Poverty ‘is damaging health of 4m children’

iMPOVEriSHED parents are diluting milk, skimping on food and bringing up their children in damp homes, doctors have warned.

Such poverty is having a ‘devastating’ impact on the health of children, according to a report by medical experts and campaigners.

Based on a survey of 250 paediatricians across the UK, the document found that almost half think things are getting worse. Just three said the situation was improving for the children in their care.

Data shows that four million children, or three in ten, live in poverty after housing costs are taken into account. This is predicted to rise to five million by 2020.

in the report, more than three in five doctors said food insecurity, such as poor nutrition and the inability to buy enough, contributes ‘very much’ to the ill-health of children. Doctors said some parents go without and rely on food banks while others cannot afford clothes or toothbrushes.

One paediatrician said: ‘i see patients with poor nutritional state from poverty or low income, with growth below [what

‘They suffer worry, stress and anxiety’

is] expected’. Another said: ‘Parents dilute down milk as they can’t afford formula milk.’

One other said: ‘We see parents in A&E who are limiting their eating to care for their children. Children are worried, scared and upset.’ More than two-thirds of doctors said homelessness or poor housing contribute ‘very much’ or ‘somewhat’ to the ill-health of children.

Just under a third said the inability to keep warm at home contributed ‘very much’ to child ill-health. Others described mouldy, damp or overcrowded houses with families living in one room.

Paediatricians warned the mental healthy youngsters is also affected. ‘Worry, stress and anxiety’ means they have a ‘little part of their childhood taken away, a part of their day they will spend worrying instead of playing or learning’.

The report was compiled by the royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Child Poverty Action group.

Professor russell Viner, of the rCPCH, said it ‘makes disturbing reading’. Alison garnham, CPAg chief executive, said: ‘We can and must do better to protect the well-being of future generations.’