major problems facing Africa today
A child dies every three seconds from AIDS and extreme poverty, often before their fifth birthday.
More than one billion people do not have access to clean water. (global)
Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday. (sources: UNICEF, WHO)
More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.
(source: World Health Org.)
More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day, 300 million are children. (global stats: UNAIDS)
Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations.
More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micro-nutrient deficiency.
world poverty facts and statistics
In sub-Saharan Africa, measles takes the life of a child nearly every minute of every day. An effective measles vaccine costs as little as $1 per child. (source: WHO)
poverty in Africa
AFRICA'S CHILDREN OF WAR
About 120,000 African children are participating in armed conflicts. Some are as young as 7 years old. (source: United Nations)
Children account for half of all civilian casualties in wars in Africa. (source: United Nations)
About 65% (nearly 2/3) of the world's HIV-positive population live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Women most Affected. (source: UNAIDS)
Nearly one third of children in Sub-Saharan Africa are underweight. (source: UNICEF)
Between 12 and 16 million African children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. (source: World Vision)
Nearly 2 million children under 14 years old are HIV positive in sub - Saharan Africa. (source: Avert )
43% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have safe, accessible drinking water. (source: UNICEF)
200,000 child slaves are sold every year in Africa. There are an estimated 8,000 girl-slaves in West Africa alone. (sources: BBC 5 October, 2001 & Anti-Slavery Society)
Only 57% of African children are enrolled in primary education, and one in three of those does not complete school. (African Union: Poverty in Africa statistics)
64% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have adequate sanitation. (source: UNICEF)
For every 100 boys there are only 83 girls enrolled at primary school. (AU: Stats: Poverty in Africa)
POOR GOVERNANCE
"Those who promised to help us are the same people killing us.
Our leaders don't think about us. Our leaders don't care about us.
Africa is poor because our leaders are very poor-minded people.
They come to power with fake promises and once they are up there in the high offices, they forget about the people who put them there.
Not that we don't know how to choose the right leaders.
The problem is that, they are all the same and that is why Africa remains poor.
Africa is poor but we have the resources here. The problem is that we don't have the right leaders to help us.
Most leaders in my country for example have about eight to ten different mansions each with big businesses home and abroad where as the poor people in the villages don't even have access to clean drinking water.
The President and the ministers live in big mansions and send their children abroad to study in higher institutions whereas most children remain in the house because their parents can't even afford to pay for primary education.
They remain at home because their parents can't pay their school fees.
All the ministers and those in the higher positions have swimming pools in their homes.
They waste water whereas the poor people don't even have access to clean drinking water.."
The most painful part is that; the foreign aids that Western countries send to Africa in the name of the poor people in Africa don't reach the poor people who need the aids the most. Western donors like America and the UK send billions of dollars to Africa to help better the living conditions of the poor people in Africa. However, the poor people who deserve the aids the most get nothing at all. Instead those in higher positions spend the money on themselves buying big cars and building mansions while the poor die from extreme poverty and hunger.
I know poverty because poverty was there before I was born and it has become part of life like the blood through my veins. Poverty is not going empty for a single day and getting something to eat the next day. Poverty is going empty with no hope for the future. Poverty is getting nobody to feel your pain and poverty is when your dreams go in vain because nobody is there to help you. Poverty is watching your mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters die in pain and in sorrow just because they couldn't get something to eat. Poverty is hearing your grandmothers and grandfathers cry out to death to come take them because they are tired of this world. Poverty is watching your own children and grandchildren die in your arms but there is nothing you can do. Poverty is watching your children and grandchildren share tears in their deepest sleep. Poverty is suffering from HIV/AIDS and dying a shameful death but nobody seems to care". Poor Grandmother " Poverty is when you hide your face and wish nobody could see you just because you feel less than a human being. Poverty is when you dream of bread and fish you never see in the day light. Poverty is when people accuse you and prosecute you for no fault of yours but who is there to say some for you? Poverty is when the hopes of your fathers and grandfathers just vanish within a blink of an eye. I know poverty and I know poverty just like I know my father's name. Poverty never sleeps. Poverty works all day and night. Poverty never takes a holiday
Life was simple and beautiful in the villages of Africa. Children, Grandparents, Parents, Uncles and Aunts all lived together peacefully in extended family systems. While mothers and fathers are in the farm working, Grandparents remain at home taking care of their grandchildren. While the children play in the sand, grandparents mostly sit quietly under trees nearby sometimes with friends and watch their grandchildren play. While fathers clear thick bushes making way for new farms, mothers mostly gather foodstuffs to be brought home. Such was life in African villages. However, war, diseases, extreme poverty and famine have brought to Africa an entirely new concept. Most children are left alone in this cruel world with no parents, no grandparents, no siblings, and no blood relatives at all to take care of them . Most children have lost their parents to the deadly HIV/AIDS. Others have lost their parents to war and their grandparents, to extreme poverty.
