HMSC 健康管理與社會關懷 Health Management and Social Care

e-Learning Resources

15E Health and Social Care Issue – Poverty

Concepts of poverty
Absolute Poverty	minimum subsistence – being inadequate to afford a bundle of goods and services that are regarded as essential to the physical need of an individual or a family
Relative Poverty	a person’s income is much lower than others in the population, so he/ she has not enough money to support a certain standard of living or a person has less than others in society

Tools for Defining Poverty
Poverty Line	Indicating the minimum standard of that are regarded as essential to the physical needs of an individual or a family Limitation: assets are not taken into account and this may overstate the number of people living in poverty
Budget Standards Methods	Based on the notion of a basket of goods and services, having the elements of “subsistence” and “basic minimums for social lives” Limitation: only measure the proportion of expenditure on necessities, not reflect the access to resources and opportunities in social, cultural and political activities
Income Proxy Measures	The proportion of expenditure on necessities based on the consumption patterns Limitation: only measure the proportion of expenditure on necessities, not reflect the access to resources and opportunities in social, cultural and political activities
Proportion of Median Income	People with income lower than a proportion of the median income (e.g. 50%) are regarded as living in poverty Limitation: only measure income, not reflect the individual’s ability to participate in the everyday life of a society / assets are not taken into account

Income Gap
Gini Index /Gini coefficient /Gini ratio	Measures the inequality of income distribution of individuals or families
Limitations	It does not measure “property” or “investment income” possessed by people, but measures the “salary” only

Causes of Poverty
Global	Economic ups and downs – unemployment due to global financial crisis Natural disasters Wars
National	Governance – corruption; ineffective / lack of policies for alleviating poverty Social Inequality - some individuals are placed in the deprived social condition due to gender, races, ethnic groups and social classes Unemployment due to the shift of labour market – e.g. from low-skilled to high-skilled
Community	Lack of job vacancies available in the community Lack of social service and support available for some disadvantaged groups to enable them to seek job in labor market, e.g. child care service
Individual	Less incentive to work Disease and disability

Approaches in Alleviating Poverty
Need-based	Uses direct aids and tangible services to meet the needs of the poor e.g. Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA)
Asset-based	Aims to help the poor to build assets, which include capital assets and capacities e.g. Child Development Fund (CDF)

International Organisations	Related Strategies	Examples
World Bank	To provide financial and technical assistance to develop infrastructure / create job opportunities	Low-interest loans, interest-free credit and grants
International Monetary Fund (IMF)	To provide temporary financing to support policies aimed at correcting the underlying problems	Loans to low-income countries

Power-point

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Booklet

Commission on Poverty

Oxfam

The World Bank Group

Tasks & Worksheets (Coming Soon)

Assessing my learning

What does poverty mean?

What are the causes of poverty?

How can we deal with poverty?

Note-taking Tools

One Note
Docs

My Data Bank

One Drive
Google Drive

Collaboration Platform

Google Sites
schoology

Presentation Tools

Google Slides
Sway

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