Mental illness due to homelessness: a qualitative case study in Melaka, Malaysia

Background: Extreme poverty can result in people barely surviving with poor living standards to the extent of living on the streets, often in fear. With limited access to healthcare services and a clean environment, they are more vulnerable to life adversities. Highly stressful living conditions like these can cause mental illnesses such as depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, psychological distress, and others. Purpose: This research aimed to investigate factors that led to the development of mental illness among homeless people under extreme poverty. Design/methodology/approach: This was a qualitative case study that involved a face-to-face interview with a key informant at the Pertubuhan Kebajikan Villa Harapan Melaka (Villa Harapan). Villa Harapan is a licensed caretaker centre established by the Department of Welfare, Melaka that provides shelter to homeless people with mental illness. Findings: Homeless people suffered from mental disturbances due to loss of jobs, lack of income, broken families, separation from their children, and other vulnerabilities. They are not getting appropriate care and attention for their problem and sickness. Non-supportive family, extreme poverty, and chronic stress were the main factors that led to mental illness among Villa Harapan residents. Research limitations: The study focused on the mental illness of dispossessed people who were brought to Villa Harapan by the Welfare Department. Originality/value: This was an empirical case study on mental illness among homeless people at a care centre known as Villa Harapan.

Future Pathways Out of Poverty in Rural Areas and Elsewhere

Previous chapters showed that there is no magic strategy to alleviate poverty or eliminate poverty completely in every community. This chapter presents the closing arguments of “why people are poor” and what poor people might do in the future to overcome their poverty trap. We ask, which way forward do Africans envisage as a future pathway out of chronic poverty in the 21st century? This question forms the central themes of this chapter and has provoked lively debates among villagers as to the successive stages of household progress from extreme poverty to economic self-reliance. Such moves in and out of poverty are apparent when looking at poverty in either absolute or relative terms. Hence, how can we ensure a more diverse, inclusive, and sustainable future for all?

Poverty Reduction Through Microfinance

Microfinance is believed by many people in Africa to allow poor people to protect, diversify, and increase their sources of income, which is known to be the essential path out of poverty and hunger. This chapter examines whether microfinance can really help to reduce poverty. The enduring question is: Can microfinance be the game changer that will lift the many poor rural women and men in Africa out of the misery of extreme poverty? Is this strategy bliss or myth? First, the author provides a context and rationale for microfinance in African countries. Second, the chapter follows a brief overview of the literature on the impact of microfinance on women's empowerment and whether credit lending transactions benefit the intended recipients. Finally, the chapter reviews the arguments of both sides of the debate and draws out future research trends.

Implications of the Inclusive Pro-Poor Tourism Planning in Uganda for Strategic Planning for Community-Based Tourism Development in Nigeria

Many Nigerians are unemployed and live in extreme poverty. The Nigerian government has therefore identified tourism as one of the promising sectors in its efforts to diversify the economy from the oil sector. CBT which is a kind of tourism that encourages environmental, social, cultural, and economic sustainability in communities could be a good model for addressing the socio-economic challenges confronting Nigeria. Based on literature derived from JSTOR, Google Scholar, and Emerald, this chapter draws implications from the inclusive pro-poor tourism planning in Uganda for CBT development in Nigeria.

Intellectural Structure of the “Extreme Poverty” Research Field

The main objective of this work is to know the situation of the intellectual structure of the scientific community researching “extreme poverty,” especially to identify the most relevant authors, journals, and descriptors. In addition, the authors intend to present evidence that allows these researchers and other interested groups to improve the efficiency in acquiring high-impact knowledge on the topic. Through bibliometric analysis, both at the count and relationship levels (in this case with social network analysis [SNA] technique), they have carried out a study of the characteristics and intellectual structure of the academic and scientific network that has addressed the issue of extreme poverty. This work makes an important contribution to the literature on “extreme poverty” since it is the first known work that raises the intellectual structure of this topic from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Ending Extreme Poverty in Rural Populations

In this chapter, attention shifts to the locality and context of extreme poverty in rural areas and sheds light on the challenges rural people face to overcome poverty. Due to limited information, inadequate access to markets and social services, and lack of opportunities to take ownership of productive assets, little is known about how populations overcome their struggles in extreme poverty in rural areas. The discussion exemplifies the need to examine culture, politics, and the social-historical context in which poor people live. The chapter concludes that rural poverty and the challenges to eliminate its causes and consequences are associated with lack of education, land and livestock, infrastructural technical support, the absence of good enough governance, as well as inability to secure non-farm alternatives to diminishing farm opportunities.

