5.5M Colombians helped in government drive to cut extreme poverty

More than 5.5 million impoverished Colombians have received state support since August 2010 as part of a national anti-poverty drive, the government reported Friday.

The United Network program is part of a national “prosperity plan” announced last January which aims at lifting 1.5 million Colombians out of extreme poverty — a term used to describe those living on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the program aimed to bring 350 thousand families out of poverty by 2014, reducing the current poverty rate of 12.3% to 9.5% over the next three years.

Social issues remained a government priority, said Santos, citing the creation of a government Social Inclusion and Reconciliation department late last year, and the ‘Families in Action’ project which gives conditional subsidies to parents who pledge to send their children to school and health centers.

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