Prince Edward Island’s first-ever children’s report examines the health and well-being of Island children.
Released today (March 1) by the Chief Public Health Office, Children’s Report 2017: Investing in our Future is intended to serve as a source of information, a tool for baseline indicators, and a catalyst for change.
“This report is the start of important and sometimes difficult conversations about ensuring that all children experience the conditions they need to have the best possible start in life, the resources and opportunities to learn and thrive, and that the supports are in place to assist families in making healthy life choices,” said Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison.
Various government departments/agencies worked collaboratively to gather information and data relative to the well-being of Island children, including the departments of Health and Wellness, Family and Human Services, Education, Early Learning and Culture, Justice and Public Safety, and Health PEI.
“This is an extremely collaborative process, and I want to thank all those who took part and contributed to this report,” said Dr. Morrison.
The report looks at four health and well-being domains that play a significant role in a child’s life: physical and mental health, healthy childhood development, cognitive development, and the social environment. It includes two main calls to action:
- for individuals, community groups, and all levels of government to address health inequity by redistributing societal resources to improve the social determinants of health, particularly for disadvantaged groups; and
- for improved surveillance and responsive environments since the ability to collect and share meaningful data is essential for making decisions that will support children now and in the future.
“The findings of this report show that children with the greatest economic and social needs consistently have greater risk factors and worse health outcomes,” Dr. Morrison said. “Island children with the greatest material and social needs have higher than PEI average rates of nutrition risk and food insecurity, obesity, asthma and mental illness.”
The report’s findings indicate that certain risk factors and health outcomes for Island children follow the same pattern as the general population, as reported in the 2016 Chief Public Health Officer’s report Health for All Islanders. It shows that health inequity exists and children of families with low income, higher rates of unemployment, and fewer supports have more risk factors and poorer health outcomes than children living in families with greater privilege.
“Health equity is a value we all share,” said Dr. Morrison. “Through this report we can see that only committed and sustained efforts by government and community will have the potential for lasting and significant impact on the overall health of Island young people.”
“This is an important report which shines a light on what it will take to better support Island children,” Health and Wellness Minister Robert Mitchell said. “We need to ensure, that as a government and as members of a greater Island community, that we are creating the circumstances and providing resources to give our children the best possible start in life. A significant amount of work has been done in recently years to support Island children, and as we continue to make investments this report will help to guide decisions which will further improve the lives of our youngest Islanders.”
Download the full report Children’s Report 2017: Investing in our Future
Media Contact
Autumn Tremere
Health and Wellness
agtremere@gov.pe.ca
Backgrounder
“When provided with positive life experiences that encourage healthy development and early support when facing challenges, children are able to reach their highest potential.”
--Prince Edward Island Children’s Report 2017
This is the first time the province has done a report of this type, focused on the health and wellbeing of children.
The 2017 Prince Edward Island Children’s Report explores the relationship between the social determinants of health, health equity, healthy behaviours, and health outcomes for Island children. Risk factors to healthy child development, cognitive development, and the social environment are considered as well. Where possible, the Material and Social Deprivation Index and Family Affluence Scale III were used to incorporate social and economic factors into the analysis of health and well-being trends.
Several government departments and agencies collaborated on selecting the indicators for the report and providing the necessary data, including the Education, Early Learning and Culture, Family and Human Services, Health PEI, and Justice and Public Safety.
In this report a child is defined as an individual 0 to 18 years of age. Child health and well-being describe the general quality of life of children.
Government has made significant investments in new initiatives aimed at improving the lives of Island children, due to the timing of these initiatives their outcomes are not reflected in the 2017 Children’s Report. The initiatives include:
- Student well-being teams
- Mental health walk-in clinics
- Family violence prevention programs
- Women’s Wellness Program
- Strongest Families Program
- Behavioural Support Teams
- The Bridge program
- Children’s Lawyer
- Increases to the child-care subsidy program
- INSIGHT Program
- Review of the Child Protection Act
- Triple P – Positive Parenting Program
- Positive Parenting from Two Homes Program
The key findings of the report are as follows:
Health inequality exists within our Island children’s population: Island children with the highest material and social deprivation have higher than PEI average rates of nutrition risk and food insecurity, obesity, asthma, mental illness and acute inpatient hospitalization. Island children with low material and social deprivation show the opposite trend.
Island children with the highest material and social deprivation and lowest family affluence have greater health risk factors: Island children with the highest deprivation and lowest family affluence receive breast milk for a shorter duration than the PEI average and have lower rates of fruit and vegetable intake. Island children with the highest privilege and family affluence show the opposite trend.
Gender is associated with differences in health risk factors and health outcomes: Island male children have higher nutrition risk, lower rates of fruit and vegetable consumption and higher rates of tobacco smoking, heavy drinking and cannabis use. Island male children also have higher than PEI average rates of asthma, mental illness and injury-related hospitalizations. Island female children have lower rates of daily physical activity.
Age is associated with differences in health risk factors and health outcomes: Rates of self-reported physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption among Island children decreased as grade level increased. Tobacco smoking, heavy drinking and cannabis use most commonly start in the early teen years. Asthma, mental illness and injury-related hospitalizations were more common in children from 12-18 years of age whereas acute inpatient hospitalization was more common for children under the age of 6.
Healthy Childhood Development and Cognitive Development: Approximately 1 in 4 children at 18 months did not meet the Ages and Stages Questionnaire expectations or were in the monitoring zone in at least one domain. Of the kindergarten-aged children who completed the Early Years Evaluation, 2 out of 5 did not meet the developmental milestones in at least one of the five skill areas. Difficulties in math, reading comprehension and writing were also noted in provincial education assessments.
Social Environment: Of the parents with child protection reports, those with four or more children had a higher rate of recidivism (more than one report in the three year time span) than the PEI average rate. Recidivism was higher for parents with the highest material and social deprivation compared to parents with the lowest material and social deprivation. Of new childhood victimization referrals, approximately 3 in 5 were female children aged 12-17.