Poverty is bad for your health. Men and women living in poorer areas of the country die younger than those in more affluent areas, and what happens in childhood affects people’s health throughout their lives.
That is why action on child poverty and action to tackle the fundamental unfairness of health inequalities are intrinsically linked. The facts are stark: a boy born to a low income family in Manchester at the end of the twentieth century could expect to live an average of nine years less than his classmate from a professional background. The infant mortality rate in low income areas is 70 percent higher than in the most affluent areas. Ensuring that every child has the best start in life means reducing poverty and improving health, too.
Sure Start is a great example of government pulling together to tackle child poverty. The Sure Start projects, which are now up and running across the country, are all about giving extra support to young children at the very beginning of their lives. They are not just about health; projects can provide information on local childcare facilities or safe play areas as well as information and advice on nutrition, breastfeeding and giving up smoking.
The great thing about Sure Start is that it is devoted almost entirely to improving the welfare of babies and toddlers. Never before has a government devoted such resources to the youngest members of society. Sure Start had a budget of £184 million in 2000-2001 and will reach £499 million by 2003-4 when there will be 500 programmes across the country.
Child poverty isn’t just an issue for urban areas. One in four children living in poverty are in rural areas. That’s why last year the government launched a £40 million programme of special rural Sure Starts. The needs in rural areas tend to be different to urban inner cities. Some of the rural Sure Starts already underway are providing measures such as mobile play buses and health clinics and address the problem of transport to health centres or access to childcare.
Other work is also underway to improve the health of children once they start school. Evidence from around the world shows that, after giving up smoking, eating more fruit and vegetables is the second most effective strategy to prevent diseases such as cancer, heart disease and asthma. But for too many families, particularly in low-income areas, access to a healthy diet is limited.
A year ago I launched the biggest initiative to improve the diet of infant school children since the introduction of school milk in 1946. Thousands of four to six year-olds now receive a free piece of fruit each day in school. The initial pilots will be extended to the whole of the West Midlands region later this year and every four to six year-old will benefit from the scheme by 2004.
We also need to do more to support young people who become parents whilst still in their teens. Britain has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Europe. Teenage parents are more likely than their peers to live in poverty and unemployment, and be trapped in it through lack of education, childcare and encouragement. Under the national ten year teenage pregnancy strategy, every local authority now has a strategy to tackle both the causes and the consequences of teenage pregnancy. The early signs are that conception rates in teenagers are moving in the right direction. Conception rates amongst those under eighteen have been on a downward trend for the last eight quarters.
Thanks to measures brought in across different government departments, at least 1.2 million children have been lifted out of poverty. We should be encouraged by the achievements we have made to date – but there is still a long way to go. Wherever they live, whatever their background, every child deserves the best start in life.