The Poverty Problem

The world today is faced with very serious problems of poverty and underdevelopment in many countries. The situation reveals unimaginable suffering with avoidable disease, malnutrition, hunger, starvation, lack of adequate basic education, environmental degradation and above all, lack of social cohesion leading to conflict in the poorest nations. Unfortunately, much of Africa is in deep crises with virtually all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa suffering from various degrees of hardship including huge indebtedness.

The executive summary of the report of the Commission for Africa in March 2005 revealed the situation as it was then as follows “African poverty and stagnation is the greatest tragedy of our time. Poverty on such a scale demands a forceful response. And Africa – at country, regional, and continental levels – is creating much stronger foundations for tackling its problems.
Recent years have seen improvements in economic growth and in governance. But Africa needs more of both if it is to make serious inroads into poverty. To do that requires a partnership between Africa and the developed world which takes full account of Africa’s diversity and particular circumstances.” (http://www.....).

Global Effort to Solve the Poverty Problem

In view of the concern generated worldwide about the magnitude of the problem of poverty especially in the developing countries and the untold suffering, a remarkable global commitment was made in 2000. The Millennium Development Goals set out to halve world poverty by 2015 (http://www.....). The eight (8) millennium development goals state as follows: 1. eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, 2. achieve universal primary education, 3. promote gender equity and empower women, 4. reduce child mortality 5. improve maternal health, 6. combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, 7. ensure environmental sustainability, and 8. develop a global partnership for development. Obviously, the intention for this global initiative is good, but the report of the Commission for Africa chaired by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, clearly indicated that there are major hurdles to be scaled before the ultimate goals could be achieved. Among the difficult areas was the observation that the rich world was falling behind on its pledges to the poor. However, the report also pointed out that all is not gloom. For 2005 is also the year in which it is becoming clear to the outside world that things are changing on the continent – with African governments showing a new vision, both individually and working together through the African Union and its New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) programme. Africa, at last, looks set to deliver. According to the report of the Commission for Africa, their starting point was the recognition that Africa must drive its own development. Rich nations then should support that, because it is in our common interest to make the world a more prosperous and secure place – through the international community will contribute to the achievement of these objectives in different ways. However, what is clear is that if Africa does not create the right conditions for development, then any amount of outside support will fail.

Finally, the Commission pointed out that for its part, Africa must accelerate reform! It indicated that the problems to be addressed are interlocking. “They are vicious circles which reinforce one another. They must, therefore, be tackled together. To do that Africa requires a comprehensive ‘big push’ on many fronts at once. Partners must work together to implement this package with commitment, perseverance and speed, each focusing on how they can make the most effective contribution.”

In this proposal, a social innovation is introduced for the poor developing world, particularly for Africa. The opportunity is presented through a new concept of comprehensive Community Directed Development (CDD). Through CDD there is the opportunity to consolidate an innovative partnership for development in Africa and underscore the possibility about turning the vision of a strong and prosperous Africa into a reality. The strategy is to enhance capability building through organizational networking and create the orderly, structured environment needed to encourage local people to take ownership of intervention programmes as a means of stimulating sustainable socio-economic development. The CDD strategy also pursues health improvement starting with the control of endemic parasitic diseases as a means of stimulating socio-economic development.

The Role of Diseases Control in Development

Human diseases are reported to be one of the major contributors to underdevelopment in Africa. Common parasitic diseases such as malaria, bilharzia, intestinal worm infestation, elephantiasis, river blindness and sleeping sickness cause malnutrition, growth retardation, and promote high susceptibility of individuals to other diseases. Furthermore, some of the parasitic diseases have adverse effect on fertility, pregnancy and are responsible for fatigue in adults (reducing workers productivity). In children, parasitic diseases are also a major cause of anaemia and they induce loss of concentration and slow development of the brain with an overall effect of retarding development. Other major diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis exert untold hardship on vulnerable communities.

Generally, control of human diseases has obvious significance on the achievement of the millennium development goals which seek to: 1. eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, 2. achieve universal primary education, 3. promote gender equity and empower women, 4. reduce child mortality 5. improve maternal health, 6. combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, 7. ensure environmental sustainability, and 8. develop a global partnership for development.

For this reason, several major efforts have been made in the past to control endemic diseases in affected countries. However, two major problems of (1) lack of sustainability of control programmes, and (2) difficulties in implementation of disease intervention strategies, still remain.

Lack of sustainability of disease control programmes

For purposes of ensuring more efficient and effective implementation of disease control, the intervention programmes are usually planned to have intersectoral collaboration involving several partners. However, the control efforts, especially externally funded projects in Africa, continue to suffer from one major limitation which is lack of sustainability. The programmes are vibrant during the phase of active external funding, but they invariably collapse following cessation of funding or towards diminishing funding. This limitation has been attributed mainly to lack of sustainable community empowerment. Also, the inability to effectively involve communities in disease control efforts in Africa has resulted in serious reduction in the potential impact of proven disease intervention strategies.

Difficulties in implementation of disease intervention strategies in Africa

Many potentially effective disease control products have been developed but they have had only limited impact on the burden of disease because of inadequate implementation resulting in poor access. The UNICEF/UNDP/WHO/World Bank Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) identifies several examples of potentially effective disease control products that have had only limited impact on the burden of disease as follows (http://www.who.int/tdr/grants/grants/schisto_ir.htm):

From improved community health to socio-economic development

Generally, effective disease control improves community health in the short term. However, long term sustainability of improved health in poverty stricken communities requires additional intervention strategies that focus on other relevant areas to enhance productivity, and improve the environment and the standard of living. For this reason, the CDDF approach integrates programmes that are aimed at strengthening education, environment, agriculture, industry and social initiatives in Africa.