How Does Poverty Affect the Health of the Community?

The question, “How does poverty affect the health of the community?” is important as it highlights how poverty means so much more than not having money.

Millions of people globally live below the poverty line, unable to afford things like vitamins, doctor visits, fruits, vegetables or even clean water.[1] This leaves populations vulnerable to simple and preventable diseases—anemia, diarrhea, eye disease, yellow fever, chickenpox—which wreak havoc on already weak bodies.[2] Many in remote parts of Asia have not been taught basic health and hygiene principles, like brushing teeth or washing hands, opening the door further for diseases that prevent work and negatively impact lives.[3]

GFA World supports a medical ministry which helps thousands of communities in need of medical attention, all while demonstrating the love of God. Skilled doctors and staff set up medical camps, which bring medications and health training to areas where people have rarely had the chance to see a doctor. Each camp typically serves 200 to 1,000 people.[4]

GFA-supported pastor and doctor Birkley was setting up a medical camp in a village for the third time. Improvements in transportation into the village, namely, the addition of a dirt road, had reduced the trek to the nearest health care center from several days to several hours. But for elderly or sick people, it was still much too long a journey. Even if the villagers made it to the center, many of them could not afford to pay for medicine. If they did pursue treatment, it would wipe out their savings and push them further into poverty. This is why Pastor Birkley wanted to hold as many medical camps as possible, to help treat people who would otherwise go without and to help protect them going forward.

One such patient was Petrina, a 52-year-old mother of three. She had gastric problems and skin allergies, which prevented her from working. No work meant no food for her family. Through the medical camp, Petrina received medications that would treat her ailments and gave her hope for the future.[5]


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

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

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

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