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This cross-sectional study examines the population prevalence of blood lead levels (BLLs) greater than the sample median of 0.76 [micro]g/dl in the U.S. population and investigates demographic factors associated with higher BLLs using data from the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Logistic regression models were used to assess the impact of poverty status on BLLs, with adjustments for factors such as race, age, gender, and lifetime smoking history. This study found that individuals living in or near poverty had significantly higher odds of having a BLL >0.76 [micro]g/dl when compared with individuals not in poverty, with. an adjusted OR of 1.824 (95% CI [1.324, 2.513]) and 1.744 (95% CI [1.388, 2.190]), respectively. This nationally representative study has important implications for understanding the demographic and socioeconomic factors that affect BLLs in the U.S. population. Keywords: blood lead level, lead, poverty, environmental justice, environment, regression, Introduction Lead is a toxic heavy metal that has been recognized for many decades as a significant environmental and public health hazard. Lead is present in the environment as a [...]

Rats are a common problem in cities worldwide. Impoverished urban neighborhoods are disproportionately affected because factors associated with poverty promote rat infestations and rat-human contact. In public health, most studies have focused on disease transmission, but little is known about the nonphysical consequences of this environmental exposure. Mental health often is neglected but is receiving increasing attention in public health research and practice. The objective of this study was to use a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the published literature to explore the effect of rat exposure on mental health among residents in impoverished urban neighborhoods. Although the literature addressing this topic was sparse, the results of this review suggest that rat exposure consistently has a negative impact on mental health. These effects can be elicited directly (e.g., fear of rat bites) or indirectly (e.g., feeling of disempowerment from inability to tackle rat problems). By developing a better understanding of potential rat-related health risks, both mental and physical, public health officials can better evaluate, refine, and develop their policies regarding rats., Introduction Society has a negative perception of rats (Rattus spp.). From a health perspective, they are the source of a number of zoonoses (diseases transmitted to people from animals) that [...]

Spanning more than a decade, dedicated international efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have yielded extraordinary successes. Buoyed by the dramatic reductions [...]

The concept of food insecurity that encompasses both the physical sensation of hunger and compensatory behavior used to avoid hunger and emerging epidemics of obesity and diet-sensitive chronic disease in developing and newly industrialized countries are reviewed. New programs should be developed and implemented to encourage and provide incentives for shifting dietary intake toward more healthful foods that could reduce food insecurity and widening socioeconomic disparities in chronic disease.

Insecure access to food and water are experienced by millions of people around the world. Not only does insecure access to food and water represent a violation of basic human fights, it is a major threat to the physical and mental health of individuals and communities. There is, therefore, great need for tools to identify those who are food and water insecure and the severity of their insecurity. We argue here that measures of food and water insecurity must not only reflect biological requirements but also the biocultural nature of food and water needs. In this paper, we present case studies from Tanzania and Bolivia that detail the steps used to adapt or create experience-based measures and validate these measures using a suite of established approaches. We also show that, by broadening our understanding of insecurity to include respondents' experiences, the full range of health impacts--including psychosocial stress and mental health--become apparent. We conclude by noting limitations of the biocultural approach and offer suggestions for future research. Key words: Bolivia, Tanzania, measurement, poverty, nutrition, health, scarcity, public health

Montreal, the poverty capital of Canada! For decades, Montreal has held this sad distinction, as year in year out, one third of its population falls below the Statistics Canada low-income [...]

