Kids in City of Manchester more likely to be trapped in poverty than many southern areas
A University of Manchester expert is calling on the government to tackle this health inequality
Children in parts Greater Manchester are far more likely to be trapped in poverty than in other parts of the country.
In fact, twice as many children in places like inner-city Manchester are living below the bread line compared to some towns down south.
This is according to a new study by Health Equity North - who are raising awareness of healthy inequality across the North/South divide.
Here are their findings for the city of Manchester:
- 44.7% of children aged 0-15 are living in poverty
- 43.8% of year 6 children are overweight of obese
- The infant mortality rate is at 6.7%
Children born in Kensington and Chelsea in comparison have a poverty rate of nearly half of this - at 23.4%, their obesity percentage is at 37.3% and their infant mortality rate is less than half of the inner-city Manchester rate - at 2.9%.
Luke Munford - Health Lecturer at University of Manchester and researcher at Health Equity North says:
"We know that children born into poverty typically have lower exam results because their parents don't have the resources to invest in education with things like books and computers.
"Even small things we might think as inconsequential like parents reading stories - because people in poverty have much less time on their hands they don't have the opportunity to read to their kids.
"Going forward - I think we do need a combined co-ordinated approach from central government to tackle health and poverty inequalities that exist."