It’s unacceptable for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries to experience high levels of poverty when the region has abundant resources, says Zambian president and current SADC chairperson Levy Mwanawasa.
Addressing the opening of the SADC International Summit Conference on Poverty and Development, Mwanawasa said the high poverty levels were reflected in social indicators such as high levels of malnutrition, illiteracy, unemployment, underemployment, declining life expectancy, and unsatisfactory access to the basic social services and infrastructure needed to sustain basic human capacities. Mwanawasa said despite the causes of poverty varying from country to country, some of the key common factors included slow or negligible economic growth and job creation over most of the 1980s and 1990s, declining social services and a rising disease burden, especially relating to HIV/Aids. – BuaNews
