Jody Heymann|Amy Raub|Alison Earle
Creating and Using New Data Sources to Analyze the Relationship between Social Policy and Global Health: The Case of Maternal Leave
McGill University|McGill University|Northeastern University
objectives operating societal level public policy often one best approaches addressing social determinants health sdh yet limited data availability constrained past research national social policy choices affect health outcomes developed new data infrastructure illustrate globally comparative data labor policy might used examine impact social policy health methods used multivariate ordinary least squares regression models examine relationship duration paid maternal leave neonatal infant child mortality rates 141 countries controlling overall resources available meet basic needs measured per capita gross domestic product total government health expenditures female literacy basic health care public health provision results increase 10 fulltimeequivalent weeks paid maternal leave associated 10 lower neonatal infant mortality rate p0001 9 lower rate mortality children younger 5 years age p0001 paid maternal leave associated significantly lower neonatal infant child mortality nonorganisation economic cooperation development oecd countries oecd countries conclusions preliminary study using newly available worldwide policy data demonstrates potential strength using globally comparative data examine sdh data development make multilevel modeling impact labor conditions possible broaden social policies examined critical next step