Health Poverty as a Subject of Public Policies

Abstract

Current paper is an attempt to introduce the concept of "health poverty" in the Bulgarian scientific literature, which obtain popularity in world theoretical and empirical research. The logical connection between: poor health - poverty - poor health, ie. the "vicious circle" of health poverty. The author's understanding is presented that through public policies these negative circumstances could be neutralized and transformed into an opportunity for better health, and hence for the formation of human and social capital, which is a prerequisite for prosperity. Three health poverty scenarios are presented and theoretical statements are supported by empirical data. The ideas of various authors for measuring health poverty are systematized. Based on the derived dependencies, the role of public policies is determined as the key to overcoming health poverty and poverty in general.