Area of Social Work Practice In Poverty and Health

Poverty

Poverty has no definition. Rather, scholars have been explaining the term poverty in reference to economic, political, social and cultural

understanding and needs. Usually, the concept of poverty is concerned with income and consumption. For general usages, poverty has been defined in either absolute or relative terms.

According to the WHO, Poverty is associated with the undermining of a range of key human attributes, including health. The poor are exposed to greater personal and environmental health risks, are less well nourished, have less information and are less able to access health care; they thus have a higher risk of illness and disability. Conversely, illness can reduce household savings, lower learning ability, reduce productivity, and lead to a diminished quality of life, thereby perpetuating or even increasing poverty.

According to, UNESCO (2012), absolute poverty measures poverty in relation to the amount of money necessary to meet basic need such as food, clothing, and shelter. In addition, the Copenhagen Declaration describes absolute poverty as “a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, and information.”

In this context, UNDP (1997, p. 15) furthers the concept of poverty saying that ‘Poverty can involve not only the lack of the necessities of material well-being but the denial of opportunities for using a tolerable life. Life can be prematurely shortened. It can be made difficult, painful or hazardous. It can be deprived of knowledge and communication. And it can be robbed of dignity, confidence and self -respect as well being as the respect of other, ‘In addition, UNDP (1997, p. 16) on its Human Development Reports suggests three perspectives on the poverty, they are following:

• Income Perspective.
• Basic Needs perspective.
• Capability (or Empowerment) Perspective.

Basic Needs Perspective

It indicates that the income person is poor only if his or her income is below the country’s poverty line (defined in terms of having income sufficient for a specified amount of food).

Basic Needs Perspective

It goes beyond the income perspective to include the need for the provision by a community of the basic social services necessary to prevent individuals from falling into poverty. Basic social services include health, education, and essential services. It also recognizes the need for employment and participation.

Capability (or Empowerment) Perspective

According to Saches. J. (2005), the suggests that poverty signifies the absence of some basic capabilities to function a person lacking the opportunity to achieve some minimally acceptable levels of the functioning. The functioning can vary from physical ones (i.e., being well nourished) to complex social achievement (i.e., participation in community life).

Three levels of poverty have been identified; extreme poverty, moderate poverty, and relative poverty. Extreme poverty occurs when families cannot get their basic needs for survival. They may be frequently hungry, lack safe drinking water, cannot afford education for their children, may lack shelter and have inadequate clothing. This level of poverty is most likely in developing countries. Moderate poverty refers to circumstances in developed countries when household income is below a given proportion of national income.

According to the World Bank, Nepal is the poorest country in South Asia and ranked as the twelfth poorest country in the world. The World Bank, in 2005 has redefined US 1.25 dollar a day as the poverty line: this is the internationally adopted measurement standard based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) calculated on the basis of an income of 1.25 dollars a day. Nepal’s poverty situation would be weaker when compared on the basis of this formula. However, Nepal has defined its own poverty line in Nepal Living Standard survey (2003/04). The survey assumes an average of Rs 7696 as the national poverty line. In this reference of this poverty line, the survey has estimated 30.85 percent of the Nepalese population in below the poverty line (Economic Survey, 2010),

Table 1: Population below poverty

According to the Nepal Living Standard Survey, among the poor people living below the poverty line, 67 percent were people employed in agriculture and 11 percent agriculture laborers. In this way, 78 percent of the poor were those for whom the agriculture sector is the mainstay of employment. The disparity in the distribution of poverty could be seen not only on the basis of caste or ethnicity, 46 percent Dalits, 44 percent of Janajatis of the Terai and 31 percent of other minority groups are living below the poverty line (National Planning Commission 2007 p, 83 Three years interim plan 2007/08-2009/10).

According to the World Bank (2012), Nepal has made considerable progress in reducing poverty, Some statistical data given below proves the statement.

• Headcount poverty rate declined from 42% to 31% between FY95 and FY03/04.
• Urban poverty declined 22% to 10%.
• Rural poverty declined from 43% to 35% (although it remains higher than urban areas).
• The standard of living improved between FY95/96 and FY03/04.
• Agricultural wages and in ownership of durables increased.
• The actual consumption of ‘luxury’ food rose.
• The proportion of households reporting inadequate food consumption declined.
• Self-assessments of the adequacy of housing, clothing healthcare, and children’s schooling improved.

To deal with poverty, Nepal government has been implementing poverty alleviation program from years. The current Three Year Interim Plan has also made provision of Poverty Alleviation program with following key strategies.

• To create new and additional employment opportunities by attracting private sector investments in the cottage and small-scale industries as well as in the medium scale agro-based industries and foreign investment in mega hydroelectricity projects, highways, irrigation, tourism, services (education and health), financial sector and biodiversity promotion and development projects.
• To provide employment opportunities for a certain period through the construction of rural roads, drinking water, and irrigation projects in the rural areas, as well as through reconstruction programs.
• To create employment by implementing separate targeted programs base on micro-credit in all three religions namely, Mountain, Hill and the Terai, for income generation of Dalits, low -income women, people with disability, Adhibasi jana jatis, Madhesis, and the marginalized people.
• To commercialize agriculture and promote the Export Processing Zone, Special Economic Zone, and Industrial Corridors, in the industry sector.
• To develop a system to identify the population living below the poverty line to deliver services and goods/incentives to these groups.
• To make employment more income oriented, skill development and the soft loan will be provided to youths of the poor and targeted groups.

Health

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. (WHO)

Health is a fundamental right and an important asset for every citizen for an overall development of a nation. Realizing the fact, the Ministry of Health and population (MOPH) adopted a National Health policy in 1991 to bring about an improvement in the health conditions of the Nepalese people. The National Health Policy has emphasized the preventive, primitive and curative health services, basic primary health services, ayurvedic (alternatives medicines) and other traditional health services, community participation in health services, development of human resources for health, resource mobilization in health service, private, non-governmental health services and intersectoral co-ordination and health research and decentralization (MOPH, 2011).

In order to with health related problems, the Three Year Plan (2007/08-2009/10) was adopted with the objectives to:

• Provide quality health services.
• Ensure easy access to health services to all citizens

(Geographical, cultural, economic and gender).

• Ensure enabling environment for utilizing available health services.

Table 2: Quantitative Targets

Source: Demographic and Health Survey, 2006.

Annual report, 2005/06, Department of Health Services, 2007.

Reference-

Shrestha, S. K. (2013). the concept of social work. Kathmandu: Taleju, Prakashan.