An excerpt from an editorial written for the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine by Dr. Kim Tippens, ND, L.Ac., and Erin Connelly, M.A.
There is little doubt that poverty and health are closely linked. According to the Center for Disease Control, poor adults in the United States – defined as persons whose family incomes are below the Census Bureau’s poverty threshold - had higher levels of heart disease, respiratory conditions, diabetes, pain, depression, and anxiety than non-poor adults [1]. A World Health Organization/World Bank study describes the link between ill health and poverty as “inextricable,” explaining that illness can perpetuate poverty, and poverty can put people at greater risk of illness or injury [2]. As primary care providers, doctors are important allies in the fight against poverty, a welcome role for an overwhelming majority of practitioners [3]. We posit that naturopathic physicians (NDs) and other natural medical practitioners have a valuable role to play in public health and are in an ideal position to practice pro-poor* health care, due to their holistic orientation towards health and emphasis on preventive care. The natural medicine professions can work as a whole towards offering health care to the medically underserved, aiding patients with health care system navigation, and serving as advocates to improve policies that disproportionately affect those of lower socio-economic status. While this article focuses on NDs, the suggestions can also be expanded to other practitioners whose scope of medical practice is holistic in nature.
As primary care physicians, NDs are on the front lines of the health care field and may be the first or only health practitioners some patients see. Thus, they are in a position to impact multiple aspects of their patients’ lives. The emphasis on prevention and lifestyle enhancement makes the practice of naturopathic medicine inherently social, requiring close consideration of the interactions between body, mind, and environment and an understanding of how health and social conditions are interrelated. When it comes to the poor and medically underserved, the underlying source of disease is not limited to the individual but can involve deeply embedded social and economic realities that subvert optimal health. Naturopathic medicine’s holistic view of wellness can and should be broadened to address these social determinants of health, which falls in line with the naturopathic principal of identifying and treating the underlying causes of illness. To heal the whole person, physicians must take into account that powerful social inequities make it difficult to access and pay for medical care, and can harm one’s health.
The causes of disparities in health are complex and deeply entangled. Many of our most pressing public health issues, such as cancer mortality, diabetes and obesity, heart disease, and environmental degradation, have a disproportionate affect on the poor [6-9]. Faced with these and other obstacles, low-income patients may not have the same opportunities for wellness as those with higher incomes. As physicians, NDs can help patients overcome these obstacles in multiple ways. NDs can offer sliding scale or low-cost care to the medically underserved, can help their patients understand their choices in the health care system, and can become advocates for better nutrition, environmental, and education policies.
See cited references and the full text article here.
* Pro-poor health is defined by the World Health Organization as an approach “that gives priority to promoting, protecting and improving the health of the poor. It includes the provision of quality public health and personal care services, with equitable financing mechanisms. It goes beyond the health sector to encompass policies in areas that affect the health of the poor disproportionately, such as education, nutrition, water, and sanitation. Finally, it is concerned with global action on the effects of trade in health services, intellectual property rights, and the funding of health research as they impact on the health of the poor in developing countries.”
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poverty is being without money and living without the economy having nothing to offer you.the bad economic state of the world.the poor majority is not entirely responsible for their poverty.people contribute to the poor situation of others.