The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) has today published a manifesto setting out high level priorities for improving the health of children in the United Kingdom.
Development of the manifesto “Securing our healthy future: Prevention is better than cure” has been led by The Faculty of Public Health (FPH) and The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).
One of the ways that the FPH and RCPCH collaborate on an ongoing basis is through the British Association for Child and Adolescent Public Health (BACAPH). BACAPH act as a special interest group on child public health to both the FPH and RCPCH, providing a vehicle for paediatricians and public health professionals to work together on this critical area.
FPH and RCPCH joined with AoMRC to deliver this manifesto because we know that childhood, including pregnancy, is the most impactful and cost-effective period to target public health interventions. Our organisations, along with the wider health workforce as represented by AoMRC, share a concern that current political and health service strategies and plans, including the new Major Conditions Strategy, do not sufficiently prioritise child health.
Securing our healthy future has identified five priority themes for action. One of these is nutrition and healthy weight as we see the number of overweight and obese children in England rising. This has implications for the current and future health of our children, for the demand on our health service, and for our wider society.
One of the report’s recommendations to help address rising obesity and access to good nutrition is an expansion of free school meals in primary schools in England. This ask builds on a letter sent from the Faculty of Public Health to the Prime Minister earlier this year and would bring England in line with Scotland and Wales. In the time since our letter was written, front line public health colleagues have shared an increasing number of concerning stories of young people struggling to access food. We are doing more work on the evidence around food insecurity in children that will be published next month.
Other key calls made in the report to protect and promote better child health include action on the climate crisis, childhood vaccination, oral health, and mental health.
The climate crisis is the greatest public health challenge we face. Many of its impacts – including air quality – disproportionately impact children, particularly those who live in the most deprived areas. We’re asking Government to do more to reduce emissions of the most harmful pollutants.
Childhood vaccination is hugely effective in preventing infectious disease as well as protecting against cancer in adulthood. Rates of childhood vaccination in the UK are declining and protection against measles is at the lowest it has been for a decade. We are asking the Government to publish and implement plans to reverse these trends.
The report also highlights the importance of oral and mental health. Both of these issues are strongly influenced by deprivation and share challenges around timely access to services. There are opportunities to do more in these areas – we are asking the Government to invest in prevention and workforce.
The full support of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges to this report demonstrates how the importance of these issues is recognised across the full range of medical specialties. Please read the report and join us in calling on the Government to secure our healthy future.
Joe Williams, Speciality Registrar, British Association for Child and Adolescent Public Health (BACAPH)
Ann Hoskins, Independent Public Health Consultant, British Association for Child and Adolescent Public Health (BACAPH)
Professor Kevin Fenton, President, UK Faculty of Public Health (FPH)
Better Health For All 