Poverty Impact on Education and Health Care in the U.S



Poverty Impact on Education and Health Care in the U.S

Introduction

According to US government statistics, some 2.45 million Americans died in 2000. Thus, the researchers' estimate means that social deprivation was responsible for some 36 percent of total US deaths that year, a staggering total. There is no reason to believe, after a decade that has seen sustained attacks on social programs and consistently high unemployment rates, that the social mortality rate has declined. On the contrary, it has likely risen. The social causes considered by the research team surpass in their deadly consequences heart disease and lung cancer, accidents and factors often categorized as lifestyle-related, such as smoking and obesity (which, of course, in many cases, are also associated with social conditions).

Thesis statement

The purpose of this paper is to analyze impact of poverty on education and health care in U.S. In this paper we present first results of a project aiming to study the impact of poverty on education and health status, effect and behavior in U.S.

Discussion Analysis

Socio economic status, health and education: a complex relationship

Biological, cultural, environmental, economic and institutional conditions influence health risk and susceptibility among different populations. Health is more than survival and mortality, and should include reflection of factors that capture the worsening of health, such as nutritional status and diseases; for infant and child ages it is important to also consider both nourishment status and measures that protect children's health, like immunization coverage.

Many of the inequalities in health, both within and between countries, are due to inequalities in the social conditions in which people live and work. Poverty and inequality influence health status. The impact of poverty on health seems obvious but here again the links as studied in the developed world do not directly apply to the context of developing countries. This trend of research due to data limitations has been concerned essentially with developed countries, through the difference in the behavior of poor people versus rich people and in the difference of health care system distinguishing between market based health care and universal health care. In the developing countries the mechanism will be of course different and probably more basic, linked to nutrition at early ages, immunization and existence or not of health facilities etc... The direction of the link may be more pronounced from health to poverty than the other way around.

Income is the common way of measuring poverty, but poverty has many dimensions: poor are deprived of services, resources and opportunities as well as money. These social determinants have an important effect on health status and general wellbeing. A large body of economic and social science literature links education and poverty to health. The obvious link is that education affects income which itself influences health status and behaviour. The literature finds that education and poverty have a strong impact on health and that poor health is both a cause and effect of poverty.

Education and employment opportunities have both direct and indirect ...