Public health interventions (PHIs) for children aim to improve many aspects of a child’s life. Although the benefits may be felt sometime after the intervention, they can be broad and include improving health, reducing inequalities and improving indirect factors such as the child’s education. Therefore, decisions on whether spending limited health resources on PHIs for children represents good value for money can be challenging.
A review of previous ways in which PHIs for children have been valued in the UK revealed much inconsistency. It also revealed the impact on inequalities and child education were generally not captured. Analyses demonstrated the impact that including improvements in health inequalities can have on the value we place on PHI for children. However, it was revealed that an important aspect is the question of equality between whom? For example, whether we are interested in improving health for households with the lowest incomes, lowest educational attainment or those living in the most deprived areas will impact on how they are valued.
Further analyses demonstrated how the measured health changes from a PHI for children can be used to generate educational attainment results. A framework is then provided to consider how these broader aspects of value can be combined. This has implications for those responsible for commissioning PHIs for children tasked with making decisions based on inconsistent evidence on the way PHIs for children have been valued in the past.
