Poverty and Income/Wealth Inequality

Running head: “ECONOMICS” 1
Poverty and Income/Wealth Inequality
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“POVERTY AND INCOME INEQUALITY” 2
Introduction
“Understanding economics is crucial to effective Public Health practice,” and this is
clearly depicted in the topic “Poverty and Income/Wealth Inequality”. The practices of public
health aim at promoting health for the entire society. From the economic point of view, poverty
and income inequality are closely linked to health and are among the key determinants of health
in contemporary society. Considering the social determinants of health which include “addiction,
food, the social gradient, transport, unemployment, stress, work, early life, social support and
social exclusion (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003)”, poverty and income inequality has been
discussed to show how it is linked to them and how it impacts the poor and the marginalized
populations.
Discussion
To begin with, it is crucial to understand the topic of poverty and income inequality.
Poverty indicates a situation of having inadequate material possessions or income for personal
needs (Townsend, 2014). It encompasses the political, social and economic elements. Income
inequality describes a scenario where income or rather wealth is concentrated in the hands of
only a few individuals or a small population percentage (Killewald, Pfeffer & Schachner, 2017).
It shows the gap that exists between the rich and the rest of society.
Poverty and income inequality have a direct link to the social determinants of health and
highly impacts the poor and the marginalized populations in society (Marmot & Bell, 2012).
Considering the social gradient, life expectancy ends up decreasing as we go down the social
ladder. Social gradient as a social determinant of health cuts across the entire society. Even at the
workplaces, it is evident that the higher ranking staff live longer than the lower-ranking staff.

“POVERTY AND INCOME INEQUALITY” 3
This is because the risk of serious illnesses increases as we move down the ladder. This is a clear
indication that lower-class individuals have poor health due to poverty and income inequality as
they cannot economically seek for better health standards due to their low income (Pickett &
Wilkinson, 2015). It, therefore, goes without say that the poor and the marginalized populations
end up having poor health since they lack income for accessing better health due to income
inequality in contemporary society.
Poverty and income inequality have a direct link with stress as a social determinant of
health. The poor and marginalized society members end up living stressful lives (Gornick &
Jäntti, 2014). Stressful circumstances cause poor mental health and may result in premature
death since it is obvious that most poor people lack means of coping with stress. The poor
society members have inadequate income or nothing at all to cater for their daily needs and they
suffer severely from stress; therefore, unless the economic part of the situation is addressed then
the public health practices cannot succeed at all.
Poverty and income inequality affect the early life of individuals. The adult health
foundations are most of times determined by early childhood. Poverty and income inequality
deprives better early lives the poor and the marginalized populations. Children born from poor
backgrounds may lack the proper maternal and child health due to lack of sufficient income and
may end up being disadvantaged considering certain factors such as access to good education
(Lustig, 2010). Poverty and income inequality are also linked to social exclusion where certain
groups in the society are discriminated against societal services and facilities such as education
and job opportunities among others. A public health practice must therefore first understand the
economic problems of the poor and the marginalized populations to know the exact cause.