Data the Key To Policy, Politics and Health Outcomes for Children
While today's children enjoy a reprieve from more traditional health problems caused by infectious diseases, they are increasingly likely to face 'newer' health threats such as behavioural, developmental, mental health and social problems.
But most nations belonging to the OECD still limit their reporting to a narrow set of traditional morbidity and mortality outcomes, prompting a call in the current issue of the Medical Journal of Australia for changes in the way we measure and evaluate children's health and wellbeing.
Sharon Goldfeld, Paediatrician, and co-author Dr Frank Oberklaid, Director, at the Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, say there is growing recognition in Australia of the importance of early childhood to later health and wellbeing, with developments such as the National Agenda for Early Childhood and the National Public Health Action Plan for Children.
"To sustain a policy agenda for children and improve long-term outcomes, we need timely, comprehensive and accurate indicators and data on child health, development and wellbeing," Dr Goldfeld says.
"Building this evidence requires a national monitoring and surveillance system that involves more than aggregating or linking existing data," she says.
While hospital data are collected routinely and inform health policy, data collection on child health and wellbeing has not been given the same priority.
"Major policy and funding decisions are still being made with few or no data to either inform or evaluate," Dr Goldfeld says.
For example, while the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register is an example of successful data collection, there are virtually no data on family functioning, despite the evidence suggesting it is just as important as immunisation to outcomes for children. Similarly there are limited data on the rates that parents read to their children, which appears clearly linked to literacy and school outcomes.
According to the authors, steps to building a national system are: to agree on key indicators of child health, development and wellbeing for regular reporting, to research a comprehensive set of indicators for each domain and ascertain data gaps, and to ensure development and coordination of data relevant to policy-making.
"Sustained leadership is needed from government across jurisdictions to build on what already exists, taking advantage of the developing momentum," says Dr Goldfeld.
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
CONTACT Dr Sharon GOLDFELD 0438 160 170 / 03 9345 5900
Judith TOKLEY, AMA Public Affairs, 0408 824 306 / 02 6270 5471