POVERTY AND HEALTH

Poverty and Health

Poverty and Health

Introduction

People often get affected by infectious diseases mainly due to their ethnicity, geographic origins, and conditions at refugee camps including psychological, physical and personal situations either by acquiring or pre-existing while they flew from their homes and made a way to the camps.

Case Study:

A Sudanese family who has just immigrated to the United States is being observed for their potential health issues. The father is 34, mother is 33, and children are 14, 10, and 2. They were working farmers who were run off by the rebel militia and have been living for three years in a refugee camp.

Three Children (Age-14, 10 and 2)

Immigrant youth and refugees have quite similar health conditions or issues seen in U.S. - adolescents and born children, although with different prevalence rates. (Maroushek, 2005)

1. Most common conditions are those related to growth, oral health, nutrition and infectious diseases. The children might have oral health abnormalities when observed while screening in US. Gingivitis and excessive plaque were found because of the lack of preventive measures and orthodontic issues that are related to their cultural practices. As a result of oral health issue, children may show poor school performance and poor growth. Poor performance at school might result from embarrassment, language problems and from pain.

2. Micronutrient and Anemia deficiencies specially zinc, vitamin A and iron, are also very common as health problem among the children belonging to refugee group and immigrant communities. The children were most likely to have one of these problems, because of improper food supply. They have been facing deficiency in required amount of nutrition while they were staying in the refugee camps. If these children are lacking micronutrients, it can lead to serious types of effects on their physical development and intellectual power. This generally occurs because diets are not enough to supply sufficient amount of nutrients to their body. Lead poisoning can be compounded as Anemia and iron deficiency.

3. Abnormality in growth rate may depend upon the socio-economic situations of the immigrants or the refugees who migrate from one place to another. The three children from the Sudan family might face such growth problem. As they have not received proper nutrients that were required by their body, they might be having growth problem. These problems might occur due to low weight for height which is an indicator of chronic malnutrition. These children will now essentially require adequate nutritional education and support. (Maroushek, 2005)

For the Father (age- 34)

1. Malnutrition is one the most common problem in refugees and highly contributes in major health problems. The father, who is the member of the family that belongs to Sudan, may have to face this problem at a very high level. Malnutrition is a result of decreased intake of one or all nutrients. The father will be facing a decreased immune system that will make him more susceptible to illness that in turn will again result in decrease in the absorption of ...