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This basic right
produces healthy individuals and communities to provide
benefit to their physical and natural environments.
Facts -
Health Care and Nutrition
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Measles,
malaria and diarrhea are three of the biggest killers of
children — yet all are preventable or treatable
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More than 30
million children in the world are not immunized against
treatable or preventable diseases
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95 percent
of all the people who get polio are under the age of 5
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HIV/AIDS has
created more than 14 million orphans — 92 percent of
them live in Africa
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Six million
children under five die every year as a result of hunger
Clean water is
the most fundamental necessity for life. Similarly, everyone
needs basic sanitation. These things are essential to health
and human dignity, and they are your right guaranteed under
all national/international conventions and faiths (esp
Islam).
But …
More than a billion people do not have access to safe
drinking water.
More than two and a half billion people do not have a
sanitary way of getting rid of excreta (urine and faeces).
Up to a third of disease globally is thought to be caused by
environmental factors such as polluted water and air.
Children are particularly vulnerable to disease. This is
because children's bodies are not fully developed, so they
have less resistance to illness. Also, in proportion to
their weight, young children breathe more air, drink more
water and eat more food than adults do, so they take in
bigger doses of any contaminants.
Bad health linked to water and sanitation problems can
disrupt your education and stop you reaching your full
potential. When you are sick you cannot go to school or
learn well. Another reason why many children — particularly
girls — miss school is that they have to spend so much time
and energy collecting water at home. Yet another reason is
that some schools do not have clean water or appropriate
sanitation facilities, such as separate latrines for boys
and girls, discouraging children from going to school
Poverty underlies all these issues. It is the world's
poorest people who have no sanitation and safe water, so it
is the poor who are most at risk from water-related
diseases. Illness may prevent people from working, making
families even poorer. It may also disrupt children's
education, so they have fewer chances to learn about water
and sanitation, among other things, and fewer opportunities
for employment. An ill, poorly educated and unproductive
population makes for a poor nation; a poor nation makes for
an ill nation. And so on it goes …
Action on these problems produces results. In particular,
improved sanitation and water sources, combined with
information about hygiene and how to prevent infection,
dramatically improve the health of communities.
The urgency for this kind of action is recognized across the
globe. Governments should ensure that their development
programmes will not damage the environment.
The responsibility lies with communities and governments to
work with young people to protect these fundamental rights
Common Health Diseases Amongst The Poor
In many cases poverty is the leading risk factor for
incidence of such diseases, and some disease can (or
allegedly) cause poverty. The three primary diseases
associated with poverty are AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.
Developing
nations account for 95% of the global AIDS prevalence, 98%
of active tuberculosis infections, and 90% of malaria deaths
occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Together, these three diseases
account for 10% of global mortalities.
Three additional diseases, measles, pneumonia, and diarrheal
diseases also closely associated with poverty, and are often
included with AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in broader
definitions and discussions of diseases of poverty. Finally,
infant and maternal mortalities are far more prevalent among
the poor.
For example, 98% of the 11,600 daily maternal and neo-natal
deaths occur in developing nations.
Together diseases of poverty kill approximately 14 million
people annually.
Mechanisms and Causes of Diseases of Poverty
Due to a plethora of environmental and social factors,
including crowded living conditions, inadequate sanitation,
and higher prevalence in the sex-trade, the poor are more
likely to be exposed to infectious disease. Further,
malnutrition and inadequate, inaccessible, or wholly
non-existent healthcare can hinder recovery and exacerbate
the disease.
For example, malnutrition is associated with 54% of
childhood deaths from diseases of poverty, and lack of
skilled maternal care for childbirth is primarily
responsible for the high maternal and infant death rates
among the poor.
Effects of Diseases of Poverty
Diseases of poverty reflect the dynamic relationship between
poverty and poor health; while such diseases result directly
from poverty, they also perpetuate and deepen impoverishment
by sapping personal and national health and financial
resources.
For example, malaria decreases GDP growth by up to 1.3% in
some developing nations, and by killing tens of millions in
sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS alone threatens ¡§the economies,
social structures, and political stability of entire
societies¡¨. Children die each day from malnutrition.
Diseases as a Cause of Poverty
They are some diseases that allegedly can cause poverty;
many of them are mental illnesses that affect socialization,
awareness, and intelligence. Examples are autism,
schizophrenia, antisocial personality disorder, and certain
mental damage caused by substance abuse.
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