Some improvements but stark differences remain in children's wellbeing

The annual Children’s Social Monitor Update shows that although there have been some improvements over the last year, there are still serious concerns about the wellbeing of New Zealand’s children, with stark differences in the levels of ill health, abuse and neglect for different groups of children.

The Children’s Social Health Monitor’s 2011 findings are to be released today at a public forum at the University of Otago, Wellington. The findings are a set of authoritative indicators, developed by a number of national and regional organisations which track the impact of the economic downturn on the well-being of New Zealand children.

Now in its third year, the Monitor will be updated annually, until the economic environment in which children are living improves.

Dr Elizabeth Craig is director of the NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service at the University of Otago, one of the key organisations which contribute to the Monitor’s development.

She says that the rapid increases in children’s hospital admissions for socio-economically sensitive medical conditions (respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, skin infections) seen during 2007-2009 appear to have slowed in 2010.

For Pacific children admissions for these conditions may even be beginning to decrease, although another one to two years of data are needed before it will be clear whether this is just a one-off fluctuation, or the beginning of a downward trend.

“However, stark differences remain with for example, hospital admissions for injuries arising from the assault, neglect or maltreatment of children being 5.6 times higher for those in the most deprived areas,” says Dr Craig.

Professor Innes Asher, head of the Department of Paediatrics: Child and Youth Health at the University of Auckland, says while it is encouraging that the rate of increase in children’s hospital admissions for infectious and respiratory diseases is slowing, from a clinical perspective this still represented around 4,890 extra hospital admissions each year, when 2010 rates are compared with 2007.

While she and her colleagues as paediatricians work hard to ensure each child receives optimal care, she says these negative figures reflect a considerable extra cost, both to the health system, and to affected children and their families.

“Greater attention needs to be paid to addressing the reasons why children fall ill in the first place. This means the provision of healthy housing through better heating and insulation, better access to GPs (including after hours), improving immunisation rates, and addressing New Zealand’s high levels of child poverty.”