The majority of women who smoke while they are pregnant are teenagers living in the poorest parts of the UK, according to State of Child Health report published by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) which reveals that one in five children in Britain are living in abject poverty.
Troubling report from @RCPCHtweets on the distressing scale of health deficit in poorer children #childhealthmatters https://t.co/4zGcSsPlV2
— Matthew Reed (@matthewreedblog) January 26, 2017
In Scotland, more than a quarter of all mothers admitted to smoking after they had a baby.
Nearly half of all children living in the poorest parts of England are also classed as overweight or obese, this can lead to health complications in later life including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
"A bleak picture of the state of child health in the UK": our reaction to @RCPCHtweets report https://t.co/6C5Nrjc3Vx #childhealthmatters
— RSPH (@R_S_P_H) January 26, 2017
The report, which offers a grim snapshot of society in Britain gets even grimmer.
"There is a strong association between deprivation and the risk of death throughout childhood, with children in deprived areas more likely to die."
Included in the report is the prediction that the number of children living in poverty in the UK will rise above the current level of one in five. One of the report's 'key messages' is to urgently introduce strategies to reduce poverty "and to mitigate its impact on child health outcomes."
"All professionals caring for children should advocate for and support policies that reduce child poverty" and "Governments must introduce comprehensive programs to reduce child poverty," the report states.
Professor Neena Modi, president of the RCPCH said: "Children living in the most deprived areas are much more likely to be in poor health, be overweight or obese, suffer from asthma, have poorly managed diabetes, experience mental health problems an die early."
"The UK is one of the richest countries in the world; we can and must do better, for the sake for each individual, and that of the nation as a whole," Professor Modi said.
Meanwhile Lord John Bird, founder and CEO of Big Issue magazine, and an individual who has had coalface experience of poverty and government policy told Sputnik in an interview commemorating the Big Issue's birthday, that there was little "political will" to do anything about poverty in Britain.
Lord Bird, said that his job in the House of Lords was to "dismantle poverty" but finds the political parties and the political will to do anything about poverty, "too short-term and too small minded."
"We need an intellectual climate to drive poverty out," Lord Bird said, "we need a cradle to the grave philosophy to dismantle poverty but we haven't moved on intellectually from the 12th century."
The report published by the RCPCH has been hailed as a "landmark" publication, bringing data together for the first time on list of measures of child health, from obesity to breastfeeding, diabetes to death.
And while it might make for gloomy reading, the RCPCH says the data provides an "across the board" snapshot of child health and well-being in the UK.
