Poverty is defined as a state of being
extremely poor. One experiences poverty when they are limited with resources,
capabilities, choices, security and power. Penury is an issue that needs social
justice as it has been happening for many years yet nothing has changed. The
poor consists of  people from various
backgrounds, ethnicity groups, and different religions who are put in the position
of hardship from having a lack of education, changing economy, overpopulation,
disabilities and so on. Society generalizes the penniless as humans who use
hardworking individuals money for drug use, this is entirely recreant.  Poverty of money, poverty of access and
poverty of power are three different aspects of being poor that people do not
realize exist.  “Poverty is not an
accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the
actions of human beings.” (Nelson Mandela)

      Money is the single largest problem for the  poor as it provides them with a “voice”
in today’s demanding society. People only listen to what you need to say if it
is concerning them in a way they need to act on it immediately. Many
impoverished men and women cannot enter the workforce from their limitation of
access to basic needs in order to look the part to obtain a average job. This
issue contributes to why poverty is a cause and a consequence of poor health.
Infections and neglected diseases kill or weaken numerous citizens due to them
having insufficient funds to pay for proper healthcare. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. A great
deal of these children died due to poor health composed of food poisoning,
inadequate amount of food, and generally not having the basic necessities to be
healthy. In nearly all scenarios, the poverty-stricken
are not without any source of income, what they lack is the capacity to gather
assets, which is a vital component  to
the creation of wealth and breaking the cycle of penury. In addition to their below average earnings, the primary
reason for their incapability to accumulate assets and thus increase their chances
of a average income is that their profits or future savings are often expropriated
by moneylenders who charge extortionate interest rates, by formal and informal
regulatory and enforcement agents/organizations who demand incentives or extort
protection money, and by middlemen or other stronger business partners who utilize
the poor because the penniless shortage market information or the ability to
use that market information to intensify their own income. Another key cause
that prevents the poor from assembling capital is that they are often forced to
purchase public goods and services that are readily available to other groups
in society at market or below market prices, at much higher costs. This leads
us to the discussion of the second aspect of poverty, “poverty of
access”.

     Access is something that the moneyless does
not have much of, likewise the majority of the urban poor settle in
overpopulated and unsanitary slums  where
often they do not have access to basic services nor essentials. Many are put in
an awful position where they are forced to live in unceremonious settlements
due to them being  unable to enter the
normal house market. The reasoning behind slums are numerous, as formal markets
are regulated and structured, the poor inadequate to afford the choices offered
to them in these markets. In disparity, the
informal and illegal housing markets of slums and squatter settlements are
specifically geared to meet their shelter needs. Nevertheless, similar to other
informal markets, land and housing market are exploitative and have several
negative impacts. To a great deal, casual settlements are often located on insignificant
and (along river-banks, railway lines, steep slopes and on or near garbage
dumps) and are susceptible to natural and man-made catastrophes. They are also
often illegal and those living there do not have security of incumbency, because
of their illegal status they are often not provided with formal basic
infrastructure and services such as piped water, electricity, wastewater
disposal and solid waste collection by government agencies and organizations
and have to purchase these in the informal markets, often paying much more than
higher-income groups. Studies in several cities have shown that the poor end up
paying two to five times as much for informal access to public goods and
services than higher income groups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited
11 Facts About Global
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allen, Clea-guy. 10 powerful quotes from Mandela’s Make Poverty
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—. 10 powerful quotes from Mandela’s Make Poverty History speech.
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Shah, Anup. Today, around 21,000 children died around the world.
24 September 2011.
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Three Aspects of Poverty. 12 December 2017
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