Health in Manchester is among the poorest in the country. Manchester and the surrounding areas have been notorious for their poor health since the eighteenth century. The poor physique of men in Manchester caused a national scandal when three out of every five volunteers for the Boer War were deemed unfit. An estimated 600,000 residents of Greater Manchester face extreme poverty and about 1.6 million more people are currently at risk of sliding into deeper poverty. They are thought to be isolated, scared, frustrated, and deprived of food.