An Urgent Call to Action: Building a Better America and World by Prioritizing Children's Health, Health Care, and Well-Being

Although it should be self-evident, children are our future. They are our future workforce, economy, caretakers as we age, and intellectual capital, and the legacy that we leave behind long after we are gone. But we are failing our children, globally as well as in America. Globally, 423 million children (20%) live in extreme poverty, accounting for half of the world's extreme poor, although comprising only one-third of the world's population. In almost every country in the world, children are more likely than adults to be living in poverty, and in the world's richest countries, 1 in 4 children lives in poverty. One in 5 US children (or 20%, equivalent to 14.1 million) lives in poverty, a rate that has risen 2% since 2009. We must draw inspiration from the struggles and victories of our patients and families. We need to seek to transform these encounters and relationships into opportunities for advocacy and policy