July 10, 2001
A new expert report (http://www.undp.org/hdr2001) commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) argues that information and communications technology, as well as advances in the field of biotechnology, can potentially make major contributions to reducing poverty.
The annual Human Development Report, this year subtitled Making New Technologies Work for Human Development, points out that breakthrough medical technologies have already raised life expectancies quickly and dramatically, even in poor countries lacking adequate health infrastructure. For example, a new oral rehydration therapy and improved vaccines reduced the number of deaths from major childhood illnesses by about 3 million between 1980 and 1990. The development of vaccines for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis could also save the lives of millions of people in the developing world.
Information and communications technology can also make an important development impact by overcoming barriers of social, economic and geographical isolation while increasing access to information and education, according to the report. The report points to low-cost computers and low literacy touch-screens as examples of technologies now under development that have great potential for empowering the poor.
Despite these positive predictions, the report concludes that many of the most important technology opportunities for poor people have so far been missed because of lack of market demand and inadequate public financing. It recommends public sector funding incentives for research and development, while noting that governments in both developed and developing countries have so far failed to provide the necessary support for these initiatives.
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