Poverty and Health

Poverty is defined by comparing issues or conditions. Phibbs (2003) defined poverty as having less than others in the society. In other words poverty is the feeling that someone do not have enough to use or to eat. According to the Constitution of the World Health Organization (2006), health is being in a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity.

Poverty and health are two words which can not be discussed in solation. These words are connected in one way or another. Poor people are the most susceptible to any kind of diseases such as malaria ni tropical countries, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, to mention but a few. Thus, poor people are not able to pay for treatment, buying mosquitoe nets for malaria, or eating proper food, all these are symptoms of poverty. In the reading by Farmer et al (2006) it is noted that HIV/AIDS is a disease of the poor. It is so because the symptoms are more obvious to the poor than the well-off people.

The two concepts I see in the reading are structural violence and clinical medicine. Structural violence is a man-made situation which can be also be stopped. It is the situation against human rights. A study in Rwanda is a challenge to every one as it was also found in Haiti. These two places portray the same situation s which exist in other poor countries. With violence people cannot engage in production activities as the result poverty.

Rwanda is one of the densely populated country as Farmer et al (2006) pointed out in the reading, the main economic activity of this country and other countries is agriculture. As we all knows, agriculture is seasonal activity which does not give people stable income. The activity is mainly affected by climate, diseases and market situation. For this case income or yield generated is very low which can not give farmers stable income to pay for food and treatment. Both countries Haiti and Rwanda have experinced political violence which in one way or another retarded their economic development speed.

HIV/AIDS has recently worsened people's health and economic situation leading to young adult

death or lost their life, young people are the great labor force for the family and for any nation development. In spite of the availability significant resources to treat complications of HIV/AIDS infections in Africa, almost all patients enrolled on ART live in cities or towns (Farmer et al (2006). Indeed, some have noted that rapid treatment scale-up is likely to occur largely in urban settings, where infrastructure, though poor, is better than rural regions.

The second concept is clinical medicine. This is associated with delivering of treatment to the patients. Clinicians have different understanding of the causes of HIV/AIDS social. Most focus is placed on behaviours and lifestyles that place some one in HIV infections. Social factors such as poverty, gender inequality and racism need to be also taken aboard.

Lesson learnt from the artilce

The artical bring challenges associated with poverty and health. Poor people are the most vulnerable and victims of poor health and diseases. Thus, there is a need of helping the poor. Stopping structural violence is one step towards solving the problems associated with poverty including poor health conditions. Education is also a point to consider when supporitng the poor who accriding to the Farmer's reading is in rural areas.

References

Farmer et al. 2003. Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine. Plos Medicine.

Phibbs, S. 2003. The Impact of Poverty on Health. A Scan of Research Literature CPHI. Collected Papers.

Constitution of the World Health Organization, 2006. Basic Documents. Forty-fifth Edition, Supplement, October 2006.