The Chronic Problem of Poverty: Health

In my last blog, I explained political aspect of the poverty, and now I am going to talk about health aspect of the poverty. How poverty affects health? What is impact of poverty on health?

Heath and poverty have a deep relationship between them. Health is one of the standards to measure poverty. Investigated relationship between health and poverty gives us vital understanding of an inequality of medical capital on poverty. The poverty can influence directly and rapidly on a person’s health without concerning with health care coverage.

Here is some index of health on the poverty. According to UNDP, “infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide” (2007 Human Development Report (HDR), 2007). Most of the poor children are victims of poor hygiene. Almost 2.2 million are dead from lack of immune system. Also, 15 million children were orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. 1.1 billion people, who live in developing countries, have contaminated water resources in inadequate ways, and 2.6 billion people live in a condition lacking basic sanitation (UNICEF, 2004).

What can we do for solving this chronic problem? Basically, supporting medicine and medical system is common method. Yet, it is too common and It seems not to work. Therefore, instead of that common method, education is one of the efficient methods to make the poor get out from gesture of the death. If women are educated with sufficient knowledge of hygiene and health care system, 2.6 million children, who are under age of 5, can survive” (UNESCO, 2011). It is also the good method that making the poor easy to access proper sanitation for pure water. Since changing from the water that is impurity to the safe and pure water can save 5,000 poor children a day (Seager, 2006).

“Poverty is a threat to Peace”, Muhammad Yunus said (Yunus, 2007). As Yunus’s quotation, the poverty ruins one’s life. The poverty brings the serious health problems that affect one’s life significantly. Nobody can endure his or her life from serious disease. Nobody can　bear his or her life from unsanitary place. All people have a right to live humanly. Therefore we should do action for them as offering education or making proper sanitation.

Today, we have seen the health part on poverty. However DO NOT end your followed consciousness until now. As I always insist, the poverty is not only problem of hunger. It consists of multi sections such as education, politic, health, economy and so on. I want you guys to see the further aspects of poverty that you cannot recognize before.

References

Seager, A. (2006, November 10). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/nov/10/water.environment

UNESCO. (2011). Women and girls’ education "it is a right, make it right!. 1-19. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/pdf/GAW2011_UNESCO PPT.pdf

UNICEF. UNICEF, UNICEF House. (2004). State of the world’s children, 2005. Retrieved from UNICEF website: http://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/sowc05.pdf

Yunus, M. (2007). Creating a world without poverty: Social business and the futures of capitalism. (pp. 1-261). Philadelphia: Perseus Books Group.

2007 Human Development Report (HDR), United Nations Development Program, November 27, 2007, p.25.

2007 Human Development Report (HDR), United Nations Development Program, November 27, 2007, p.25.