Mortgaging Africa's Future: The long-term cost of child poverty

Caroline Harper and Rachel Marcus explore why child poverty – so detrimental to both individual children and to society – is often invisible, and why many contemporary trends and policies exacerbate it. They argue that child poverty is a potential time bomb, an urgent developmental priority rather than special pleading on behalf of a particular group. These arguments apply to children throughout the world, in both the North and the South. However, they focus on some of the main causes and effects of child poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, and conclude by suggesting priority policy areas which are paramount in resolving child poverty in this region. Development (2000) 43, 65–72. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1110120