poverty

Enduring Hardships: The Life-Course Journey of Women in Kenyan Resource-Poor Urban Neighbourhoods

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Written by Joseph Mwita Kisito

Author’s photo: in a training on older persons’ use of modern technology for communication, organized in 2021 by KARIKA (Aged people Require Information, Knowledge & Advancement), a CBO supporting older people in Nairobi, Kenya. There were gender disparities in terms of modern technological use, with more men than women owning a smartphone, due to affordability issues.

It’s no secret that poverty affects everyone, regardless of gender. But, let us be real: girls and women from poorer backgrounds often bear a disproportionate burden. Talk of early pregnancies, teenage parenthood, HIV/AIDS, unsafe sex and sexually transmitted diseases, partner violence, sexual violence, lack of access to sex education services, and the list goes on. Empirical research has shown that, from socio-economic and cultural perspectives, poverty often presents different outcomes for girls and boys, with girls being particularly disadvantaged, not only in the present but across generations (Adomako, Zhou & Amarteifio, 2023; Ramalho & Chant, 2021; Ngidi et al, 2024).

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Reclaiming Dignity in Food Support: Addressing the Hidden Cost of Hunger

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Written by Carl Walker

This blog has been reposted from Cost of Living. Find the original post here.

Image: Rotherham: A display stand at a supermarket food bank collection for Trussell Trust foodbanks

“I felt very worried going in. I thought, do I need to give false details in case they actually report me and say, ‘This woman can’t afford pasta, can you take her son away.’ I was terrified.”

“It’s not easy to ask for help… and then when you do, you’re always worrying in the queue: Is somebody going to drive past that you know from the work? Is somebody going to phone my daughter and say, I’ve seen your mum at the food bank queue? It’s just constant… I just wasn’t comfortable with the whole experience at all.”

Since the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis, food insecurity has surged in the UK. Recent surveys indicate that 15% of all households, and a staggering 25% of households with children, face regular struggles to afford sufficient food. As more people turn to food banks and other community support, many still avoid seeking help due to the stigma and shame associated with charitable food aid. The charity sector, burdened by resource constraints, faces the dual challenge of responding to surging demand, whilst also supporting individuals who experience profound emotional trauma from food insecurity.

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Urban Poverty & Health Inequalities

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By Joseph Mwita Kisito, February 2020

Joseph Mwita Kisito reviews Urban Poverty and Health Inequalities: A related Approach (by Darrin Hodgetts and Ottilie Stolte) in this third review of the books from the Critical Approaches to Health  series. The series is co-edited by Kerry Chamberlain and Antonia Lyons, and published by Routledge, in association with the International Society for Critical Health Psychology. (ISCHP members receive a discount on the purchase price of books in the series.)

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Hungry in hospital: Parents go without meals as hospitals pinch pennies

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by Rebekah Graham, February 2019

Addressing the social injustices that underpin health issues has become a priority of growing urgency for socially-responsive health psychologists. Alongside growing inequality across the globe, the issue of food insecurity has become more important. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), Rebekah Graham’s research on the everyday experiences of families facing food insecurity highlights food as an important social determinant of health. In this post, she considers an aspect of these families’ experiences that has been taken-for-granted in health: what happens when a child goes to hospital?

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