HEALTH & POVERTY

"The biggest enemy of health in the developing world is poverty."

Kofi Annan

Poverty is often defined in absolute terms of low income – less than US$2 a day.As they have a lower income their sole problem is "how to increase the income and how to reduse expenditure".

So their attention for the side of health is very law.therefor the poor has exposes togreater personal and environmental health risks, are less well nourished, have less information and are less able to access health care; they thus have a higher risk of illness and disability.

Some ‘poverty-related’ diseases

• Infectious and parasitic diseases
• Respiratory infections
• Perinatal and maternal conditions
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Tropical diseases

Some information related to health and poverty:

• According to the Global Hunger Index,south asia has the highest child malnutrition rate of the world's regions.
• Every year, more than half a million women die in pregnancy or childbirth.
• Almost 90% of maternal deaths occur in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, compared to less than 1% in the developed world.
• Women who have born children into poverty may not be able to nourish the children efficiently and provide adequate care in infancy. (The children may also suffer from disease that has been passed down to the child through birth. Asthma and rickets are common problems children acquire when born into poverty)