Drop the debt

Ione Gyamfi gives her view on debt in the developing world

In the UK we see streams of appeals all year round to raise money, yet it doesn't come close to bringing developing countries back to zero

Poverty in developing world countries has become an increasingly worrying and controversial issue. More and more people seem to be striving to find ways to end world poverty, and yet developing countries have little power to help themselves as they struggle to pay off even the interest on their old debts.

The USA has been criticized a great deal for its refusal to cancel Africa's debt and those of other developing countries. The United States of America's economy is one of the world's richest, worth over $13 trillion. Africa's debt is thought to exceed over $200 billion and in Africa, every day some 6000 people die from AIDS, 3000 children die from Malaria, and many others die from water related diseases. With statistics like this, its not difficult to see why many find it hard to believe that superpower America has not yet found an adequate solution for world debt.

If we were to cancel world debt, developing countries might have the power to organise their economies and be able to spend their money on long term development for their communities: providing immunization, clean water and food, improving living conditions, establishing schools and hospitals.

There are hundreds of campaigns across the world to end poverty. Every year the UK unites in raising funds for and awareness of the developing world in the form of Children In Need. Organizations such as the Fairtrade Foundation push for fair prices for producers so that developing countries might work themselves out of poverty. In the UK we see streams of appeals all year round in our local areas; Blue Peter appeals, sponsored walks, mufty days, cake sales and coffee mornings which claim to save millions of lives. Collectively the amount of money raised is baffling, and yet, it doesn't come close to reaching the billions it would take to bring developing countries back to zero. In order to end poverty once and for all, to truly put it in the past, surely we need first to start from a clean slate; cancel world debt in its entirety, or at least a large majority of it.

I believe that's it really important to help developing countries through charitable organizations such as Oxfam and the Red Cross, but it would be even better if we could really help them help themselves by alleviating world debt and giving developing countries a fresh start.