Poverty and Health Flashcards
What is the link between poverty and health?
Bidirectional - causative and exacerbating.
Rooted in political, social and economic injustice.
What is poverty?
Having resources below your minimu needs.
Includes hunger, lack of shelter, poor education, lack of freedom, ill and unable to access healthcare, live one day at a time.
Often face marginalisation and discrimination because of your financial circumstances.
How does the social model of health and illness compare to the biomedical model when thinking about poverty?
Biomedical - ill health has biological basis in genetics and cellular function - not influenced by poverty
Social - reconise social, economic and political factors as an influence over health, external factors means opportunities for a healthy life are not equally given
Therefore environmental, cultural, social and political factors can cause inequalities in health.
What is the teaching from Thomas McKeown 1976 the Role of Medicine: Dream, Mirage or Nemesis? on biomedicine, poverty and health?
Recognises the improvements in medical knowledge such as antibiotics and vaccines contributed some to improving life expectancy.
However, recognises that improved living conditions such as sanitation, clean water and food handling was the largest contributor, although is often underestimated.
Emphasises the importance of considering wider social, economic and environmental factors in understanding public health.
What are the physiological consequences/ill health due to poverty?
Malnutrition - low immunity and neurophysiological development
Poor maternal nutrition - premature and low birth weight
Poor childhood nutrition - stunted growth and development
Lack of hygienic facilities - intestinal worms, head lice, infection
Damp housing - URTI, pathogen spread
Lack of play facilities - hindered psychological development and increased risk of accidents
Hazardous work conditions - physical exhaustion, risk of accidents.
What is meant by infectious diseases of poverty?
Certain infectious diseases are found in higher numbers where poverty is high
This includes HIV/AIDs, malaria and TB.
Poverty creates conditions where these diseases can spread rapidly.
Forms a vicious cycle as disease exacerbates factors that can lead to poverty.
What is poverty like in the UK?
2015 UK gov committed to achieve UN sustainable development goals by 2030, including no poverty and zero hunger
2019 food security sig and growing especially in children
1 in 10 households have low or very low food security
2022/23 2.99 million people used a foodbank in the UK
Foodbank users increasing, new demand from traditionally middle class families.
What can medical professional do to help improve the health of the poor and tackle poverty?
health professionals can be referred to as the natural attorneys of the poor
Advocate for deprived populations, encourage public health funding and programmes
Tackle stigma by increasing own understanding of what causes poverty, what poverty is and how it effects health.
What are the psychological perspectives on poverty?
Perception are negative - stereotypes as lacking competence or motivation
Often suggest poverty is a result of personal failing
Negative perception affect how people see themselves, results in reduced confident and self efficacy
Psychological consequence leads to reduced educations and professional attainment.
What are some of the psychological consequences of poverty in childhood?
Associated with genetic adaptions - produce a short term strategy to cope with stressful developmental environment
Can reduce cognitive performance in language and congitine control (attention, planning and decision making)
Resource scarcity mindset causes to focus on immediate goals as expense of long term planning, can contribute to perpetuating cycle of poverty.
Adverse childhood experiences are associated with poor health outcomes.
How does unemployement lead to ill health?
Unepmployement leads to work ethic stigma (discrimination and marginalisation etc).
Overwhelemed with stress leading to poor mental health such as anxiety, depression etc
Inc risk of poverty leading to subnutrition, fuel poverty and poor housing
Health behaviour changes - may become socially isolated, reliant on tobaccos or alcohol etc
Leads to poor physical health such as lung cancer,risk of accidents etc.
Same can be said for employment with poor labour market such sd low pay or high insecurity.
What is the stress pathway in relation to unemployment and ill health?
Financial burden of unemployment -. increase frequency of stressful life events
Mental health damaged by less social activity and diminishing social support.
May engage with alternative social network that do not follow the norms and values of mainstream society in an attempt to feel welcomed for example criminal groups
More likely to endluge in health damaging behaviour either physical or stressful
Leads to physiological changes such as raised cholesterol and lowered immunity
What evidence is behind depression as a socioeconomic disease?
Primates - higher levels of stress and a submission gesture when a lowest social group or when feel status is threatened
Suggests evolutionary tendency in humans to also submit (depression) or stress (anxiety) when in these scenarios.
What are the major causes of mortality among the unemployed?
Malignant neoplasms (lung cancer esp)
Accidents
Poisoning
Violence (particularly suicide)
How does ill health vary based on actual v relative poverty?
More equal societies have less inequality in health
Inequality creates a larger variation in health, than the absolute value.
For example two families earn same amount but in different areas, one family lives in poorer areas hence is the least deprived, will have better health than the other family who lives in a less deprived area where they are the most deprived family.
Suggests our perspective on our wealth and social status also plays a role.
This links with the spirit level idea, where societies with more even wealth distribution have better health and happiness overall regardless of the absolute wealth level.
