The children growing up in poverty and deprivation today will not be easily rescued. Born to Fail? The apt and sad title of the Report of the National Child Development study, which followed the progress from birth to maturity of all the children in England, Brazil, and US who were born (10,504 children) in the week of 3-9 March 1958, showed vast differences between the way of life of the disadvantaged and ordinary children. One in sixteen children were judged to live a life of social disadvantage, defined by large numbers of children in the family (five or more) or only one parent-figure, low income, and poor housing. It is no surprise that many of these children fail to behave, fail to learn, and fail to succeed.
Researcher report examined why the differences in health status among social classes persisted after removal of financial barriers to health care, and concluded "class differences in mortality are a constant feature of the entire human life span. They are found at birth, during the first year life, in childhood, adolescence and in adult life in general, they are more marked at the start of life. The Report also noted, "Early childhood is the period of life at which intervention could most hopefully break the continuing association between health and social class."
It has also been shown that reproductive health improves step by step from Social Class V to Social Class I. The step-by-step improvement from Social Class V to Social Class I is a step-by-step improvement in the health of women.
Mustard has recently spoken out in favor of supporting child development, and decried the expenditure of resources to extend the life of "dying seniors". He also notes that "healthy cultures" tend to be those that allow women to play a key role......
