How Poverty Affects Health of People - Coursework Example

Poverty Introduction Poverty is a term used to define, relatively, depending on political, policy and academic debate inability to participate in society owing to the lack of resources (Defining Poverty 13). The life of a person living in poverty is filled with challenges that must be overcome in order to face every day. This paper seeks to discuss the day today life of poor people concerning the difficulties they face in different life situations. Health In the world, health is an international agenda of major concern to all. This is particularly so for people living in abject poverty, as more of the international community seeks to address the issue of improving health care for poor people. People living in poverty have poor access to health facilities, and, as a result, suffer from poor heath owing to the minimal care to which they are exposed. Some of the reasons as to why they have limited access to health care services are that they lack financial resources to pay for services rendered, as well as information on medical services. In addition, due to lack of medical care, ill health is prevalent among poverty-stricken areas and people. One of the main reasons that poverty stricken people cannot access, or have limited access to healthcare facilities is the geographical locale of the facilities. This is concerning the physical distance between the local area that an individual resides in, as well as the time required to travel to the health facilities. Moreover, people living in poverty do not seem to get the right type of care availed to them in health care facilities. This is concerning the time that Medicare is required, such as desperate times and conditions that require specialized equipment to treat. To add to this, the issue of acceptability crops up in the form social stratification. Medical practitioners tend to be more responsive to the needs of the socially able, while those of the poor are left to fend for their needs and receive minimal care. Furthermore, the quality of health care offered to these impoverished is of important concern, as quality of care usually depends on the monetary wellbeing of the patients. Therefore, poor patients receive poor quality services, as compared to their wealthy counterparts. In addition to this, there are far fewer medical facilities available in poor areas thus making it even more difficult for poor people to have appropriate access. Owing to the poor access to medical facilities, impoverished people are faced with a certain myriad of diseases and conditions that have already exited from the world of the well to do, in society. These include highly infectious diseases, leprosy, tuberculosis, malaria, respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases, which are brought about by the areas that they live in and the other agents and elements to which they are exposed. These are in the form of smoke and toxic gases that result from the burning of biomass fuels and poor ventilation in their living quarters (Stevens 4). As a result of poor health, and exposure to a wide variety of health threatening factors, the mortality rate of impoverished people is substantially high (Stevens 3). In turn, this reduces the life expectancy of adults and raises the infant mortality rate due to poor health of young children under the age of 5 years. This also applies to pregnant mothers who are at risk of losing their unborn children owing to poor health, hygiene and lack of prenatal care. Mortality rates are also high due to lack of treatment of chronic conditions such as HIV/ AIDs, which has now been regarded as a condition affecting the poor. This is because they cannot afford the funds to purchase drugs that help in managing the illness, and thus it is more prevalent among the poor. Education Among the impoverished, poverty affects their daily lives in regard to education. This is in matters associated with access and accomplishment in academic institutions. This is owing to the level of education that parents have and the motivation it gives to their children to go through the education system (Lacour and Tissington 524). Since most poor have low education status, their children unless well motivated suffer significant challenges in school in that they achieve lowly. In addition, they lack resources vital for their learning such as books and other reading material at home (Lacour and Tissington 525). Therefore, for the impoverished, and due to lack of knowledge, parents expose their children to less educative material. This is particularly so for girls due to inequality and access to education in schools available in their areas of residence (Oxaal 1). This occurs due to primitive cultural beliefs that educating a male child is more beneficial to the parents and the community, as compared to doing the same for the female. Besides, educational amenities are usually out of reach for the poor meaning that most of them have to do without school; thus, spending their days at home helping their parents. Schools, which are available in the locale, end up being crowded beyond their due capacity. This, results in some children forced to leave or skip classes due to overstretched facilities and resources, which include reading literature, teacher’s attention and sitting space on desks. In addition, the quality of teachers that are signed to schools attended by children from poor areas is also poor. Because of having poor quality teachers, the education standard for the impoverished also tends to be inferior (Capra 75). Moreover, instead of attending school to lay a foundation for a bright future, children from poor families tend to take to the streets. This is to peddle whatever they can lay their hands on to make some form of income with which to sustain themselves or their parents (Frese 1). Nutrition Concerning nutrition, people living in poverty depend on their own ability to find food to feed themselves and their children. Those that cannot produce their own food in the farms work to make money in order to buy food from those who can. Malnutrition has a high prevalence rate among poor people and especially among children. This is due to lack of knowledge on the part of the caretaker that children require adequate supply of nutrients and regular meals for proper growth and development (Frese 2). Instead of the required nutritional intake, children are fed on