Although there has been global decline in Infant and Child Mortality rates, sub-Sahara African countries still bear the greatest burden in the world. Many of these deaths occur as a result of preventable diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, measles and malnutrition. This has been witnessed in the six partnership districts of the study. With the introduction of a dialogue model, the study aimed at investigating the characteristics associated with the affected households. The overall result in the six partnership districts is a reversal of the recent child mortality trends in Kenya. The study aimed to determine the child mortality rates in six partnership districts and their distribution by socio-economic characteristics and health seeking behaviour. Mortality and population data were derived from a complete household census of 27 sub-locations within the partnership districts (Nyando 7, Kisumu 2, Bondo 7, Suba 7, Siaya 2 and Rachuonyo 2 sub-locations). Child mortality and its relationship to specific variables relating to background and proximate factors were considered. Between 2006 and 2007, proportions of households with child deaths declined in all the districts with Rachuonyo and Suba district sub-locations having the greatest decline from 38% to 12% and 15% to 0.1%, respectively. Proportions of health facility deliveries decreased in households that experienced under-five deaths in all the other 5 districts except Nyando sub- locations with an increase of (18%). Measles vaccination coverage was lower among households with child deaths. Use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) was lower among households with child deaths in Kisumu and Bondo unlike in Rachuonyo where a large proportion of the households experiencing child deaths were using ITNs. Child mortality declined by type of housing and level of education. Households living in mud houses and had mothers with primary education experienced the highest proportions of child mortality while households living in permanent houses with mothers having secondary education and above, the lowest. Education of mothers remains a significant determinant of child mortality along with health facility delivery. No difference in child mortality was realized between mothers having primary education and those that had none. Better health seeking behavior should, therefore, be encouraged to help stem the high child mortality rates. Keywords: Child mortality, distribution, partnership, districts, INTRODUCTION Infant and child mortality rates in many parts of the world have been decreasing in recent decades, but still remain among the highest in the world in sub- Saharan [...]

The Undernutrition Prevention Center (UPC) of the Corporation for Childhood Nutrition (CONIN) assists children from 0-3 years of age who present with primary or secondary undenutrition. The aim of the retrospective study reported here was to complete a nutritional, cognitive, and social evaluation of UPC children in Mendoza, Argentina, from 1995 to 2005. During the study period, a total of 478 schoolchildren aged 5-17 years (185 in the CONIN group and 292 in the non-CONIN group) were evaluated. Although no differences in weight and height were found between the groups, the percentage of children below the cutoff level for the maturity test was significantly lower in the CONIN group (70.8% versus 17.6%; P = 0.043). CONIN provides important social support to families through work qualification programs and health education.

The cost to developing countries, for current and future generations, of not eradicating hunger and poverty--in terms of recurrent conflicts and emergencies, widening inequalities, depleted resources, ill health, and premature death--is enormous. Although strategies are underway to address certain problems in Africa and the Middle East, much remains to be done. Breaking the poverty cycle in these regions demands both local and international attention. Nutrition transition is a key factor, since many countries in the region also suffer the consequences of the excessive and unbalanced diets that are typical of developed countries. This paper reviews the experiences with facing malnutrition in Sub-Saharan and North Africa and the Middle East.

The income-achievement gap is a formidable societal problem, but little is known about either neurocognitive or biological mechanisms that might account for income-related deficits in academic achievement. We show that childhood poverty is inversely related to working memory in young adults. Furthermore, this prospective relationship is mediated by elevated chronic stress during childhood. Chronic stress is measured by allostatic load, a biological marker of cumulative wear and tear on the body that is caused by the mobilization of multiple physiological systems in response to chronic environmental demands.

Objectives. We estimated associations between poverty in early, middle, and later childhood and adult body mass index to further elucidate the effects of socioeconomic status on health. Methods. We conducted secondary analyses of data from men and women (N=885) born between 1968 and 1975 who were tracked between their prenatal and birth years and adulthood in the nationally representative Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We used multivariate regression techniques and spline models to estimate the relationship between income in different stages of childhood and adult body mass index, overweight, and obesity. We controlled for other family characteristics, including income in other periods of childhood. Results. Mean annual family income in the prenatal and birth years for children whose annual family incomes averaged less than $25 000 was significantly associated with increased adult body mass index, but mean annual family income between 1 and 5 years of age and between 6 and 15 years of age was not. Conclusions. Our results indicated that economic conditions in the earliest period of life (during the prenatal and birth years) may play an important role in eventual anthropometric measures. (doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.130575)

