Alva Review-Courier -

“Ebola (virus) reminds us again that a health crisis anywhere is a health crisis everywhere.” – Sue Desmond, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The war on worldwide poverty and famine is brought to our attention less than the exodus of refugees from war-torn regions, but it pales in comparison to the concentration of the Earth’s remaining poor in sub-Saharan Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria are destined to be home to 86 percent of the world’s extremely poor by 2050 if measures aren’t taken.

In most instances, the extremely poor survive on the equivalent of $1.90 per day. There are examples in other regions how investing in health and education have led to great things. Ethiopia is an example where said investments have led to growing the economy and reducing poverty. Rwanda is doubling-down on vaccination efforts and the result is a falling mortality rate. In Vietnam, whose Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 1/25th that of the United States, students are out-performing us in math and science due to spending nearly 6 percent of its GDP on education in comparison to our 5 percent. Since 2000, a billion people have lifted themselves out of poverty, ¾ of them in China and India.

Bill Gates says, “If we invest in human capital today, young people wearing sandals in the poorest, fastest growing countries will be riding bicycles tomorrow and inventing cheaper, cleaner, safer cars next week.”

Investment in human capital includes sanitation and family planning as well as health and education.