Poor child hygiene ‘could be contributing to family debt’

A child’s poor hygiene could be adding to a family’s financial worries and even putting them at risk of debt, a family health expert has warned.

Dr Carol Cooper has said that youngsters who have to take time off school due to poor cleanliness may be affecting their parents’ pockets if they have to take unpaid leave to look after their offspring.

She explained that this country as a whole has 17.5 million days lost by young people in education because “almost one child in three misses up to a fortnight in school with common illnesses and infections like coughs, colds, flues and vomiting viruses”.

Over 40 per cent of carers are forced to take time off work to monitor these sick kids, she added.

According to a recent press release from Carex, improved hygiene could have prevented 30 per cent of primary school children from missing their education classes.

By Joe Shervin