Poverty - 香港更好大行動

Problem:

Already one million people live in poverty and the number is increasing.

Reasons:

Inequality in wealth distribution

In the midst of these million people on welfare, living in poverty, we have another 400,000 people with at least one million dollars in disposable assets. We also boast many world class super riches.

Old age, chronic health problem and broken families

According to Hong Kong statistics published in July, 2007, there were 290,000 welfare cases in 2006. Over half of them (51.6%) were elderly persons; those on permanent disability and in poor health make up 14.3%, 13.0% are single families. Health problem play a major role in poverty.

Solutions:

Improve the health of the poor so that more can live independently

A key issue underlying poverty is poor health. Without health, they cannot work and have to depend on government to support their living, as well as relying heavily on the public health-care system. Both are costly to taxpayers. Restoring their health, and thus their ability to work, will allow them to be productive and independent, making a difference to society. To accomplish this, we need to, first, help them not to get sick so easily and, second, cure them of their illnesses. Here, spreading information on health-care, better food and natural medicines is far more effective than conventional medicine.

Set up special areas for the elderly booths

Set up special areas with priority for senior citizens to carry out their small business. This can reduce their reliance on the government and make life more fulfilling for them. We can learn from the life experience of our elderly citizens and change our attitude towards the senior citizens in our society.

We need to rebuild the community spirit so that people can help out one another in simple daily needs.

We also need to make sure that the welfare system is not being abused and that poverty is not being perpetuated by the system.