When there was the world summit on social development in Copenhagen in 1995,
the UN Declaration defined absolute poverty as a condition characterized
by severe deprivation of basic human needs including food,
safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health,
shelter, education and information.
It depends not only on income but also on access to services.
Thus, we must look beyond monetary terms in our efforts to combat poverty.
Here I'd like to think about the close relationship between education,
health issues, such as children mortality and HIV prevalence, and
access to basic services, including water, sanitation, etc.
As a director of Medical Mission Center of Yonsei University Health System,
I often visit developing countries.
Several years ago, I visited Kenya.
I heard of woman who led Beacon of Hope on indigenous angio
told me this poignant African wisdom, the empty stomach does
not have ears
This African proverb, interestingly echos a study done with Indian
sugarcane farmers, who consistently scored better in cognitive
tests after they completed the sugarcane harvest and had more money.
It illustrates that the hunger and
poverty are giving great impact on human development.
Dealing with poverty is a prerequisite for
achieving educational or cognitive development.
The older Africans already know the impact of poverty on many aspects of
human life and development, and its interconnected nature.
This interconnectedness became a more tangible
during a conversation with a woman raising seven children on her own.
She got married when she was a teenager and had four children from her marriage.
Unfortunately her husband tested positive for HIV and shortly she did as well.
When her husband died, she could no longer stay with her in-laws,
forcing her to move back to her family's house.
But there was no home for her there either.
She was forced to leave once again, and
to worsen the situation, she had to take on her sister's three children.
She an her seven children moved to Nairobi in search of a living and
eventually settled in one of the biggest slums there.
In lieu of a stable job, he had little choice but to result to prostitution.
Her story gives us insight into how poverty affects
multiple aspects of life, simultaneously.
Moreover, this intensely personal and
particular story is actually indicative of a larger statistic.
During the four years, I lived in Uzbekistan as a director of an angel
hospital I've encountered these kinds of stories all too often.