HEALTH STATUS

The systematic assessment of the health status of children enables health professionals to determine the impact of past and current health intervention and prevention programs. Program planners and policy-makers identify trends by examining and comparing information from one data collection year to the next. Although indicators are often assessed on an annual basis, some surveillance systems may only collect data every 2, 3, or 5 years.

In this section, mortality, disease, injury, and health behavior indicators are presented by age groups. The health status indicators in this section are based on vital statistics and national surveys. Population-based samples here are designed to yield data that are representative of the maternal and child population that are affected by, or in need of, specific health services:

Infants

• Breastfeeding
• Low Birth Weight
• Very Low Birth Weight
• International Infant Mortality Rates
• Infant Mortality
• Neonatal and Postneonatal Mortality
• Maternal Mortality

Children

• Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Pediatric AIDS
• Hospitalization
• Hospital Discharge Trends
• Child Mortality
• Childhood Deaths Due to Injury

Adolescents

• Adolescent Childbearing
• Sexual Activity
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Adolescent HIV Infection
• Adolescent AIDS
• Mental Health Treatment
• Violence
• Physical Activity and Overweight
• Cigarette Smoking
• Substance Abuse
• Adolescent Mortality
• Adolescent Deaths Due to Injury