Big trial assessment of children’s health

Press, 1 September 1977, Page 13

Big trial assessment of children’s health

PA Dunedin. Medical examinations by the Health Department of a group of 1000 children aged five will begin in Dunedin next term to assess the need to reintroduce the examination for all school entrants. Requests for examinations by medical officers for all school entrants have come from parents. teachers, and women’s groups since the scheme was dropped in 1963, according to the Otago district medical officer of health (Dr A. C. Stewart).

He will examine all the children himself, and a public health nurse will take a questionnaire on each child's health to the parents. The survey will be completed some time after April next year. Then the department will assess the

value of the routine examination for all school entrants.

Dr Stewart said that when the assessment was being made, consideration would be given to the fact that Dunedin was probably a better advantaged area than some urban areas in the North Island.

This particular group of children has been studied since birth in 1972-3 at Queen Mary’ Hospital in Dunedin by three Government departments — Health, Social Welfare and Education — and 12 university departments. The principal investigator is Mr P. Silva, of the department of paediatrics and child health at the University of Otago Medical School. The Medical Research Council is supporting the research. Since 1963 children with health needs have been re-

ferred to the public health nurse, mainly by teachers and sometimes by parents. From their regular visits to the schools allocated to them, the nurses might also observe problems in children. Dr Stewart said.

“The system works provided there is adequate reporting of problems and adequate personnel to give the necessary attention. We need more medical officers and nursing resources to give a better coverage of child health,” he said.