[Health inequalities: congenital or preventable?]

Social deprivation is an important determinant of adverse obstetric and child-developmental outcomes. A range of risk factors contribute to this link, many of which are potentially modifiable. Early screening for the many non-medical risk factors by healthcare workers should ideally commence in the preconceptual stage to maximise the potential health gain of any interventions. This is a shared responsibility of midwives, obstetricians, maternity nurses, paediatricians, and youth healthcare workers, who should actively collaborate in screening for medical and non-medical risks and in the subsequent institution of tailor-made care pathways. Researchers, healthcare workers, and policy makers should furthermore interact to achieve societal valorisation of knowledge, and thus reduce early-life social and health inequalities.