Citation

Seaman J, Maguire S. Br. Med. J. BMJ 2005; 331(7507): 34-36.

Affiliation

s_r_maguire@yahoo.co.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/bmj.331.7507.34

PMID

15994690

PMCID

PMC558538

Abstract

Children are more vulnerable to communicable diseases and environmental exposure than adults, have special dietary needs, and are generally dependent on their family for their material and emotional support. Many of the most severe emergencies occur in poor countries. Poverty tends to exacerbate the impact of emergencies of all types: poor people live in low quality, damage-prone housing, often on marginal land at risk of landslide or flood. The children of the poor tend to have low nutritional status, increased exposure to communicable disease, low immunisation rates, high levels of intestinal parasites, and limited access to health care.