But they bear the brunt of the adjustment programs that accompany internationally imposed austerity measures. It is hard to think of any other program, domestic or international, that has suffered such cuts. Victimized by the end of the Cold War, on the one hand, and intense fiscal pressures in Europe and North America, on the other, aid has been an easy target for the chopping block. But these reductions, which have occurred without public debate, have had real human costs. Within developing countries, some 3 billion people live in poverty.
Millions are literally without food, clothing, shelter and education.
More than 8 million children die each year because of the polluted water they drink and air they breathe. To those in absolute poverty in the developing countries, daily life means another day of suffering. To be sure, aid is no substitute for good governance at home and economic expansion abroad, but it can provide the poor with a bridge as they await those larger changes. The real tragedy is that aid spending is being reduced to trivial amounts just as knowledge about how to eliminate poverty has reached new heights. Far from being a waste of money, development assistance can be successfully allocated to responsible governments and nongovernmental organizations that make anti-poverty programs a priority.