The relationship between poverty, place and health essay

Introduction

Poverty is a societal problem that affects the economies of most countries in the world. There have been numerous studies and researches in the line of poverty that have attempted to define, control and alleviate poverty in an effort to improve the quality of life in stricken areas. In order to reduce the increase and impacts of poverty, the society needs to have knowledge of the nature of poverty and its relationship to crucial factors like health and place or environments. Poverty, health, and place are three functions that are related in a number of dynamic ways. The paper explores the interconnection presented by these aspects by citing critical examples to explain the effect of poverty and place on society’s health.
Initially, health is synonymous with poverty. For example, malnutrition is a health problem closely linked to povertyin Sri Lanka (Maurice, 1990). Citizens in Sri Lanka suffer from poor nutrition because of the poverty prevalent in their country. The poor quality of their health is related to their low-income levels. This is because to determine the quality of health, nutrition is often a significant factor observed. The moment a section of any population is underfed and lacks enough food to stay healthy, they suffer malnutrition leading to the consequent deterioration of their health. Poor families living in abject poverty often have little income to meet their nutritional needs (Jonathan, 2004). Food expenditure in Sri Lankan families for example, has been observed to be minimal. These households face the risk of malnourishment and have to either rely on food donations or succumb to the lack of food. The government of Sri Lanka has had to develop policies in response to malnutrition. Through the Ministry of Health care and Nutrition, programs for food assistance and poverty reduction have for instance been employed. This as a result, highlights the strong link between poverty and health. If the health of a country is to improve, appropriate measures should be adopted to address poverty. Governments should prioritize the need of diversifying low-income families while equipping them with essential resources for dealing with poor nutrition (Mink& Alice, 2004).
Secondly, there is similarly a strong connection evident between place and health. Poor developing countries are examples of places that are deprived from enough economical, agricultural, mineral, physical, technological and industrial resources. Because of this, a large percentage of the population in these countries is usually living in poverty due to the limiting factors that they face. In India for example, there is a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases that have been recorded (Maurice, 1990). Poor households in India lack the economic power to reduce the impact of communicable diseases on their health. These families are greatly affected because of their poor diet, consumption of alcohol and smoking (Mink & Alice, 2004). This is also because prevention of diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases is costly and expensive ventures that most families are never able to sustain. Inability of accessing treatment and prevention of non-communicable diseases results to extreme effects like death within some populations (World Health Organization, 2007).

Conclusion

It is apparent that poverty, place and health are highly interconnected. The health of a population is strongly affected by poverty and place. This means that efforts to improve healthcare services needs to consider the income levels of their population and the location of a country together with its potentials in economic empowerment. Health will only improve when a country is empowered economically and is able to exploit its natural and human resources. Poverty needs to be checked, and poor families have to be given good quality healthcare services to improve on their health status. Poor developing countries are the main victims of this triangle because of their high poverty levels and deprivation of resources. Through proper development plans, poor health and poverty can be combated according to the Millennium Development Goals.

References

Jonathan, D. (2004). Housing, Fuel, Poverty and Health: A Pan-European Analysis. England:
Ashgate Publishing Limited.
Maurice, W., Alberto, V. (1990). The Link between Poverty and Malnutrition: A Home
Theoretic Approach. Washington DC: World Bank Publications
Mink, G ., Alice, O. (2004). Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History,
Politics and Policy. California: ABC-CLIO Inc.
World Health Organization. (2007). Noncommunicable Disease and Poverty: The Need for
Pro-poor Strategies in the Western Pacific Region: A review. Geneva: World Health Organization Publications.