what is available at any given time, which could range from honey, sugary water and water to rice porridge (Frese 2). The rice porridge referred to, in this case, is of minimal nutritional value leading to malnutrition. In addition, owing to dietary diseases that poor people suffer from, they suffer food poverty due to poor diet (Faculty of Public Health 1). The difference in nutrition from time to time affects the overall health of poor people in that it leads to complication and deficiencies in the immune system. In turn, this leaves them in a susceptible position to contract other diseases that were previously unrelated nutrition. In some cases, poor nutrition leads to fatalities where people die out of lack of specific nutrients. Moreover, worse, is the condition in which some poor people have to live in due to lack of food, while some starve to death due to lack of finances to pay for their food requirements. On the other hand, some scour through tons of garbage in damp sites in search for leftovers dumped by well to do people. Sometimes, this becomes risky business as some of the food retrieved from dumpsites is unfit for human consumption owing to contamination by toxins and spoilage. Furthermore, in education, nutrition plays a key role as it leads to poor performance. This is due to lack of sufficient energy for cognitive development (Brown and Pollit 40). Therefore, it results in impairment of mental and reasoning capabilities. In the case of poor pregnant women, malnutrition is a cause for underweight babies, as well as high infant mortality rates rights after birth. Infrastructure In spite of the vitality attached to infrastructure and its benefits to the alleviation of poverty, poor people have to grapple with the challenges of lack of access. Poor people have to cope with little or no access whatsoever to infrastructural facilities such as roads. This is because; some live in rural areas in such a manner that there are no access roads. As a result, they do not get an opportunity to make use of public roads to move their produce from their remote locales and into areas where it can be marketed (Pouliquen 2). Additionally, poor people cannot access electricity except through illegal connections (Pouliquen 2). These connections are a health hazard to these people owing to the fact that they can be electrocuted leading to severe burns or death. Besides, illegal connections are connected haphazardly in the essence of delivering quick benefits of electricity; this is without putting into consideration safety measures that prevent fires. As a result, they are exposed to fire hazards and regular raids from the authorities in a bid to disconnect the illegal connections. In addition, the location in which poor people is at times prohibitive towards access to infrastructure. This is because it could be too far from the intended infrastructure desired for use such as electricity or roads (Pouliquen 3). This way, access is restricted from them such that, unless they move closer to the public amenities, access cannot be granted. Moreover, prohibition occurs in the form of cost of using certain infrastructure, such as electricity (Pouliquen 3). The pricing for use is usually too high to afford to even get a connection, and if one can afford the connection, the accompanying subscription rates act as a hindrance. Therefore, as for those with access to certain infrastructural facilities, the experience is not the best. This is because, as in the case of roads, they remain in bad condition once they undergo dilapidation over time. Housing There exists population pressure due to the rapid increase of population among poor people owing to low education and low income. As a result, these poor people deplete resources in every area they move to leaving it in poor condition or congested (Aluko 83). In the crowded that they inhabit spot crowded structures that they refer to as home, or in squatting in small pieces of land with a high population density. The conditions they live in are of concern due to sanitation and access to clean water, as well as lack of basic amenities crucial in every house. Those that live in urban areas live in slums that are built close together without adequate space for sanitary facilities (Aluko 82). Housing is poor for them because the cost of affording decent living quarters is exceptionally high, as for poor people; rent on its own is usually more than their income. Therefore, the cheapest housing they can afford is in the slums where they can save part of their income for other important factors such as food and education, if they can afford as much. Conclusion The everyday life of people living in poverty revolves around seeking a means of survival with the little amenities on which they can lay their hands to. As a result, their living conditions are usually below standards and in dilapidated conditions that are deemed inhuman for anyone to inhabit. Works Cited Defining Poverty. Defining Poverty. n.d. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Aluko, Ola. “Impact of Poverty on Housing Condition in Nigeria: A Case Study of Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State.” Journal of African Studies and Development Vol. 4(3), pp. 81-89 2 December, 2011. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Pouliquen, Louis. Infrastructure and Poverty. 2000. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Brown, Larry and Pollit, Ernesto. “Malnutrition, Poverty and Intellectual Development.” Scientific American.1996. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Faculty of Public Health. “Food Poverty and Health.” Faculty of Public Health. n.d. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Frese, Stephen. Malnutrition in Cambodia: The Impact of Poverty on Food Security within Cambodian Families. n.d. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Capra, Theresa. Poverty and its Impact on Education: Today and Tomorrow. 2009. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Oxaal, Zoe. “Education and poverty: A Gender Analysis.” BRIDGE (development - gender) 1997. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Lacour, Misty and Tissington, Laura. The Effects of Poverty on Academic Achievements. Educational Research and Reviews Vol. 6 (7), pp. 522-527. 2011. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Stevens, Philip. Disease of Poverty and the 10/90 Gap. 2004. Web. 12 Jul. 2012. Read More