We’ve just seen the world’s leaders meet and deliver a lot of chat about what they’re going to do to fight poverty. How did they score?
5 out of 10.
Not good, huh? While they made plenty of promises back in 2005 – when all those white bands were screaming at them to Make Poverty History – two years on and their progress has been poor.
Climate change
They might talk a good game, but we’re still facing disaster. If we allow average global temperatures to continue to rise we could end up with more than a billion people facing water shortages and more than 250 million people underfed within 50 years.
HIV and AIDS
There has simply not been enough money poured in. Instead the trickle will only help at best 5 million people, when there are at least 10 – 16 million who desperately need medical help.
Trade
They’ve said nothing new here. What’s worse is that European countries continue to push trade deals on Africa that leave them worse off.
Water and Sanitation
You know what’s truly crazy? The world leaders forgot to mention water and sanitation. Four times as many children die from water related diseases every year as die from AIDS, but the silence is deafening.