Grant: Operating Grant

Early child development lays the foundation for later health. Being poor during childhood is a known predictor of poorer adult health. Scientists do not have a clear understanding of when or for how long being poor during childhood can affect later health. They also do not know how being poor "gets under the skin" to affect health. Our team plans to study the pathways that link early poverty with child health. We will work with scientists across five different countries: Canada, United States, Netherlands, Sweden, and United Kingdom. In each country, a longitudinal birth cohort will be studied. Each birth cohort includes a group of children followed from birth to age 10 years. These children had their health measured many times over the 10 years. There are three parts to our project. First, we will define measures of being poor so we can make equal comparisons across countries. Second, we will study possible pathways linking family poverty and child health. Child health outcomes include asthma, blood pressure, obesity, and learning problems, among others. Third, we will consider country income inequality. Income inequality refers to the difference between the people who make the most money and the people who make the least. We will study how country income inequality affects child health. Our team includes leading scientists who have been already studying poverty and child health in their countries. We hope that the results of our study will lead to changes in public policy to improve child health. Our results will allow us to see if being poor has the same impact on child health in different countries with different social policies. We will share our results with government leaders who can change public policy that can improve child health.