How CVS Health Help Alleviate Poverty
According to the world bank, poverty and ill-health are directly related. Poverty is one of the main factors leading to poor health; it hinders access that most people living in poverty-stricken areas have to healthcare, medical services, and healthy foods essential for good health. However, poverty is not, in and of itself, an obstacle in the way of a healthy lifestyle. Other contributors that stem from poverty, such as lack of awareness and education about health, also play a significant role in preventing proper access to healthy living. In turn, ill health also leads to poverty, and that’s for the following reasons:
- One reason is that healthcare can be expensive in many places, such as in some developing nations and even in some developed countries like the US.
- Additionally, if one family member falls seriously ill, often other family members must give up jobs to provide full-time care to the patient. This can result in a loss of income, especially if the patient is the family’s breadwinner.
- Finally, families might also be forced to liquidate assets to pay for the medical bills of an ill family member.
For these reasons and more, bad health is disproportionately common in the population under the poverty line.
CVS’s efforts to help alleviate poverty
One way to improve the conditions of people living in poverty is to strengthen health systems and make healthcare more accessible. Even though this problem needs change at the grassroots level, companies such as CVS are striving to play their part in making health more accessible and helping people make better choices when it comes to their health. For instance, CVS’s decision to ban tobacco sales in 2014 contributed to dwindling numbers of smokers, with sales of packs decreasing by 95 million (Cardello, 2019).
Moreover, CVS is currently working on new concept stores to reduce the costs its consumers pay for emergency rooms. In addition, CVS Health plans to offer comprehensive healthcare services that will provide management of chronic illness, which could, in turn, save the healthcare system heaps of revenue. CVS health’s initiative also includes inclusive employment to help people break out of the cycle of poverty.
CVS provides equal access to employment in underserved communities and makes healthcare more accessible to poverty-stricken communities. However, CVS has assumed the role of a social enterprise, wherein it has managed to serve the communities it exists in without compromising its profit margins— which have grown after its move to ban products that pose health risks.
Check the following reference articles to learn more about How CVS Health Help Alleviate Poverty
- CVS Health. (n.d.). Workforce initiatives. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from (URL)
- Kilgore, T. (2019, January 9). CVS Health looks to cut healthcare costs and boost profit with new-look stores. MarketWatch. (URL)
- World Bank Group. (2014, August 28). Poverty and Health. World Bank. (URL)
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