Children have lost their parents. Parents have lost their children and the poor grandparents have lost their sons and daughters to war, poverty and to the deadly HIV/AIDS. Grandparents love and protect their grandchildren but grandparents do not have the strength to clear thick bushes and make new farms so with the parents gone (dead), the grandparents with their grandchildren are left with nothing but extreme poverty and hunger.
The number of orphans and street children continue to rise in Africa. orphans
In addition to war, HIV and famine, malaria continues to kill children in record numbers especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile a mosquito net costs less than $1. The problem is worse in the villages and small towns where there are no hospitals nor clinics to help the sick. Malaria death toll rises extremely high especially in the rainy season which is the breeding period for mosquitoes.
The faces of Poverty
POVERTY IN AFRICA: FACTS - HUNGER AND HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA
"As a consequence of the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa," one report stated, "it is estimated that more than 18 million people have died to date, of which over 3 million were children. Additionally, more than 25 million adults are currently infected which will result in the continued increase in the number of orphaned children. To date, more than 15 million children have already been orphaned as a result of the epidemic. Another 1 million children are currently infected with the disease." Cozay: child poverty in Africa
"As a consequence of the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa," one report stated, "it is estimated that more than 18 million people have died to date, of which over 3 million were children. Additionally, more than 25 million adults are currently infected which will result in the continued increase in the number of orphaned children. To date, more than 15 million children have already been orphaned as a result of the epidemic. Another 1 million children are currently infected with the disease."
RURAL POVERTY IN AFRICA: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA
The poor in Africa depend mostly on their subsistence farms for survival but fertile lands for farming are very scarce these days due to overpopulation, etc.
The face of a poor child The majority (about three-fourth) of the poor population in Western and Central Africa (about 100million people) are poor subsistence farmers who live in villages and farm just to feed themselves and their families. They depend mostly on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, about one in every five of these people live in a country affected by warfare. War destroys families and farms leaving most people with nothing at all but extreme poverty and starvation. Famine follows wars in most cases in Africa. poverty in Africa facts
In conflict-torn countries such as Angola, Burundi, Mozambique, Liberia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Congo, Sierra Leon, and Uganda, the capacity of rural people to make a livelihood has been dramatically curtailed by warfare, and per capita food production has plummeted.
Lack of good drinking water is a major problem in almost all African villages especially in desert countries like Niger, Sudan and Mali. Water is very scarce
and lack of good drinking water is a major problem in Ethiopia and surrounding countries where most people and farm animals share same water sources. Children walk miles upon miles everyday to nearby streams to fetch water.
Although there are many rivers and streams in the Western, Central, and Southern parts of Africa, good drinking water is a major problem in these areas. Most of the water sources in these areas are infested with water related diseases such as bilharzia, sleeping sickness, river blindness, guinea worm disease ( guinea worm disease is a major problem in Northern Ghana. 2010) and malaria. Besides these, diseases such cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery and pneumonia continue to kill children in record numbers. One or two boreholes can provide good drinking water for an entire village but not so many of these poor villages can afford boreholes and they are left with no choice.
diseases in Africa
Poverty never takes a holiday. Help now! Help and let's fight poverty in Africa.
"Africa was poor, Africa is poor and Africa will continue to be poor if we the Africans are not ready to change Africa. Africa will remain poor if Africans are not ready to make Africa rich. There is poverty in Africa and there is hunger everywhere on the continent of Africa. HIV/AIDs continues to kill Africans in record numbers. Africa is poor and there is no doubt Africa is poor. The question is not why Africa is poor but may be how we can make Africa rich. What we can do as individuals or groups to help change Africa.
There is poverty in Africa but Africa has almost all it takes to be the richest continent on earth. The major problem facing Africa today is corruption and poor leadership. There are greedy people in Africa including our leaders who don't care about their poor mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.
Some people are too greedy and that is why Africa remains poor. People are killing their own brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers just to make money. People didn't care about yesterday and people don't even care about tomorrow. All they care about is money and money and that is why Africa remains poor.
