Showing papers on "Poverty published in 1975"

Alternative approaches to meeting basic health needs in developing countries. A joint UNICEF/ WHO study.

Abstract: Based on the failure of conventional health services and approaches to make any appreciable impact on the health problems of developing populations this study examined successful or promising systems of delivery of primary health care to identify the key factors in their success and the effect of some of these factors in the development of primary health care within various political economic and administrative frameworks. In the selection of new approaches for detailed study emphasis was placed on actual programs that are potentially applicable in different sociopolitical settings and on programs explicitly recognizing the influence of other social and economic sectors such as agriculture and education on health. Information was gathered from a wide range of sources; including members meeting reports and publications of international organizations and agencies gathered country representatives and field staff. The 1st section world poverty and health focuses on the underprivileged the glaring contrasts in health and the obstacles to be overcome--problems of broad choices and approaches resources general structure of health services and technical weasknesses. The main purpose of the case studies described in the 2nd part was to single out describe and discuss their most interesting characteristics. The cases comprised 2 major categories: programs adopted nationally in China Cuba Tanzania and to a certain extent Venezuela and schemes covering limited areas in Bangladesh India Niger and Yugoslavia. Successful national programs are characterized by a strong political will that has transformed a practicable methodology into a national endeavor. In all countries where this has happened health has been given a high priority in the governments general development program. Enterprise and leadership are also found in the 2nd group of more limited schemes. Valuable lessons both technical and operational can be derived from this type of effort. In all cases the leading role of a dedicated individual can be clearly identified. There is also evidence that community leaders and organizations have given considerable support to these projects. External aid has played a part and apparently been well used. Every effort should be made to determine the driving forces behind promising progams and help harness them to national plans.

Inequality and poverty: a marxist-geographic theory∗

Abstract: Marxists theorize that inequality and poverty are functional components of the capitalist mode of production: capitalism necessarily produces inegalitarian social structures. Inequality is transferred from one generation to another through the environment of services and opportunities which surrounds each individual. The social geography of the city is made up of a hierarchy of community environments reproducing the hierarchical class structure. Change in the system results from change in the demand for labor. Continuing poverty in American cities results from a continued system need to produce and reproduce an industrial reserve army. Inequality and poverty cannot be eradicated without fundamental changes in the mode of production.

Energy and agriculture in the third world

Abstract: Well, someone can decide by themselves what they want to do and need to do but sometimes, that kind of person will need some energy and agriculture in the third world references. People with open minded will always try to seek for the new things and information from many sources. On the contrary, people with closed mind will always think that they can do it by their principals. So, what kind of person are you?

Parental failure and consequences for children. The drug-abusing mother whose children are in foster care.

Abstract: The developmental progress of children of drug-abusing mothers was assessed in a study of foster children. Cognitive abilities and personal adjustment appeared to be normal but significantly poorer school adjustment patterns were observed. Such children are disproportionately locked into foster care.

Consumer Research and Programs for the Elderly—The Forgotten Dimension

Abstract: Older Americans are the most victimized and disadvantaged group in the marketplace, yet few consumer research, education, and action programs have focused on their needs and concerns. This study, by attempting to summarize existing knowledge of the consumer problems and needs of older persons, reveals the lack of reliable data and research. The study also suggests that inflation has a far worse impact upon the elderly than previously thought, affecting not only their retirement financial condition but also their psychological and social condition. The study concludes that traditional consumer education programs focusing only upon persons' poverty of means will be ineffective unless they include an additional focus on the poverty of meaning in the lives of older consumers.

The Poor of Jakarta

Abstract: This study of the low income inhabitants of Jakarta Indonesia covered 3 overlapping groups. A pretest questionnaire was used to interview 518 persons in low income occupations. A later full scale survey covered an additional 233 people was drawn at random from low income neighborhoods. In addition an open-ended interview with 30 persons was designed to provide an indication of attitudes on some issues. Survey data on income are always subject to significant error but 3 facts emerged clearly from the survey data: in absolute terms the poor of Jakarta were poor indeed for their typical income was Rp 200-300 a day in 1972 (equivalent to $0.50-$0.75); in relation to the rural poor they were substantially better off and some were in comparison almost rich; and there were great differences among the poor differences which may have become wider in the last few years. The full scale survey confirmed the absolute proverty of the group surveyed. None of the respondents was able to buy meat or fish 66% ate only rice and vegetables only 27% had at least 3 sets of clothing and only 24% spent money for recreation. The problems with the water supply meant that over 2/3 of the sample had to purchase drinking water which is a significant expense. The income was not only low; for many occupations income was quite erratic. Indonesia unlike other Asian countries where Islam is the dominant religion has a substantial number of women in the labor force. Since the full scale survey was designed to cover household heads and many women in the labor force would not be the principal income earners that survey provides only some indirect information on womens work. Yet several facts were striking. In the sample the largest group of women were in petty trade and their income approached that of men in the same occupation. Only 3 of the 13 women in this activity were currently married suggesting that most of them were not supplementing family income but were the principal earners. Prostitution seemed to have become a significant income source and an index of social disorganization in the city. Women were not significantly represented in other low income occupations. Where a few of them did work primarily in service jobs their incomes were substantially below those of men. Poor as they were the migrants to the city were better off on the average than they had been in the rural areas. Their reported income had increased by over 2/3. About 1/2 of the migrants had come to Jakarta from the surrounding area of West Java and 1/3 form neighboring Central Java. There were great income differences within the group of income poor by occupation and even more within occupations. Those who were the worst off in the city in general also seemed to have been the poorest before migration. There was a high degree of stability in occupations. The migrants ties to others from the same region were related to their continued connection with the rural areas from which they came. The level of education was quite high.

