Children from low-income and racial or ethnicminority populations in the U.S. are less likely to
have a conventional source of medical care and more likely to develop chronic health problems than are
more-affluent and non-Hispanic white children. They are more often chronically stressed, tired, and
hungry, and more likely to have impaired vision and hearing—obstacles to lifetime educational
achievement and predictors of adult morbidity and premature mortality. If school-based health centers
(SBHCs) can overcome educational obstacles and increase receipt of needed medical services in
disadvantaged populations, they can advance health equity.