National reporting on our children's health and wellbeing is
about to take another step forward, according to a bulletin
released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
(AIHW).
The Key National Indicators of Children's Health,
Development and Wellbeing bulletin shows that the AIHW will be
broadening its reporting on children to include influences on
development such as family and community, education and early
learning, socioeconomic status, and social cohesion.
Bulletin author Meredith Bryant said that this was in line with
recent Australian and international research, which has underlined
the crucial importance of these factors in shaping children's
health, development and wellbeing later in life.
Ms Bryant said that while regular AIHW reports such as
Australia's Children and Australia's Young People
had always recognised the importance of family, social and
community contexts for children, future reports would take
significantly more account of these factors.
'In conjunction with our own Advisory Committee, the Australian
Government Taskforce on Child Development, and the Australian
Council for Children and Parenting the AIHW has developed a
comprehensive new set of key indicators or measures. The indicators
represent an acknowledgment of the wider social, community and
economic contexts in which young people in Australia are growing
up.'
'This is part of a national program of indicator development,
data collection and regular reporting on children's health,
development and wellbeing', Ms Bryant said.
'And it's consistent with the broader, "whole-of-government"
approach to childhood policy, which focuses on early child and
maternal health, early learning and care, and supporting
child-friendly communities.'
'We will be using these new indicators as the basis of our
forthcoming comprehensive report, A Picture of Australia's
Children 2005. It will be out by May next year.'
The AIHW organised the indicators around answering questions
such as:
- How healthy are Australia's children?
- How well are we promoting healthy child development?
- What factors can affect children adversely?
- How safe and secure are Australia's children?
- How well are Australia's children learning and developing?
and
- What kind of families and communities do Australian children
live in?
Ms Bryant said that although the majority of Australian children
are fairing well, as seen in falls in death rates over the last 20
years, some were not.
'It's therefore important for us to monitor how particular
groups of children are faring compared with others-for example,
Indigenous children, and children from rural and regional
Australia. We'll be doing that with the best possible data
available.'
18 November 2004
Further information: Ms Meredith Bryant, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1112 or mobile 0418 295 409.
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of Key National Indicators of
Children's Health, Development and Wellbeing, November
2004.