Aeron Hurt, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
It’s that time of year again when scientists and doctors make predictions about the impending flu season and we must decide whether to go out and get the flu vaccine.
Children will learn to like vegetables if they’re regularly exposed to them from a young age.
Zadorozhnyi Viktor/Shutterstock
Hippocrates said circa 400BC that “food should be our medicine and medicine should be our food”. He would probably turn in his grave if he saw the amount of highly processed, sugary food and drinks marketed…
The National Children’s Study may have been flawed, but it was still a valuable endeavor.
Children running via glenda/Shutterstock
Environmental health research has confirmed that chronic, low-level exposure to toxins in our environment – including our food, air and water – can have a significant impact on our health. We need to expand…
Current guidelines ignore the fact that young Australians use screens for homework, social media and entertainment.
Andrew Plumb/Flickr
It’s almost universally recommended that for optimal physical and mental health, children engage in 60 minutes of physical activity each day and limit the time they spend watching TV, playing computer…
The NHS is 67 years old, on its knees and struggling, and its patients are not doing much better. Launching the Labour Party’s new plans for public health today – it’s an election year after all – the…
Conduct problems in childhood are the most common precursor to a variety of disorders affecting mental and physical health in adulthood.
Sergio Vassio Photography/Flickr
Aggression and oppositional behaviour in childhood doesn’t just make short-term problems for children, their friends and families. It also places kids at risk of long-term issues with mental and physical…
Parents can support young people to develop healthy, respectful and consensual sexual relationships.
Ed Yourdon/Flickr
Talking about sex, intimacy and risk-taking with adolescents is not as easy as busting out a Salt-N-Pepa classic. Catchy lyrics aside, parents may be grappling with a number of questions: Is my adolescent…
Weight on young shoulders.
Boy on scales via Igor Stepovik Shutterstock
The World Health Organisation has defined obesity in children as a major threat to public health and the UK government treats it as a high priority. While we know a lot about the problem of childhood obesity…
Most children have never had legal capacity and are reliant on parents to make health-care decisions for them.
drpnncpptak/Shutterstock
The diagnosis of a palliative illness in a child or adolescent is devastating for all involved: parents, family members and the children themselves, as they grieve for life they had planned and believed…
Faster out of the blocks.
Boy runners via racorn/Shutterstock
Children who do more physical activity are likely to improve their health and it might also help them improve their school grades. Those are the findings of recent research from Sweden which suggest that…
If you’re born underweight, like this little baby on the left, it can make a world of difference to your lifelong health.
Menzies Health
Gurmeet Singh, Menzies School of Health Research and Susan Sayers, Menzies School of Health Research
Tony Abbott is spending this week in North-East Arnhem Land, part of his long-held hope “to be not just the Prime Minister but the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs”. We asked our experts: what stories…
A good diet is essential to maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding the risk factors for many chronic diseases.
Rusty Stewart/Flickr
Amanda Lee, Queensland University of Technology and Deanne Minniecon, Queensland University of Technology
We’ve recently seen some encouraging improvements in closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage: better educational outcomes, higher child immunisation rates, more health checks, and a 35% drop in the…
Australian parents spend $40 million each year on vitamin supplements for their children. It’s a big number; much smaller is the number of children who actually need them. In 2009, a large American research…
The situation for children is getting worse: for the first time in more than 17 years, child poverty in the UK has increased in absolute terms. While the poorest areas are being hit hardest by current…
We shouldn’t need to keep spelling it out.
Thinglass ADHD image via Shutterstock
The Observer recently ran an interview with US expert Bruce D Perry who claimed that children’s hyperactivity “is not a real disease”. Perry, senior fellow of the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas…
Paediatrician at the Royal Childrens Hospital and Associate Professor and Clinician Scientist, University of Melbourne and MCRI, Murdoch Children's Research Institute