In order to continue the discussion of poverty, I would like to focus the next few topics around some of the effects of poverty and how living in poverty can begin to take a toll on other area’s of a person’s life. This week that topic will be health, and specifically how poverty can make a person more viable to get certain diseases and overall decrease the quality of their life. Poverty and disease are often considered to be a never ending cycle, inextricably linked and difficult to have one without the other. Poverty increases the risk of disease because those without access to proper sanitation and the resources to get informed about proper health are often inevitably faced of the task of dealing with an illness. Due to the poor political and economic infrastructure of 3rd world countries, there is often no secure healthcare or health services that those living in poverty can access. Disease tends to spread more quickly in areas where there is major overcrowding and where people do not have access to clean water. Once a person living in poverty does actually develop a disease, almost all hope is lost because the cost of paying for treatment and transportation can be devastating, especially in families where there are multiple mouths to feed and kids to take care of. Clearly dealing with a disease when every other area of your life also seems to be collapsing would be an awful experience to go through. I would now like to discuss some of the diseases that people living in poverty face on a daily basis. While this list does note even begin to describe all of the horrible diseases and conditions that people living in poverty may acquire, I hope to show that poverty does not just have to do with hunger, it can touch every area of a person’s life.
One of the most commonly known, poverty related diseases is AIDS. Second only to the Black Death, AIDS is the one of the largest epidemics in world history and unsurprisingly it is found most often in poverty-stricken countries. It kills about 1.5 million people per year, or around 1 person every 20 seconds! HIV is most commonly transmitted between a population through sexual intercourse, breastfeeding, and HIV infected-blood. People living in poverty are most likely to contract HIV compared to a healthy person, because those living in poverty often have a compromised immune system, leaving them vulnerable to the virus. Despite, the devastating death toll. AIDS is a very preventable diseases. Through education, the use of condoms, and proper medication, AIDS can be controlled and eventually become less widespread.
Another disease that is commonly seen in poor areas is Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis has been around for centuries; dating all the way back to 4000 B.C. Something that many people only associate with early history is still very much a threat to people’s health today. What is so dangerous about tuberculosis is that it can be easily spread through the air. Something as simple as a cough could transfer tuberculosis from one person to another. Approximately a million people die a year from tuberculosis. The risk of contracting tuberculosis is much greater for people living with HIV. Thankfully, in recent years, the World Health Organization has launched a program called DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy) which works directly with people suffering from tuberculosis in developing countries and has since successfully treated millions of people.
The third and finally poverty-related disease I would like to discuss today is malaria. Malaria is a mosquito-born illness that results from infection of parasitic protozoans. Symptoms associated with malaria include fever, nausea, headaches, yellowing skin, seizures, and in many cases, coma or death. Close to 90% of malaria cases occur in Africa, mainly because those living there do not have access to anti-malarial drugs. Like tuberculosis, malaria is very closely associated with HIV because malaria increases susceptibility to infection of HIV and HIV can increase the number and length of malaria episodes. Although many African countries do not have access to treatment for malaria, an easily affordable and accessible preventative measure to malaria are bed nets. The cost around $3 individually, and so if every individual had one, this would decrease the number of malaria cases dramatically.
As of now, the World Health Organization has declared AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria to be global emergencies. Despite how truly awful these diseases are, they are highly preventable and in most cases are treatable. This is why it is of utmost importance that people living in poverty have access to clean water and air, as well as proper sanitation. It is also important that global leaders inform people about these growing issues, because in order to attack poverty, everyone must be knowledgeable about the issue and learn what they can do to help.
http://www.healthpovertyaction.org/policy-and-resources/the-cycle-of-poverty-and-poor-health/the-cycle-of-poverty-and-poor-health1/
http://www.poverty.com/index.html
jjh5589 says
It truly amazes me every time you post your civic issue blog. I always seem to forget how well off we have it here in the US. I haven’t met one person who has had to worry about getting AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria (AIDS is more common in the US though due to lack of condoms during sex). But we have everything available to us to prevent from getting these diseases. It’s not even a question now a days whether or not a child will get their vaccinations because for most schools they are required. People in 1st world countries need to take a step back and realize everything we have that so many families do not. Maybe this in turn can change people’s mind and help can come to these poverty stricken countries.
Shannon M Mcculloch says
It actually makes me so very sad to see and hear about horrible things like this. I wish I knew a way to act and help these people. Spreading awareness is definitely a key to fixing this problem. But the health of people everywhere should be of utmost concern, clean drinking water is definitely a key ingredient to making this happen and many third world countries lack access to this valuable resource, like you said. Maybe we should become more aware of our usage, here, and that could be the first step in providing these people with a means to proper, clean water in an effort to halt the disease overseas and right here at home in the USA.