Health Consequences of Poverty for Children

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Poverty is one of the worst forms of violence. It makes people feel hopeless and useless, but it also enables them to try and do the best they can. If the way of life fails children, then it will fail all of us since children are the most selfless creatures. They don’t need much but sometimes life can be cruel and bring poverty, which in turn makes their life pretty difficult. Poor children are most affected regarding health hazards such as diseases, malnutrition, underweight, stunting and also emotional problems. If nothing is done for them, then everything starts falling apart, because their life will have problems from the very beginning.

Growing up and living in poverty influences everyone’s health and studies have shown that poverty contributes to the development of a wide range of child and adult psychopathology (Wadsworth & Achenbach, 2005). Knowing and understanding how poverty risks the children is necessary for implementing interventions, creating and developing programs, and also put into action an effective policy to reduce poverty, minimize its risks and how to prevent it in the future.

The full human cost of child poverty is inestimable. Nobody can measure adequately the cost in physical or emotional suffering of a toddler living in a damp or overcrowded home, or of a child growing up in a deprived community where hope of a better life is constantly crushed. Political commitments to ending child poverty are based on the idea that a rich economy in the twenty-first century should be able to ensure that every child grows up with opportunities and is able to participate in society.

2. Literature Review

There are various authors who have expressed their opinions, regarding poverty and health, and have documented ev...

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...er not even the one fifth of the expenses needed to help a child grow up in a good lifestyle.

Another major difference between them is also the health care services they offer to children in need. France has a great health care system, which most of the cases covers the needs of poor children even if they are not able to afford these services. They range from free vaccination to free health controls and also free psychologists, who help any child that has been a victim of abuse, trafficking and lack of parental care. The same cannot be said in Albania, where even though the situation has improved, still it is very difficult for kids to benefit from a free health care plan or even free visitations. Especially a devastating fact is the lack of proper care for children abused, who do not have enough help most of the time to surpass the traumas they have been through.

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