Measuring child poverty: new league tables of child poverty in the world's rich countries
Report Card 10 considers two views of child poverty in the world’s advanced economies: a measure of absolute deprivation, and a measure of relative poverty. The first measure is a 14-item Child Deprivation Index that represents a significant new development in international monitoring, drawing on data from the European Union’s Statistics on Incomes and Living Conditions survey of 125,000 households in 31 European countries, which has included a section on children for the first time. Children were considered 'deprived' if they lacked two or more of the items, which ranged from three meals a day, to an Internet connection. The second measure covers the EU and an additional six OECD countries (Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States) and examines the percentage of children living below their national 'poverty line' - defined as 50 per cent of median disposable household income.
The effects of whiteness on the health of whites in the USA.
Whites in the USA are the dominant racial group, with greater than average access to most material and social rewards. Yet, while whites have better outcomes than other racial groups on some health indicators, whites paradoxically compare poorly on other measures. Further, whites in the USA also rank poorly in international health comparisons. In this paper, we present a framework that combines the concept of whiteness-a system that socially, economically, and ideologically benefits European descendants and disadvantages people in other groups-with research from a variety of fields in order to comprehensively model the social factors that influence whites' health. The framework we present describes how whiteness and capitalism in the USA shape societal conditions, individual social characteristics and experiences, and psychosocial responses to circumstances to influence health outcomes. We detail specific examples of how social policies supported by whiteness, the narratives of whiteness, and the privileges of whiteness may positively and negatively affect whites' health. In doing so, we suggest several areas for future research that can expand our understanding of how social factors affect health and can contribute to the patterns and paradoxes of whites' health. By expanding research to include theoretically-grounded analyses of the dominant group's health, we can achieve a more complete picture of how systems of racial inequity affect health.
Cultural constraints on the delivery of HIV/AIDS prevention in Ireland.
HIV appeared in Ireland following an opiate epidemic in the early 1980s. Initially, however, the gay community mounted the only response to the spread of the virus while the implementation of early actions by the government was hampered by the constructions of the disease within Irish society. This paper considers the influence of the religious hierarchy in both the development of AIDS policy and in the shaping of public perceptions of the disease and those affected. A qualitative methodology is used to examine the role of such cultural constraints in an evaluation of the social context within which the prevention of HIV infection occurs. Three key issues pertinent to the policy context in Ireland are explored in depth. These are the role of the Catholic Church, the influences on health education programmes, particularly information giving, and the development of services and other interventions. These findings are discussed within the social and political contexts in which health policy is formulated.