About

The International Network for Research on Inequalities in Child Health (INRICH) aims to share and advance knowledge and research into

• inequalities in child health and well-being
• social equity in child health and well-being
• child policy for child health and well-being

by establishing a scientific community in which research priorities can be identified, collaborative projects established and new researchers encouraged. Our aim is to inform public policies that will promote social equity in child health.

A. Members

• To bring together international researchers who are active in the area of child health and social inequalities and equity in industrial and developing countries
• To share with INRICH members the latest scientific research findings and methodological approaches in the field
• To support and facilitate collaborative research between INRICH researchers from different disciplines and from different countries in the field of child health inequalities and equity

B. Students and Post-Doctoral Fellows

• To promote and support the development of future and new researchers in the area of child health and social inequalities and equity

C. Research in child health and social inequalities and equity

• To ensure that, in the future, child health and social inequalities and equity have a higher profile in health inequalities and equity research and publications
• To identify research priorities in child health and social inequalities and equity
• To promote and initiate collaborative research into pathways and mechanisms of, and into interventions on, child health and social inequalities and equity

D. Policies for child health equity

• To promote and initiate research into policy approaches to achieving social equity in child health
• To share this knowledge with policy makers, practitioners, and professional organisations and NGO responsible for policies and programs concerning child health and social equity

Members

We envision that the network will continue to be a valued & productive forum for active researchers in the field of child health and social inequalities and equity.

We will continue to identify the key researchers in this field from both industrial and developing countries and recruit to the network the majority of them.

We envision that the network will provide a cutting edge forum for scientific knowledge exchanges on child health and social inequalities and equity.

We will continue to hold annual INRICH workshops to bring together INRICH members for scientific presentations, discussions and exchanges on relevant issues related to child health and social inequalities and equity. As has been the case since the beginning, the INRICH workshops will alternate between America and Europe.

INRICH will promote research exchanges between members for their sabbatical leaves.

The INRICH webpage (web link here) currently allows for posting members’ CVs, news and relevant scientific articles. An exchange page now facilitates discussions between members on issues of interest.

Students

We envision that the network will provide a large perspective on child health and social inequalities and equity to students and post-doctoral fellows interested in this field.

The INRICH workshops will continue to provide an annual forum for students and post-doctoral fellows interested in child health and social inequalities and equity to give presentations of their results and to receive comments from INRICH researchers.

INRICH will support and facilitate internships exchanges for PhD students and post-doctoral fellows to work with INRICH researchers in different settings/countries. There will be a person as liaison to support and facilitate these exchanges.

Research

We envision that the network will be a platform for knowledge synthesis and systematic reviews bringing together evidence related to child health and social inequalities, equity and policy.

In order to identify research priorities in this field, INRICH researchers will collaborate to summarise and clarify the current state of knowledge on various issues in child health and social inequalities and inequity. These systematic reviews will be published in high-level scientific journals.

We envision that the network will be a platform for collaborative studies.

Given funding opportunities in members’ countries, we will encourage INRICH members to prepare and submit further collaborative project(s) which make use of data and expertise from different countries.

We envision that the network will play an important role in knowledge transfer to policy makers and practitioners in fields related to child health and social equity.

INRICH members will make links with & start discussions with policy makers at the local, regional and national levels with a view to knowledge transfer.

INRICH members will publish knowledge synthesis on child health and social inequalities and equity oriented toward policy makers and practitioners involved in policies and programs for children and their families.

We identified the following research priorities that can be conducted by members of our network:

1. Pathways and mechanisms

• Cumulative and additive social risk exposures (e.g. transient v. persistent poverty);
• Stress and allostatic load;
• Social into the biological and epigenetic;
• Intergenerational influences

2. Methodological issues

• Methods for examining change over time including longitudinal effects studies
• Need to better define poverty
• Need to study social gradients as well as poverty
• Multi-level studies - Society, Family & Individual
• Regional studies, within countries
• Which indicators?: for example, perception of health vs. objective measures of health (these may be more reliable in studying mechanisms)
• Root cause analysis to inform policy change.

3. Interventions

• Research into effective policy innovation use, as tools to reduce child health inequalities
• What works in reducing child health inequalities? In reducing poverty?

We strongly encourage collaborative works conducted on a comparative basis within or between countries. The following is a list of non exhaustive potential topics of great interest to our members.

• Societal and policy level influences – what kinds of societies promote child well-being and why?
• Examples: role of wealth transfer; comparing social gradients in child health outcomes across countries; role of paid maternity leave; role of breastfeeding promotion; role of day care centers; using LCHD framework to explore how policies in different countries impact on children’s developmental and well-being trajectories
• Comparing social gradients in perinatal health indicators, in different countries. Risks differences versus risk ratios. (Nick & Anders to explore)
• Policies and their relationship to health outcomes. Funding being applied for and would welcome collaborators to study data
• Design study using standard measures in, for example, 2 neighborhoods in Montreal, 2 in Brazil, 2 in UK.
• Studies based on current cohorts – comparative secondary analysis of outcomes and relationships with social phenomena (extension of Dr. Louise Seguin and Dr. Nicholas Spencer’s work using ELDEQ & UKMCS)
• Studies on impact of current international situation: changes in economy, families moved into poverty, impact on children’s health and well-being
• Studies of safety nets in different countries

For all inquiries please contact: