The Guardian reports on children living in extreme poverty in Washington, DC, facing hunger, housing insecurity, and homelessness, pointing to rising income inequality as a driver of poverty and insecurity: “Experts pointed to the lack of affordable housing as a major driver of this inequity. The office of the DC Chief Financial Officer released data in June showing that the median price for a detached single-family home grew 10.9% in the previous year, reaching a dizzying $809,500. The Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors has also reported that the city’s median home prices set new records this year. Michael L Ferrell, the executive director of the DC Coalition for the Homeless, said the city’s home prices have escalated to the point that many DC families considered to be “working poor” can no longer afford housing. “The number one reason is the lack of affordable housing. That’s not just in the district but around the country,” Ferrell said… “There’s an extraordinary ripple effect,” [Judith] Sandalow said. “The dominoes are stacked very close together for low- and middle-income families in DC. And when one domino falls, you can watch them all cascade so that the child’s family stability, health, education and housing all fall apart.””

Children separated from their parents the US-Mexico border last year suffered distress, feelings of abandonment, and many showed signs of post-traumatic stress, according to a new report from the inspector general’s office at the Department of Health and Human Services. "You get a lot of 'my chest hurts,' even though everything is fine" medically, a clinician told investigators. The children would describe emotional symptoms: "Every heartbeat hurts," or "I can't feel my heart." … The watchdog said the longer children were in custody, the more their mental health deteriorated, and it recommended minimizing that time. It also suggested creating better mental health care options and hiring more trained staff.” Another report by the inspector general’s office found that basic child safeguarding procedures were not followed and thousands of childcare workers were given access to vulnerable children without undergoing thorough background checks. “Child psychiatrist Dr. Gilbert Kliman, who interviewed dozens of migrant children in shelters after zero-tolerance took effect, told the PBS series "Frontline" and The Associated Press that the kids can move on with their lives after reunifying with parents but may never get over it. As children they have night terrors, separation anxiety, trouble concentrating. As they become adults, they face greater risks of mental and physical challenges, from depression to cancer. Among the separated children, he foresees "an epidemic of physical, psychosomatic health problems that are costly to society as well as to the individual child grown up. I call it a vast, cruel experiment on the backs of children."”

Sarah Varney of Kaiser Health News reports on how U.S. companies are exporting their opioid sales strategies to India, creating a growing pain management market and spurring opioid addiction. “As major pharmaceutical companies look to capitalize on the opportunity, the playbook unfolding in India seems familiar. Earnest advocates share heartbreaking stories of suffering patients; physicians and pharmaceutical companies champion pain relief for cancer patients and persuade regulators to grant greater access to powerful opioids; well-meaning pain doctors open clinics; shady pain clinics follow; and a spigot of prescription opioids opens – first addressing legitimate medical uses but soon spilling into the streets and onto the black market. A looming deluge of addictive painkillers terrifies some Indian medical professionals, who are keenly aware that despite government regulations most drugs are available for petty cash at local chemist shops.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned consumers not to purchase “bootleg” e-cigarette and cannabis cartridges as healthcare providers are treating a surge of acute respiratory illnesses tied to vaping. So far, two people have died due to severe respiratory disease after vaping. The New York Times reports that “the illnesses have focused attention on a trend that has been overshadowed by the intense public concern about soaring teenage use of e-cigarettes, with its potential for hooking a new generation on nicotine: the rise of the vaping device itself. It has introduced a wholesale change in how people consume nicotine or marijuana, by inhaling vaporized ingredients… “Inhaling oil into your lungs is extremely dangerous behavior that could result in death,” said Thomas Eissenberg, who studies vaping at Virginia Commonwealth University. “That is probably the biggest message we can get out of this… Basically what the F.D.A. should be doing is testing every one of these liquids to see if they have any oil at all and making a regulation that would ban oil in any of these products, whether it is a THC product or a nicotine product.”

A new study from New York University that draws on New York City’s Medicaid database finds that low-income children growing up in gentrifying neighborhoods were more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety or depression than low-income children growing up in neighborhoods that are not gentrifying. ‘“We see it as a red flag,” says Ingrid Gould Ellen, professor of urban policy and planning and director of NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. “It might be that gentrification is bringing changes to neighborhoods that make original residents feel like they no longer belong in those neighborhoods, which makes kids feel uncomfortable and anxious. That is something to watch out for.” Parents might lose reliable access to childcare or healthcare providers as neighborhoods change. They might worry about rising costs of living or suffer greater burdens even if they aren’t displaced. Especially when families are pushed to choose lower quality housing in order to stay, children may suffer. And kids see change happening around them, too. One constant across both of these recent NYU studies of New York’s Medicaid database: Section 8 works. Children living in families who receive housing subsidies have more security. Low-income families with housing aid suffered less displacement than low-income families living in market-rate housing. And low-income children with housing aid suffered less anxiety as a result of gentrification than low-income children living in market-rate housing. Those are huge findings that should guide policy debates about alleviating poverty and expanding opportunity.”