What is Child Public Health?
"the organised efforts of society to develop public health policies to promote child and young people’s health, to
prevent disease in children and young people and to foster equity for children and young people, within a framework of sustainable development"
Kohler L (1998) Child Public Health: a new basis for child health workers. Eur J Public Health 8: 253-5.
There has been much debate about what constitutes "health" and "disease", and in turn there are many definitions of "public health". Further reading suggestions are given below [1,2]; meanwhile the widely accepted definition of public health is Acheson's, with its emphasis on a population rather than an individual approach:
Public health is "the science and art of promoting health, preventing disease and prolonging life through the organised efforts
of society".
Acheson (1986)
The faculty of public health www.fph.org.uk has identified 10 key areas of public health practice – click here to see these with examples of how they can be applied in child health practice.
Click here to read "Rationale for including children on the public health agenda" - excerpt from “Why Child Population Health should be included in the Strategic Plan of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine” - full document and references available at www.racp.edu.au/public/ccch/cph_thrMar1.pdf
Click here to read advocacy documents.
Click here for information about the National Service Framework.
Health For All Children website.
1Blair, M., Stewart-Brown, S., Waterston, T., and Crowther, R. (2003). Child Public Health. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
2Donaldson, L.J. and Donaldson, R.J. (2000). Essential Public Health. Petroc Press, Newbury.
