A Review of Preventative Interventions to Reduce Child Health Inequalities among Disadvantaged Groups

Improving child health and reducing health inequalities is a global public health priority. It is paramount for low socioeconomic and minority ethnic groups where social disadvantage is strongly associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. This underscores the need to identify effective interventions to improve child health and reduce inequalities among disadvantaged groups. Encouraging maternal behaviours that promote health in early childhood is a key objective in this regard. This paper presents a review of the international literature on the effectiveness of healthcare interventions to improve child health in 3 public health areas that display clear inequalities: the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding; smoking cessation in pregnancy; and the identification and management of postnatal depression.

Despite the priority placed on reducing health, there is a paucity of evidence and a significant gap in the knowledge base relating to effective interventions to improve child health among disadvantaged groups in the domains studied. No studies directly measured the effect of interventions on reducing health inequalities. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.