In this episode of People's Daily Talk, we are very pleased to be joined by Mark Suzman, chief strategy officer and president of global policy and advocacy of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
After working for the Financial Times and the United Nations, he started the third chapter of his career at the Gates Foundation.
“Every person deserves the chance to have a healthy and productive life” — the core mission of the Gates Foundation —resonated with his personal desire to have a positive impact on poor people.
He said the best and most important news is that "global poverty has halved over a 25 years period.” The foundation tries to show the world that “progress is possible” through its annual Goalkeeper Report, which “highlights the good news and shines a spotlight on a particular challenge that might be holding progress back.”
In this years' report released last month, there are two main messages:
On the one hand, data shows that, in the past 20 years, over 99 percent of all districts in developing countries have seen progress in child mortality and years of education. On the other hand, there are three forms of inequality holding back the progress: global inequality, regional inequality and gender inequality.
He suggests that the world should learn from good models and examples that are now unevenly spread.
Speaking of China's record in addressing inequality issue over the decades, he said, "China's improvements have been among the most dramatic of any country in the world, the absolute number of people benefiting has been truly spectacular. 800 million people have been pulled out of extreme poverty over 30 years period." "China has a lot to be proud of over this period and there are still gaps and issues to learn,” he added.
No matter how many times you hear the opposite, life is getting better, even for the very poorest.
Please click on the video for more details.
(Produced by He Jieqiong, Zhao Dantong, An Ran, Bai Yuanqi and Wang Yixin; Story written by He Jieqiong)
