title: The relevance of U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child for Child Health: a matter of equity and social justice.
abstract: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a universally accepted tool to understand the social underpinnings of child health that medicine alone cannot address. Injustices plague U.S. society: Child poverty has been increasing since 2000, and the gap between the wealthiest and poorest is growing. Poverty is a toxic stress on child health and well-being. Three articles from the CRC help frame how to address this: nondiscrimination, the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and access to health care, and the right to a standard of living adequate for complete development.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kasper
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002651:Child Advocacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014943:Global Health; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D011203:Poverty; D012935:Social Justice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014480:United Nations; D014481:United States