Boo1979
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,849
- Type of diabetes
- Other
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Poverty is linked with many other risk factors, - depression and other mental health difficulties, domestic violence and other forms of abuse, multiple chronic health difficulties, insecure housing, etc are all much more prevelant in poor areas.But lots of studies also show that people who make less effort with life or are not educated or have other health issues are more likely to be poor. So is it being poor that results in worse outcomes with diabetes, or something else?
There are other more structural problems assosciated with poverty that also impact very negatively on both health outcomes and the ability to make proactive health decisions. Poor areas are often very badly served in terms of the infrastructure many of us take for granted - shops, transport, leisure facilities etc
I worked in London most of my working life across a number of geographical areas, but always in the childrens social care / childrens mental health area of practice. One area I worked in was a large estate which was marked by significant absolute and relative poverty in what is already a poor Borough. Some of the very many challenges to following a ‘healthy’ life style in that area included 1) no shops other than a corner supermarket which sold no fruit or veg and an off licence 2) most supermarket delivery schemes would not cover the area due to crime levels and even if they would most people would not have been able to afford the delivery charges 3) very poor transport links 4) no sports / leisure facilities (oh but then again, there were 4 pubs)