Warnings of grave impacts on children’s health from energy price rises should prompt anger as well as practical support
Adding to existing worries about the cost of living, the implications of the latest report from the Institute of Health Equity are deeply alarming. Its author, Prof Michael Marmot, spells out the links between rising fuel poverty and various forms of illness, and warns that the threat is greatest for those who are already least well-off. By January next year, 55% of UK households, or 15 million, are expected to be fuel-poor (though a change in the way this is officially defined in England, and differences with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, make comparisons difficult).
Warnings of surging demand at food banks, and a backdrop of acute concern about the growing gap between incomes and prices, make the picture drawn by the report all the bleaker. It predicts worsening respiratory and mental health for children in affected homes, and highlights the increased circulation of viruses and infections, including bronchiolitis, associated with colder temperatures. The contribution of damp and mould to asthma is also pointed out. So are links between poverty, cold, poor housing and mental illness.
