Colloque - Mental Health and Addiction - David Taylor-Robinson: Tackling Inequalities in Child Mental Health. The Importance of Addressing Poverty and Adversity

Maria MelchiorSanté publiqueCollège de FranceAnnée 2025-2026Colloque - Mental Health and Addiction - David Taylor-Robinson: Tackling Inequalities in Child Mental Health. The Importance of Addressing Poverty and AdversitySession 1: ChildrenDavid Taylor-RobinsonProfessor, University of LiverpoolRésuméImproving child health and reducing health inequalities is a priority for public health. There are large inequalities in child health between and within countries in Europe. Generally speaking, the causes of these health inequalities are the same across different countries, and reflect differences between socioeconomic groups in poverty, power and resources needed for health; exposure to health damaging environments; and differences in opportunities to enjoy positive health factors, importantly giving children the best start in life. We know that socio-economic disadvantage worsens child health, and poor child health tracks forward to influence health and development in later life. Thus a life course perspective is particularly important when developing public policies. In this lecture I'll present an overview of the work we've been involved with to better understand pathways to inequalities in child mental health across a range of datasets; and our work to influence policies to improve child health outcomes, for instance our work on post-COVID recovery through the "Child of the North" initiative.