What we're doing about children's health

Consultation and engagement

Open consultations

We publish all open consultations in the Consultation Hub.

Policy work

National action plan

We have a national plan to ensure all Australian children and young people, from all backgrounds and all walks of life:

• can fulfil their potential
• are healthy, safe and thriving.

We implement the plan and monitor its progress to identify gaps and improve policy for children and young people.

Multi-agency policy work

We also worked with the:

• Department of Social Services to develop Safe and supported: the national framework for protecting Australia’s children 2021–2031
• Department of Social Services and the Department of Education on the Early Years Strategy – with flow-on benefits for adolescents and young adults
• state and territory health departments on the National clinical assessment framework for children in out of home care – to improve the health of these children and young people and National Framework for Universal Child and Family Health Services. 

Initiatives and programs

We fund initiatives and programs to improve the health of children.

eSafety

eSafety is the concept of keeping people safe in online spaces. The eSafety website provides advice about how to stay safe online with helpful information and resources. 

Find out more about helping children stay safe online. 

Online safety

Research and data

We fund research about children’s health. This includes:

• the Young Minds: Our Future study – which will provide updated prevalence rates of common mental health disorders for Australian children and adolescents
• the Zero Childhood Cancer Personalised Medicine Program – to help improve survival outcomes for children aged 0 to18
• models of care for children and young people who are transgender, gender diverse or intersex – to improve their physical and mental health.
• the Mothers and Their Children’s Health (MatCH) sub-study of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) – which investigates the intergenerational determinants of child and adolescent development among children of women in the ALSWH cohort.
• the AIHW National Perinatal data collection – a national population-based cross-sectional collection of data on pregnancy and childbirth
• the AIHW National Centre for Monitoring Chronic Conditions – which covers routine monitoring of chronic conditions (including Type 1 diabetes among children) in addition to research projects that provide new insights (including improving childhood asthma statistics using linked data).
• work of the Breakthrough T1D (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network – which conducts research programs on finding a cure for type 1 diabetes and the screening and treatment of type 1 diabetes in children and adults.

Who we work with

We work with:

• the Department of Social Services – to implement the Early Years Strategy and Safe and Supported: the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children
• the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth – by funding them to provide advice on policies for children and young people
• the Australian Association for Adolescent Health – by funding them to provide advice on policies for adolescents and young people
• research institutes – by funding them to research topics such as childhood cancers and treatments among many others
• the Department of Social Services and other Commonwealth agencies such as the Attorney-General’s Department to implement the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032.
• the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance – by funding them to provide objective expert advice on all aspects of vaccine preventable diseases, other issues related to immunisation, and to inform policy and planning for immunisation services in Australia.
• Sharing Knowledge About Immunisation – by collaborating with them to provide the public and healthcare professionals with the information and tools they need to have helpful conversations about vaccination.
• the National Office of Child Safety – the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021–2030 which provides a nationally coordinated, strategic framework for preventing and responding to child sexual abuse.