Revolution in Guatemala: Peasants and Politics Under the Arbenz Government

Abstract: The statement above, by the former rector of the National University of Mexico, which serves as an epigraph to this essay, expresses a position, the very point of view to which most sophisticated students of Indian affairs in Latin America are today accustomed to subscribe. During the past twenty-five years, social scientists throughout the world have asked themselves and one another why poverty, disease and illiteracy persist in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Despite concerted efforts to promote general prosperity and improve public welfare, despite the expenditure of huge sums by national and international agencies, the problem is unresolved. In order to explain this paradox, they argue that underdeveloped countries do not possess the economic and political institutions which, in Western Europe and the United States, facilitate the growth of industry and the expansion of commerce. As a result, it is said, these countries find them selves largely incapable of ‘self-sustained’ economic development, of solving their demographic problems, of accumulating the capital which might permit them a greater degree of economic freedom.

Mass Poverty in Pakistan - A Further Study

Abstract: Despite great development efforts made in Pakistan1 during the last twenty-five years, the extent of poverty in the country has remained shockingly great and the living standards of the masses alarmingly low. The interest in the study of the mass poverty problem is of recent origin in Pakistan. Earlier studies have examined the problem mainly from the point of view of an equit¬able distribution of income and wealth and their analysis has been principally based on their relative shares. However, one study [6] deals with the specific problem of mass poverty in Pakistan, taking into account the absolute levels. The study, done by Naseem, analyses consumption expenditure of the masses by making use of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey [9] data for the years 1963-64, 1966-67, 1968-69 and 1969-70. Since then, many changes have occurred in Pakistan's economy as a result of which the per capita GNP declined during the last two years covered by this study, viz. 1970-71 and 1971-72. Since expenditure, as a measure of welfare, may not be very appropriate in a year in which income declines, for part of the expenditure might be financed by dissavings and sales of assets, the analysis for this paper is based on both expendi¬ture and income levels. Moreover, as the estimation of poverty levels, to a great extent, involves, besides other things, value judgment, it is more appro¬priate to specify a range of income and expenditure values rather than specific values. For this reason, the study makes use of four levels of income and expenditures, instead of the two adopted in Naseem's study [6], below each of which the number of the poor is estimated.

The Significance of Marital Status for Morale and Life Satisfaction Among Lower-Income Elderly.

Abstract: Survey data obtained from 893 very low-income elderly is presented utilizing a poverty, low-income dichotomy. The relationships between income level, sex and marital status are explored for a variety of items related to morale and life satis,faction. It is concluded that either sex or marital status differences may have significant influence on the elderly person's life satisfaction above a poverty level, but neither is important below the poverty level. It is suggested that widowhood at the lowest income levels is relatively insignificant because spouses are not as likely to have been as emotionally close nor as interpersonally dependent when married.

Implications for Development

Abstract: After selectively reviewing the literature related to the efforts of churches, universities, and regional planning organizations to enhance development or reduce poverty, this paper examined the participation of 749 poor household heads residing in the Ozarks in formal organizations and in selected leisure-time activities. Results indicated that most of the rural poor not only belonged to a church but also attended at least occasionally. They also indicated that most of the rural poor engaged in the following activities at least occasionally: listened to the radio or watched television, visited with friends and relatives, and read a newspaper. These results and others reported in the literature suggested that various leadership-building approaches could likely be more effectively used by existing development-oriented structures to reach and involve the poor and the non-poor in problem-solving or other development-related activities.

Poverty, social assistance and social policy in post-war Sweden

Abstract: In Sweden the percentage of the population receiving means-tested social assistance can be taken as an indicator of relative poverty. This indicator is used here to describe and analyse changes in poverty in Sweden, 1945 to 1973, in various subgroups of the population. The focus is on distinguishing structural and releasing factors behind the need for social assistance and on analyzing the possibilities and limitations of social policy in decreasing poverty and inequality in a society with a capitalistic economic system. Social policy measures have had significant effects for reducing poverty and in changing the "cycle of deprivation", e.g. among old persons. These measures have however had little effect on the structural factors behind poverty. Influences from the economy in terms of variation in unemployment, wages and prices continue to strongly affect the extent to poverty among economically active persons and their dependents.

Poverty, inequality and economic growth: Rural Punjab, 1960/61 ‐1970/1971

Abstract: The paper reports some of the findings of an empirical study for Punjab state in India of changes in poverty and inequality over the decade of the sixties. The period was one that saw rapid technological progress in the region, especially in the rural sector to which the study is addressed. Poverty is measured by the percentage of the population living below a poverty line constructed specifically for the region using linear programming techniques. The study is based on primary data collected from the consumer expenditure and land‐holding surveys of the National Sample Survey. All results are subjected to tests of statistical significance.

Gains of the Green Revolution : How they have been Shared in Punjab

Abstract: It is fashionable for sociologists and political economists these days to malign the ‘green revolution’ technology on the grounds of its effects upon the agricultural income distribution, which are claimed to affect small farmers and agricultural labourers adversely. No doubt the income effects of a technological change should be a valid concern for a society inflicted with mass poverty and unemployment, yet to condemn an improvement in production technology alone seems misplaced. Inequality in income distribution depends not only on the nature of the technology, on its degree of scale‐neutrality or labour intensity, but often arises from resource allocations and fiscal policies. In India green revolution technology is unfortunately being condemned out of all proportion. The policy measures that emanate out of this thinking are throttling the development of the agricultural sector. This article is an attempt to examine the recent changes in employment and agricultural labourers and farmers in the Punjab S...