Introduction
Poverty is commonly understood as a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means a lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and cloth[e] a family, not having a school or clinic to go to. This is why the UN states “no poverty” as the number 1 goal of its activity.
Poverty is known to have a drastic effect on population health. In particular, poverty is associated with higher rates of chronic diseases, communicable illnesses; health risk behaviors; Premature mortality. The link between poverty and health outcomes has been established and confirmed by researchers from different parts of the world. Today’s presentation aims at summarizing the current body of knowledge about the effect of poverty on health outcomes globally, nationally, and locally.
Scale of Poverty
Global poverty has been gradually decreasing since the 1980s. During the period of 30 years, global poverty decreased from 42.7% in 1980 to 9.3% in 2018. Poverty in the UK is currently above the world average, as more than 18% of the population lives in poverty. In 2020, 7% of the UK population lived in extreme poverty and 11% lived in sustained poverty.
Effects on Health
Poverty has significant effects on health outcomes. Short-term effects include stress and anxiety from an inability to afford basic living needs, decreased access to healthcare due to inappropriate transportation and lack of health insurance and engagement in risky behaviors.
Strategies for Addressing Poverty
The problem of poverty is being addressed on all levels. On the international level, the UN implements policies that are aimed at sustainable, inclusive, sustained and equitable economic growth. These policies are accompanied by initiatives to achieve full employment, social integration, reduced inequality, increased productivity, and improvement of the environment. In the UK, the government fights poverty through welfare benefits, minimum wage policies, free market policies to sustain economic growth, and direct provision of services and goods, such as food stamps. In Northamptonshire, the local authorities try to reduce poverty by spreading information about how to receive jobs and relevant training, improving energy efficiency, and promoting credit union services.
The UK Controlling Poverty
The UK has been struggling to control poverty in the country. The government implemented a series of actions that aimed at
- helping troubled families turn their lives around;
- improving mental health;
- reducing child poverty and making sure that children are properly supported so that they complete their education;
- making work pay and helping people to find and stay in work;
- helping people recover and become independent if things have gone wrong;
- working with the voluntary, public and private sectors to deal more effectively with complex problems.
These aims were achieved using the “Social Justice Transforms Lives” framework.
Currently, nurses are involved in numerous activities to help to reduce the impact of poverty on the population’s health. In particular, nurses play three roles in the matter, including
- Provision of education about healthy behaviors and healthy child development,
- helping to acquire the needed coping skills to resist the mental impact of poverty,
- Provision of direct services to financially disadvantaged people, such as immunization.
The nurse can increase their engagement in fighting the consequences of poverty. In particular, nurses can:
- Connect with communities to better understand the health needs of patients living in poverty;
- Find additional entry points to provide patient education (such as community centers and schools);
- Advocate for the needs of people living in poverty at all levels.
Challenges
While the nurses can have a larger impact on the problem of poverty, they can run into significant challenges. These challenges include lack of time, family/work balance, lack of financial resources, and burnout. Some of these challenges can be addressed by the nurses themselves, while others need to be addressed with the help of authorities. For instance, nurses cannot increase the amount of money that can be spent on meeting the needs of people living in poverty. However, they can advocate for increased spending on the organization and local levels. However, most of the work can be done by nurses themselves. For instance, they can learn coping practices that can help to avoid stress, such as yoga or medication. Going through communication skills training can also be helpful, as the majority of stress comes from communicating with patients and co-workers. Finally, recent research confirmed that mindfulness could be an excellent method for preventing burnout.
Conclusion
In conclusion, poverty is one of the central problems of the global community and the UK in particular. Poverty is associated with a wide variety of unfavorable health outcomes, including increased stress, a high risk of chronic diseases, and premature death. While the government spends significant resources on fighting poverty, it achieved only limited success in the UK. On the local level, nurses can take an active part in fighting the consequences of poverty.
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