Child Health Information Framework

Injury was acknowledged as a major cause of mortality and morbidity among children by the workshop on the development of a National Child Health Information Framework, held in Canberra, late in March 1998.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has been engaged by theAustralian Health Ministers' Advisory Council and the Common-wealth Department of Health and Family Services to develop the information framework, as part of the implementation of the National Health Plan for Young Australians, released by the Department in 1997. The Framework will translate the broad information aim of monitoring the health of young Australians into more specific terms, and link these with indicators identified in the Health Goals and Targets for Australian Children and Youth and the National Health Priority Area indicators. The project will operate under the auspices of the National Public Health Information Working Group.

More than 70 participants were brought together for the two-day workshop. Childhood injury was the focus of one of nine thematic sessions. The session, facilitated by James Harrison, identified several items that should be added to the draft framework presented in background papers, if injury is to be covered adequately. These were put forward for inclusion in the next draft.

The AIHW will complete the framework, with guidance from a Reference Group and an Advisory Group. It will then be used to frame a first statistical report on child health in Australia.

For further information, write to the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, GPO Box 570, Canberra ACT 2601 or contact Kuldeep Bhatia, Tel: 02 6244 1199 or Lynelle Moon, Tel: 02 6244 1155.