The Link between Social Inequality and Child Health Outcomes

Abstract

Despite the scientific and technological advances of recent decades and their potential impact on healthcare delivery, major disparities in child health exist both between and within countries. Across the globe, over 25,000 children under five years of age die every day, the majority, but by no means all, in developing countries. Infant mortality is 10 times higher in the world's least-developed countries than in the industrialized world, and under-five mortality is 25 times higher (United Nations Children's Fund 2008). Vast discrepancies in child health also exist within high- and low-income countries.