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Living in Poverty and its Effects on Health
Sally Swinnerton
Undergraduate Student, Charles Sturt University, Albury NSW
Abstract
Poverty has been identified as the greatest threat to health. Generally speaking, poor people are sick more often than wealthier people, and poor people die younger due to poorer economic, social, political and physical conditions.
The article explains the difference between relative poverty and absolute poverty, before going on to explore various reasons why people living in relative poverty are more susceptible to ill health than their wealthier counterparts. The article delves into how poverty contributes to ill health by the effects of low income and poor health behaviours, with cigarette smoking being identified as the health behaviour with the largest negative impact on people living in relative poverty.
Keywords
poverty, health, health behaviour, smoking, primary health care, socio-economic status
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