These countries, like other LDCs, have been especially vulnerable to the disruptions caused by falling commodity prices, conflicts and natural disasters, as well as the AIDS pandemic. AIDS is striking at the heart of Africa, rolling back accomplishments in health and education, and leaving society weakened at every level. But AIDS is not the only disease threatening African lives and livelihoods. Malaria and water-borne diseases contribute mightily to the continent's vast daily human sacrifice to problems that are crises in poor countries, but that in many cases have been completely overcome in the developed world. Broad-based development processes are urgently required that contribute to the stabilisation of African families and communities, enable Africans to invest in basic measures for the control of AIDS and other diseases, and empower African women to take control of their own lives.
More focus is needed on the African poor, both men and women.
The rate of poverty reduction in Africa, is far lower than that required to achieve the Millennium Summit target. He called for a new approach to ending poverty among the least developed countries, an approach supported by focused domestic policies and enhanced international assistance. The majority of the poor in most LDCs live in rural areas, depending on agriculture and related trade, services and processing activities for their livelihood. Women, sadly, form a growing majority of the poor, with equal obligations for farmwork in addition to their household tasks, and yet, are even more deprived than men of assets, services or support. B ge emphasised that foreign direct investment offers the potential to help increase the production capacity of LDCs.