Loans that change lives. IMAGINE: Improve the Education of Girls in Niger. 13, and a Bride. Bono at TED 2013: Eradicating extreme poverty doesn’t have to be a dream. On February 26th, Bono spoke at TED to show the progress in the fight against extreme poverty… and what we need to do next. Bono shares the new facts about fighting global poverty: “Forget the rock opera, forget the bombast, my usual tricks. The only thing singing today will be the facts.” By becoming a “factivist,” we can learn what needs to be done to end extreme poverty within the next generation. And the facts are beyond promising. Eight million AIDS patients have been receiving retroviral drugsMalaria deaths have been cut in some countries by 75%Child mortality rate of kids under 5 is down by 2.65 million deaths a yearExtreme poverty declined from 43% in 1990 to 33% in 2000 to 21% by 2010.
Extreme poverty has been cut in half in the last 20 years, and the facts show that we can get it to virtually zero within a generation — but only if we act. “Let’s think about that,” he says. “If you live on less than $1.25 a day, this is not just data.