Pregnant women paid to eat

September 09, 2007

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PREGNANT women are to be offered grants to spend on wholesome food as a way of improving the health prospects of their unborn child, it was revealed.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson will announce the plan for a "Health in Pregnancy Grant" in a speech this week outlining plans to reduce health inequalities between the richest and poorest in England and Wales.

A Department of Health spokesman confirmed that he hoped to have the scheme in operation by about 2009, but was unable to confirm reports in The Observer that the level of the one-off payment would be set at £120. The paper estimated the cost of the initiative at £70-£80 million a year.

The cash will be given to all mothers to be seven months into their pregnancy, accompanied by professional health advice on maintaining a balanced diet. Women will be encouraged to spend the money on fruit and vegetables.

But they are expected to be free to spend the cash as they see fit, even on unhealthy products like cigarettes and alcohol.

Advice

The Department of Health spokesman said: "It is something that would be put in place in conjunction with health professionals who already visit pregnant women with healthy diet advice."

A report from former government NHS adviser Sir Derek Wanless is this week expected to call for action to change unhealthy lifestyles in order to reverse Britain's growing obesity problem.

Mr Johnson is expected to say on Thursday that almost one in 12 babies in England and Wales are born underweight, sometimes because their growth in the womb has been retarded by a lack of nutrients.

This not only increases the danger of dying in infancy, but puts them at greater risk of long-term heart problems, diabetes, lung conditions and cognitive disorders.

Good idea or waste or waste of money? Have your say below.

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ace, manchester (09/09/2007 at 11:49)

Why not give us all grants for healthy food? what a joke people if pregnant or not should eat healthy .you dont need extra money to eat healthy. this lunatic government is totally daft.fresh food dosnt cost much more than frozen/mass produced foods.Offer the mothers free fruit/fresh food but not money and watch them refuse it.

Laddy The Gorton Rat, Gorton (09/09/2007 at 12:16)

This is a fantastic idea ! give parents all the money from the public purse !

ace, manchester (09/09/2007 at 13:40)

It would be cheaper to teach themm to cook fresh food and to show them what a cooker is for? and tell them that not all food comes in boxes/frozen .And while your educating these mothers to cook show them how to budget money each week ..fags and booze comes after food and bills.

gazzo, salford (09/09/2007 at 14:30)

yeah an extra £120 to spend on crack, weed, and booze roll on

Joey, Ashton under Lyne, (09/09/2007 at 15:59)

"Women will be encouraged to spend the money on fruit and vegetables".

I do believe I have now heard everything!

They have to wait till 7 months to pay the 120 pounds because they can legally terminate upto 24 weeks (nearly six months) in the time between six months and seven months many tens of thousands of premature babies will be born to mothers not getting a penny. It is just another way to be proflagate with taxpayers money once again.

It is when the baby is being formed that good nutrition is wanted - but because of the outcry of giving money and then having the baby aborted it is not possible to give the money when it is most needed.

Pippa, Manchester (09/09/2007 at 16:56)

ALL pegnant women? What a waste of money. Surely, at the very least, it would be more logical to give supermarket food vouchers to those who NEED the money, not just give £120 to spend on anything. Even then, you couldn't guarantee healthy food was being bought, so what's the point ? Perhaps a bag of Granny Smiths and a bunch of bananas should be given out every time they go to clinic ?

GARFIELD (09/09/2007 at 18:31)

i am seriously missing out here because i choose not to have children but would like a healthy diet. Where is my incentive to buy more healthy food. This goverment is getting worse by the day if you can get yoursf knocked up then you can go out and buy an apple yourself not spend my hardworking money/tax on daft things like that.

Dave Pickup (09/09/2007 at 21:06)

Is curry classed as a healthy food?

Dave Pickup (09/09/2007 at 21:10)

I am certain that one of the qualifications to become an MP is to have an IQ of less than twenty!

classiuk, manchester (10/09/2007 at 07:32)

ive never heard anything so stupid in all my life.....give tokens like they do with milk, and then they will only be able to buy fruit and veg....but surley the money goverment give out now is enuff to get fruit and veg.....get to aldi

Ms D, Manchester (10/09/2007 at 07:33)

Hang on ! I agree with the drive to get all people to eat healthier and especially pregnant women but why is this being paid from the public purse ? There are more deserving causes for this money like pensioners who sometimes cannot afford to eat good healthy food during the winter. Eating healthier is cheaper anyway than takeways and fast food. I can make a nutricious soup or casserole for the whole family for less than a fiver. How much does pizza or KFC rubbish cost for a whole family ? This is ridiculous !

alvinlwh (10/09/2007 at 10:00)

gazzo, salford

I agree with you! It seem that these days, the only people getting pregnant are teenagers on council estates!

AH, Manchester (10/09/2007 at 15:31)

why dont the government devise an initiative to lower the price of fresh fruit and healthy food and increase the cost of junk like macdonalds? and follow onto that devise an initiative to make mums cook more fresh food instead of warming tins of processed junk? They who knows, they might even start thinking about growing their own food.

AH, Manchester (10/09/2007 at 15:36)

It would only be fair that if a pregant woman received £120 and the baby was born underweight because their growth in the womb has been retarded by a lack of nutrients, then the mother should repay the £120 back to the government.

The Catcher, In the Rye (10/09/2007 at 15:41)

I think we all know that the money will go on fags, white lightning, bingo and burgers in some areas. What a waste of public money.

Remember the good old days when you were having a kid and you used to support yourself, do the right thing for you and your baby?

This is just another symptom of broken society.

Manchester by Day (10/09/2007 at 16:36)

What a ridiculous waste of public money. This government comes up with more ways of wasting our money - this will equate to over £70m per year.

Jimc (11/09/2007 at 10:15)

This is just another way of securing votes. The goverment already hand out enough incentives for young girls to get pregnant. Why more incentive is needed, god only knows what goes through MP'S minds, they must sit there in the houses of parliment, sipping on subsidised alchohol, smoking thier big fat cigars, cunjoring up ways of taking people around the corner.

The Catcher, In the Rye (11/09/2007 at 11:28)

The payments should go only to married women - at least make a stab at stopping idel girls having kids to avoid the dreaded world of work.

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