With child health issues in the news so much lately, we thought we’d use our first substantive post to discuss CFCC’s work with urban child health. CFCC’s annual Urban Child Symposium this year is entitled Health and the Urban Child: Diagnosing Problems and Prescribing Solutions. It takes place at the University of Baltimore School of Law on April 1st. We have an impressive roster of experts, practitioners, and policymakers who plan to discuss the unique, acute health challenges faced by urban children and to brainstorm potential solutions.

Two matters important to urban child health have made headlines in Maryland recently – disparities between suburban and urban health and the growing obesity problem. Both of these issues are on the agenda for this year’s symposium.

Disparities Between Suburban and Urban Child Health

The inspiration for making urban child health the focus of the symposium is an understanding of the exceptional health challenges that urban children face as a direct result of living in urban environments. For example, many urban children lack the basic resources necessary to stay healthy, including affordable and nutritious food, safe areas where they can exercise, and high quality medical care. At the same time, they confront problems such as poverty, lead paint poisoning, pollution, substance abuse, and violence.

Our three panels of doctors, professors, advocates, and policymakers are slated to lead discussion on how these unique features of the urban child’s environment can cause large health disparities between urban and suburban children and what we can do to help.

Obesity and Nutrition-Related Conditions

Obesity is an increasingly serious health problem for urban children, partially as a result of a lack of access to nutritious food and a lack of safe areas where children can exercise. Two speakers on our “Nutrition and Environmental Conditions” panel are going to address exactly these issues, one of whom is quoted in the nutritious food article. Click on the links above to read recent articles from the Baltimore Sun about these issues.

CFCC would like to invite and encourage you to join the conversation to address and propose remedies for some of these daunting issues, either by registering for the symposium or commenting on this and any future posts.