Interview: Dr Sebastian Kraemer

How could early intervention be improved?
The NHS could do a far better job if they spent more on early intervention and prevention.  Engaging the mother (and her partner) to promote her physical and psychological health when she is pregnant and accessible gives the forthcoming baby a much better chance in life.

We need an effective multidisciplinary perinatal service that includes social services and active outreach antenatal care, with physical and mental health checks as routine. This would help pregnant women and their partners who are under stress, which recent research has shown is damaging to the future child's health and prospects.

Depression in either parent after the birth of a baby is common and easily missed, yet it has an impact on learning and mood well into the child’s teens, especially on boys. Health visitors should be expected to visit every newborn baby as a matter of course.

Paid parental leave in the first year actually saves lives. It is not well known that the more a national Government pays for parents to care for their own children in the early months the lower the rates of infant mortality in that country.

 How could these services be funded?