Dahlgren further stressed on the financial and social consequences of ill-health in terms of increased debts, disposal of assets and thus exacerbated poverty. The classic conceptual framework on poverty-health vicious cycle proposed by Wagstaff illustrated that ill-health affects individuals’ financial status through loss of income and increased susceptibility to catastrophic healthcare cost, whereas poverty causes ill-health as the poor suffer from different kinds of health-compromising tangible and intangible deprivations. The bilateral associations between poverty and ill-health result in a vicious cycle, especially in less developed countries with inadequate healthcare and welfare support systems. To break the cycle, potential policy directions include the adoption of proportionate universalism, social integration and the strengthening of medical-social collaboration. The poverty-health vicious cycle has remained a great challenge in Hong Kong despite its economic prosperity. In addition to the mechanisms, policy drivers of the cycle were also discussed based on the respondents’ perceived understanding of the nature of poverty and its operationalization in public policies, as well as of the digressive conceptions of disease among different stakeholders. As health deteriorates, financial hardship is often resulted in the absence of sufficient and coordinated healthcare, welfare and labour policy interventions. The subsequent healthcare access also varies across the social ladder under the dual-track healthcare system in Hong Kong. Material and social constraints, as a result of unequal power and opportunities, appear to play a pivotal role in creating uneven distribution of social determinants of health. ![]() In this highly developed Asian setting with income inequality among the greatest in the world, the poverty-health vicious cycle operates. The transcribed data were then closely read to capture key themes using thematic analyses informed by social constructivism. Methodsĭata were collected via focus group interviews with social workers ( n = 8), chronically ill patients ( n = 8), older adults ( n = 6), primary care doctors ( n = 7) and informal caregivers ( n = 10). This study aims to qualitatively explore the perceived mechanisms and drivers of the poverty-health vicious cycle among major stakeholders in the healthcare setting in Hong Kong. Existing studies on the poverty-health vicious cycle focus mainly on less developed countries, where the identified mechanisms linking between poverty and ill-health may not fit the situations in developed Asian regions. Poverty and ill-health are closely inter-related.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |