KWARA : The Causes of Poverty are brushed over and ignored

Dilapidated building people lives in Ilorin due to poverty rate in the Country.

Poverty and poor health worldwide are inextricably linked. The causes of poor health for millions globally are rooted in political, social and economic injustices. Poverty is both a cause and a consequence of poor health. Poverty increases the chances of poor health. Poor health, in turn, traps communities in poverty. Infectious and neglected tropical diseases kill and weaken millions of the poorest and most vulnerable people each year.

The causes of poverty in every country are deeply rooted in the global system, which has been programmed over thousands of years to benefit the richest and most powerful – from colonialism, to structural readjustment and the global spread of neoliberalism today.

Although the causes are complex, the fact that they are programmed into the system by humans gives us hope. It means they are solvable and changeable – it means we can work to reprogramme the system to prioritise people rather than profit. This is why we campaign for policy change, as well as working with communities and governments around the world to improve health and tackle injustice together.

In far too many cases, the causes of poverty are brushed over and ignored. We are often encouraged to take pity on those ‘unlucky’ enough to be in poverty, and give money because we are the ‘lucky ones’. Very rarely are we encouraged to think about how we might be impacted by the same system which causes this extreme poverty – how we unjustly benefit from it, or how we are also suffering because of it.

At Health Poverty Action, we believe talking about how poverty is created is so important if we actually want to solve poverty and create a world where everyone has the right to health. Without understanding the root causes of poverty, it will be impossible to prevent it from happening in the future.

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