[EQ] Reducing the Impact of Poverty on Health and Human Development: Scientific Approaches

Reducing the Impact of Poverty on Health and Human Development: Scientific Approaches

 

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Volume 1136, June 2008

Website:  http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/nyas/1136/1

Preface    Full Text HTML
 

Stephen G. Kaler and Owen M. Rennert
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

 

“………..In summarizing the general condition of poverty, one observer concisely described it as “a form of exile, of being cut off from the larger society.”1 Efforts to define poverty more specifically perhaps risk incompleteness, since the causes underlying human destitution are so diverse and interrelated. This volume is an attempt to collate major dimensions of poverty and their impact on human development. In conjunction with the Council of Science Editors Global Theme Issue,2 we recruited established and emerging experts within nine topical areas, illness and disease, maternal health, health disparities, health care services, nutrition, education, housing, social and economic determinants, and engineering and technology. We asked them to provide their scientific perspectives on the causes and solutions relevant to human poverty. Twenty-five U.S. and foreign universities, as well as thirteen national or international organizations are represented.

 

This collection focuses on the United States, as an example of a developed country in which poverty disrupts many lives,1 and provides an international context as well, through studies of developing countries in which the scale and impact of poverty are often more graphic and apparent. Thus, China, India, Nicaragua, Peru, Russia, and the countries of Africa are represented here, in addition to the United States. We hope the entire volume provides a better understanding of poverty, as it has for us, and that it may spur others to apply the rigor of science to understand, to reduce, and to ultimately eliminate poverty in our nation and around the world.

 

The opening section is devoted to diseases of poverty, including chronic as well as acute infectious disorders. While not exhaustive in scope—measles, lower respiratory infections, and diarrheal illnesses are covered only by review of recent literature—the connections between neglected diseases and suboptimal development are abundantly evident. One worker remarked with regard to his disease of interest, “It's tied in with grinding poverty; where you find it maps almost perfectly with the poorest of the poor.”3

 

Many whose contributions are in Part I are active participants and leaders in efforts to directly reduce the human toll of these conditions. Their cautious hopefulness in the face of difficult odds indicates the progress their work is engendering. In Part II, maternal health is specifically addressed, and the critical need for support of mothers in avoiding the cycle of poverty is delineated. Indeed, this theme recurs throughout many other sections of this book. In Part III, health disparities in U.S. urban and Native American communities are formally addressed, whereas international health disparities are conveyed throughout most of the book. Access to health care and the problems of the uninsured are the subjects of Part IV. Basic human needs for food, education, and shelter are addressed in Parts V to VII, with papers from experts involved in the intimate connections between these topics and the experience of poverty. Part VIII considers social and economic determinants of human development, in both national and international contexts. Finally, Part IX discusses engineering and technological aspects of human development, which are especially critical for sustaining progress in poverty reduction in the developing world.

 

While these nine sections provide a framework for the book, the boundaries between them are admittedly artificial. The answer to the question of why someone is poor will vary among individuals but invariably involves one or more of the issues addressed here.

 

One author who supports preferential options for the poor has written, “Unless the poor are accorded some right to health care, water, food, and education, their lives will inevitably be short, desperate and unfree.”4 Poverty touches numerous aspects of human life simultaneously, and concerted efforts must be sustained in multiple arenas to secure meaningful gains. That is truly the message of this volume……”

 

Table of Contents

Part I. Diseases of Poverty

Treating Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Tomsk, Russia. Developing Programs That Address the Linkage between Poverty and Disease

S. Keshavjee, I.Y. Gelmanova, A.D. Pasechnikov, S.P. Mishustin, Y.G. Andreev, A. Yedilbayev, J.J. Furin, J.S. Mukherjee, M.L. Rich, E.A. Nardell, P.E. Farmer, J.Y. Kim, and S.S. Shin pages 1–11 Abstract |  Full Text HTML | Full Text PDF (154 KB)

Expanding Global HIV Treatment. Case Studies from the Field

J.J. Furin, H.L. Behforouz, S.S. Shin, J.S. Mukherjee, J. Bayona, P.E. Farmer, J.Y. Kim, and S. Keshavjee

pages 12–20 Abstract

Poverty and Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Children. A View from the Western Cape, South Africa

Barend Jacobus Marais, Monika Esser, Sarah Godwin, Helena Rabie, and Mark Fredric Cotton

pages 21–27 Abstract

Diseases of Poverty with High Mortality in Infants and Children. Malaria, Measles, Lower Respiratory Infections, and Diarrheal Illnesses

Stephen G. Kaler pages 28–31 Abstract

 

Malaria and Poverty

Awash Teklehaimanot and Paola Mejia pages 32–37 Abstract  | Full Text HTML  | Full Text PDF (90 KB)

Hookworm and Poverty  Peter Hotez pages 38–44 Abstract

Dracunculiasis, Onchocerciasis, Schistosomiasis, and Trachoma

Donald R. Hopkins, Frank O. Richards, Jr., Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben, Paul Emerson, and P. Craig Withers, Jr.

pages 45–52 Abstract

Eliminating Lymphatic Filariasis. A View from the Field

Thomas Streit and Jack Guy Lafontant pages 53–63 Abstract

Intersectoral Approaches to Neglected Diseases

Steven K. Ault pages 64–69 Abstract  

Chronic Diseases in Developing Countries. Health and Economic Burdens

Rachel Nugent pages 70–79 Abstract

 

Part II. Maternal Health and Poverty

Poverty, Maternal Health, and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes

N. Tanya Nagahawatte and Robert L. Goldenberg pages 80–85 Abstract

Supporting the Mental Health of Mothers Raising Children in Poverty. How Do We Target Them for Intervention Studies?

