Inequalities lead to feelings of despair, depression, and anxiety often associated with
substance use disorders. Consider the following scenario: Mr. Banda is a middle-aged man
living in rural Malawi with a wife and three young children. He often travels to find work
while his wife and children maintain the family farm to sustain themselves. Recently, Mr.
Banda found out he was HIV positive without access to HIV antiretroviral therapy in the
village. He became severely depressed and turned to alcohol to help him cope as an
available social outlet. Over time, he started to drink on credit against his family’s harvest.
When harvest time came, the tavern owner showed up at Mr. Banda’s home demanding
half of his harvest to pay off his debt. Mr. Banda has come to you to ask for help. How
would you respond to Mr. Banda after he shared his story with you? Discuss three social or
economic inequalities influencing Mr. Banda’s actions and options. How would you
leverage the strengths of faith-based organizations or
churches in the area to address these factors influencing Mr. Banda’s options assuming
others in the community are going through similar situations? Watch the “Aid and
Development” video to help you in answering this discussion question.
If Mr. Banda came to me for help with his situation, I would empathize with him because
as a case manager for the Medicaid population I encounter many with a similar story. I
would offer resources that may be available for those who are low income or for those
lacking mental health services and quality healthcare services as well. Economic
inequalities that can affect Mr. Banda are low wages in the labor market, little to no
education that may affect his current wages, and personal factors. For example, more
determined individuals may keep improving themselves and striving for better
achievements, which justifies a higher wage (Leung, 2015). Social inequalities that may be
influencing Mr. Banda option can also include low income, no wealth and possibly race and
ethnicity. Faith-based organizations (FBO) have played a key part in assisting those who
are in need of mental health and healthcare services. Their capacity to reach underserved
populations experiencing the nation’s worst health inequalities have led to initiatives
promoting their involvement in health programming (Schoenberg, 2017). These FBO has
the capacity to deliver services to an individual to view one with an overall healthy minds,
body and spirit connection. They would be able to offer services to Mr. Banda that cannot
only address his healthcare needs but his mental health as well. In order for a person to
have a good outcome with their health, their mind must be and remain healthy as well.
FOB have the capacity to offer programs that could be available within his community.
References
Leung, M. (2015, January). The Causes of Economic Inequality.
RESPONSE TO CLAUDIA BEGLEY 2
Schoenberg, N. (2017, September). Enhancing the role of faith-based organizations to
improve health: A commentary.
Akin to Claudia’s point of view, empathy in situations similar to the one experienced by Mr.
Banda would play a pivotal role in assuring him that I understand what he is going through. As a
result, the help I would provide would include counseling that epitomizes solutions for people
from low-income backgrounds, and especially those living with HIV/AIDS. Additionally, I
would link Mr. Banda with locally available resources and facilities that offer specialized
guidance, treatment, and personalized care services. The essence of these measures is based on
the fact that people like Mr. Banda and his family, or individual from low-income families, are
faced with economic and social inequalities that include low wages, poor or lack of education,
and stigmatization from society. I concur that these factors may adversely impact Mr. Banda’s
options in terms of seeking treatment, thereby leading to the development of mental health
issues. Nonetheless, Faith-based Organizations (FBOs) have attempted to avert such
eventualities by extending their services to communities characterized by health inequalities and
through the promotion of initiatives that seek to promote the welfare of the people (Schoenberg,
2017).
RESPONSE TO CLAUDIA BEGLEY 3
References
Schoenberg, N. E. (2017). Enhancing the role of faith-based organizations to improve health: A
commentary. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 7(3), 529-
531.