A Response to Poverty and Health
Introduction
Poverty and health are closely related issues. It could be said that due to poverty, there is a negative impact on health as well as access to effective health services. Sickness and disability trim down the efficiency of individuals, families and communities. This, in turn, makes it possible for many to fall into poverty. People’s health is severely affected by poverty. Many of the factors associated with poverty, such as malnutrition, make people vulnerable to illness. The majority of the world’s poor live in countries where good health care is a privilege of the rich, while poor people lack access to appropriate treatment and care. As a result, in poorer countries, life expectancy is significantly lower overall than in richer countries, infant and child mortality are higher, and women’s chances of dying in childbirth are greater.
According to (2003), while there has been a dramatic improvement in general health and longevity in the United Kingdom over the last century, some groups in the society still live in poverty, with some indications that the gap between rich and poor is increasing. There are many issues that are linked with poverty and health. The discussion of poverty and health is however, without use if there are no policies and enactments that would enable the prevention of the growing number of those living in poverty due to unfortunate health. The main concentration of this concise exposition is the effect of social policies in the bridging the gap of poverty, as well as specific examples of policies as response to poverty and health. In order to have a clear understanding of the effect of social policy in response to the improvement of health and the lessening of poverty, it is also a vital step to give a brief overview of the general terms of poverty and health. Solid evidence demonstrates a correlation between poverty and ill health. This paper identifies public policy strategies designed to alleviate the health impacts of poverty, either by reducing poverty or mitigating its effect on health. It also reviews strategies shown to be effective.
Poverty, Deprivation and Social Exclusion
Poverty is a commonly used and understood concept. However, its definition is highly challenged. The term ‘poverty’ can be considered to have a cluster of different overlapping meanings depending on what subject area or discourse is being examined (, 1998). For example, poverty, like evolution or health, is both a scientific and a moral concept. Many of the problems of measuring poverty arise because the moral and scientific concepts are often confused. In scientific terms, a person or household in Britain is ‘poor’ when they have both a low standard of living and a low income. They are not poor if they have a low income and a reasonable standard of living or if they have a low standard of living but a high income. Both low income and low standard of living can only be accurately measured relative to the norms of the person’s or household’s society.
Social exclusion on the other hand, is a discourse, which emerged in France during the 1970s and has since spread across the rest of Europe. The Commission of the European Community (now Union) (1998) started to use the concept in the 1980s and it is now widely applied by both social scientists and politicians. How to interpret the concept is nevertheless unclear and the definition of the concept varies among countries, different school of thoughts and different experts and researchers. The key text in the genesis of social exclusion does not actually use the term but seeks to redefine poverty as an objective condition of relative deprivation where individuals, families or groups lack the resources for participation in the customary activities of the society to which they belong. In this preliminary formulation, poverty is a lack of resources (income, wealth, housing) and social exclusion a common consequence of poverty. What constitutes social exclusion is therefore dependent upon judgments both within and about society in assessing the accepted necessarily way of life and adequate participation (1998). Notably, the question of participation goes beyond the levels of consumption afforded to those with restricted resources. Although social exclusion is sometimes used only as a substitute for poverty, many researchers have tried to establish a distinction between poverty and social exclusion. Sometimes it is disputed that poverty is a tapered concept dealing with problems that are directly related to financially viable resources, while social exclusion deals with a broad range of questions dealing with the individual’s integration in the society.
Policy Responses to Poverty
There are increasing studies that provide important information about the distribution of disease in society. Such information, however, are unable to conclude whether the association between community socioeconomic context and aggregate or individual measures of health either, one, simply reflects the relationship between individual socioeconomic position and individual health of residents, or two, reflects the fact that community socioeconomic context affects characteristics of the community environment that can affect the health of all residents.
Impact of Poverty on Health
In the European Region, addressing inequities in health has been central to the work of WHO and features prominently in the targets for health for all set by Member States. Despite these efforts, however, there is today acute recognition that poverty itself is a true evil in all 51 countries in the Region. Such people also suffer from inadequate housing, insufficient means to guarantee a nutritious diet and the lack of rewarding and remunerative employment. As a result, they suffer poor health, have less access to appropriate health and other related services, and are marginalized and often even excluded from society. Those living in the countries of central and Eastern Europe and the newly independent states, whose economies are in transition, are at special risk as a result of their poverty, and many cannot now use the health care system because of an inability to pay. The under-the-counter payment systems run by health professionals are also acting as a deterrent to those in need. Key groups at risk are women, children, and the elderly and those suffering from mental illness.
Poverty has been acknowledged as a cause, an allied factor, a mechanism and a result of ill health. Many people living in poverty are unable to meet their basic needs of adequate food, water, clothing, shelter and health care. Several studies have shown that, as a country becomes better-off, the health of the population increases. Poverty is a disease that saps people’s energy, dehumanizes them and creates a sense of helplessness. Illiteracy, ill health, malnourishment, environmental risks and lack of choices contribute to the perpetual cycle of poverty and ill health. The unhealthy environment frequently associated with poverty-stricken communities is a cause of much ill health, including diarrhea and upper respiratory infections. These conditions sustain the poverty and ill health cycle along with a lack of knowledge and information about disease process and prevention.
Policy Responses to Poverty
The United Kingdom is adopting the target of improved health for all segments of society. Its goal for a comprehensive agenda of programs is designed to reduce socio-economic inequalities. Although it will take years to judge how well good intentions translate into action, the program is impressive. Attempting to overcome health effects associated with inequality, the current government has initiated programs to reduce inequality and improve health. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, your chances of a healthy life still depend on what job you do, where you live, and how much your parents earn. It is unfair and unjust. To achieve its goal, the government has set out a comprehensive program, including action to eradicate child poverty by increasing parental incomes, a program for preschoolers, improving housing and neighborhoods, raising employment, increasing the minimum wage, targeting social exclusion and strengthening programs to reduce smoking and drug and alcohol abuse. It has instituted targets, such as halving child poverty by the year 2010; established eight regional Public Health Observatories that act as information clearinghouses and is strengthening its evidence base in order to be able know which interventions work (, 2001).
The United Kingdom has already identified poverty as a key government priority and has set targets to work towards its resolution. Evidence from the literature indicates that nurses and midwives in some countries have recognized the important role that poverty plays in the health of individuals and are making efforts to help fight its alleviation. The vast majority, however, are unaware of the link between poverty and health and unlikely to have the appropriate competences and skills to make an effective contribution. Yet the professions constitute the largest group of health sector workers in most countries. They also comprise the group most likely to be in contact with large sections of the population who experience poverty and whose circumstances may be unknown to any other health worker or related agency. In this regard, they may be a useful source of intelligence especially on hidden poverty.
Conclusion
The policies and programs reviewed primarily address people living in poverty. However, policies and programs that help poor people are not necessarily closed to others; some are universal or near universal and aid a broad range of people within a certain demographic or geographic category. Other interventions are targeted at poor people. The degree of access to a program depends on the definition of poverty used to judge eligibility. If eligibility is based on an absolute concept of poverty, citizens must meet specific criteria in order to qualify. If a relative concept based on the notion of inequality is used, then individuals representing a wider income range will be eligible.
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