We need new tools and hypothetical models to study the ecology of disease, and we need interdisciplinary professionals from medicine, public health, economics and the social sciences to collaborate. This can't be shoved under the desk or put on hold because the maps show in color the disparities that children in the Deep South face every day.

Hurricane Katrina gave the world a glimpse of the disparities in the South. Our research documents just how profoundly these disparities impact the health of children in the region.

These policies, which consign 50 percent of children to poverty, neglect quality early education, generate huge income disparities, result in homelessness and limit access to quality nutrition and critical health services, may differentiate children in the South from those in other regions.