Healthy Kids School Canteen Association

Topic

A Picture of Australia's Children

Last week, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released a new report into the health of Australian children titled “A picture of Australia’s children”.  The report compares the actual health of Australian children aged 0-14 years compared to wide range of key national indicators of health, development and wellbeing, including health status, education, family environments, safety and security.  

The report found that most Australian children are faring relatively well, with declines in death rates (in particular injury deaths) and favourable trends in protective factors such as immunisation coverage and smoking rates.  In addition, most children are meeting the minimum standards for literacy and numeracy and recommendations for physical activity.

However, there are still many children who are overweight or obese and far too many who spend more than the recommended daily amount of time in front of a screen – be it television or computer.  What is even more concerning is that only 50-63% of children consume the recommended serves of fruit each day, and merely 1-4% consumes the recommended serves of vegetables on a daily basis.  This indicates that children may not be receiving the essential nutrients found in fruit and vegetables that they need to grow and develop normally.

In addition to this, the rate of dental decay in children aged 6 years has increased.

Another area of concern is the health of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander children, who are more likely to be disadvantaged across a wide range of health outcomes.

Healthy Kids SCA is working with schools, teachers and parents to combat and reverse these worrying statistics. Supporting school canteens to make healthy choices and implementing programs such as Crunch&Sipâ and Fruit ‘n’ Veg Week are our tools to reverse these statistics.  For more information, go to the Healthy Kids Fruit 'n' Veg Week page.

The full report can be downloaded from:
http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10704