Rural community members often live in a walking world. When the
rivers swell, walks to school, work or visits to a doctor can
become life threatening without a bridge to cross. Those who
survive on the least often do not have sufficient infrastructure
servicing their communities. Safe and maintained trails and
footbridges are necessary to live healthy and productive lives.
UN Millennium Development Goals The United Nations developed
eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to combat worldwide
poverty. They include halving extreme poverty, providing
universal primary education, and improving child and maternal
health, among others. Improving access through safe
infrastructure improvement is interwoven with poverty reduction.
Every effort to improve people’s lives relies on their ability
to access services. This is particularly true in rural areas –
the UN estimates that 70% of those who subsist on less than
$1.25 a day live and work in rural areas. The Role of Transport
in the Millennium Development Goals The