Children's well-being.

The Australian government has initiated an annual national report which is to trace the development, health and well-being of children aged up to 14. Experts met in March to complete a set of indicators and the first report is to be published early in 2005.

The yearly report will assess children's physical and mental health, development, social and emotional well-being and community involvement. It will canvass socio-economic, demographic, biological, behavioural, and family and community factors that affect children, such as housing conditions, parental employment, abuse, immunisation, physical activity and criminality.

Although the states already collect their own data on child development and well-being, a lack of consistency in their reporting makes it difficult to compare results or to gain an accurate national picture.

The Australian Government will take the results into account when deciding on children's policy and allocating funding--for example by using the information to identify areas needing improvement. The information will also be used to compare different population groups and to study differences between Australian children and those in other countries.

The government also wants to use the data to establish some common child-protection baselines from which it tan work to reduce child abuse (Sydney Morning Herald, 16/3/04, p.3; West Australian, 17/3/04, p.40).