The report "Child Poverty in Perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries-" offers a comprehensive assessment of the lives and well-being of children and adolescents in the World’s economically advanced nations, based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC).
The UNICEF Report Card compares the well-being of children in 21 industrialised countries using the following dimensions:
Material well-being
Health and safety
Educational well-being
Family and peer relationships
Behaviours and risks
Subjective well-being
Measuring Health
Each dimension is assessed according to the information that is commonly available in the countries being assessed. In this report health and safety rankings are based on the following indicators:
health at age 0-1: number of infants dying before age 1 per 1,000 births; and percentage of infants born with low birth weight (<2500g)
preventative health services: percentage of children age 12 to 23 months immunized against measles, DPT, and polio
safety: deaths from accidents and injuries per 100,000 aged 0 - 19
UNICEF stresses that no single dimension can be considered as a reliable proxy for child well-being as a whole. However EPHA welcomes the fact that health has been recognised as one of the fundamental prerequisites for child well-being.
What’s happening at EU-level?
On 8-9 March 2007 EU leaders committed to fight child poverty at the Spring Summit in Brussels. It has also been taken up as a priority in the national reports on strategies for social protection and inclusion in 20 member states.
Related EPHA articles:
Identifying the threats to children’s health in Europe
Tackling health inequalities: what can health promotion do?
Do children have a right to health?
WHO focuses on health of mothers and children
EPHA in action for children’s health
