Category Archives: Poverty

Lower-income US women more likely to miss key breast cancer test, study finds

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Isolation and lack of health insurance also correlate to reduced mammogram rates for breast cancer

Women who are low-income, socially isolated and lack health insurance are far less likely to be up-to-date on mammograms, a breast cancer screening tool experts said is critical to reducing breast cancer deaths, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer to afflict American women, and kills an estimated 40,000 Americans each year. Cancer overall kills 605,000 Americans a year and is the second-leading cause of death, a toll the Biden administration aims to reduce through a Cancer Moonshot initiative.

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Having the right glasses could boost earning power by a third, Bangladesh study shows

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Researchers find that in low and middle-income countries owning spectacles can help people over 35 increase their income

Owning a pair of reading glasses might help people increase their earnings by a third, according to new research.

The study, conducted in Bangladesh, is the first to examine the impact of having a decent pair of spectacles, and researchers found monthly median earnings among one group of people increased from $35.30 to $47.10 within eight months, a rise of 33.4%.

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Rishi Sunak criticised for laughing off question about timing of general election – UK politics live

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Liberal Democrats say PM is ‘laughing in the face of people crying out for change’

At the weekend the Observer splashed on a story by Toby Helm saying government lawyers have told ministers that Israel is breaking international humanitarian law in Gaza.

In an interview today, asked about the legality of what Israel is doing, Rishi Sunak said the government believes Israel has “the intention and the ability” to comply with international law. He said:

Our view is longstanding that Israel has both the intention and the ability to comply with international humanitarian law, I’ve made that very clear to prime minister Netanyahu whenever I’ve spoken to him.

There have been too many civilian deaths in Gaza, of course we want to see an immediate humanitarian pause so that we can get the hostages out and more aid into the region.

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Nearly 1,000 pharmacies in England closed since 2017, with poorer areas more affected

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Exclusive: Millions more GP appointments potentially created as a result of closures

Almost 1,000 pharmacies in England have closed since 2017, potentially leading to millions of extra GP appointments, the Guardian can exclusively reveal.

There are more than 11,000 pharmacies in England. Guardian analysis of the official register of these chemists has found that parts of the country have lost more than one in five pharmacies in the last six years, with poorer areas experiencing proportionally more closures.

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ONS scraps plans to stop reporting the deaths of homeless people

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U-turn comes after campaigners attacked proposal by data body for England and Wales as ‘callous’

The Office for National Statistics has scrapped plans to no longer report the deaths of homeless people after an outcry.

The data body for England and Wales proposed cutting the release of the figures to help increase the efficiency of health data. But the idea was attacked as “callous” by campaigners.

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Claims of ‘lawlessness’ on New York City subways increase danger, critics say

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Violent crimes in 2024 have been used as ‘political tool’, and law enforcement response does not solve root issues, critics say

A high-profile string of violent crimes on New York City’s subway in 2024 has been used “as a political tool” by pundits and politicians, transit advocates say, leading to a false perception of spiraling underground crime, which could create more danger in the future.

Crime in the subway system, one of the world’s most used rapid transit systems, declined in 2022 and decreased again in 2023, according to police. But subway crime is up so far in 2024, and it is the nature and violence of the incidents that has captured public attention.

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Government urged to tackle poverty to help the NHS

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Healthcare delays in deprived communities mean greater need for expensive emergency treatment, research finds

People living in poverty find it harder to live a healthy life and face barriers to accessing timely treatment, new research suggests.

A report by the King’s Fund, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, finds that the delays people living in deprived communities face for healthcare mean they are more likely to need expensive emergency treatment.

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Nearly half of UK families excluded from modern digital society, study finds

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Exclusive: Lack of online skills and access creates digital divide that amplifies other exclusions, says report

Almost half of UK families with children lack the online skills or access to devices, data and broadband required to participate in today’s digital society, research shows, with an expert saying this divide is an “amplifier of other exclusions”.

Research shared exclusively with the Guardian found that 45% of households with children did not meet the threshold. Families from low socioeconomic backgrounds in deprived areas and households outside London were among those who were less likely to meet it. Households from minority ethnic backgrounds and those with disabled parents were twice as likely to fall below it.

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UK mothers earned £4.44 less an hour than fathers in 2023, finds analysis

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‘Motherhood penalty’ appears to be worsening, with pay gap for median hourly pay growing by 93p an hour since 2020

The “motherhood penalty” is wreaking havoc on women and the economy, according to campaigners, as fresh analysis reveals that the pay gap between mothers and fathers in the UK has grown by nearly £1 an hour since 2020.

A study of the hourly earnings of mothers and fathers, released on International Women’s Day, found that on average mothers earned 24% less an hour than fathers in 2023 – a “motherhood pay penalty” of £4.44 an hour.

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Escaping poverty has become much harder in past two decades, report says

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Six million of the poorest people would need more than double their incomes to move out of hardship, says Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Escaping poverty has become significantly harder over the past two decades, with progress to eradicate hardship in Britain having stalled under the Conservatives since 2010, a major report has warned.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said levels of hardship had deepened for millions of people across the country since the mid-1990s, having been compounded by years of “political failure” to tackle poverty.

