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HEIndividual fellowship2023–2025

YouCDF · Young Children of Disadvantaged Families: A Comprehensive Analysis of Parental Human Capital Investment and Child Health

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31
EU contribution
€171,521
Participants
2
Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Young Children of Disadvantaged Families: A Comprehensive Analysis of Parental Human Capital Investment and Child Health

Promoting the health of newborns and children is a key priority for sustainable development. However, disparities in access to healthcare persist, particularly for vulnerable groups such as undocumented migrants and children living in poverty. The lack of universal health coverage (UHC) is also a significant barrier for irregular migrants. Even where UHC exists, the socioeconomic challenges faced by parents further restrict healthcare access for vulnerable children. Some barriers to maternal investment, such as traditional gender roles, lower levels of maternal education, and limited workforce participation, make it harder to invest in children, as mothers are usually the primary caregivers. The YouCDF project aims to investigate the extent to which a universal healthcare system can compensate for the limited financial resources available to primary caregivers. The project’s scientific objective is to empirically examine the causal impact of household financial and human capital constraints on child health and well-being in contexts with UHC. Specifically, it aims to test the empirical implications of the theoretical model developed under WP 1 through econometric analyses in WP 2. By providing microdata–based empirical research, the project systematically analyzes the quantity, types, and effects of parental investment in children. It considers a wide range of outcomes—including children’s physical health, healthcare utilization, birth weight and prenatal care, child labor and education, as well as nutrition and developmental indicators. Through this integrated approach, YouCDF links two key concepts shaping children’s health outcomes: maternal bargaining power and UHC. The project’s findings provide valuable information to support evidence-based policy and decision-making, helping to overcome health inequalities in European countries.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Promoting new-born and childrens health is a policy priority for sustainable development and the EU takes action to promote inclusive and child-friendly societies, health and education systems (Thematic area 2 of the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child). Nevertheless, within country differences exist in childrens access to essential health care especially among the vulnerable groups of undocumented migrants and children living in poverty. An obvious obstacle for access to health care for the irregular migrants is lack of universal health coverage. Another significant determinant of restricted health care utilization of these vulnerable children is the challenges associated to the socioeconomic status of the parents. There is little research to show methods to eliminate the health risks associated to displaced children and children living in poverty and to integrate them into the European health system. The overall goal of YouCDF is to provide a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the amount, types and short- and long-term consequences of parental investment to children from the perspective of health economics. YouCDF will:-investigate the extent to which the limitations in the household level (restricted financial resources available to the main caregivers) could be compensated by a universal health care system,-test the empirical implications of the model,- inform policy makers about the potential risks to the public health system caused by underinvestment to children, and related inequalities.YouCDF addresses one of the potential public health challenges for Turkey and the EU: The number of children who have limited access to nutritious food increases as a result of hosting refugee children from Syria and facing increased food prices due to the war in Ukraine.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIVERSITESI · Maslak, IstanbulCoordinatorTürkiye
  • REGENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · Minneapolis MnUnited States

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union