Poverty and health: Defeating poverty by going to the roots

Poverty is dynamic in nature: even as some people move out of poverty, other people simultaneously fall into poverty. The poverty pool is being simultaneously both depleted and refilled. Anirudh Krishna argues that efforts for poverty reduction tend to focus exclusively on raising people out of poverty, and therefore will not be very successful unless poverty creation is also addressed. Ill health and high healthcare expenses are the principal reasons associated with falling into poverty; therefore, reducing poverty requires investing in better healthcare.

Duke Scholars

Author Anirudh Krishna Sanford School of Public Policy