Poverty News and Research

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Need for pediatricians to partner with community-based organizations

Pediatricians must look beyond the walls of the examining room and into their own communities to understand and confront the socioeconomic and environmental threats to the health of children and adolescents, such as poor nutrition, exposure to violence, and substance abuse.

4 Apr 2005

Number of sick days is influenced by neighborhood poverty

The number of days people stay home ill is influenced by neighborhood poverty and whether they receive subsidized health care, such as Medicaid, says a Purdue University urban sociologist.

4 Apr 2005

California teens do not get regular physical activity

Teenage girls, teens from low-income families, teens with no access to safe parks or open spaces, teens whose schools do not require physical education, and Latino, Asian, and African American teens are particularly at risk according to researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

4 Apr 2005

Most accurate estimates of the causes of child deaths to date

The most accurate estimates of the causes of child deaths to date, published in this week’s issue of The Lancet, reveal that worldwide more than 70% of the 10·6 million child deaths that occur annually are attributable to six causes: pneumonia (19%), diarrhoea (18%), malaria (8%), neonatal sepsis or pneumonia (10%), preterm delivery (10%), and asphyxia at birth (8%).

28 Mar 2005

Welfare reforms haven't helped poor children, study shows

Welfare reforms have made no substantial difference to the development of Canadian pre-school children living in poverty, according to a new University of Alberta study.

21 Mar 2005

Public policy needs to change to take into account the social factors behind ill health

National and global public policy needs to change to take into account the social factors behind ill health and reduce the health inequalities seen within and between countries, states an article in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

21 Mar 2005

African malaria comes to town

First, the bad news: urban malaria in Africa is becoming a major health problem and looks set to get worse.

17 Mar 2005

Disparities in health care are pervasive in America

Disparities in health care are pervasive in America. These disparities adversely impact the cardiovascular health of Americans, especially African Americans, Hispanics, poor and uneducated people, according to a report in a special disparities themed issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

15 Mar 2005

HIVMA and AAHIVM urge lawmakers to make medical care the top priority for Ryan White Programs

The nation’s frontline HIV medical providers are calling for an end to waiting lists for essential anti-AIDS drugs that patients need in order to live.

8 Mar 2005

Unemployment, poverty and housing unaffordability correlated with a risk of mental illness

Does having a low socioeconomic status (SES) lead to depression or does depression lead a person into poverty? According to a study that examined a database of 34,000 patients with two or more psychiatric hospitalizations in Massachusetts during 1994-2000, unemployment, poverty and housing unaffordability were correlated with a risk of mental illness.

7 Mar 2005

Meditation may reduce heart disease risk

Black adolescents with high normal blood pressure who practice transcendental meditation improve the ability of their blood vessels to relax and may reduce their risk of becoming adults with cardiovascular disease, researchers say.

3 Mar 2005

Natural mentoring relationships positively impact teens

Natural mentoring relationships positively impact teens, but these relationships do not meet all the needs of at-risk youth, according to a study by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers. The study appears in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

2 Mar 2005

Poor water supply affects more people than war, terrorism, and WMD's combined

The negative impact of poor water supply and sanitation affects more people than war, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction combined.

27 Feb 2005

Dramatic evidence of how psychiatric disorders are underdiagnosed in hospital emergency departments

New research offers dramatic evidence of how psychiatric disorders are underdiagnosed in hospital emergency departments, affecting an increasing number of Americans who rely on such facilities for much of their primary health care needs.

23 Feb 2005

Open source biotechnology from Australia

In a publication in the scientific journal, Nature, a team at CAMBIA in Canberra unveils the 'kernel' of the world's first 'explicit open source' biotechnology toolkit.

13 Feb 2005

Abandoned bones suggest TB wiped out leprosy in battle of killer diseases

The spread of tuberculosis may have killed off leprosy in Europe in the Middle Ages, according to research published in the latest issue of the Royal Society Proceedings B.

8 Feb 2005

Clinical trials to test the safety of a first-of-its-kind human hookworm vaccine

Clinical trials to test the safety of a first-of-its-kind human hookworm vaccine will begin in the Washington, DC area in a couple of months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conferred investigational new drug status on the vaccine.

27 Jan 2005

BMA report shows how rural healthcare is being neglected

A new BMA report, released today (Friday, 21 January 2005) shows how rural healthcare is being neglected. A key message from the report, Healthcare in a rural setting, is that many health policies developed for urban areas do not work in rural ones.

20 Jan 2005

Lancet highlights the global efforts required in 2005 to achieve millennium goals

Today the UN Millennium Project will deliver its reports to the UN Secretary-General. A series of articles to be published by The Lancet over the next few weeks—starting with an overview published online—will highlight the global efforts required in 2005 to ensure that the millennium goals are realisable by 2015.

17 Jan 2005

The UN Millennium Project

Every year, more than 11 million children die, six million of them from preventable diseases, like malaria, measles and diarrhoea. The UN Millennium Project, in its report to be released next week, outlines a plan to stop those children's deaths, cut poverty in half and change the lives of billions of poor people the world over by the year 2015.

16 Jan 2005