This study contributes to literature examining the salience of ecological variables by investigating relationships between stress, coping, community resources, and residential nature. One hundred thirty-three low-income women in mid-Michigan reported on institutional resource availability, recent stressful events, and preferred coping styles. Research assistants rated yards surrounding respondents' homes for the presence of natural features. African American mothers reported greater usage of both emotion-focused and active coping strategies compared to European American mothers. Availability of community resources was found to predict significantly to the use of active and emotion-focused coping strategies, and stress intensity and natural resources predicted significantly to avoidant coping strategies. Further development of the Residential Natural Resources Inventory and investigation of the variance of environmental stressors, resources, and coping responses within racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups are recommended. Keywords: women; mothers; low income; coping; stress; natural environment; community resources; poverty

Background. We examined age differences in levels of biological risk factors in the U.S. population by poverty status. It is not clear how socioeconomic status differentials in biological risk change with age because of mortality. Methods. We used two nationally representative samples (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [NHANES] III, 1988-1994, and NHANES, 1999-2004) with data for more than 12,000 people aged 20 and older in each data set to examine biological risk for persons in families with incomes below and close to poverty level and those with higher income. We examined how mortality and life expectancy in the earlier sample are related to poverty status and biological risk. We examined life table survivorship to clarify how mortality differentially removes those who are poor and those with high biological risk from the population. Results. Differences in biological risk by poverty status are larger before old age and become insignificant at older ages. Life expectancy at age 20 differs markedly by biological risk and poverty status. Conclusions. Population differentials in health at older ages result from a lifetime of differences. Socioeconomic differences in health in old age disappear because of health and mortality differentials at earlier ages. Poorer people 'age' earlier and this affects the age pattern of social differentials. Key Words: Poverty--Biological risk---Mortality--Gender--Life expectancy--NHAHES--SES differentials.

Objective: We consider associations between individual, household and area-level characteristics and self-reported health. Method: Data is taken from baseline surveys undertaken in 13 socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Victoria (n=3,944). The neighbourhoods are sites undergoing Neighbourhood Renewal (NR), a State government initiative redressing place-based disadvantage. Analysis: This focused on the relationship between area and compositional factors and self-reported health. Area was coded into three categories; LGA, NR residents living in public housing (NRPU) and NR residents who lived in private housing (NRPR). Compositional factors included age, gender, marital status, identifying as a person with a disability, level of education, unemployment and receipt of pensions/benefits. Results: There was a gradient in socioeconomic disadvantage on all measures. People living in NR public housing were more disadvantaged than people living in NR private housing who, in turn, were more disadvantaged than people in the same LGA. NR public housing residents reported the worst health status and LGA residents reported the best. Conclusions: Associations between compositional characteristics of disability, educational achievement and unemployment income and poorer self-reported health were shown. They suggested that area characteristics, with housing policies, may be contributing to differences in self-reported health at the neighbourhood level. Implications: The clustering of socioeconomic disadvantage and health outcomes requires the integration of health and social support interventions that address the circumstances of people and places. Key words: Socio-economic factors, family characteristics, health status, public policy, public housing, residential mobility

Objective: This paper explores associations between residents' perceptions of social incivilities and physical disorders in local environments and self-reported health status. Method: Surveys were conducted with 4,029 residents from 13 Neighbourhood Renewal sites and 1,857 residents of corresponding Local Government Areas in Victoria. An open-ended question asked respondents to nominate the worst things about living in their neighbourhood and this qualitative data was analysed for the range of perceptions of incivilities. Quantitative data analysis considered associations between incivilities in neighbourhood environments and self-reported health status. Results: Issues conceptualised as social incivilities (drug and alcohol use, dangerous driving, the behaviour of other people, feeling unsafe, noise, racism) accounted for 58% of issues nominated. Quantitative analyses suggested that increased exposure to issues related to aspects of neighbourhood safety were associated with living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood. Perceptions of lower levels of neighbourhood safety were, in turn, associated with poorer health. Conclusions: Cumulative and compounding aspects of local environments that heighten feelings of insecurity and anxiety may be mechanisms through which places affect health. Implications: While the characteristics of populations are important determinants of health outcomes, the findings endorse the value of incorporating complementary place-based approaches for addressing mechanisms that contribute to health inequalities in local environments. Key words: Social environment, social conditions, environment and public health, socio-economic factors, health status.