15E) Health and Social Care Issue – Poverty

Absolute Poverty

• minimum subsistence – being inadequate to afford a bundle of goods and services that are regarded as essential to the physical need of an individual or a family

Relative Poverty

• a person’s income is much lower than others in the population, so he/ she has not enough money to support a certain standard of living
• a person has less than others in society

Poverty Line

• Indicating the minimum standard of that are regarded as essential to the physical needs of an individual or a family
• Limitation: assets are not taken into account and this may overstate the number of people living in poverty

Budget Standards Methods

• Based on the notion of a basket of goods and services, having the elements of “subsistence” and “basic minimums for social lives”
• Limitation: only measure the proportion of expenditure on necessities, not reflect the access to resources and opportunities in social, cultural and political activities

Income Proxy Measures

• The proportion of expenditure on necessities based on the consumption patterns
• Limitation: only measure the proportion of expenditure on necessities, not reflect the access to resources and opportunities in social, cultural and political activities

Proportion of Median Income

• People with income lower than a proportion of the median income (e.g., 50%) are regarded as living in poverty
• Limitation: only measure income, not reflect the individual’s ability to participate in the everyday life of a society / assets are not taken into account

Gini Index /Gini coefficient /Gini ratio

• Measures the inequality of income distribution of individuals or families

Limitation

• It does not measure “property” or “investment income” possessed by people, but measures the “salary” only

Global

• Economic ups and downs – unemployment due to global financial crisis
• Natural disasters
• Wars

National

• Governance – corruption; ineffective / lack of policies for alleviating poverty
• Social Inequality – some individuals are placed in the deprived social condition due to gender, races, ethnic groups and social classes
• Unemployment due to the shift of labour market – e.g., from low-skilled to high-skilled

Community

• Lack of job vacancies available in the community
• Lack of social service and support available for some disadvantaged groups to enable them to seek job in labour market, e.g., child care service

Individual

• Less incentive to work
• Disease and disability

Need-based

• Uses direct aids and tangible services to meet the needs of the poor
• e.g., Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA)

Asset-based

• Aims to help the poor to build assets, which include capital assets and capacities
• e.g., Child Development Fund (CDF)

World Bank

• Related Strategies: To provide financial and technical assistance to develop infrastructure / create job opportunities
• Examples: Low-interest loans, interest-free credit and grants

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

• Related Strategies: To provide temporary financing to support policies aimed at correcting the
• underlying problems
• Examples: Loans to low-income countries