Poverty essay explore the deprivation of basic human needs; food, clothes and shelter. Poverty essay may either discuss absolute poverty or relative poverty whereby an individual totally lacks the basic necessitates of life or is partially deprived of these needs. Absolute poverty essay, focus on the worst form of deprivation whereby the individual or a society is totally unable to access food, shelter or clothes. This kind of poverty totally strips the dignity of the concern individuals and more often leads to lose of life. Relative poverty essay discuss the form of poverty that is manifested in terms lack of adequate resources to sufficiently satisfy basic wants. This may be manifested in the form of malnutrition and associated health disorders such as kwashiorkor, rickets and stunted growth and development in children. Relative poverty is also manifested in terms of poor housing and lack of reliable supply of clean water and other social amenities. Both forms of poverty negatively affect the welfare of the concerned society and threaten the social stability.
Poverty is caused by lack of proper planning in resources allocation. It is important for local resources to be effectively allocated in a manner that achieves the highest welfare for all members of society. Misuse and uncontrolled use of natural resources such as lakes and forests are some of the major precursors to poverty. In addition, illiteracy plays a major role in perpetuating poverty. This is because people lack knowledge and skills for exploring opportunities else where leaving them with limited capacity for seeking productive endeavors else where. Ineffective leadership also contributes towards perpetuating poverty through biased and oppressive policies. It is therefore important for the leaders to promote active participation of all members of the society in resources allocation in a bid to eliminate poverty and restore human dignity for the affected individuals.
Poverty essay example
Everywhere we look, the television, the internet, the newspapers, even our own streets, we get to see what poverty really is. Defined as “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support”(Poverty, n.d.), poverty has continuously affected many people nowadays. We may be one of the very few privileged who don’t feel the pangs of hunger or starvation or we may have not experienced being refused medical treatment due to lack of money but the world poverty is so overwhelming that it can truly touch the hearts even of those very few affluent.
We need not look to other places or countries just to see what poverty is. In our own streets, we get to see poor children in their tattered clothes and very thin bodies begging for food or scavenging garbage just to have something to eat. We may also have known people who cannot afford to pay medical bills and have their loved ones cured for their illnesses; many just die for curable diseases that got worse because of lack of money. What is disheartening is the fact that many people turn their backs on these poor people for the reason that they only have enough for their own families, they are poor themselves or they are simply too greedy to share even just one meal.
Are we, the people answerable to the miseries of these people? We may say, it is their fault, they did not strive harder or they did not go to school whereas we, sacrificed much, worked hard for our keep. Yes, we may not have legal obligation to help but moral obligation dictates that we offer help when needed, as much as possible not just give the poor food but help them find means to earn better living. When people help each other, there will be prosperity and poverty will be lessened.