Children from disadvantaged families lag behind their classmates in terms of general development. This decreases their chances of finding a decent job and may cause a vicious cycle to emerge. The traditional focus for narrowing this gap is on better schooling and closer monitoring. This paper on the other hand, shows that health policy can also be a powerful lever. Health problems occur more frequently with children from poorer families and have, when they arise, a more negative impact on the development of the child. One relevant policy issue surfaces in the mean time: in frameworks such as the valuable Marshall plan for Wallonia, it is probably better to foresee, in addition to fiscal and more general economic measures, a chapter on the health problems of disadvantaged children.

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