The poverty rate in the U.S. is the most severe since 1997. Poverty now affects almost 40 million U.S. citizens. It is a direct consequence of the recent recession that hit the country since 2007, which in turn made many Americans unemployed. Millions lost their health insurance and evaporated their savings.

World's leading agricultural research group calls for specific investments in face of global financial crisis, climate change concerns

A major summit on the global economic crisis opens Saturday here in Washington. World leaders and representatives of the G20 will attend. The G20 consists of the leading developed and emerging economies, as well as the European Union. The summit will look at reforms and policies that could ease the crisis.

As food prices skyrocket, millions more are plunging into poverty each month.

The crisis of surging food prices could mean “seven lost years” in the fight against worldwide poverty, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said.

Wealthy Commonwealth nations such as the UK should help poorer member states improve vital infrastructure facilities as one of the best ways to lift them out of poverty, a new University of Nottingham report says.

For PLoS Medicine's special issue on poverty and health, the journal asked thirty commentators, including some of the world's most respected global health experts, to name the one intervention that would improve the health of those living on less than $1 a day.

Simply informing the poor about government-provided health, educational, and social services they are entitled to could empower them to take greater advantage of free or low-cost public services, a study in India suggests.

More than 200 medical and scientific journals from 34 developing and developed countries are simultaneously publishing articles on poverty and human development to raise awareness and disseminate research about this critically important global topic, according to two editorials in the October 24/31 issue of JAMA.

Interventions that improve nutrition and environmental conditions can also provide substantial gains toward the goal of reducing child mortality, especially when the interventions prioritize the poor, according to a study in the October 24/31 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on poverty and human development.

On day five of their week-long retreat focusing on poverty in Nicaragua, deans and vice presidents from the University of San Francisco waded into the municipal dump in the capital city of Managua, stepping around stagnant water and rotting food. From that vantage point, they glimpsed the life of the 1,500 people who live there and survive by eating discarded scraps of food and collecting recyclables.

In the spring of her freshman year at Princeton, Julia Neubauer and two of her high school classmates established an orphanage in Pune, India.