International Poverty Day: How big an issue is poverty in Portsmouth?
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty raised awareness and to help stop poverty around the world.
According to The Trussell Trust, they gave 1,332,952 three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis across the UK.
One in five people live below the poverty line in the UK.
But is poverty a problem in Portsmouth?
According to Portsmouth Foodbank, they gave 6,075 three-day emergency food supplies in 2015.
Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, says child poverty is not just failing to reduce, it is rising.
FoodCycle is a UK charity that combines spare food, kitchen spaces and volunteers to create three-course meals for people at risk of food poverty and social isolation.
In regards to Portsmouth’s poverty, Lucy Lomax, of FoodCycle, Portsmouth, said: ‘I haven’t seen a substantial increase over the year — it has definitely been steady.
‘Aside from food, poverty also brings lots of mental health issues and isolates people.’
The latest statistics by The End Child Poverty coalition show that 36 percent of children living in Portsmouth South are in poverty, with the Charles Dickens ward as high as 50 percent.
There are many local charities and food banks trying to help Portsmouth in eradicating poverty, as well as a Government scheme to tackle it.
But can we really eradicate poverty in Portsmouth, let alone internationally?
