Poverty is a major issue affecting Africa's society significantly. It directly affects the society because it causes a low standard of living and low quality of life. There are many negative effects in Africa's society due to poverty. Poverty affects Africa's society
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negatively because it causes high birth and death rates. Also it causes infant mortality rates to be high, while life expectancy, literacy, and education are all low. Poverty causes unemployment and since literacy and education are low there is little employment opportunities and as a result the best educated often leave the continent to seek employment and a better life. Poverty affects Africa's society because it creates a weak governance system and causes corruption in the government. A poor community lacks the basic infrastructure such as health facilities and educational opportunities. Another factor that causes poverty in Africa's society is misused money and corruption. The major problem is that some of the leaders of African countries have been taking profits into their pockets instead of helping their people. This results in large debts owed to western institutions that are estimated to exceed two hundred billion dollars, some western nations are open to forgiving the debt while others are opposed to that idea. Poverty in Africa results in hunger, widespread of disease such as malaria, cholera, AIDS and high infant death rates. In some African countries such as Ghana, democracy is gradually starting to take hold, these countries and others are yet to elect a new breed of politicians with no ties to the old structure. As a result for the poverty in Africa basically much of Africa belongs to two classes the wealthy elite and the extremely poor. In Africa radios, televisions, and automobiles are rare luxuries and most Africans are cut off from communications technology and the internet. One other effect on society caused from poverty is disease. The spread of disease keeps increasing in Africa due to poor health facilities. Most families are poor and cannot afford to go to good hospitals or any hospitals at all or buy medication. The inability to getting proper
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healthcare leads to premature deaths on a daily basis. This poverty has adverse effects on the citizens of most African countries socially, and also environmentally.
Poverty in Africa has a significant impact on the environment. Many countries in Africa are very rich with natural resources from oil to minerals. Africa has some of the best farmlands in the world, with the exception of the Sahara desert region, most other parts of Africa could be converted into great farmlands but most Africans have no access to fertile land and are unable to plant crops. It is not the lack of education that keeps Africans from planting crops but the treatment of them by the landowners. Most African farmworkers are severely underpaid and the revenues accrued by the landowners are never shared with the workers. For example, in Zimbabwe only twenty percent of all fertile land is available to ninety percent of the population, while there are millions of people at risk of dying from malnutrition (The Effects of Poverty in Africa). Nearly all of Africa's environmental problems are caused by humans, though not necessarily Africans. Parts of the continent south of the Sahara are experiencing serious desertification problems as a result of mismanagement of natural resources. Two thirds of the continent is desert or drylands and experiences frequent and severe droughts. Environmental degradation occurs in most of Africa because people that are on the verge of starvation are unlikely to care about the fate of their environment. When people live in poverty they have little choice but to over-exploit the land. As they try to farm they end up using the soil's contents, leading to desertification. When the land eventually becomes uneconomic to farm, these people are often forced into internal and
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cross border migrations. Poverty negatively effects the environment because it causes soil erosion. Agricultural practices that tax the soil lead to soil erosion, which lowers crop yields and pollutes rivers and streams with silt. The accumulation of the silt from the loose eroded soil kills the fish in rivers and streams. Another cause of soil erosion is the cutting down of trees, in massive numbers, either for use as firewood or to sell for much needed money. Eventually not only will the soil erode to a point where it can no longer sustain agriculture, but the trees will be gone too. One other way poverty effects the environment is it creates a lack of safe drinking water and supplies. Of the estimated eight hundred million who live on the continent, more than three hundred million live in a water scarce environment (Water in Africa Management Options to Enhance Survival and Growth). Clean potable water is rare in most of Africa despite the fact that the continent is crossed by several major rivers and contains some of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. Although boiling water is a possibility, supplies for boiling are scarce as well. Also many of the major population centres are coastal, and few major cities have adequate sewage systems. Despite Africa's wealth of natural resources the continent still remains in poverty and as a result the economy is negatively affected.
