Pediatricians are being told to ask patients about more than just how they’re feeling.
They’re being told to ask them if they're financially healthy.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a set of recommendations today that urge pediatricians to screen their patients for poverty.
The goal is to reduce the health problems that many times come along with poverty, including obesity, asthma, poor language development, injuries, depression, and psychiatric disorders.
Dr. Ben Gitterman, chairman of the AAP’s Council on Community Pediatrics and one of the lead authors on the new policy, described the recommendations as the ultimate in preventative medicine.
“This is why it really matters,” he told Healthline.
Others agreed.
“The recommendations are completely in line and appropriate with all the research showing how much impact poverty can have on children,” Laura Segal, director of public relations for Trust for America’s Health, told Healthline. “It’s exciting to see pediatricians taking a lead on this issue.”
[For more of this story, written by David Mills, go to http://www.healthline.com/heal...-to-tackle-poverty#1]
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