Poverty and Income Inequality in Public Health Economics (PUBH204)

This essay, focusing on the economics of public health, explores the significant impact of poverty and income inequality on health outcomes and social determinants of health. It begins by defining poverty and income inequality, highlighting their direct links to factors such as stress, addiction, poor early life, malnutrition, social exclusion, unemployment, and the social gradient. The essay argues that these economic conditions profoundly affect the poor and marginalized populations, leading to poorer health standards. It emphasizes the importance of understanding these economic factors for effective public health interventions. The essay discusses how poverty and income inequality relate to public health interventions that address the social determinants of health, and suggests that the Social Safety Net Program can help reduce poverty and inequality, thereby improving health standards across society.

Running head: “ECONOMICS” 1
Poverty and Income/Wealth Inequality
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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.

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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.

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Considering unemployment as a social determinant of health, it is directly linked to
poverty and income inequality. Unemployment leads to lack of finance for the unemployed
people in the society and hence they are left with nothing for their daily expenditure. The risk of
premature death due to poor health is high among the unemployed as compared to the employed.
Apart from unemployment, job insecurity has also shown adverse effects on peoples’ health. Job
insecurity may actually lead to mental problems such as depression and increases the risk factors
for heart diseases among others. Employment may not prevent ill health but job quality. In the
contemporary society capitalism prevails whereby employees are exploited by doing much work
just for little pay and their jobs are insecure. The poor and the marginalized populations are
highly affected by unemployment and job insecurity and hence they are highly exposed to ill
health risk factors as compared to those employed in quality jobs.
Social support as a health social determinant is also linked to poverty and income
inequality. The poor and the marginalized populations suffer social and economic inequalities
and this ends up deteriorating their health standards. Addiction as one of the social determinants
of health is also linked to poverty and income inequality. The poor society members end up
indulging in drug and substance abuse due to harsh economic conditions (Badland et al, 2014).
As a result, drug and substance abuse is high among the poor and the marginalized populations
and this increases their risk of ill health and premature death. Food as a social determinant of
health is also linked to poverty and income inequality. A good diet is essential for good health
and well-being. In contemporary society, the social and economic conditions determine diet
quality and this results in health inequality. The poor and the marginalized populations cannot
afford nutritious food due to lack of income and they instead tend to substitute fresh nutritious
food with the cheaper processed foods. This increases their risk of ill health and malnutrition and

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they may end up suffering from various illnesses such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular
diseases among others.
In a nutshell, it is evident that poverty and income inequality is linked to the social
determinants of health and impacts the poor and the marginalized populations. It would,
therefore, be crucial to understand poverty and income inequality as an economic condition in
order to develop effective public health practices in contemporary society.
Poverty and income inequality are relevant to public health interventions whose aim is to
address the social determinants of health. First of all, it is crucial for a public health intervention
to understand the major cause of a certain social health determinant in order to address the
problem successfully. Without a clear understanding of the root cause of a certain problem, then
the set public health interventions may end up failing. For instance, poverty and income
inequality is the root cause of stress, addiction, poor early life, malnutrition, social gradient, lack
of social support and unemployment which are all social determinants of health (Raphael, 2011).
Due to poverty and income inequality the poor and the marginalized populations end up living
stressful lives as they have no means of surviving or rather raising up their families. Children
from the poor and marginalized populations are subjected to poor early life since they are unable
to eat nutritiously, access quality education or even socialize well. The poor and the marginalized
populations also engage in drug and substance abuse when faced by the tough social and
economic conditions as a means of coping up with stressful life (Embrett & Randall, 2014).
From the above discussion, it is evident that poverty and income inequality makes people
especially the poor and the marginalized populations to indulge in harmful activities which
increases the risk of suffering from ill health and as a result their life expectancy is lower as
compared to that of the rich since they end up dying prematurely. It is therefore evident that

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poverty and income inequality relate to public health interventions aimed at addressing the social
determinants of health since a clear understanding of the economic condition (poverty and
income inequality) is necessary as one of the major causes of the social determinants of health.
Rendering to the World Bank, the Social Safety Net Program can help to reduce poverty
and income inequality and this will end up addressing the social determinants of health. The
social safety net program enables people to avoid extreme poverty and this minimizes the
poverty gap and reduces income inequality. The program impacts human capital by “reducing
poverty and vulnerability, improving nutrition, providing dietary diversity, increasing school
enrollment and completion rates, enhancing wellbeing and expanding immunization rates”.
according to the world bank, the program already covers 2.5 billion individuals with only 1 in 5
for low-income nations being covered (Houtenville & Brucker, 2014). Through the program, the
poor and the marginalized populations will be able to access affordable healthcare, attain high
education, improve nutrition and earn social credit and unemployment benefits among others.
This will help the entire society to live happily without stress and their health will be improved.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, poverty and income inequality have a crucial link to public health practices
since it is among the major causes of the social determinants of health. Poverty and income
inequality lead to stress, addiction, poor early life, malnutrition, social gradient, lack of social
support and unemployment. It, therefore, means that for a health intervention to be successful in
addressing the social determinants of health, there must be a clear understanding of the economic
concept poverty and income inequality since it is directly linked to the social determinants of
health. Rendering to the World Bank, the Social Safety Net Program can help to reduce poverty

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and income inequality. This will help in addressing the social determinants of health and
improve the health standards of the entire society especially the poor and the marginalized
populations.

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References
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