Poverty has had widespread effects on the economy of Africa. Africa is by far the world’s poorest inhabited continent. Over the decades there have been many unsuccessful attempts to improve the economies of individual African countries. However, in recent years this has begun to change in many African nations, data suggests that some countries on the continent are now experiencing fast growth. The
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World Bank reports the economy of Sub-Saharan African grew at rates that matched global rates. In 2007, the top nations ranked by highest economic growth were Mauritania, Angola, Sudan, Mozambique, and Malawi (Economy of Africa). The economies of African nations differ greatly depending on regional variation. The northern African nations have been linked to the economies of Europe and the Middle East. South Africa is by far the continents wealthiest country, accounting for thirty percent of the continents total gross domestic product. The temperate northern and southern parts of the continent are wealthier than tropical Sub-Saharan Africa (see map). East Africa has tended to be wealthier and more stable than other nations. The poorest countries are those engaged in or just merging out of civil wars, these include Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burundi. There is considerable internal variation between countries, urban areas, especially capital cities, tend to be wealthier than rural zones. One main factor in Africa's economy is agriculture. Around sixty percent of African workers are employed by the agricultural sectors with about three-fifths of these workers being subsistence farmers. Subsistence farms provide a source of food and a relatively small income for the family, but generally fail to produce enough to make reinvestment possible. There are also larger farms that grow cash crops such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, and rubber, these farms are normally operated by large corporations and employ large numbers of labourers. Another main industry in Africa's economy is mining and drilling. Africa holds the majority of the world's resources and the most valuable exports are mineral and petroleum. The southern nations have large reserves of gold, diamonds, and copper while petroleum is concentrated in
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Nigeria, Angola, and Libya. Mining and drilling produce most of Africa's revenues each year, while these industries only employ about two million people which is a tiny fraction of the continents population. The profits usually go to large corporations or the government and are usually spent on either luxuries for the elite, or on projects that return little value. Poverty affects Africa's economy because it causes unemployment and large national debts. These national debts usually result in little being spent on social services such as education, pensions, and health care. Most African nations are now pushing for debt relief.
Despite Africa being extremely wealthy with natural resources it still remains the poorest continent by far. There are many solutions to ending the poverty trap in Africa but they are not going to be easy. Africa is clearly suffering from a governance crisis. There are highly visible examples of poor governance in many African nations such as Zimbabwe, Angola, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sierra Leone. If African nations wish to develop along the same lines as developed countries they are going to need to create and sustain a stable and corruption free government system led by qualified leaders, chosen through a fair election process. Another major issue affecting Africans is water pollution and water borne disease. A solution to improving this issue is to build modern wells and water purification plants. Improve the supply of accessible and affordable medicine and health care services. Finding improvements in agriculture is an important step. They must actively promote an enabling environment by adopting appropriate legal, political, economic, financial, and social measures. For
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instance, they may need to change their laws on land use and ownership to give farmers more security and allow for better agricultural planning. It is also very important
for Africa to strengthen the status of women, this could be done through agricultural education and women could become farmers. Another known solution to poverty is developed countries sending aid, although many people fear that aid increases dependency. Also if African nations plan on lifting out of poverty they will need some sort of debt relief because most African nations have accumulated huge debts that they are unable to pay back, however some countries are against giving Africa any sort of debt relief. Africa is extremely wealthy with natural resources but lack of proper education and technology to make large profits from it. Africa must build modern industries such as oil refineries and mines and spend the profits back into their own economy to create inflation. If African nations wish to move up to developed country status they must not allow corruption to prevent them and they must actively pursue solutions.
In conclusion, the widespread effects of poverty in Africa have had substantial effects on the society, environment, and economy of Africa. There are many solutions to the issues affecting Africa but they are easier said than done. I believe a major issue that is keeping African nations from breaking out of poverty is the cultural differences on the continent. Governments and foreign donors should appreciate and recognize diversity and make sure any policies aimed at fighting poverty should be agreed by all tribes on the continent. Also Africans need to be more educated with birth control and
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they need to understand that having one or two children could save substantial amounts of money. Some Africans may choose to have lots of children because many Africans live or work as farmers and more children means more labour, also so they can ensure that they will have at least one son that will survive to support them. In 2000, the United Nations created a list called the Millennium Development Goals. This is a list of eight international goals that are expected to be reached by the year 2015, they include removing extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics, and developing a global partnership for development. I believe that the United Nations most likely will not reach these goals by 2015, because it is only three years away and African nations are nowhere near where the goals expect to be. In the last twelve years very little progress has been made towards these goals, therefore it is very unlikely that those goals will be met within the next three years. If solutions work African nations could potentially move up to a newly industrialized country or to developed country status.
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Works Cited
"Poverty in Africa." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_africa>.
Lamarca, Laura. "The Effects of Poverty in Africa - by Laura Lamarca - Helium." Helium - Where Knowledge Rules. 04 June 2008. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. <http://www.helium.com/items/1068367-the-effects-of-poverty-in-africa>.
“Water in Africa,Management Options to Enhance Survival and Growth ”www.unwater.org NEPAD Support Unit, Sept 2006. Web.07 Jan.2012
<https://www.unwater.org/downloads/nepadwater.pdf>
“Economy of Africa.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Jan.2012
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“Poverty: A Ticking Time Bomb of Humanity’s Future”
<http://founder.limkokwing.net/blog/poverty_a_ticking_time_bomb_of_humanitys_future/>