Rural children, low-income children, and nonwhite children have less access to health care than their urban, high-income, white counterparts, although they are at higher risk for health-related problems (Aday and Andersen, 1984). For example, many researchers attribute the deadly resurgence of measles and tuberculosis among the poor to a lack of affordable, accessible health care and crowded, unsanitary housing. In addition, due to hazardous and polluted surroundings, inner-city children may be at increased risk of lead exposure (Mielke et al., 1983); homeless children in particular are at high risk for a variety of health problems, including elevated lead levels (Alperstein, Rappaport, and Flanigan, 1988) and tuberculosis (Centers for Disease Control, 1985).
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