All African leaders I know are corrupt in one way or the other. They come as saints and leave as devils.. An African president of a country is a president for a few selected people. An African president is a president for only the educated and a president for only those in the higher class. An African president sees no poverty. An African president sees no hunger. An African president sees no HIV. An African president knows no orphan.
An African president shows no mercy. An African presidents sees only money and money and nothing but money.. Not just the African president but the African prime minister, the African governor, the African Doctor, the African Judge, the African lawyer, the African King, and even the African Pastor. And that is why Africa is still poor and that is why Africa continues to wallow in poverty..."
Thousands of children died in Angola during the period of war and Tens of thousands of children died in Uganda. Thousands of children died in Nigeria during the period of war and Tens of thousands of children died in Liberia. Thousands of children died in Zimbabwe and tens of thousands of children are dying in Darfur.Thousands of children died in Mozambique and tens of thousands of children died in Sierra Leon. Thousands of children died in Burundi during the period of war and tens of thousands of children died in Congo
Children are dying in India. children are dying in Pakistan. Children are dying in Israel. Children are dying in Palestine, and tens of thousands of children are dying in Iraq.
War kills children. Say NO to War!
HOPE IN AFRICA
It is very sad to read some of these stories and it is also true we face some of these problems but I also want the world to know that there is hope in Africa. Africa is not just a dark continent. There is also light in Africa. It is true we face several problems but we are not alone. Almost every country in this world faces some problems in one way or the other but there is still hope.
Our problems may be bigger than other countries but that doesn't mean there is no life in Africa. Even in America the richest country on earth, some people sleep on streets because they have no place to call their home. So Africans are not the only ones facing problems.
Who thought Haiti was that poor? but now we all know Haitians face even worse problems than Africans back home but let us not forget that Haiti is on the continent of America. In fact Haiti is very close to America the richest country on earth yet people go to bed hungry in Haiti with nothing at all to eat which is very sad.
So you see, Africans are not the only people facing problems in this world. Some face even worse problems than Africans. I have heard some Indians face even worse problems than Africans. So we are not alone. Several people in this world need help not just Africans.
Some people think Africans still hunt and gather food in the jungle which is not true. There are so many educated people in Africa. We have computers and computer literates here in Africa. We have good roads, good schools, etc in some places but our problem is that, they are not enough. In my country for example, we are poor but we have enough to eat. The problem is that there are some in Africa who have nothing at all to eat just like in every other country except that the number is very high in Africa.
It is getting too long but what I want the world to know is that, Africa is not just a poor, wretched continent with no hope as some western media portray us. There is life in Africa and by life I mean life. Some of us here in Africa even live better lives than people in the so-called advanced countries but once again, there are people here in Africa who need help especially in the war-torn countries.
There is real life here in Africa but we also face so many problems so the western media should also focus more on the good side of Africa and ways to help the continent instead of just the negative images. Thank you.
Africa means "Beauty" and Africa means "Love". Africa is nature and Africa is life. Africa is "culture' and Africa is "tradition". Africa is blessed with beautiful culture and traditions across the continent.
There are birth rites and there are puberty rites. There are initiation rites and there are marriage rights.
There are chieftaincy rites and there are kinship rites.There are rituals and there are death rites. There are festivals and there are burial rites.
Africa is a blessed continent in terms of culture and traditions.
There is no other continent like Africa in terms of beauty and love. However, not every part of the African culture is good and not all the African traditions are great.
Most part of the African culture benefits and most aspect of the African tradition is nothing but beauty.
Time is going and the world is changing and hence man must change with time.Time is changing and the world is moving around and hence traditions must be modified with time.
Most African traditions have gone through great changes to benefit man but few remain unchanged through the ages.
Go to some villages in Africa and you will notice some of the harmful effects of bad African traditions.
Go to a village in Africa and you will see teenage mothers everywhere. Ask a teenage girl and she will tell you what she went through.
It is a taboo in certain African villages for a girl child to refuse a man, sex. It is a taboo for young girls in certain parts of Africa to make their own choices when it comes to marriage.
Some are being raped in the name of tradition. Some are being molested in the name of culture. Some are being buried for no fault of theirs. Africa will forever remain poor if Africa is not ready to change with time.
Traditions were made for man not man for tradition and traditions were made to benefit man and not to harm man. It is time to move forward and it is time Africa throws away all these barbaric traditions and begin to think right.
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