A problem of priority not scarcity.

• Author: Parajuli, Abhishek Raman
• Position: ESSAYS BY OUR FACEBOOK FANS - Essay

"A home of plenty: clothed and fed our sturdy children play; While other children cry for bread not half a world away."--Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith

With the wealth of resources at the world's disposal, for this hymn above to represent the truth in 2015, the target year for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), would be a shame to humankind. It is not fair, therefore, to ask today whether the MDGs are achievable. It is not fair for the 925 million people who do not have enough to eat and the 1.4 billion who live in poverty. But most important, it is not fair because the world has what it takes to achieve the MDGs. What is lacking is a sense of urgency, the urgency that unceasingly drives the lives of those who suffer.

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While many regions are not on target for achieving the goals, there is so much to be hopeful for. There is much we have done, yet so much more we can do. And let us ask the crucial question--why is there still room for hope?

Hope can be found in the fact that while progress has been slow, progress has been made. The latest World Bank report How's the World Doing? states that forty-five out of eighty-four countries are on track to meet the goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015 and, compared to 1990, 27 per cent fewer people would be living in poverty in 2015. By forgiving the debts of poor nations, more money has been freed for development. Before debt relief, under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, eligible poor countries spent more on debt services than on health and education combined. (1) Also, rich nations are doing more to meet their commitments: in 2009, for example, leaders of the group of eight industrialized nations, the G8, pledged $20 billions to help their poor counterparts with investments in agricultural development. (2) These are just small steps, but the world is heading in the right direction.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the world spent $1,531 trillion on defence in 2009, a 49 per cent increase since 2000, while aid commitments made in the 1970s were still far from fulfilled. We have more resources if we choose to use them. Ours is not a problem of scarcity, but one of priority.

Change is in the air, and that is another reason to be hopeful. Innovation has driven us to better means of finance, action, and awareness. UNITAID, an international facility hosted by the World Health Organization for the purchase of drugs...