Child health

Throughout 2023/24, the Academy of Medical Sciences has been undertaking a major policy project involving researchers, charities, policymakers, health and care professionals, parents and carers to examine the impact of intervening in the early years (from preconception up to age five) on the health and prosperity of the nation.

The first report, published in February 2024, brings together the current evidence of the impact of the early years on long-term mental and physical health and highlights examples of effective, evidence-based interventions that can be made to improve child and lifelong health. 

The report, co-chaired by Professor Helen Minnis FMedSci and Professor Sir Andrew Pollard FMedSci, recommends urgent actions that should be taken to have the biggest impact on children’s health now and to secure the health and prosperity of the nation in the future.

Download the report here or from the downloads section of this page.

Child health in the UK is deteriorating. In recent years, the infant survival rate in the UK has stalled and is worse than in 60% of similar countries. There is higher demand for children’s mental health services, an increase in the number of children who have obesity and a decrease in children having vaccinations, and tooth decay remains the leading cause of children’s hospital admissions. 

Every child has the right to a safe and healthy childhood. Health and wellbeing in the early years of life lay a solid foundation for adulthood, bringing health and economic benefits to the whole of society. Current and future UK Governments must prioritise improving health and wellbeing and reducing inequalities in the first five years of life. 

To do so, the Academy recommends that the following five priorities are urgently addressed:

• Implementing effective interventions to improve child health and wellbeing and promoting research to identify further approaches.
• Establishing a unifying vision across Government for the early years to overcome policy silos.
• Addressing the decline in the child and family health workforce and fragmentation across sectors to deliver effective services for children.
• Collecting, improving access to, and linking a broader range of data to facilitate research into interventions and policies that improve child health and wellbeing and their effective implementation.
• Ensuring diverse child, parent and carer perspectives are represented in the development and implementation of new policies and interventions to facilitate their uptake and improve the likelihood of their success.

Taking action now will build a healthier, more prosperous society for all.

This report launched on 5 February 2024. Read the press release.

Through this policy project, the Academy will develop a series of short, focused and accessible evidence summaries aimed at policymakers. The project will aim to:

• Summarise the evidence (for example, biological, clinical, economic) of the impact of improving health in the early years on the long-term mental and physical health of children and future generations.
• Examine the impact of improving child health on the long-term mental and physical health of the population and the associated economic benefits to the nation.
• Highlight the evidence to support actionable and effective interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of children and, where possible, identify any barriers to their effective and equitable implementation.
• Where appropriate, identify areas where further research is needed to (and how this can be facilitated):
  • Further understand how improving health in the early years affects the long-term mental and physical health of the individual, and the associated benefits for the health and wellbeing of the population and the economy.
  • Support the implementation of effective interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of children.

The project will: 

• Focus on the health of children up to pre-school (aged five) as this is a key sensitive period where exposure to psychological, social and environmental factors can determine long-term mental and physical health.
• Consider parental and care giver health and wellbeing where these impact on the child, as these are interlinked.
• Focus on reducing inequalities in child health as a cross-cutting theme throughout the project. Tackling health inequalities is one of the Academy’s strategic priorities and aligns with efforts across the sector to raise standards of health for the whole population.
• Recognise the equal importance of mental and physical health, identifying and evaluating interventions that aim to address both. Tackling mental health challenges is also one of the Academy’s strategic priorities.
• Include perspectives from parents and carers to ensure our work is rooted in public, patient and lived experience voices.
• Take a four-nation approach, considering issues across all UK nations.

This project may result in an Academy position on child health that may include recommendations.

The report published on 5 February 2024 is the first output of this project.

Co-chairs:

• Professor Helen Minnis FMedSci (co-Chair), Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow
• Professor Sir Andy Pollard FMedSci (co-Chair), Ashall Professor of Infection and Immunity & Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford

Members:

• Dr Kathleen Boyd, Senior Lecturer in Health Economics, University of Glasgow
• John Davidson, Lived experience expert
• Professor Jonathan Green FMedSci, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Manchester
• Professor Keith Godfrey FMedSci, Professor of Epidemiology and Human Development, University of Southampton
• Professor Catherine Law CBE FMedSci, Emeritus Professor, Population, Policy & Practice Department, University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
• Professor Neena Modi FMedSci, Professor of Neonatal Medicine, Imperial College London
• Ngawai Moss, Lived experience expert
• Professor Stavros Petrou, Academy Research Lead in Health Economics and Professor of Health Economics, University of Oxford
• Professor Jane Sandall CBE, Professor of Social science and Women's Health, King's College London
• Professor Russell Viner CBE FMedSci (member until 1 November 2023), Professor of Adolescent Health, University College London; Chief Scientific Advisor, Department for Education

Below are some of the key steps we completed as part of this project. Some of them were sequential, while others took place concurrently.

• Scoping roundtables (seeking input from experts across the sector to guide the focus of the project)
• Public engagement workshops (consulting those with lived experience to get a range of input and perspectives on the issues faced in the early years)
• Steering Group (providing advice and shaping the overall project)
• Expert interviews (conducting in depth conversations with a range of experts, including those with lived experience to gather evidence)
• Stakeholder testing (consulting with a range of stakeholders to seek views on the project’s emerging findings)
• Peer review (testing and challenging the report before publication – organised by a separate secretariat)

In and around these milestones, the project’s Steering Group and Secretariat (of Academy staff) worked continually to seek and synthesise evidence to inform outputs.

Policy report
Policy report summary
Report preparation
YHEC economic literature review report