Ending Poverty Through Education
Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is fear for the future and living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of freedom. The forgotten world is made up primarily of the developing nations, where most of the people, comprising more than fifty percent of the total world population, live in poverty, with fear of famine a continual menace. So what role can education play in a realistic anti-poverty policy agenda? Education benefits people's health, from a mother's pre-birth condition to the likelihood of developing diseases later in life. Women with at least 6 years of education are more likely to use prenatal vitamins and other useful tactics during pregnancy, thus reducing the risk of maternal or infant mortality. Also, the child of an educated mother is two times more likely to survive to the age of 5 than an uneducated mot...