will require help from outside sources as well as a commitment from the inhabitants of these nations.

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