Compelling economic arguments for investing in young children, report says

The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) has released the fourth edition of Are We Doing Enough? A status report on Canadian public policy and child and youth health.

The CPS underscores the critical importance of government action in supporting child and youth health, but expresses concern that the interests of children of youth are being pushed aside in favour of dealing with the economy and Canada's aging population.

The report argues for greater policy attention to young Canadians by emphasizing the compelling economic arguments for making investments in young children.

For example, the report points out that child poverty leads to higher health care costs and reduced economic productivity. It notes that estimates of the economic cost of mental illness range from $14 billion to $51 billion a year, but asserts that early intervention and prevention of mental illness could lead to huge cost-savings. In fact, the report estimates that the return to society on dollars spent in the early childhood years are significant- from $4 to $8 for every dollar spent. Recent evidence shows that Quebec's provincially funded early childhood education and care program more than pays for itself by increasing tax revenues from working parents, the report says.

The CPS report looks at key indicators of child and youth health at the provincial/ territorial and federal levels and assesses how effectively governments use legislation and programming in areas such as injury prevention, disease prevention,  and health promotion. It is published every two years,

Key Recommendations:

• All provinces should implement poverty reduction strategies with targets and timelines, and the federal government should implement a national strategy.
• The federal government should create a national childcare strategy with an integrated system of services that are universal and publicly funded across the country.
• A national Child and Youth Advocate should be appointed to consider the needs of children and youth in all federal government initiatives.
• To prevent serious injuries among children and youth, legislation should be introduced and enforced relating to ATV and snowmobile safety. Such legislation should be accompanied by public education programs.

British Columbia's Progress:

The report praised BC's progress in some areas, including good immunization programs, strong legislation to protect children and youth from exposure to smoking, the implementation of newborn hearing screening, a child and youth mental health plan, and legislation related to bike helmets and booster seats.  

BC rated poorly on child poverty reduction. Despite no significant reduction in the number of  BC children living in poverty over the past two decades, the province has no anti-poverty legislation and no strategy to reduce child poverty.

The CPS said that BC should fund an enhanced 18-month well-baby visit, develop a paediatric health human resource strategy, and introduce ATV and snowmobile safety legislation. In addition, BC needs to do more to implement Jordan's Principle, so that jurisdictional disputes do not interrupt the care of First Nations children.

The report acknowledges the success of BC's child advocacy office, but recommends that the province grant the advocate the power to ensure compliance with her findings/ recommendations.

The full CPS report can be downloaded here.