Healthcare and poverty are inextricably linked. In 2025, millions of families still face the impossible choice between food and medicine. For this piece, We sat down with one mother whose daily struggle reflects the larger crisis we must confront together. Her identity has been anonymized for her safety.
Interview: A Conversation With a Mother Struggling With Healthcare and Poverty
Interviewer: Thank you for agreeing to speak with us. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Mother: My name is X (we won’t be mentioning for her privacy). I’m just a mother of four, trying to survive in this country. We live in a one-room apartment, all of us. My husband left two years ago. Since then, it’s just been me and my children.
Interviewer: What does a typical day look like for you?
Mother: I wake up at 5 a.m., try to fetch water before the queue starts. Then I go out to look for small jobs like washing clothes, selling sachet water, cleaning people’s houses, going to the market for some of my neighbours, anything in short. If I’m lucky, I make ₦5,000 in a day. Most days it’s less.
Interviewer: Have you or your children ever needed medical help?
Mother: Many times. My youngest child had a fever recently, I tried everything but the fever wouldn’t go down. I thought it was malaria, so I rushed to the pharmacy and I explained the situation to the pharmacist. They said it might be typhoid, but the test was ₦3,000. I didn’t have it. I cried that day. I couldn’t even afford ordinary paracetamol and the pharmacist was tired of selling to me on credit because I still owe them. We went home with nothing at the end of the day.
Interviewer: That must have been heartbreaking.
Mother: It broke something in me. You’re holding your child, and she’s burning up, and you can’t do anything. What kind of mother am I? I felt absolutely useless.
Interviewer: What about food? Are you able to provide enough nutrition?
Mother: We eat what we can find. Mostly garri, sometimes bread. Protein? That’s christmas food, we eat that only on special occasions. My son’s teacher even told me recently that he’s too small for his age. I know it’s because I am not giving him enough food and he sometimes sleeps without eating. I have totally failed.
Interviewer: I am so sorry to hear this. Do you feel supported by the healthcare system?
Mother: Supported? No. I’ve gone to the hospital before, waited for hours, only to be told to come back with money. Even when it’s outreach and they say the medications are ‘free’, they say there are no drugs or it has finished when it gets to my turn. Everything is out of stock. But if you know someone, or have money, suddenly things appear.
Interviewer: What do you wish could change?
Mother: I just want my children to have a chance at life. Have access to good meals. Have access to hospitals that don’t turn you away. Doctors that ask you how you feel instead of how much you have. We’re not asking for much these are just the basics.
Interviewer: Thank you for sharing your story. Is there anything else you want people to know?
Mother: Just don’t forget us please, poverty is not laziness. Sometimes you work all day and still sleep hungry and that’s the truth.
Understanding the Link: Healthcare and Poverty in 2025
Her story is not rare. Across the world, poverty limits access to healthcare and nutrition. And the consequences are devastating.
1. Nutrition Insecurity = Stunted Development – Children growing up without proper nutrition are more likely to face developmental delays, weakened immune systems, and chronic diseases. According to the WHO, 45 million children under 5 suffer from wasting due to undernutrition.
2. Missed Care = Preventable Deaths – Lack of access to affordable healthcare results in diseases going untreated. A 2023 report found that over 3.5 million people die yearly from treatable conditions simply because they could not access care in time.
3. Economic Toll of Ill Health – When caregivers like the mother above can’t work due to illness or must stop working to care for sick children, the family loses critical income. This creates a vicious cycle of poverty and poor health.
4. Education Suffers – Too Sick children miss school, malnourished children struggle to concentrate. Girls often drop out due to menstrual poverty. Health and education go hand in hand.
Solutions to Healthcare and Poverty That Work Globally
Free School Meal Programs – Countries like Brazil and Kenya have shown success in combating child hunger with universal school feeding programs.
Community Health Workers -Training locals to provide basic health services and education increases access in low-resource areas, especially rural zones.
Cash Transfer Programs – Conditional cash transfers where families receive money for school attendance or clinic visits, improve both health and economic outcomes.
Subsidized Health Insurance – Ghana’s NHIS and India’s Ayushman Bharat are examples of governments trying to make basic health coverage available to the poorest.
Accessible Clinics – Mobile clinics and telehealth solutions are bridging care gaps in places where transportation is a barrier.
In Conclusion: Why This Matters
Healthcare and poverty are intertwined. And while systemic change is needed, listening to the stories like that of the mother above is how we begin to shift policies from the top and compassion from the ground up.
Every pill, every plate of food, every clinic that stays open for those who cannot pay is a step toward dignity.
In her words: “Just the basics.”
Let’s not forget that’s where health begins.
