Individuals,
families, and communities within a population can be said to be living in
poverty when they lack resources to obtain the type of diet, participate in
lifestyle activities and have the living conditions and resources which are
customary to the majority of the society in which these individuals, families
and groups belong.
Objective and
subjective measures of material deprivation have also been used as poverty
measures; these can include celebrations, clothes appropriate for all weather,
the ability to go on holiday and access to a car.
Poverty in the
context of other health-affecting factors.
The World Health
Organisation (WHO) Global Action Plan for the Prevention And Control of
Noncommunicable Diseases had targeted seven risk factors.
These include use
of alcohol, insufficient physical activity, tobacco use, increased blood
pressure, elevated salt or sodium intake, diabetes and obesity. These are
referred to as the 25 x 25 risk factors; through targeting these risk factors,
the WHO hoped to reduce early death from non-communicable diseases by 25% by
the year 2025.
The Global Burden
Of Disease Collaboration, which is the largest study with monitoring health
changes globally, has similarly found risk factors that are associated with the
burden of disease and injury across 21 world regions.
Among them, poor
socio-economic circumstances are one of the strongest predictors of morbidity
and premature mortality across the world. However, poverty is not considered to
be a modifiable risk factor across both of these important global health
strategies.
According to a
paper published in The Lancet and coordinated by Imperial College London,
socioeconomic status has been found to produce the same impact on health as
smoking or a sedentary lifestyle, being associated with a reduced life
expectancy of 2.1 years, a figure comparable to being inactive (which is
estimated to cause a reduction in life expectancy of 2.4 years).
Socio-economic
status refers to the measure of an individual's or family’s economic and social
position relative to others in a population. This is assessed on income,
education and occupation. Despite these factors being known to affect health
already independently, early studies have not compared the impact of low
socioeconomic status with other major risk factors on health. Indeed, global
health policies do not consider risk factors such as poverty and poor education
when predicting health outcomes.
In a study, 1.7
million people across the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, the United
States and Australia were surveyed. They compared individuals' socioeconomic
status against several risk factors, including tobacco use, unhealthy diet,
physical inactivity and alcohol abuse, as defined by the WHO. Overall,
researchers determined that those of low socioeconomic status were 46% more
likely to die early compared to wealthier counterparts.
The greatest risk
factors as estimated by the number of years lost in expected life were compared
to a range of other factors. The factors that contributed to the greatest
number of years lost were smoking and diabetes, reducing life expectancy by 4.8
and 3.9 years respectively. High blood pressure, obesity, and high alcohol
consumption were associated with fewer years lost; 1.6, 0.7, and 0.5 years respectively.
The results of
this study demonstrated that low socio-economic status should be targeted
alongside the conventional health risk factors as part of global and National
Health strategies to minimize the risk of premature mortality.
What are the effects
of poverty?
Poverty can impact
people's health at all stages of life in several ways and impacts overall life
expectancy. In England, for example, between 2009 and 2013, the life expectancy
for those in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas was
7.9 years greater for men and 5.9 years greater for women.
Moreover, the Kings' Fund found that between 1999 and 2010, the majority of areas in England that showed low life expectancy also showed high proportions of people earning minimal or no wages.
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