Abstract: This paper evaluates the short- and medium-term health impacts of offering families with children under 5 universal access to centres providing health services, parenting support, child-care and parental job assistance. Increased access to these centres during early childhood in-creases hospitalisations of exposed cohorts during infancy, but reduces their hospitalisations when they reach primary and secondary school. Among infants the increase in hospitalisations is driven by infectious illnesses, while the reduction from age 10 is mainly associated to external causes, infectious illnesses and mental health related admissions. The type of hospitalisations affected and the ages at which these effects emerge suggest that likely mechanisms are stronger immune systems, safer parenting practices and home environments, and improved emotional and behavioural development. Medium-term impacts are concentrated among boys from the poorest areas.
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