Poor people are dying from AIDS. This phrase is used commonly; I would even say it’s become a common cliché people use. In these lines I aim not just to appeal for a fight against AIDS, nor simply to describe the tortuous path of the millions living with HIV day in and day out.  

poverty | Essays | Marcelo Fernandez

I met women with newborns who were still locked into maternity wards six months after delivery, because they were not able to pay for the services. I saw dying patients who had no assistance, because health personnel were on strike.

poverty | Essays | Martin Bandžák

If we consider that justice is one of the main backbones of any society, which can ensure that human beings have access to rights, protection and self development, it is necessary to make sure that such justice or societies are free from corruption.

poverty | Essays | Thierry Darnaudet

In all the former Soviet satellite states (or the “socialist bloc”), the years have brought changes in society, customs and everyday life – undoubtedly for the better. There is now a democratic electoral system; people can say want they choose, accept any religion, gather and defend their interests.

poverty | Essays | Jiřina Šiklová

Prum Samros lives in a little thatched hut on a dirt road in Bavel in North West Cambodia with his wife and their six children. The house is bare with just a few scattered belongings. His seven-year old daughter reduces the charcoal under the rice cooking pot. “You know we have nearly nothing left after five moves in the last seven years,” says Prum’s wife, Vanna.

poverty | Essays | Christine Chaumeau

I have the feeling humans are given more to crave what they don’t have, than to be content and appreciative of what they do have. Freedom and money – or more generally possessions – are not necessarily in conflict, but there’s a pitfall, in that everyone may consider these things (or poverty and repression) differently.

poverty | Essays | Renata Kalenská a Václav Havel

I was born during the Cold War in Czechoslovakia, in a time when many were celebrating world peace, though it was far from the reality. Conflicts, armaments, wars, genocides – one conflagration never finished without another bigger one starting up.

poverty | Essays | Denisa Augustínová

There is now conclusive evidence that HIV originated in Africa. A complex computer model of the evolution of HIV-1 has suggested that the first transfer of SIV to humans occurred around 1930.

poverty | Essays | Eric Nerrienet

“…freedom is not regarded as complete as long as there are others who are in need.” This question was asked by Turnusrufus of Rabbi Akiva: “If your G-d loves the poor, why does he not sustain them?” He answered him, “In order that we be saved from the judgement of purgatory”.

poverty | Essays | Baruch Myers