Interventions to Reduce Child Poverty and Its Determinants: A Rapid Overview of Reviews

ABSTRACT Despite evidence for various child poverty reduction strategies, there is ambiguity regarding the most effective types to inform policy. Thus, we conducted an overview of reviews to systematically identify, appraise, and synthesize interventions for reducing childhood poverty in high‐income country settings. We searched five electronic databases from January 2013 to December 2023 for systematic reviews of effects of interventions aimed at reducing childhood poverty or its core determinants in English or French. We assessed the quality of the reviews using AMSTAR 2.0. We included 25 reviews: 15 systematic reviews, three systematic reviews with meta‐analyses, four scoping reviews, two overviews, and one rapid review. The quality of the systematic reviews was low. We found evidence of benefit for interventions addressing children and family support, promoting healthy living, safe and affordable housing, community sustainability programs, and integrated services. Limitations of the primary studies include a high risk of bias and the use of non‐standard outcomes. Despite the positive effects of these interventions, the quality of the reviews for child poverty reduction programs is low. Future research should prioritize developing high‐quality studies that assess long‐term intervention effects. Policymakers should approach intervention implementation cautiously while integrating program evaluations to ensure desirable outcomes.