What Are the Physical Effects of Poverty on Children?

Many organizations have undertaken the task of studying the multifaceted effects of poverty on children, revealing alarming statistics. According to UNICEF, a staggering number of children – around one billion – grapple with multidimensional poverty, which deprives them of access to fundamental essentials like basic nutrition and clean water. Equally concerning is the fact that 356 million children live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $2.15 per day. This article delves into the comprehensive and lasting physical repercussions that poverty inflicts on children, from the prenatal stage to adolescence, emphasizing the significance of addressing this issue head-on.

Even before a child is born, poverty exerts its influence. Madison Doser, associated with the American Human Services Association, underscores that malnutrition during pregnancy carries the potential to induce long-term health disparities in children. Notably, this can manifest in conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. An additional concern is that expectant mothers grappling with poverty often lack access to vital prenatal education and medical care. Furthermore, a deficiency of fruits and vegetables in their diets deprives these mothers and their unborn children of crucial micronutrients essential for fetal development.[1]

In the earliest years of a child’s life, poverty casts a shadow over physical well-being, affecting brain development and overall health.[2] Access to vital nutrients is not assured in regions facing extreme poverty, resulting in physical delays and various health complications. Nutritional inadequacies during this crucial developmental phase can have lasting implications for a child’s future.


GFA World’s Initiatives:

GFA World is steadfast in its commitment to ameliorating the physical toll of poverty on children. Through our Child Sponsorship Program, we deliver essential assistance tailored to the unique needs of each community. This encompasses provisions like nutritious food, clean water, and access to medical care. Children not only learn the basics of personal hygiene, including proper handwashing and oral care, but their parents also receive education to reinforce these practices within the household.


Sanitation and Clean Water:

An additional facet of GFA World’s approach involves addressing sanitation and clean water challenges that plague impoverished communities. Recognizing that clean water wells, water filters, and proper sanitation facilities significantly enhance overall community health, GFA World has spearheaded initiatives to provide these essentials. Access to clean water contributes to the prevention of waterborne diseases, such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio. This, in turn, reduces the likelihood of disease transmission through improved hand hygiene practices.


Click here, to read more about this article.

Click here, to read more blogs in Gospel for Asia.Com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Attitude Towards Suffering

Image
In 2 Timothy 2:3, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Everyone, at some point or another, faces suffering, the soldier especially. However, it is not so much what we suffer, but how we suffer that matters. The way our heart responds to suffering is crucial, because by it we will either advance or become stagnant. To suffer like a good soldier is to willingly endure all for the sake of the call. To suffer like a bad soldier is to grumble when difficult situations and hardship arise. Instead of throwing our lives into what God has called us to, we can try to hold on to our lives, wanting to get away with as little suffering as possible, paying as little price as possible. We have forgotten that we are under the orders of our Master and that we willingly gave up our lives. Christ’s Example of Suffering Christ lived with the expectation of suffering. Throughout the Gospels, He repeatedly referred to ...
Read more

What Is the Poverty Cycle?

Image
The question, “What is the poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty?” is one that must be answered to address and end poverty across the globe. Put simply, the term refers to the trend where the vicious effects of poverty and deprivation pass from one generation to the next, with no seeming way out. [1] Someone born into poverty has fewer opportunities than their wealthier peers. They must focus on survival above all, leaving little room for anything else. One illness can wipe out a family’s savings, but the unclean water sources and lack of protection available to them invite sickness. Walking to retrieve water can be time-consuming yet must be a daily priority, and many children must work alongside their parents for the family to afford food. Thus, school is often a far-off dream. Having had few opportunities to acquire skills, the kids grow up to repeat the cycle of poverty with their own children. This story was all too familiar for Nalah. His father worked in the tea fields, trying to e...
Read more

Where Can I Learn How to Break the Cycle of Poverty?

Image
There are many methods for how to break the cycle of poverty which one can learn about. From education assistance to income-generating gifts like sewing machines or farm animals, there is hope for families who have been poor for generations. GFA World works in communities in all these ways through sponsorships and gift distributions, and one by one, we see lives changed as families escape poverty. Raina’s life had been dominated by poverty. She was part of a highly underprivileged people group that faced discrimination and deprivation from others in the region. Despite that, Raina had been able to attend school up until tenth grade, but she discontinued her education when it became too much for her parents to afford. Rather than receiving her certificates of completion, she had to join her parents in the field to earn money to put food on the table. After she married Ander, Raina continued to work in the fields to supplement his income with her own. In search of better job opportunitie...
Read more