Homeless babies and starving parents: the poverty seen by doctors

Homeless babies and starving parents: the poverty seen by doctors A survey of 250 paediatricians reveals a shocking return to old-fashioned poverty that will hit future generations

Nearly one in three children in the UK – a total of four million – live in poverty. It’s a statistic that perhaps many people acknowledge is shocking, but they don’t appreciate its implications.

Living in poverty can have all sorts of damaging effects on a child, not least on their health. Poverty makes children sick; those living in the most deprived areas have far worse health outcomes than children from the most affluent. They are more likely to be overweight or obese, suffer from asthma, have poorly managed diabetes and experience mental health problems. Infant mortality is more than twice as high in the lowest socio-economic groups compared with the highest groups. The Guardian