The key to achievement of sustainable development and improvement in health indicators among African communities is to be found in poverty eradication. That assertion may sound simplistic. But the truthfulness of it is to be found when we look at:
1. The fact that poverty leads people to pursue unsustainable development models: put simply, when people are poor, they focus on day to day survival. They won’t care about things like overexploitation of mineral resources, overuse of agricultural chemicals or deforestation. Rather, the only thing they are inclined to care about is that which brings them livelihood most expeditiously. It is thanks to poverty that, for instance, people in countries like Somalia continue to cut down all their trees for charcoal burning purposes (this being charcoal they subsequently export to Middle Eastern countries). Being poverty-stricken folks, the last thing they care about is the long term impact of this enterprise on their environment. The same scenario is replicated elsewhere in Africa: where, thank to poverty, we see folks engaging in enterprises that are obviously unsustainable in the long run. Unless they overcome poverty, they are unlikely to be in a position to see the impact of their activities. The same thing also occurs at the national levels: where the leaders of the poorest nations are unlikely to care about things like sustainable national development models.
2. The fact that poverty is directly related to poor health indicators: it is, for instance, in the poorest communities that we tend to see the worst maternal mortality rates. It is also in the poorest communities that we tend to see the worst infant mortality rates. Further still, it is in the poorest communities that we tend to see the lowest life expectancy figures. This is simply a situation where poor folks are unable to afford decent healthcare (including prenatal, maternal and antenatal care). Poverty also leads to malnutrition, which in turn triggers the health problems.
Some of the approaches through which poverty can be eradicated, thus setting the stage for achievement of sustainable development and improvement of health indicators include:
1. Through formal education: simply put, better educated people (i.e. people who know how to use www.gmail.com and do other technical stuffs) tend to be in a position to see the opportunities around them, and to take better advantage of them. It emerges that many people who are poor in African communities aren’t poor because there are no opportunities. Rather, they are poor because they are not empowered to see the opportunities and take advantage of them. The only way such empowerment can take place is through education.
2. Through vocational training: vocational training gives people practical skills with which they can earn livelihoods. While there are people who may lack the ‘intellectual prowess’ to pursue formal education to the highest level, pretty much everybody can benefit from vocational training. Vocational training can also be useful to people who feel that they are past the age where they can benefit from formal education.
3. Through better governance: we have people in African communities who are wallowing in poverty, in spite of having good formal education and/or vocational training. In most cases, this is due to governance problems. Proper governance should eradicate corruption, which tends to be at the root of many African communities’ problems. Proper governance should foster good macroeconomic management policies, which in turn yield opportunities for the citizenry. Many people imagine that the NGOs undertaking work aimed at improving governance in African states are undertaking aimless work. But the truth of the matter is that improvement in governance can, indeed (indirectly and in the long run), lead to achievement of sustainable development and improvement in health indicators.