Child Health and Safety

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About

The dimension of health is essential to assessing child well-being, including Child Mental Health.

The survival rate and the health of children influences subjective well-being, educational attainment and has an impact on the relationship with parents and peers. Good health as well as adequate medicine and supporting devices in case of sickness, accidents and disabilities, can probably be considered a precondition for all efforts increasing in child well-being.

Common threats to child survival include undernutrition, lack of safe drinking water and sanitation, and lack of access to health care.^[1]

Material Well-Being and Health

The Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study and many other found that across time and across countries, Health outcomes are importantly affected by socioeconomic characteristics of parents. Generally, health outcomes are better for children of parents with higher socioeconomic status. ^[2]

Child Health Measurement Initiatives

The World Health Organization's collaborative cross-national study of Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HSBC) provides data on 11-15 year old children for number of health-related aspects, including child behaviour and risks. The aim of the study is to "gain new insight into, and increase our understanding of young people's health and well-being, health behaviours and their social context."^[3] The first study has been conducted in 1983/1984 with only five countries participating. In the 2009/2010 47 countries participated.

In the European Union, the KIDSCREEN project ("Screening for and Promotion of Children and Adolescents Health: A European Public Health Perspective (KIDSCREEN)") run from 2000 until 2004 and was funded by the European Commission within the Fifth Framework Programme. The "KIDSCREEN Group Europe" was established as a research association to continue existing after the end of the project. The aim of the study was the development and psychometric testing of a standardised, and 'cross-cultural' questionnaire on quality of life for children, youth and parents to identify children at risk in terms of their subjective health. Furthermore, the instrument should also serve to monitor and evaluate Health related policies. Participants were Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands , and the United Kingdom.

Indicators of Child Health and Safety

UNICEF Child-Wellbeing measure

Health at age 0-1
- Below-one infant mortality
- Infants born with low birth weight
Under-Five Mortality Rate
Preventative health services
- Immunization of children aged 12-23 immunized against measles, DPT, and polio
Safety
- Deaths from accidents and injuries per 100,000 aged 0-19

This list is not extensive and any application may be limited by data availability and quality.

The South African's Children's Institute uses the following indicators on health and HIV to monitor through the project Children Count how children fare in their country:

Distance to the nearest clinic

This indicator reflects the distance from a child’s household to the nearest clinic. Distance is measured through a proxy indicator: length of time travelled to reach the nearest clinic, by whatever form of transport is usually used. The nearest clinic is regarded as “far” if a child would have to travel more than 30 minutes to reach it, irrespective of mode of transport.

HIV prevalence in children

This indicator refers to the proportion of children, at a given period, who are HIV positive.

HIV prevalence in pregnant women

This indicator shows the prevalence of HIV that is measured in a national survey of women attending public-sector antenatal clinics for the first time in their current pregnancy.

Children starting antiretroviral treatment

This indicator is calculated as the number of children under 15 years starting antiretroviral treatment (ART) in a particular year, divided by the estimated number of new paediatric HIV infections over the same year.

Adult access to antiretroviral treatment

This indicator is calculated as the number of adults starting antiretroviral treatment (ART) in a particular year, divided by the number of new adult AIDS cases over the same year.

Access to Mother-to-Child Transmission Programme

This indicator is the proportion of women attending public antenatal clinics who are tested for HIV as part of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme.

Child Mortality (IMR & U5MR)

The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is defined as the probability of dying within the first year of life. The IMR refers to the number of babies under 12 months old who die in a year, per 1000 live births during the same year.
The Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) is defined as the probability of dying between birth and before the fifth birthday. It is an overall measure of child mortality that usually encompasses the probability of dying during infancy, between ages 1-4 years and overall before the 5th birthday. The U5MR refers to the number of children under five years old who die in a year, per 1000 live births in the same year.

Teenage Pregnancy

This indicator refers to the proportion of adolescent girls aged 15 – 19 years who have ever been pregnant.

Immunisation coverage of children

This indicator refers to the percentage of children younger than one year who are fully immunised. Full immunisation refers to children having received all the required doses of vaccines given in the first year of life. The vaccines most recently added to the immunisation schedule are not yet considered when working out immunisation coverage. However, the most crucial vaccines that prevent serious childhood infections in young children are taken into account.