Linda S. Beeber, Krista M. Perreira, and Todd Schwartz pages 86–100 Abstract

Poverty, Gender Inequities, and Women's Risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/AIDS

Suneeta Krishnan, Megan S. Dunbar, Alexandra M. Minnis, Carol A. Medlin, Caitlin E. Gerdts, and Nancy S. Padian

pages 101–110 Abstract

 

Part III. Health Disparities and Poverty

Poverty and Elimination of Urban Health Disparities. Challenge and Opportunity

Stephen B. Thomas and Sandra Crouse Quinn

pages 111–125 Abstract

Poverty and Health Disparities for American Indian and Alaska Native Children. Current Knowledge and Future Prospects

Michelle Sarche and Paul Spicer pages 126–136 Abstract  

 

Part IV. Health Care Services and Human Development

Trends in Private Insurance, Medicaid/State Children's Health Insurance Program, and the Healthcare Safety Net. Implications for Vulnerable Populations and Health Disparities

Alexandra E. Shields, Mary McGinn-Shapiro, and Paul Fronstin pages 137–148 Abstract  | References  | Full Text HTML  | Full Text PDF (331 KB) |

 

Health Insurance and Access to Health Care in the United States

Catherine Hoffman and Julia Paradise pages 149–160 Abstract

Poverty and Access to Health Care in Developing Countries

David H. Peters, Anu Garg, Gerry Bloom, Damian G. Walker, William R. Brieger, and M. Hafizur Rahman

pages 161–171 Abstract

 

Part V. Human Nutrition and Poverty

Poverty. The Double Burden of Malnutrition in Mothers and the Intergenerational Impact

Hélène F. Delisle pages 172–184 Abstract

Latent Effects of Prenatal Malnutrition on Adult Health. The Example of Schizophrenia

Ezra Susser, David St. Clair, and Lin He

pages 185–192 Abstract | Full Text HTML | Full Text PDF (193 KB)

 

Food Security, Poverty, and Human Development in the United States

John T. Cook and Deborah A. Frank pages 193–209 Abstract

Diet and Health Outcomes in Vulnerable Populations

Joseph R. Sharkey pages 210–217 Abstract

Agriculture in Africa: Strategies to Improve and Sustain Smallholder Production Systems

Bashir Jama and Gonzalo Pizarro pages 218–232 Abstract

Building an Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

Gary Toenniessen, Akinwumi Adesina, and Joseph DeVries pages 233–242 Abstract  

 

Part VI. Education and Human Development

The Effect of Poverty on Child Development and Educational Outcomes

Patrice L. Engle and Maureen M. Black

pages 243–256 Abstract  | Full Text HTML  | Full Text PDF (255 KB)

 

Long-Term Effects of Head Start on Low-Income Children

Jens Ludwig and Deborah A. Phillips pages 257–268 Abstract | Full Text HTML  | Full Text PDF (153 KB)

 

Education for All. An Imperative for Reducing Poverty

Nicholas Burnett pages 269–275 Abstract

 

Part VII. Housing and Human Development

Housing and Health. Intersection of Poverty and Environmental Exposures

Virginia A. Rauh, Philip J. Landrigan, and Luz Claudio pages 276–288 Abstract

Social and Economic Aspects of Immigration

Rebecca L. Clark and Rosalind Berkowitz King pages 289–297 Abstract  | Full Text HTML | Full Text PDF (163 KB)

Improving the Health and Lives of People Living in Slums

Shaaban A. Sheuya pages 298–306 Abstract

Part VIII. Social and Economic Determinants of Human Development

Role of Income and Family Influence on Child Outcomes

James J. Heckman pages 307–323 Abstract  | Full Text HTML  | Full Text PDF (255 KB)

 

Psychological Costs of Growing Up Poor

Eric Dearing pages 324–332 Abstract

Mandated Empowerment. Handing Antipoverty Policy Back to the Poor?

Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo pages 333–341 Abstract

The Chinese Social Benefit System in Transition. Reforms and Impacts on Income Inequality

Qin Gao pages 342–347 Abstract

 

Part IX. Engineering and Technological Determinants of Human Development

Poverty, Energy, and Resource Use in Developing Countries. Focus on Africa

Daniel M. Kammen and Charles Kirubi pages 348–357 Abstract

Sustainable Transfer of Biotechnology to Developing Countries. Fighting Poverty by Bringing Scientific Tools to Developing-country Partners

Josefina Coloma and Eva Harris pages 358–368 Abstract

Delivery of Agricultural Technology to Resource-poor Farmers in Africa

Hodeba D. Mignouna, Mathew M. Abang, Gospel Omanya, Francis Nang'ayo, Mpoko Bokanga, Richard Boadi, Nancy Muchiri, and Eugene Terry

pages 369–376 Abstract

 

 

 

 

 

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