Approximately 2.6 billion people were poverty struck due to natural disasters over the past 10 years, compared to the 1.6 billion in the decade previous to that. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children around the world die every day due to poverty related causes. Pollution related deaths total up to 2.5 million worldwide every year. Almost 1 in 5 people- a total of 1.2 billion men, women and children – are currently living in a situation of extreme poverty, surviving on the equivalent of less than one dollar a day and half the people in the world are managing below the poverty line of two dollars a day.
If there were only 100 people living on the earth, 15 of us, would be illiterate, 15 of us including 3 children, would be undernourished, 22 would have no access to clean drinking water, 14 would have no right to basic health services, 13 world die aged 40 and 17 of us would have no proper shelter. (Source: UNDP-UNICEF)
Women and children suffer more than men from different causes of poverty in developing countries, which include lack of education and awareness, poor health care, undernourishment, unstable economics, and dysfunctional governments. Healthy, economically safe and empowered women have the ability to transform themselves and their families. We should empower the marginalized and unfortunate communities so that they can develop themselves and their countries. That is the path towards sustainable social development.
