A good start for all children: Integrating early-life course medical and social care through Solid Start, the Netherlands’ nationwide action programme

Eric A.P. Steegers, Jeroen N. Struijs, Angela J.M. Uijtdewilligen and Tessa J. Roseboom

Health Policy, 2025, vol. 152, issue C

Abstract: The foundations of human wellbeing are laid in early life during the preconception stage and the 1,000-days of life from conception to the child's second birthday. This period is therefore receiving scrutiny as a concept for guiding pregnancy-care innovation and public health policy. The Dutch government took responsibility to invest in this. In September 2018, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport launched the Solid Start action programme. Coordinated nationally, the programme is implemented locally through coalitions in all 342 Dutch municipalities involving collaboration between medical and social-care professionals, policymakers, parents and organisations. The programme has generated a nationwide movement in which medical and social-care professionals now develop forms of structural collaboration that support (future) parents by offering evidence-based interventions that simultaneously enhance early healthy human development and prevent unwanted pregnancies. Although monitoring of the programme does not currently make it possible to address the causal effects of the programme itself, lessons can be distilled which have contributed to the successful implementation of this nationwide programme. These lessons include 1) having and maintaining an unambiguous narrative, 2) creating a lasting sense of urgency among stakeholders, and 3) ensuring that the programme is multi-sectoral.

Keywords: Solid Start; First thousand days; Early life health; National health policy; Multi-sectoral collaboration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:152:y:2025:i:c:s016885102400229x

DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105219

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