Poverty in the Pacific
Background Info
Population
Resources
Location
Land Masses
Info From Research
Poverty?
Websites
poverty line definition- the estimated minimum level of income needed to secure the necessities of life.
the official level of income that is needed to achieve a basic living standard with enough money for things such as food, clothing, and a place to live
It is a mixture of independent states, associated states, integral parts of non-Pacific Island countries, and dependent states.
The World Bank's Pacific Island member countries have a combined population of about 2.3 million people, spread across a unique and diverse region made up of hundreds of islands, and scattered over an area equivalent to 15% of the earth's surface.
What poverty means for people: Being in poverty means experiencing hunger and food insecurity, poor health outcomes, reduced life expectancy, debt, and unaffordable or bad housing.
Health Issues
Some leading causes of death among Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders include: cancer, heart disease, unintentional injuries (accidents), stroke and diabetes.
in Papua New Guinea up to five million people did not have access to a doctor - with nearly half of all its districts without medical practitioner support.
Cancer is a big problem in the pacific and often lead to death. They do not have many solutions or cures for it.
“There is little reliable data on cancer, and cancer registries in the Pacific Islands are either lacking or inadequate. But there is a need to identify how cancer is tracking in the Pacific and tailor research funding applications to that,”
Women
more vulnerable
unequal property rights but responsible for property (don't own it but have to look after it)
seen as inferior (less) - cultural belief
not given jobs cause of gender
fewer women in the work force even though high rates of education
work in low grade jobs where rights & welfare are unprotected
work situation makes them even more vulnerable
volience against women common
Makes poverty worse due to poor work performance and loss of wages
Vulnerable Children Vanuatu
access to health care is difficult because the territory is broken up into many small islands. Poor quality sanitation networks, restricted access to drinking water, lock of infrastructure, scarcity of health personnel. General lack of knowledge to raise a child healthily etc.do not Favour children of the terms of accidents, suicide, violence, alcohol and Tobacoo use.
the result of poor access to health care is Infant mortality is high (16%), Cannot combat malaria and it causes 20% of deaths for under 5-year-old. Survival and development of children threatened by respiratory tract infections and diarrheal diseases.
the diseases that kill the children of Vanuatu are mainly malaria, respiratory tract infections and diarrheal diseases.
the situation regarding education is poor literacy rates, high costs of education, poor teaching quality, general lack of educational manuals, and the still insufficient number of qualified teachers. People do not speak the languages they teach in. High dropout rates.
the long-term effects of poor education is that they cannot have jobs and have not learned the necessary practices for modern life, but because the educational system drew them away from their parents’ lifestyle, they don’t know how to adapt to traditional village life either.
the connection between education and child labor is that they sometimes begin to work at a young age, mainly due to limited access to education. The law forbids forced labor for children under 12, except when they help their parents. Due to this low age limit and exception, many children work in conditions inappropriate for their young age.
Health in the Pacific
The 5 reasons for Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer and cardiovascular diseases is unhealthy diets, harmful use of alcohol, tobacco use, physical inactivity and rapidly changing lifestyles
The 4 things that are the primary causes of vulnerability pushing families into poverty are Disability and premature death as a result of NCDs and the high cost of treatment and higher mortality amongst men, inadequate social safety nets and lack of access to pension for women
The ‘double burden of malnutrition’, facing the Pacific is when people are under-nutrition and overweight
stunting in Pacific children is caused by chronic under-nutrition during critical periods of growth and development in early life
the statistics relating to stunting in the Pacific is Papua New Guinea has the highest rate of stunting (43 percent), followed by Solomon Islands (33 percent), Vanuatu and Nauru (24 to 26 percent respectively) and Tuvalu (10 percent).
Stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation.
The statistics relating to obesity in the Pacific is more than 50 percent of the population in at least 10 Pacific Islands countries and Territories is overweight. Obesity prevalence ranges from more than 30 percent in Fiji to 80 percent among women in American Samoa.
Conditions are putting a burden on government health and welfare budgets, and on the families and individuals. These conditions are; earlier onset of type 2 diabetes and the prevalence of disability resulting from chronic NCD conditions leading to amputations, vision impairment and blindness is increasing.
“Ill health in children is closely linked with poor educational achievement and consequently a greater risk of poverty and vulnerability in the later part of life.” this is the case because if you get poor grades in school then it can be hard to find a good-paying job later in life which leads you into poverty increasing your vulnerability.
“Evidence shows that the unmet need for family planning is high in most PICs, especially among marginalized or vulnerable groups and young people.” the lack of family planning impact the poor in the Pacific because without family planning families in PICs can get lost and not know their future leaving them unguarded and unprotected.
the link between the high teenage fertility rate in some PICs and poverty and vulnerability is through poor educational attainment and unemployment, together with a higher-than average risk of maternal mortality.