Observance of International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

October 17th marks the United Nation’s #InternationalDayfortheEradicationofPoverty. Extraordinary progress has been made in reducing extreme poverty over the course of the past 25 years, with over 1 billion people rising above the threshold that identifies those in deepest need.

 Despite this progress, population growth, economic shocks, food insecurity, and climate change threaten to undermine this momentum. The #WorldBank estimates that 12.7 percent of people in the developing world – or 896 million people – lived at or below $1.90 a day.

The presence of poverty, insecurity and inequalities continues to be a scandal in a world where knowledge and resources exist to ensure healthy and dignified lives for all. While a few consume in an extremely unsustainable manner and accumulate soaring wealth, billions of others have no access to adequate food, safe drinking water, proper sanitation, housing, health, education, security and justice.

Women, children and socially excluded people still comprise the vast majority of people living in poverty and face harsh discrimination – and often violence – on a daily basis. It is also worrying that women lack economic empowerment and social protection and continue to live in a context that places them in a situation of vulnerability to violence patriarchy both in home and in society. 

Poverty eradication is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. Therefore all who are fortunate enough must all commit to freeing humanity from poverty and hunger as a matter of urgency.

We must all raise our voice for the world’s most vulnerable,we can start a movement to ensure every person can live with dignity, global citizens must stand together and encourage leaders to end global poverty once and for all by 2030. We have to come together, as one world, to realize the change that we seek.

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is a reminder that we must act together — and when we do, we can make even more progress in building a sustainable future.