Child Health Unit
Research to improve child health through preventative primary care and public health
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About us
Imperial Child Health Unit was set up by Professor Sonia Saxena in 2013 at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, a department within the Faculty of Medicine.
Our aims
To produce research to inform primary care and public health efforts that will improve health and wellbeing and reduce health disparities in children in the United Kingdom and globally.
Why is our research needed?
Wellbeing goes beyond a mere absence of illness and links physical, mental and emotional health with the ability to be resilient or bounce back in adverse circumstances. Children are healthier today than at any time in history, but many child deaths are still preventable, and the world population is living longer in ill health from long-term conditions such as diabetes, obesity and cancer. Emergent threats include pollution, pandemics and rising poverty and health disparities.
Better information can help to promote healthy behaviours, so children remain healthy and improve preventive programmes to reduce the global burden of disease in the population. We are especially interested in interventions that can improve health in those living with disadvantages who often have the poorest health and to evaluate the impact of new policies on health disparities.