Poverty, public health cuts, and Brexit risk halting progress on child health, college warns

Child poverty, cuts to public health services, and uncertainties around the impact of Brexit could undermine progress being made on improving child health in the UK, paediatricians have warned.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s State of Child Health: Two Years On1 scorecard assesses progress against recommendations made in its State of Child Health report2 in 2017. The college praised the government for its emphasis on child health, but identified several major risks and a mixed picture across the four UK nations.

Russell Viner, president of the college, said: “We are witnessing …