Poverty Alleviation Through Potential Zakat Collection

Morocco, is one of the many countries that still suffer from inequality and a high poverty index despite the economic growth over the last few years. Indeed, This paper aims to demonstrate the effect of Zakat on poverty alleviation and redistribution of wealth by estimating potential Zakat collection in Morocco. The results of this study indicate that potential zakat collection can fill the resources shortfall for the poverty alleviation under 1.9$ and 3.2$ a day. The total of all zakat potential in Morocco are not only sufficient to provide for the shortfall and eliminate the extreme poverty but also can generate surplus.

In 70 years how did the New China eliminate extreme poverty?

China is noted for remarkable reductions in rural poverty and aims to eliminate it by 2020. Achieving this outcome requires identification of the remaining poor population and a strategy that effectively addresses the causes of their poverty. This article explores the ways in which China has converted itself from the poorest country in the world in 1949 to a country in which extreme poverty is on the verge of disappearance. It examines the roles of economic growth and a a targeted combination of traditional development-oriented policy for poverty counties, villages and regions with wider minimum life guarantees and welfare services. The conclusions draw on a 2017 survey of 4,626 rural households and 13,689 individuals in 628 counties to point to some of the characteristics of the contemporary rural population.

Brain Morphometry and Chronic Inflammation in Bangladeshi Children Growing up in Extreme Poverty

Over 300 million children grow up in environments of extreme poverty, and the biological and psychosocial hazards endemic to these environments often expose these children to infection, disease, and consequent inflammatory responses. Chronic inflammation in early childhood has been associated with diminished cognitive outcomes and despite this established relationship, the mechanisms explaining how inflammation affects brain development are not well known. Importantly, chronic inflammation is very common in areas of extreme poverty, raising the possibility that it may serve as a mechanism explaining the known relationship between low socioeconomic status (SES) and atypical brain development. To examine these potential pathways, seventy-nine children growing up in an extremely poor, urban area of Bangladesh underwent structural MRI scanning at six years of age. Structural brain images were submitted to Mindboggle software, a Docker-compliant and high-reproducibility tool for tissue segmentation and regional estimations of volume, surface area, cortical thickness, sulcal depth, and mean curvature. Concentration of C-reactive protein was assayed at eight time points between infancy and five years of age and the frequency with which children had elevated concentrations of inflammatory marker served as the measure of chronic inflammation. SES was measured with years of maternal education and income-to-needs. Chronic inflammation predicted total brain volume, total white matter volume, average sulcal depth, and bilateral putamen volumes. Chronic inflammation also mediated the link between maternal education and bilateral putamen volumes. These findings suggest that chronic inflammation is associated with brain morphometry globally and in the putamen, and further suggests that inflammation may be a potential mechanism linking SES to brain development.

Poverty as a global problem of humankind

Subject. This article considers poverty as a global economic problem and explores its level in the countries of the world. Objectives. The article aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the level of poverty of the population in the countries of the world according to international and national criteria. Methods. For the study, we applied a comprehensive approach using comparison, analysis and synthesis, and the normalized estimate method. Results. A comprehensive study of poverty shows that the phenomenon of poverty is inherent in all economies of the world, and the situation of the poor is deteriorating and complicated by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions. The activities of international organizations to overcome poverty bring good results – the percentage of the population in the countries of the world beyond the threshold of extreme poverty is decreasing. Overcoming the problem of hunger and extreme poverty, countries face a new challenge, namely, ensuring a decent standard of living and establishing adequate national criteria for the poverty line.