Africa - Facts, Reality and Solutions!

This great continent which can boast of vast land, incredible animal life forms and eccentric cultures is riddled with poverty. When most people think of Africa, even if they are ignorant of the details of the economies of the nations which comprise this vast land, they immediately think of destitution, human want and suffering. At the last G8 Meeting the leaders of the world's eight richest countries have agreed to a debt relief program to in order to help alleviate global poverty. Clearly the majority of the focus is on African Nations. The decision is aimed at providing relief for poor, indebted nations, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, in order to free up much-needed revenue.

Poverty can be generally defined as an economic condition of lacking both money and basic necessities needed to live. These necessities include food, water, education, and shelter. Other indicators of poverty are income security, economic stability and the predictability of one's continued means to meet basic needs. Thus it can be concluded that poverty can also be defined as the economic condition of lacking predictable and stable means of meeting basic life needs. According to the decision made by these G8 World Leaders, thirty-eight countries are eligible for debt relief under the HIPC (highly-indebted poor countries initiative). Of this there are eighteen that have reached saturation point, and will therefore qualify for immediate debt relief.

These countries are as follows: Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Clearly no one can deny the existence of severe poverty in the continent. However, Africa's poverty is so glaring that it does not need to be overstated. For example for one to say that Nigeria's GDP per capita is $250 and Mozambique's is $80 as stated in official data is simply absurd. The fact is that Africa as a nation is in dire need of both political and economic reform. Once the appropriate measures are taken then perhaps these poor nations can produce again!

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