Poverty affects children, youth and families
Poverty is a serious problem that impacts not only the world as a whole but also the status of an individual, family and the community. They are situated in a state of not having enough requisites they need. Economic challenges are significant issues of the Filipinos in which financial problems are common such as shortage of income that causes the difficulties of having basic needs including shelter, food security and health care. In addition, they experience losing a job, having too much debt and conflicting financial values.
The population and economy nexus is not new but abides a significant matter for many countries. According to Bersales (2015), Philippines is one of the fifteen countries having large number of household population. Five is the median number of persons in Filipino families that suffer from poverty or from hunger on account of not having anything to eat (Mangahas, 2012 February 10). Unemployment remains a persistent problem which shows the low quality of jobs available in spite of the economic growth in the Philippines. Many people are self-employed, with no guaranteed income, work on family-owned farms or other businesses where they typically receive food and lodging but no actual money on hand. Moreover, children and youth are also affected being one of the members of a large household since they undergo developmental transitions. The presence of younger children in the household reduces the probability that older siblings will be enrolled in school. At this stage, they may be obliged to postpone their plans for higher education to obtain employment to financially help the household (Salvosa, 2015 September 1). The health inequities is also existing in the Philippines in terms of high cost of accessing and using health care since private hospitals outnumbered the government hospitals. The most visited health facilities in almost all the regions were Rural Health Units (RHUs) and Barangay Health Centers but their facilities are not good enough for the health care that most of the people are required to have. The common reasons for seeking health care were illness or injury, medical checkup, dental care and medical requirement (NSO, 2008). Households could not meet their health care needs due to the high cost and the income of the household is not enough.
There were three conclusions have been made in a study about Philippines by Orbeta (2005). First, on average, additional children brought a negative effect on a household welfare. Second, these negative impacts are regressive, i.e. the negative impacts on poorer households are larger. Third, the associations between larger household size, poverty incidence and vulnerability to poverty are strong and enduring. As Filipinos, what should we do in order to help our fellowmen?