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Teachers in England left to support at-risk children after social services cuts

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Safeguarding staff say they can’t get referrals for serious cases and don’t have the expertise to give pupils the help they need

Increasing numbers of children suffering from domestic abuse, serious neglect and homelessness are being refused help from over-stretched social services, schools across England have told the Observer.

Child protection cases that would automatically have prompted intervention from social workers a few years ago are now routinely being passed back to schools to deal with themselves. The inability to obtain help for children whom schools think are in urgent need is taking such an emotional toll on education staff, who say they have neither the expertise nor the resources to cope, that some schools are bringing in counsellors to prevent their safeguarding teams becoming traumatised.

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Health inequalities ‘caused 1m early deaths in England in last decade’

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Exclusive: Review by Michael Marmot decries 'shocking political failure’ behind differing life expectancies across country

More than 1 million people in England died prematurely in the decade after 2011 owing to a combination of poverty, austerity and Covid, according to “shocking” new research by one of the UK’s leading public health experts.

The figures are revealed in a study by the Institute of Health Equity at University College London led by Sir Michael Marmot. They demonstrate the extent to which stark economic and social inequalities are leading to poorer people dying early from cancer, heart problems and other diseases.

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Call to end ‘cruel’ winter rises as energy bills go up by £100 a year

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Campaign groups call on regulator to abolish January bill increase, saying households are facing an ‘assault from all sides’

Midwinter energy price increases should be abolished to protect households from unaffordable bills “at the worst possible time”, according to a coalition of leading charities.

Charities and campaign groups have called on Ofgem, the energy regulator, to scrap future January bill increases as it prepares to raise the cap on energy prices by 5% from Monday.

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Tory MP says most struggling children in his area are ‘products of crap parents’

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Bury North MP James Daly makes remark while outlining what New Conservatives group stands for

A Conservative MP has claimed most children who struggle in his constituency are the “products of crap parents”.

James Daly, the MP for Bury North, was outlining what the New Conservatives group of MPs stood for when he presented his perspective on how important a family unit is in giving children “stability”.

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Covid lockdowns had ‘catastrophic effect’ on UK’s social fabric, report claims

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Research by centre-right thinktank says gap between the mainstream and poorest in society is widening

Covid lockdowns had a “catastrophic effect” on the UK’s social fabric and the most disadvantaged are no better off now than at the time of the financial crash, a new report claims.

The country is in danger of sliding back into the divisions of the Victorian era, marked by a widening gap between the mainstream and the poorest in society, according to an inquiry by the centre-right thinktank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).

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One in four adults in UK to buy now, pay later for Christmas, study shows

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Citizens Advice warns such credit schemes risk delivering ‘knockout blow’ to household finances

More than a quarter of adults in the UK will use buy now, pay later to help with festive spending, research suggests, with the proportion rising to more than half of parents with young children.

The survey for Citizens Advice also found 11% of respondents used such credit schemes to pay for groceries, a proportion that rose to 35% for regular BNPL users.

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Poor people much more likely to die from sepsis, study finds

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Those with existing health problems also at greater risk of condition that kills estimated 48,000 a year in UK

Poor people and those with existing health problems are much more likely to die from sepsis, one of the UK’s biggest killers, a study has found.

Sepsis, or blood poisoning, is a potentially fatal condition triggered when the body reacts to an infection by attacking its own tissues and vital organs. It leads to an estimated 48,000 deaths a year in Britain.

People with learning disabilities are almost four times more likely to get sepsis.

People with liver disease have about three times greater risk.

Patients with chronic kidney disease that is at stage 5 are more than six times as likely to develop it.

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Stockton MP rejects Cleverly’s claim that insult referred to him, not his town

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Home secretary under pressure over abusive comments in Commons, with Tory mayor among those condemning them

James Cleverly is coming under pressure over abusive comments he made in the Commons after his explanation that he was insulting the local MP, not calling a Labour-held constituency a “shit-hole”, was met with scepticism.

After Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor for Tees Valley, condemned what he called Cleverly’s “childish and unprofessional language”, the Labour MP concerned, Alex Cunningham, said he simply did not believe the home secretary.

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Mexican president’s popularity soars even as country faces persistent turmoil

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Amlo’s pension program helped boost his approval rating, but critics point to his various shortcomings as his term nears its end

Life isn’t easy for Teodila Faustino, who shares a cinder-block home with her husband, five children and several grandchildren on the outskirts of Mexico City. At 69, she has retired from the restaurant where she made about $50 (£46) a week, and her employer left her no pension.

Other than selling tacos occasionally on the street, Faustino’s only lifeline is a state pension through which she receives about $280 (£224) every two months. This, in part, explains her undying gratitude to the man who launched the program: Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

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Millions of UK households forced to unplug fridge to cope with rising bills

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Families resorting to ‘desperate measures’ and struggling with ‘frightening’ level of hardship amid cost of living crisis

About 2m UK households have been forced to turn off their fridge or freezer to save money as they continue to struggle with what poverty campaigners called a “frightening” level of hardship.

Nearly half of those households said that since May they had to disconnect their fridge or freezer for the first time, a sign the cost of living crisis was still hurting low-income families, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) charity.

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