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By: Marcus J. Hopkins
September 29th, 2024
For the next two weeks, the Appalachian Learning Initiative will be highlighting the state of South Carolina across our social media accounts.
This year, we have been expanding our reporting to include information about issues related to social services, including basic statistics related to poverty, health insurance coverage, high school graduation rates, and other determinants of health that impact the ability of people to learn.
Just 7 of South Carolina's 46 counties lie within the Appalachian Region. Adults living in two of those counties—Cherokee and Union—face significant literacy and numeracy barriers.
In both counties, nearly 7 out of every 10 adults read at or below an 8th Grade level, while nearly 8 out of every 10 adults struggle with basic math. Black Appalachians living in Union County, who represent more than 30% of the county's population, are disproportionately impacted by these learning outcomes.
The state of South Carolina is one of the few states where adults are required to pay out-of-pocket for basic education courses, although state assistance is available to those who are financially eligible.
Literacy and Public Health
In addition to the cost barrier between adults in need of literacy and numeracy education and those educational services, adults with low literacy rates and multiple health outcomes are strongly correlated:
Of the 25 measures APPLI examined in our 2023 report, Adult Literacy Proficiency and Public Health in Appalachia, we found that 16 measures, including asthma prevalence, diabetes prevalence, obesity prevalence, cancer mortality, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder prevalence, coronary heart disease prevalence, smoking prevalence, drug overdose deaths, and gonorrhea incidence, were strongly correlated.
This means that, although adult literacy proficiency does not cause these diseases, it appears that Appalachians with low literacy proficiency are more likely to contract, develop, or experience negative health outcomes related to those conditions.
Social Determinants of Health
Like most Appalachian counties, six of South Carolina's seven counties have poverty rates higher than the national average of 20.3%. Cherokee and Union Counties have the highest rates of people earning below 150% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), at 30.2% and 36%, respectively. Among those people living in poverty in Union County, 21% earn below 100% of the FPL, which APPLI classifies as "living in extreme poverty."
Despite having significant poverty rates, just 11.5% of residents living in South Carolina's Appalachian counties received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in 2022, compared to the Appalachian regional average of 15.5% and the national average of 12.4%.
Nearly 1 out of every 7 adults living in South Carolina's Appalachian counties has not graduated high school, with Union County once against having the highest percentage of adults without a diploma or equivalent certificate, at 19%.
New Infographics
As we've been doing for other states, this year, APPLI will be launching new infographics focused on the Social Determinants of Health. In addition to static (i.e., stationary) infographics, APPLI is working to develop each of the infographics shared on our social media channels into short-form videos (e.g., Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts) to try to reach more people with our informational content.
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