poverty and health

Volunteers deliver water and other items to the homeless in Los Angeles. Poverty rates dropped in 2021 thanks in part to pandemic policy measures, but poverty advocates fear they will rise again without those measures in place.

Poverty and uninsured rates drop, thanks to pandemic-era policies

7:22pm September 13, 2022

Child poverty is at a historic low, according to Census bureau data, and the rate of those without health insurance dropped in 2021. But the good news may be short-lived, as policy measures expire.

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Catherine Coleman Flowers is the founding director of the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise.

'Waste' Activist Digs Into The Sanitation Crisis Affecting The Rural Poor

2:19pm November 23, 2020

by Dave Davies

In 2017, a study reported one in three people in one rural Alabama county had been exposed to hookworm. Catherine Coleman Flowers says the study reveals big gaps in sanitation in rural America.

The majority of families with children are facing serious financial problems, according to a new poll by NPR and Harvard. And 35% say it's hard to help their kids adjust to change in their lives.

Juggling Financial Stress And Caregiving, Parents Are 'Very Not OK' In The Pandemic

2:02pm September 30, 2020

by Rhitu Chatterjee

The pandemic economy is squeezing families with kids: 74% of those earning less than $100,000 report serious financial woes, in an NPR poll. Experts worry about lasting impacts on kids' mental health.

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Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic's economic impact.

How The Pandemic Is Widening The Racial Wealth Gap

10:04am September 18, 2020

by Rhitu Chatterjee

The coronavirus has affected most Americans, but NPR's latest poll shows Black, Latino and Native American households are hardest hit by the financial impact of the crisis.

A hospital patient in Stamford, Conn., who has COVID-19 symptoms gets his temperature checked. Severe infections with the novel coronavirus have been unusually high among African Americans and Latinos in many hospitals.

Health & Safety

Opinion: U.S. Must Avoid Building Racial Bias Into COVID-19 Emergency Guidance

7:00am April 21, 2020

States are releasing "Crisis Standards of Care" guidelines, aimed at helping desperate hospitals discern how to allocate scarce resources. But the guidance doesn't factor in health care inequalities.

U.S. counties shaded by their rating in the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index

Health & Safety

Underlying Health Disparities Could Mean Coronavirus Hits Some Communities Harder

10:35am April 01, 2020

In the U.S., health and wealth are often linked. As the coronavirus spreads, experts worry that low-income communities will be especially vulnerable — and ill-equipped to respond.