Investing to protect our children: Using economics to derive an evidence-based strategy

Abstract

Child abuse and neglect are global problems that affect over 25 per cent of children and have serious health, social and economic consequences. Government and other agencies are heavily committed to the provision of services to address the consequences of abuse and neglect. In a climate of scarce resources, there is increasing interest in developing cost-effective strategies to prevent child maltreatment. Economic evaluation in the context of formal 'priority setting' can contribute to the development of an efficient child protection strategy and at the same time develop the arguments to support an increased investment in the prevention of child maltreatment. Key challenges arise from incomp..