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Meningitis 'link' to poor housing

 

Poor housing can have long-term health effects, Shelter warns

Children who live in overcrowded housing are up to 10 times more

likely to contract meningitis, a report from the housing charity

Shelter reveals.

It has reviewed research into the effects of poor housing on

children.

 

The report warns children in bad housing have up to a 25% higher risk

of severe ill-health and disability during childhood and early

adulthood.

 

A government spokesman said helping children out of bad housing was

an ongoing priority.

 

Children trapped in bad housing have the odds stacked against them

 

Graeme Brown, Shelter

 

It has pledged to end child poverty by 2020, but Shelter warns

policies have not backed up the promises.

 

The charity estimates there are now more than one million children

living in bad housing; in temporary accommodation, overcrowded

conditions or where the home is damp, cold or infested.

 

Living in damp and overcrowded surroundings puts children at a higher

risk of viral or bacterial infections, including bacterial

meningitis, its report revealed.

 

The risks of tuberculosis and respiratory problems, including

wheezing and asthma, are also higher.

 

'Robbed of their future'

 

The report cites research showing one in three people who had lived

in overcrowded housing at the age of seven suffered from a

respiratory disease at the age of 33.

 

Shelter warns bad housing is also linked to a three to four times

higher risk of mental health problems.

 

The report calls for 20,000 more social homes to give homeless and

badly housed children a better future.

 

Lisa Harker, the report author said: " The government has very strong

policies regarding improving children's life chances.

 

" But housing doesn't feature very heavily. "

 

Graeme Brown from Shelter added: " Children trapped in bad housing

have the odds stacked against them.

 

" Without the security of a decent home, they lose out on vital

schooling, endure mental and physical ill-health and fall into a

cycle of social exclusion and poverty. "

 

Linda Glennie, head of research and medical information for the

Meningitis Research Foundation, said: " This report supports previous

evidence that overcrowding and social deprivation can be a factor in

increased risk from meningitis.

 

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government

said: " Hundreds of thousands of children have been lifted out of bad

housing, thanks to the major programme of refurbishment to council

housing since 1997 and we are determined to go further.

 

" We need to address the desperate problems of overcrowding and we

welcome Shelter's support for our proposals to raise overcrowding

standards and to build more family homes for the future. "