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Maintaining an agenda for children: the role of data in linking policy, politics and outcomes
Author(s) -
Goldfeld Sharon R,
Oberklaid Frank
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb06999.x
Subject(s) - action plan , politics , political science , set (abstract data type) , public health , action (physics) , economic growth , public relations , psychology , medicine , nursing , computer science , economics , physics , management , quantum mechanics , programming language , law
There is growing recognition in Australia of the importance of early childhood to later health and wellbeing, with developments such as the National Agenda for Early Childhood and the National Public Health Action Plan for Children. To sustain a policy agenda for children and improve long‐term outcomes, we need timely, comprehensive and accurate indicators and data on child health, development and wellbeing. Building this evidence requires a national monitoring and surveillance system that involves more than aggregating or linking existing data. Steps to building a national system are: to agree on key indicators of child health, development and wellbeing for regular reporting, to research a comprehensive set of indicators for each domain and ascertain data gaps, and to ensure development and coordination of data relevant to policy‐making.