Question

What can be said about the relationship between poverty and health? Why do socioeconomic determinants influence health status? Give examples and supportive.

Answer 1

Poverty is defined as state of being extremely poor.WHO defines health as a state of physical, mental,social and spiritual wellbeing and not merely the absence of any disease or Infimity Poverty and Health are closely linked.People with low income are at greater risk of illness and disability.They are also less informed about the various benefits of healthy lifestyles, and have less access to quality health care.It is estimated that one third of deaths worldwide some 18 million people every year or 50,000 a day are due to poverty related causes.UNICEF statistics show that 22,000 children die each day because of Poverty.More than 1.5 billion people in the world,most of which are children live inextreme poverty,and 80% of them live in developing countries.Poor people have little to no access to qualified health services and education, and do not participate in decisions critical to their day to day lives.Malnutrition can be dangerous and even lethal.The effects of malnutrition all fall upon on infant even before it is born;an undernourished mother leads to an underweight baby, and can cause a variety of different problems with development in the womb and later on in life.A lack of essential nutrirents also stunts the growth and development of a growing child.Socioeconic status of an individual plays an important role in aspects of affording for good nutritious food and health care facility.Due to poverty people are not able to afford to reach out for Consultants, Tests, Medicines and Transport costs.According to World Bank,an estimated 1.2 billion live in extreme poverty.Running parallel to statistics about global poverty are statistics about infectious diseases and " Infectious diseases of Poverty " that are common in areas where Poverty is high compared to moderate or high socioeconomic status groups.The list includes widely recognised diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis as well as lesser known Ailments such as Dengue, Chagas disease and Food borne trematode infections.And hence its supportive to state with the above stated examples that Socioeconomic determinants inflence health status.