Introduction
It is important to note that poverty contributes to poor health in different ways. The chosen article is titled “Poverty Does Make Us Sick,” written by Habibov et al. Research shows that the social determinants of health are linked with the economic status of an individual (Habibov et al. 1). Individuals from poor communities and families are likely to be exposed to diseases that weaken their immune systems, unlike wealthier households. According to research, there is a link between poverty and health status (Habibov et al. 6). For example, stably employed and sufficiently earning households are capable of ensuring their health status is protected (Habibov et al. 5). Families and households with low-income rates tend to be less healthy due to a lack of resources (Habibov et al. 9). This contributes to psychological stress, chronic diseases, and the effect on the personality traits of individuals. The research evaluates the impact of poverty on household wealth. The results show that poverty is the main cause of poor health. Thus, states and organizations should help low-income families alleviate poverty to ensure health, which means the population under study needs to be analyzed.
Population under study
In order to properly understand any given study, it is valuable to identify the population of interest. The study was purposed to assess the effect of poverty in determining the health status of households. The population that was chosen was post-Soviet countries. This was because the countries experienced a prolonged period of communism that resulted in social, economic, and political conflict, which resulted in increasing poverty and uneven income distribution (Habibov et al. 1). The economic crisis resulted in low funding for health care, which resulted in to increase in infections. In sum, the population was comprised of post-Soviet countries, but how they were studied will be addressed in the next section.
Methodology
It is useful to understand the methods used by the authors to ensure they are valid and accurate. The study obtained data from the European Bank for International Development which surveyed its Life-in-Transition scheme (LITS). The study utilized instrumental variables regressions and classical linear regression, collecting data from 12 Mongolia and post-Soviet countries (Habibov et al. 2). The LITS data included description details like sample design, demographics, and response rates. The methods used were classical linear regression, whereby health status was used as the dependent variable, and the household was used as the independent variable. Therefore, instrumental variable regression was used to obtain more accurate results, and the next section will focus on results and conclusions.
Results and Conclusion/Discussion
The obtained results and conclusions provide a basis for conducting insightful discussions. The results were low in that low expenditure in the household reduces an individual’s health status (p-value = 0.000, β = 0.218). Worsening health is characterized by unemployment, being old, or being a woman. Households with educated people who resided in urban centers were found to have better health. Predicting the performance of healthcare characteristics, results show that (p-value = 0.000, β = 0.258) households with low expenditure are subjected to poor health. Mishandling of patients by healthcare personnel was correlated to poor health. The equality of the Wald test of regression coefficients was conducted. The results obtained indicated that the null hypothesis is equal in all models. The results (β = 0.020; p-value = 0.000) indicated that poverty has detrimental consequences on health. In sum, this shows that poverty is a critical issue that affects people’s health, which is why the relevance is addressed in the section below.
Conclusion
It is important to be able to outline the relevance of findings to make the most effective use of the information. The article’s relevance is clearly shown, whereby Habibov et al. provide evidence of the effect of poverty on health. Results show that the poverty that there is a relationship between poverty and poor health. Households with low-income rates are more likely to experience health challenges than educated and income-generating families. In conclusion, reducing the disparity between poverty and poor health is appropriate for maintaining good health.
Work Cited
Habibov, Nazim, Alena Auchynnikava, and Rong Luo. “Poverty Does Make Us Sick.” Annals of global health, vol. 85, no. 1, 2019, pp. 1-12.