Dear Editor
Child poverty in Italy should be a priority for the new government
Gareth Iacobucci in his article: How the cost of living crisis is damaging children’s health underlines the statement of Camilla Kingdon, president of Royal College of Pediatrics and Child health which states that “Poverty and child health inequality have always existed in this time, but the current cost of living crisis is exacerbating the problem”, with its effects on children health” (1).
The war in Ukraine and the increase in inflation above 10% have caused a significant rise in the cost of living which affects, not only the UK but also other developed countries such as Italy, especially the poorest families and in particular those with children. According to the latest 2022 data from the Italian Statistics Bureau (ISTAT), in recent years, also as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in absolute poverty and in 2021 over one million 950 thousand families, for a total of 5 million 600 thousand individuals were in this absolute poverty condition (2). The increase in poverty mainly concerned families living in the South of Italy (10% of all families), families of only foreigners (30% of all families) and the gap between absolute poverty in families with children and the total of Italian families has grown (3). The presence of children continues to be a risk factor, in fact, the incidence of absolute poverty remains high (11.5%) for families with at least one child and in the case of families made up of couples with 3 or more children it rises to 20%. In 2021 one million and 384 thousand people under the age of 18 were in absolute poverty equal to 14.2%, an increase of three percentage points compared to 2019 when it was equal to 11.4% (3).
The increase in poverty is documented by the fact that more and more families turn to charitable institutions which, through a network spread throughout Italy, recover food surpluses from industries and large-scale distribution, which are then distributed to those in difficulty. The non-profit Banco Alimentare Foundation (www.bancoalimentare.it) is made up of 21 regional networks and serves 7,600 charitable organizations. In 2022 it distributed over 110,000 tons of food and helped around 1,700,000 people. In 2022 there was an increase of around 80,000 people helped, an indication of a widespread increase in food poverty which mainly affects families with children. In 2022, the minors assisted by the Foundation numbered around 370,000 (20% of the total number of assisted persons), of whom 285,000 under the age of 14. There was an increase of about 7% compared to 2021. The share of food specifically intended for early childhood reached 2,600 tonnes.
In Italy, higher neonatal and infant mortality rates are observed among the poorest families as well as among the children of foreign parents and among children living in the South of Italy which is a more economically depressed area compared to the North of Italy (4).
Everywhere children growing up in poverty experience a wide range of adverse child health and developmental outcomes, compared with more affluent children (5).
Poverty in the early stages of life has negative effects on health in adulthood. This connection has been highlighted by longitudinal studies which in poor subjects as children have indicated, after decades, an increase in cardiovascular, degenerative, metabolic, neoplastic and psychological disorders (6).
The fight against poverty achieved by supporting families with children must therefore represent a priority action for all governments, especially in this period of economic crisis if they want to have a future.
Mario De Curtis
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Rome La Sapienza
[email protected]
References
1. Iacobucci G. How cost of living crisis is damaging children’s health. BMJ 2023; 380:o3064, doi: 10.1136/bmj.o3064
2. Nel 2021 stabile la povertà assoluta. https://www.istat.it/it/files/2022/03/STAT_TODAY_POVERTA-ASSOLUTA_2021.pdf
3.Le statistiche dell’ISTAT sulla povertà | anno 2021 https://www.istat.it/it/files/2022/06/Report_Povert%C3%A0_2021_14-06.pdf
4. Simeoni S, Frova L, De Curtis M. Inequalities in infant mortality in Italy
Ital J Pediatr . 2019 Jan 11;45(1):11. doi: 10.1186/s13052-018-0594-6.
5. Child health inequalities driven by child poverty in the UK – position statement. Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. 21 September 2022. https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/child-health-inequalities-position-sta…
6. Barouki R, Gluckman PD, Grandjean Pet al. Developmental origins of non-communicable disease: implications for research and public health.
Environ Health. 2012 Jun 27;11:42. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-11-42.
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