Childrens Health on the Down
Kaitlin Dryburgh
Earlier this month the Academy of Medical Sciences released a report that highlighted the declining health of children throughout the UK. It makes for sad reading, yet not surprising, unfortunately.
Among the worrying truths were a significant decrease in the amount of young people getting vaccinated, which now places the UK below World Health Organisation’s safety threshold levels. A fifth of all children aged five are overweight or obese, with numbers seemingly on the rise. Mental health services are not able to deal with the vast number of referrals coming their way and it seems that the number of young children in need of services continues to grow. The report also looked at the dentistry crisis and its influence over the lack of care being provided to young children, and the subsequent increase in tooth decay.
Prof Helen Minnis of Glasgow University and co-chair of the report said: “Child deaths are rising, infant survival lags behind comparable countries, and preventable physical and mental health issues plague our youngest citizens”. Why in such a rich country are we content with an increase in child death.
It’s so depressing to think this is the case, yet when you’ve got an NHS on its knees and a cost of living crisis in the midst what could you expect. And as usual the most vulnerable in our society are always the first to get knocked-down.
It doesn’t take a scientist to see the links between the cost-of-living crisis and health. For example a rise in the Victorian disease rickets signals a decline in diets. This “poverty disease” is caused by a deficiency in vitamin D, and since the Scottish sun isn’t a frequent visitor diet is extremely important. In 2022 it was announced Scotland had an increase in cases to 442, with the majority (354 cases) of them originating from the Greater Glasgow area. Rickets isn’t the only Victorian era disease on the rise, as scarlet fever and tuberculosis are also on the rise. All of these are preventable disease, which are symptomatic of poverty.
For Scotland, a place where diet and food has always been a sticking point, since we are synonymous with the deep-fried Mars bar, obesity and more specifically child-obesity has been a policy issue for some time. Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stated that she wished to halve child obesity in Scotland by 2030, this was back in May 2018. Well we’re six years into the goal and six years away from the deadline, and things are not looking good. In 2018 when the grand goal was first announced children at risk of obesity stood at 14%, meaning we are aiming for 7% by 2030. Unfortunately, all data is pointing to an increase to 18% (2021/2022), in fact when looking at primary one children in isolation the percentage of them at risk of being overweight or obese increases to 22%. We still have the ability to meet the 7% goal, however it will remain stubbornly high as long as inflation keeps food prices higher than usual. For the families struggling to get food on the table, the unfortunate truth is that the most unhealthy food presents better 'value for money' than fresh food.
High obesity in children isn’t simply down to a child over eating but eating the wrong types of foods and inactivity. Children not getting enough exercise is one prevalent reason. There could be many causes of this, and most cases of children not getting enough exercise happens in a deprived areas. There is less disposable money to go towards after school activities, clubs etc. Additionally, families may have less time to participate In these activities.
But at least we aren’t closing down council run leisure buildings, cutting budgets for youth clubs etc, and in this time of failing health we’ve seen the value in preventative measures. Its good to see that we’ve gone for long-term saving instead of short-term cuts. Oh wait, that’s not quite right is it.
No, instead we still refuse to learn our lessons.
There was many explanations as to why Scotland had to ride out a higher excess mortality rate during Covid compared to the likes of other Western European countries, but one of the most prevalent reasons was they were healthier than us to begin with. It is easier to fight illness and altogether avoid it when you are a healthy bodied person. But that’s not what we’re creating when it comes to our children. The effects of closing the local swimming pool or sports hall could have grave long-term effects and seriously impact children’s access to exercise. As a rainy country having indoor spaces is quite frankly a must.
Scottish children who are growing up with an increased risk of rickets, tooth decay and obesity are unfortunately in the line for further health complications down the road. That is simply not good enough. But on top of the moral obligation to ensure children grow up healthy and happy, there is a monetary cost to it. In 2022 the annual cost of obesity to Scotland grew to £5.3bn according to social charity Nesta. That figure also accounts for £4.1bn value lost to people through a reduced quality of life. It also means a £776m annual cost to the NHS and £459m cost to wider society. If we don’t stop trends in their current tracks then we’ll be mounting the pressure on an NHS which simply can’t handle it.
Preventative health policy is not a new phenomenon and may countries have successfully deployed it. Iceland for example also had high obesity rates, higher than the US at one point, and instead of looking to bolster the health service and invest in new drugs they expanded the access to sports and leisure buildings. The World Health Organisation believes that increasing the amount of exercise we do could save us billions as it positively effects our health.
Other preventative measures include restricting the prevalence of promotions on unhealthy food, something that the Scottish Government had previously committed to. Buy-one-get-one-free promotions, among others, remain a hindrance in the face of activists trying to create a healthier Scotland. They also appeal highly to children.
Unfortunately, the declining health of Scottish children isn't a surprise but it's defiantly not something we should accept. We need to do better by the young people in society, especially for those who haven't had the easiest start in life.