Ending Extreme Poverty: Making Progress In The Current Political Climate

The infant mortality rate in USA is the highest for any developed nation.

You would think that a superpower like United States of America won’t have any people suffering from extreme -poverty.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. In spite of its economic and political superpower, the country has its own share of very poor people.

Philip Alston, UN’s special rapporteur for extreme poverty and human rights, spent 10 days in USA and came away with some shocking findings:

The infant mortality rate in USA is the highest for any developed nation
The average health indicators of Americans are deteriorating compared to other first-world nations
Of the 37 OECD countries, USA ranks 35^th in terms of poverty and inequality

Political Action Against Extreme Poverty

The UN adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 and USAID.

Being a superpower, USA has got a role to play in not just alleviating poverty at home but also lead the challenge against it globally.

The UN adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 and USAID, country’s premier aid agency, presented a ‘Vision for Ending Extreme Poverty.’

As good as the plan sounds with emphasis on promoting enterprise and social justice, there seems to be a growing insularity in American politics that would prevent the two parties from pursuing these goals aggressively.

The average American is becoming less and less interested in global affairs and doesn’t want his country to spend much energy abroad. It is time for political parties to show leadership and tell people about the need to tackle extreme poverty, both at home and abroad.

Alas, that is not happening! The politicians on both sides of the aisle are far too deeply entrenched in their respective positions to seriously discuss the matter. They are not willing to come together and make a compromise.