Social paediatrics deals with health and disease determinants. The social and economic environment in which children are born, live, and develop determines their opportunities for a healthy diet, education, and care, which allows them to satisfy their physical, mental, emotional, and social needs for growth, development, and quality of life. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world these conditions do not exist, and this is an expression of social injustice.

This photograph, taken in Argentina and forming part of a series, reflects an aspect of a universal reality of children living in poverty and in social exclusion. The selected images were taken within the framework of the social conflict denominated as “piquetes”, an expression of the social claim of those who were excluded as a consequence of the neoliberal policies implemented in the region. The mass media generally depicts stigmatising images of aggressive protestors with sticks in their hands, surrounded by wheels in flames. These photos attempt to show the other face, or “the why” of the protest: children demanding a better quality of life, work, health, education, housing, and dignity.

The series of photographs is called “Pequeños piqueteros” (Little “piqueteros”).

Children asking for better health and quality of life (photo credit: Xavier Kriscautzky, Argentina).