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Poverty is a condition to which most people strive to avoid as it is an unacceptable concept which is far removed from modern day living. It has been affecting third world countries like Africa and the people get trapped in these cycles of poverty. Those trapped in these cycles often try to escape this pattern but are unable to due to the poor work ethic and lack of standard education. With such deprivation, there will be a minimum set of basic resources which all individuals need to physically sustain life. This will then have an adverse influence on the poverty stricken people's growth and development. However, various suggestions have been brought up stating that poverty is not the only important factor influencing human growth and development, but individual responsibility do in fact play a major role. Hence, this essay will first touch on poverty which leads to mal-nutrition and underweight infants as primary elements in affecting human growth and development.

Then, it will discuss the individual's own responsibility which contributes to the affect of human growth and development.

To begin with, poverty is the most important factor influencing human growth and development because it leads to mal-nutrition. According to NHMRC ( ____, cited in Casey, Perraton & Weston 2000: ) iron deficiencies are the most common nutrient deficiency in the world. The dietary intake of iron absorbed from daily food intake is vital for an adequate amount of iron. However, Casey, Perraton and Weston (2000: ) claimed that only five to ten per cent of iron will be absorbed from daily food intake and not every one can obtain sufficient amounts of iron in the diet. Such low iron intake caused by a lack of variety in the diet will result in a 'low concentration of iron in the...