Publication: Inequalitites in Child Health : Are We Narrowing the Gap?
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2003-05
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2003-05
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This paper reviews what is known about the causes of socioeconomic inequalities in child health and thus the points where programs aimed at reducing child health inequalities should be focused. The proximate determinants affect child health directly and include food and nutrition, indoor air pollution, hygiene and other preventive activities, and care during illness. The underlying determinants affect outcomes indirectly through their effect on the proximate determinants, and include financial barriers, health care provision, maternal education, and water, sanitation and the home environment. The authors review the socioeconomic distribution of both determinants and find that for most determinants, poor children fare significantly worse than their better-off peers. We also overview what is known about the success of actual programs in narrowing socioeconomic inequalities in child health. The paper ends with lessons learned and with a call for action - for a new approach to improving the health of all children that is evidence-based, broad, and multifaceted, and for the development of better evidence on how programs can reduce child health inequalities.
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“Bustreo, Flavia; Wagstaff, Adam; Bryce, Jennifer; Claeson, Mariam; Axelsson, Henrik. 2003. Inequalitites in Child Health : Are We Narrowing the Gap?. HNP discussion paper series;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13712 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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