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The Rural Aged and their Health: A Poverty-Health Viewpoint

Paul Andrew Bourne, Ikhalfani Solan, Charlene Sharpe-Pryce, Jannine Campbell-Smith and Cynthia Francis

Introduction: In Jamaica, rural poverty is twice that of urban poverty with about 50 percentage points of elderly residing in rural zones. Poverty is not only a measure of the economic reality; it is also a critical driver of the health challenge being experienced by this vulnerable group.

Objectives: The present study aims to 1) evaluate health of rural elderly, 2) determine factors that influence selfrated health status of the rural aged, 3) determine factors of self-reported illness among rural aged in Jamaica, and 4) examine the changing patterns of diseases of the rural aged Jamaicans over a 5-year period.

Methods: This paper utilizes a cross sectional probability survey design from the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC) dataset. JSLC is a modification of the World Bank Living Standard Survey. Two of the JSLC were used for this research, 2002 and 2007. This research extracted rural aged (60+ year olds) from each year, 2,010 and 404 respectively. Descriptive statistics provide pertinent information on the socio-demographics characteristics of the sampled respondents. Logistic regressions were used to established health models, and a p value <5% was used to determine statistical significance.

Findings: In 2002, 23.2% of rural elderly were below the poverty line. This rose by 6.5% in 2007; wherein at least 66% sought medical care; 27.3% had poor self-rated health status, and self-reported illness was 39.4% in 2002 and this rose by 14.0% in 2007 over 2002. Of those who reported an illness, 75.4% had chronic conditions with 44.0% had hypertension.

Conclusion: The findings which emerged from