On this page we discuss how poverty may affect personal health. There are pieces of evidence that prove how poverty, directly and indirectly, affects personal health negatively in communities all over the world.
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Ways in which Poverty may Affect Personal Health
- Poor people are often deprived of the information, money or access to health services that would help them prevent and treat disease.
- Health services are expensive for the poor. The cost of doctors’ fees, a course of drugs and transport to reach a health centre can be devastating, both for an individual and their relatives who need to care for them or help them reach and pay for treatment.
- Poor people live in overcrowded spaces in poor conditions the urban areas. As a result, the spread of airborne diseases such as tuberculosis and respiratory infections such as pneumonia affects thte poor the most.
- Poor females may sacrifice their health during desperate sexual interaction with the male, in the hope to get some form of compensation in exchange.