One in five people in the world today live in poverty on less than one dollar a day. In an increasingly inter-dependent world, many problems - like conflict, crime, pollution, and diseases such as HIV and AIDS - are caused or made worse by poverty.
India is home to a third of world's poor with 76% of its population living in poverty. Reducing poverty is an essential step for India to provide a secure and prosperous future to its population of over 1 billion people. DFID believes that without tackling the enormous poverty challenges in India the world will fail to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For this reason the UK remains firmly committed to its development relationship with India up to the MDG target year of 2015. DFID is supporting the Governments in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal to develop and implement health sector reform.