Report: Children’s Health in Northern Ireland 2023/24, Public Health Agency (PHA)
What are the main points?
- At 25.3%, Northern Ireland has the highest level of obesity in Primary 1 children in the UK (2023/24), found the PHA’s annual statistical profile on child health.
- A higher proportion of children from the most deprived areas were overweight or obese (32.3%), compared to 22% of children from the least deprived areas.
- Some 40.6% of mothers from the most deprived areas were breastfeeding at discharge, compared to 68.4% of mothers from the least deprived areas.
- Women living in more deprived areas were more likely to give birth to an infant with a low birth weight – 7.4% compared to 5.2%
EXPERT THOUGHT
Dr Thomas Bourke, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health officer for Ireland, said:
‘With almost one in four children in Northern Ireland living in poverty it is even more distressing that these data show that that children from deprived areas are at greatest risk. The RCPCH once again calls on our political leaders to publish the long-awaited Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Strategy and carry out a full review of the child health system in the nation.’
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