Poverty continues to exist in contemporary societies. Despite in-depth evaluation of factors that were deemed to be contributory to poverty, government agencies which are tasked to address the social ill, failed to undertake needed measures to improve the social welfare of those identified to be within the poverty level. From among several causes of poverty, two (2) causes would be expounded; as well as a major effect. Poverty was found to have been caused by individual responsibility and centralized political power. The effect is compromised health.
One of the causes of poverty is individual responsibility or circumstances . The failure of individuals to seek avenues for personal improvement through education or employment lead to a consistent cycle of poverty. Concurrently, the other cause, centralized political power allegedly lead to the emergence of developmental problems that exacerbate social ills. As noted, in governments exhibiting centralized political power, the policy makers and legislators make decisions for the entire country without a comprehensive awareness of disparities in social needs according to local communities (GDRC). The lack of familiarity with local settings and conditions disable policymakers to institute appropriate measures that would supposedly improve the quality of life. In effect, health conditions of the people suffer. For instance, the individual’s incapacity to understand factors that lead to illness, in conjunction with the inaccessibility to health services in the local health community area, had been observed to exhibit increasing incidences of diseases, injuries, and deaths.
In sum, poverty has been revealed as being caused by a multiplicity of factors, including the individual’s responsibility or circumstances and centralized political power. As a result, the majority of people within the poverty level have been documented to sustain compromised health conditions where illnesses, injuries, and deaths have been noted to be on a continually increasing trend. The failure to be made aware of gaining access to social services, as well as the inability of government institutions to reach out and apply policies that would improve the well-being of people, attest to continued levels of poverty to exist in contemporary times.
Work Cited
GDRC. "Causes of Poverty." n.d. gdrc.org. Web. 24 May 2016.
