We came to the following conlcusions:
Healthcare: Poor living conditions will mean diseases will develop and spread easily. Once diseases have spread the poor countries do not have the medicine supplies to treat sick people resulting in a high death rate.
Education: If they are not well educated then they will not have essential skills like reading and writing which they would need if they wanted to get a well paid job.
War/conflicts: Lots of LDC’s have political unrest and lots of people take the law into their own hands which results in civil war.
Poor nutrition: As they are poor they cannot afford good nutritious food and sometimes cannot even get any food.
Natural disasters: When natural disasters hit a country it can have a devastating effect on the people living there and the infrastructure. To have good protection and prevention strategies for natural disasters a lot of money needs to be spent and LDC’s do not have this money to spend which means they suffer when such events do happen.
Primary industry: In LDC’s farming is often the only type of work that is easily available. This means that lots of people go into this industry which does not make much money.
It would seem to us that all of these reasons interlink in a host of different ways.
Primary industry and education:
· If people are not well educated they can not get good jobs, as they have little skills needed to progress to the secondary or tertiary industry, which means they have to work in agriculture making small amounts of money.
Education and healthcare:
· If an individual does not learn how to take care of themselves then they are going to become ill as they don’t know about good hygiene. They will not learn about a number of diseases that can be easily contracted from water so they will drink any they find.
· There will also be a lack of doctors and nurses. This is because if there is little education, people can’t get the qualifications to become a doctor or nurse. This means that people can’t be given medicines and injections.
Natural disasters and nutrition
· If there is a natural disaster such as an earthquake, then the crops will be destroyed meaning poor nutrition. The crops could provide many people with some food, however if the crops are ruined then there will be no food for communities to eat.
Natural disasters and health care
· Natural disasters cause crops to be ruined. This will mean there will be a lack of food and people will starve. As there is a lack of health care, these people can’t be treated and will eventually die which will cause a drop in the total population.
· Natural disasters will also cause buildings and homes to be destroyed. This will mean there will more people living on the streets and diseases will start and spread across many people. As there is poor health care, these diseases won’t be able to be treated and lives will be lost.
Primary industry and health care and nutrition
· As a lot of work in the primary industry is mostly done on ground level, many people will get back problems. As there is poor health care, these people can’t get treatment for their bad backs and could put them out of a job if they can’t cope. This will cause families to suffer as they have no income and can’t afford to eat. Therefore they will starve and could die.
Civil wars and education
· If people don’t get educated then they can’t get a job and will join gangs. This will cause conflict between the gangs and wars will break out.
Can the Problems be solved?
International aid will mean that LDCs will have more money meaning they can spend it on improving health care and education. As more people will be being educated, it may also reduce the number and gangs and therefore decrease the amount of civil wars.
Volunteer Africa: http://www.volunteerafrica.org/
This is a non profit organisation that sends volunteers over to Africa to stay with a family. They get a chance to live in the community and take part in projects happening in the area. In return for the people letting them stay in their homes the volunteer gives a donation to the family. This will not bring the family out of poverty but it will ensure that they will have a decent meal for the coming weeks.
Matt and Harry, Year 13, Thurstable School, Tiptree.
