What is the reason why poverty is an issue? There are many causes for the existence of poverty, from conflict and war to the lack of water that is clean. We’ll examine the primary factors that lead to poverty, how they impact millions of children around the world and how you can take action to aid them.
The definition of poverty goes beyond getting enough cash. It’s a lot of need and hunger, the absence of shelter, having no access to education and health treatment, being at risk of abuse, and being deprived of a better tomorrow.
The most significant factors that contribute to poverty are conflicts and wars natural disasters, shortage of nutrition and clean water, inaccessible healthcare and inadequate infrastructure.
It is a major issue because it affects the entire child’s existence and prevents them from achieving the potential God has given them.
What Is Poverty?
People define poverty as the amount an individual earns. As an example the majority of families in the world’s poorest countries have to meet their basic needs on less than $2.15 every day.
However, money isn’t the complete story about the issue of poverty. The definition of poverty is one that addresses the various forms of poverty. It recognizes that poverty can be defined as:
- Extreme thirst and hunger.
- Insufficient shelter.
- Inability to write or read.
- Inaccessibility to schools.
- In the event of being sick, you are unable to visit the doctor.
- Being vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and violence.
- Feeling helpless and shackled by circumstances that are beyond your control.
- A life without hope for an improved future that goes beyond the poverty line.
5 Quick Facts About Poverty
- Around 10 percent of the population in extreme poverty, making less than $2.15 per day.
- Additionally, 3.5 billion people survive with less than $6.85 each day.
- Three quarters of the people who are who are living in extreme poverty reside within Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Three million children die each year due to hunger.
- One in 27 children dies prior to the age of five each year, due to diseases that are preventable and treatable, such as pneumonia.
6 Main Causes of Poverty
The issue of poverty is complex that has many reasons. Let’s look at some of the most prevalent reasons for poverty, from conflicts to inadequate infrastructure.
1. War & Conflict
Conflicts, such as war or violence from gangs can cause families to leave their homes or even destroy the structures completely. Children affected by these conflicts may suddenly lose shelter, food sources and, in some cases their parents.
The destruction of infrastructure is also a result of conflict, like schools, hospitals as well as roads. This leaves whole communities without essential services such as healthcare and education. If they are not provided with the necessities children, communities and even the families suffer to be able to get back on their feet and remain in poverty.
2. Natural Disasters
Based on the World Bank, natural disasters cause 26 million people to fall to live in poverty each year. As an example, natural catastrophes like hurricanes and earthquakes damage communities and homes that leave many families and children without anything other than their clothes backs.
The effects of droughts and floods are devastating to the crops that families depend upon to supplement their diet and earn money. Even if families have savings however, it’s not often enough to meet their expenses after having lost everything.
However, for those living in poverty prior to the catastrophe? They have no reserve or savings to look to, and are left with no access to shelter and fresh water and food, and other essentials.
3. Lack of Nutrition
Poverty causes hunger. But, hunger can also cause poverty. For instance, it could reduce a child’s resistance to illness and disease which can make them sick and unable to go to school.
If they don’t have an education, children aren’t able to acquire the skills they’ll need to be able to care for themselves and their families when they become adults. This means that they often have to have their children fed and malnourished, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty for the next generation.
4. Lack of Clean Water
One-third of the population worldwide has no access to safe drinking water. For many families, locating water is a daily struggle.
Families and children frequently have to go to the water source and then bring it back to their home. Adults, it means an opportunity to get in a different location from their work. And for children this is the time they can spend learning and expanding. If the water they drink is not clean, illness could prevent them from going to work or school too.
5. Limited Access to Medical Care
Many children who are in poverty can’t receive high-quality medical treatment (if medical services are accessible within their communities in any form). In reality, approximately 4.5 billion people aren’t in a position to avail essential medical services.
In the absence of access to medical treatment Children are at risk of developing ailments. As with hunger, this prevents children from attending schools, leaving them without the knowledge needed to build better futures.
In order to get even the most the most basic medical treatment families are often forced to use the resources they have. This means they are unable get rent, food or other essentials, pushing them further into poverty.
6. Poor Infrastructure
A lot of communities in poverty lack the essential infrastructure that most of us consider to be normal like water and roads. The poor state of infrastructure only exacerbates the poverty-related causes mentioned above, and amplifies their effects.
For instance, if there are no roads, it’s tough to travel for medical treatment and food, as well as for work. In the absence of the water system, a lot of people have to drink hazardously contaminated drinking water that could make them sick or even die.
Why Is Poverty a Problem?
It affects every aspect of an individual’s life, and can hinder children from becoming the person God designed for them to be.
Hunger and thirst.
Inequality in the physical environment hinders healthy development and growth.
The burden of poverty increases infant and child mortality rates.
The stress of poverty can cause life-altering trauma.
Children who are poor develop preventable illnesses and illnesses.
The burden of poverty prevents children from obtaining an education, preventing them from achieving their potential to the fullest extent.
All of the negative consequences of poverty cause children to feel hopeless and devalued. They block kids from seeing better future beyond their present circumstances. Without hope that cycle persists through every generation.
How Compassion Fights the Causes of Poverty
We believe that every child ought to experience the life that Jesus has promised to him (John 10:10). However, for a lot of kids, the poverty is in their way.
At Compassion we strive to spread the gospel through both words and actions, to free children from hardship in Jesus in Jesus’ name.
What exactly does this means? We first spread the good news of the gospel to every child we serve offering them a future of hope. Then, we live the gospel through action to meet their immediate as well as their long-term needs.
For instance the children all have health checks as well as monitoring of malnutrition and education to ensure that they have all the resources they require to develop. We also aid children experiencing crises, and we prioritize child protection to ensure that children are protected from abuse and violence.
When their needs are met, children move from struggling to thriving, empowering to rise above poverty. We’ve witnessed the positive effects of our program repeatedly again. Indeed, a recent study has shown that all of Compassion sponsorship alumni who were surveyed within the Dominican Republic, 97% were freed from poverty!