Social paediatrics and early child development: Part 1

Abstract

Diseases of modernism, rather than infectious diseases and chronic medical conditions, increasingly cause childhood morbidity and mortality. Thus, the goal of enhancing life outcomes for all children has become imperative. Paediatricans may begin with a renewed interest in social paediatrics - the care of the disadvantaged child in Canada, requiring a focus on all the complex factors that impact families and the community. New paediatricians need the tools to impact both social determinants of health and political policies to support health for all. Such interest is as old as the field of paediatrics (social medicine began with the great pathologist, Virchow, in the 1800s). The new neuroscience of experience-based brain and biological development has caught up with the social epidemiology literature. It is now known from both domains that a child's poor developmental and health outcomes are a product of early and ongoing socioeconomic and psychological experiences. In the era of epigenetics, it is now understood that both nature and nurture control the genome. Future paediatricians need to understand the science of experience-based brain development, and the interventions demonstrated to improve life trajectories. A challenge is to connect the traditional population health approach with traditional primary care responsibilities. New and enhanced collaborative interdisciplinary networks with, for example, public health, primary care, community resources, education and justice systems are required.