By Dr. Karen Abrams, MBA, AA
In my previous column, I discussed the poverty premium, the reality that people with the least resources often pay the most for essential goods and services.
But the greatest cost of poverty is not financial.
The greatest cost is human.
When families are forced to stretch every dollar, difficult choices follow. Meals are skipped. Nutrition suffers. Children may not receive the consistent diet necessary for healthy physical and cognitive development. In severe cases, chronic undernutrition can contribute to stunting, a condition that affects growth and can have lifelong consequences for learning, health, and productivity.
When food prices rise sharply, low-income households do not simply spend more. They often buy less. Protein disappears from meals. Fresh fruits and vegetables become occasional purchases rather than regular ones. Portions become smaller. Children are frequently the silent victims of rising living costs.
This matters because childhood nutrition affects far more than physical growth. It affects concentration, memory, behaviour, school attendance, and ultimately academic performance.
A hungry child learns less.
A child who learns less often earns less as an adult.
And lower earnings increase the likelihood that the next generation will face the same disadvantages.
Financial stress also affects family relationships. Parents carrying the burden of unpaid bills, food insecurity, unemployment, or unstable incomes often experience anxiety, frustration, and depression. Too often that stress spills into the home environment. Children living under such conditions may struggle to concentrate, perform poorly in school, miss classes, or leave the education system altogether.
Poverty therefore becomes more than a shortage of money. It becomes a cycle.
This is one reason why school feeding programmes have proven so effective around the world. A nutritious meal is not merely a social benefit. It is an investment in educational outcomes, future earnings, public health, and national productivity.
Well-nourished children learn more.
Well-educated children earn more.
Higher earnings strengthen families and communities.
The relationship is straightforward.
The true cost of poverty is not simply what families lack today. It is the opportunities lost tomorrow.
Every child who leaves school prematurely. Every young person whose potential goes unrealized. Every parent who cannot access the support needed to stabilize a household. These losses accumulate across generations.
For a country investing billions in infrastructure and development, perhaps the most important investment remains the simplest one: ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow, learn, and thrive.
That is not charity.
It is nation building.