poverty notes

Overall messages about poverty

In his 2001 address to the World Health Assembly, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said:“ The biggest enemy of health in the developing world is poverty”.

The economic and political structures which sustain poverty and discrimination need to be transformed in order for poverty and poor health to be tackled.

Poverty in kansas

There are some areas in the county where the number of people living in poverty is higher than 20%, sometimes as high as 30%.

Facts connecting health and poverty

Poverty creates illiteracy, leaving people poorly informed about health risks and forced into dangerous jobs that harm their health.

it can be concluded that there is a bidirectional relationship between health and income. Not only a decrease in wage raise the probability of a perceiving decline in health, but also becoming sick goes with a reduction of wealth, caused by contraction of working wage.

In medical and sociological literature, the existing association between state of health and poverty is now broadly recognized.

_1 in 3 people live in poor health due to living in poverty.

_diabetes is twice as common if you live in poverty.

_1 in 3 people living in poverty are smokers.

_the very poor and vulnerable people may have to make harsh choices – sometimes knowingly putting their health at risk

_the cost of doctors’ fees, a course of drugs and transport to reach a health center can be devastating, both for an individual and their relatives who need to care for them or help them reach and pay for treatment. in the worst cases, the burden of illness may mean that families sell their property, take children out of school to earn a living or even start begging.

_poverty prevents Americans from buying healthy food. many of the poor have to buy salty snacks and the kinds of processed foods that cause hypertension, obesity, and diabetes in lieu of fresh produce.

_economic inequality takes a massive toll on mental health — even more so than warfare, by some accounts. mental stress is a leading reason that low-income people are more likely to have high blood pressure, cholesterol, and become obese or diabetic (since long-term stress creates hormones that compromise the immune system and promote weight gain).

_as a young adult, the impoverished are more likely to join the military in the hope of getting out of poverty — despite the risk of physical or mental disability, or death.

_on average the poor live shorter lives

::the good news::

_United Way can help impoverished families get their kids the school supplies they need. they recently partnered with Ballard Community Services, Salvation Army and ECKAN to get kids the school supplies they needed.

_United Way’s community partners were able to provide emergency housing and food to about 8,000 people every month.

_United Way helped adults in economic crisis gain the skills they needed to land jobs. out of the 470 people that they coached by a variety of organizations, 374 landed or maintained a job (78%).

_In 2014-15, over 600 students attended a dropout prevention experience, called Reality U, which was lead by 216 volunteers recruited by United Way and Communities in Schools.