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As Prices Rise, Eos Grantee Highlights Impact on Children’s Health

June 2008

From gas and oil to food, the price of commodities has skyrocketed, putting many low-income Massachusetts families at risk. Eos Foundation grantee Children's Healthwatch (Formerly C-SNAP) is a nonpartisan public policy center that conducts original research to advance children's health and well-being. It has become a leading voice on healthy childhood development, and the factors that too often prevent it. Their work is especially critical in the wake of a recent Boston Globe story predicting a 30% increase in this winter’s natural gas and heating oil costs. Massachusetts residents are likely to pay nearly $1 billion more than last year, and the average oil bill in the state could top $3000 per household.

Last fall, Children's Healthwatch founder Dr. Deborah Frank and former Congressman Joe Kennedy outlined the implications for children’s health and nutrition in a Boston Globe op-ed piece) about the “heat or eat” dilemma, in which high heating prices force families to choose between buying food and keeping their homes warm.

In March, Frank testified to Congress as a representative of Children's Healthwatch, urging them to expand the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which she called “a child survival program, a child health program, a child nutrition program, and a child development program.” Indeed, federal research shows that both rich and poor families increase their spending on energy during the coldest months—but poor families offset that expense by buying less food, with an average 10% reduction in caloric intake.  That can lead to malnutrition among children at the most vulnerable points in their development. Frank noted that long before the current energy crisis, Children's Healthwatch researchers found a 30% increase in the number of underweight infants and toddlers in the Boston Medical Center emergency room in the three months following the coldest part of the year.

The rising cost of food itself is also putting children’s health at risk. In June, a Boston Globe editorial made the case for increasing the value of food stamps by citing Children's Healthwatch research that showed young children in “food insecure” families are 30% more likely to be hospitalized than their peers with access to enough healthy food. As fall approaches, temperatures drop, and costs continue to mount, Children's Healthwatch will continue to serve as a strong voice on behalf of low-income children and families.

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