Poverty In Africa Essay

Poverty in Africa Has one ever thought about all the poverty that goes on around the world? From killings to diseases to starvation, there are plenty of factors that cause poverty to occur. Africa has one of the highest poverty rates in the world, considering that they are also one of the poorest countries in the world. It is not there that they live in poverty; it is their economy and environment. Africa is a country living in extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is defined as living on $1.25 or less a day. 414 million people and counting were living in extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Bank, 48.5 percent of the populations were living on $1.25 just in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa. Some factors that …show more content…
Water scarcity affects nearly 300 million Africans (about 38 percent of the population). They also claim at least 6,000 lives per year. Without water, Africans are not guaranteed a steady food supply, since farmers cannot raise crops or livestock. This means that they resort to using unclean water to drink and farm. Illnesses caused by unclean water and sanitation kill about 4,000 children every day. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 43% of the children drink unclean. About one in five never live to see their fifth birthday (Zeaman 17-19,86-89). Poverty in Africa results in more than 500 million people suffering from waterborne diseases. More than 50 percent of Africans actually have a water-related illness like cholera. Each year, Sub-Saharan Africa misses out on about $30 billion as productivity due to water and sanitation problems (Packtor web). The government has made efforts to warn local people of the dangers of drinking unclean water. It could be contaminated with sewage or tainted with industrial waste. Drinking the water that is contaminated by heavy metals can cause cancer, poisoning, and skin diseases. Even though the community has been warned about the water, they still use it. Most cannot afford to buy water so they have no other options and no free source of water is available where they live. The land consumes 70% of the fresh water that the people use. African women are expected to walk an average of six miles to …show more content…
If the United States government would step in and donate a couple million to help repair Africa’s environment and economy there wouldn’t be as much poverty. Most of the poverty that occurs is caused by environmental problems like water shortages, ungrown crops, and unemployment. Give Africa more employment opportunities and more reliable resources and watch the poverty level go down in the next 10