Poor housing reason for high asthma rate in the UK

One in twelve children in Britain is at increased risk of developing asthma and other respiratory diseases because of poor housing, according to a new report by Shelter.


The homelessness charity found that more than one million children in England, Wales and Scotland are living in accommodation that jeopardises their health, because it is damp, cold, dirty or infested. People with asthma are twice as likely to live in damp homes, says the report, 'Toying with their future'. Children living in these conditions are also more at risk of developing TB and bronchitis.


'My 10-year-old's asthma is getting worse because of the damp,' one mother in Flintshire was quoted as saying. 'Mould is growing on the carpets and I have to spend loads on heating instead of proper food for my kids.'


'The kids have got used to it because they've grown up here,' said another. 'But if they go to somebody else's house they come back and say why is our flat all black down the walls and theirs' isn't?'


The number of homeless families has increased by 17% since 1997, said Shelter; over a million houses are not fit to live in and more than half a million families live in housing that is officially overcrowded.



The charity said that the rise in house prices and the depletion of affordable social housing means that the number of people living in emergency accommodation has reached record levels.



The UK has the highest rates of childhood asthma in the world, with one in eight children currently being treated for the condition. Research has shown a clear association between poverty and asthma.



'We know that asthma is affected by factors associated with poorer socioeconomic backgrounds and social exclusion, such as damp housing,' said Kate Webb, senior policy and information officer at the National Asthma Campaign.



'Asthma is the most common long term medical condition among children in the UK today,' she added. 'All agencies should be working together to ensure that kids' health does not suffer because of their living environment.



'We shouldn't just be thinking about the asthma symptoms that children are experiencing today, but also about the long-term lung damage that this may be causing.'



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