How Does Poverty Impact Child Health?
• Poor physical health (combination measure)
• High infant mortality - 6.5 per 1,000 dying in the first year of life in the poorest fifth of Canadian urban neighbourhoods compared to 3.9 per 1,000 in the richest fifth
• Possibility of more children with anti-social behaviour, conduct problems, hyperactivity and inattention & other behavioural challenges
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How Does Poverty Impact Child Health? • Low birth weight: - Higher rates of mortality & illness - Lower rates of growth - More developmental challenges - More health related limitations in life
• Obesity: - 25% among low-income compared to 16% within higher-income families
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How Does Poverty Impact Child Health?
• School and cognitive difficulties, with low-SES children: - Less prepared for learning when they begin school - Poorer educational outcomes - Higher drop-out rates
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Early Child Development Activities • Environmental scan • Pan-Canadian inventory of public health early child development home visiting programs • Home visiting forum • Annotated bibliography • Discussion paper • TEAM ECD fact sheet and scenario • Evidence review • Review of the reviews • Business case • School readiness
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What we learned? Topics • Early Child Development is a Priority • Poverty • Home Visiting • School Readiness
Issues • Human Resources • Business case • Access to evidence • Service Models, Accessibility and Coordination • Who are the key experts in the ECD field in Canada? • What are the ECD programs and activities across Canada? • Peer network of early child development practitioners
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Inventory of Public Health Early Child Home Visiting Purpose: To gather relevant information about Public Health Early Child Home Visiting Programs across Canada
Process: – Scanned for what had been done in this area – Developed and tested the inventory tool – Populated the inventory from the websites – Conducted inventory interviews
Information has been gathered from 8 provinces (2 under way), 3 territories, FNIH, PHAC & several international programs