![]() To that end, poverty is included in the city’s agenda for improving the health and well-being of Milwaukee residents, known as MKE Elevate. No one should have their life expectancy determined just by their zip code." "The difference of growing up in one of these two zip codes - where chronic poverty is in one, and there’s a wealthier community in the other - is 12 years, is about 4,380 days difference of life expectancy," he said. ![]() While geographically these neighborhoods are right next to each other, they couldn’t be more different. The effects of poverty can also have an impact on life expectancy.īaker said a stark difference emerges when you look at two specific ZIP codes in Milwaukee – 5326. "Children living in these environments of chronic, unmitigated stress are more likely to have some downstream traumatic events in life," he said. That, Baker says, creates foundational issues that often manifest themselves down the road. "They can feel stress, and that chronic stress that adults have, it sort of impacts children, and it doesn’t give them a chance to really thrive in their lives, and it can really create anxiousness, it can create a feeling of stress that one can’t turn off," he said. Baker says kids need to feel safe in order to thrive, but they often soak up whatever their parents are experiencing. That’s because serious negative health impacts stemming from poverty begin in childhood. "You don’t wait until disease shows up to begin to think about prevention." "We’re talking about impacting families, impacting children very early in life, looking at things like adverse childhood experiences, so that before individuals get to adulthood, that we’ve already addressed those key concerns," he said. ![]() "It really undermines and determines some key things in our lives, whether we have food security, whether we have housing quality, whether we have good access to schools or jobs."Īs city leaders and others search for solutions, Baker says a public health approach is needed, and part of that includes targeting kids when they’re young. ![]() "Poverty is a major driver for the well-being of all who live in this great state of Wisconsin," said Bevan Baker, commissioner of health for the City of Milwaukee. While poverty has long been thought of as an economic problem, officials in Milwaukee are starting to examine the issue through the lens of public health, and refocusing on the health and societal outcomes poverty can have. Additionally, more than 40 percent of the city’s children fall below the poverty line. ![]() Poverty in Milwaukee remains one of the city’s most pressing issues.Ĭensus data puts Milwaukee’s poverty rate at 29 percent, which is nearly double that of the national rate. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |