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Poverty and Health Disparities: What Can Public Health Professionals Do?

Author
Abstract
:

More than a tenth of the U.S. population (13% = 41 million people) is currently living in poverty. In this population, the socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental conditions have detrimental health effects such as higher rates of chronic diseases, communicable illnesses, health risk behaviors, and premature mortality. People living in poverty are also deprived of social, psychological, and political power, leading to continuation of worsening health and chronic deprivation over generations. The health of individuals living in poverty poses greater challenges from policy, practice, and research standpoints. Public health professionals are poised uniquely to be advocates for the marginalized, be the resource persons for health education, implement health promotion programs, and conduct research to understand health effects of poverty and design tailored and targeted public health interventions. In this article, we summarize the opportunities for public health practice with individuals living in poverty.

Year of Publication
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2018
Journal
:
Health promotion practice
Number of Pages
:
1524839918755143
Date Published
:
2018
ISSN Number
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1524-8399
URL
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http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1524839918755143?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed
DOI
:
10.1177/1524839918755143
Short Title
:
Health Promot Pract
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