'Nursery school dropouts': Poverty as a health crisis for many of America's kids

America’s pediatricians are sounding an alarm about what they call “the most important problem facing children in the U.S. today”: childhood poverty, which they say is a serious threat to children’s physical and mental health, and a barrier to their development, achievement, and future. Dr. Benard Dreyer, Professor of pediatrics at New York University and co-chair of the Academic Pediatric Association task force on childhood poverty, has been taking care of children, many of them quite poor, for nearly four decades. He spoke recently to NBC News about how and why childhood and family poverty can contribute to everything from obesity to poor performance in school, and can have a lasting effect on a child’s chances later in life. http://inplainsight.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/06/19489097-nursery-school-dropouts-poverty-as-a-health-crisis-for-many-of-americas-kids?lite