Children’s Health in Suburban Philadelphia

Posted by on February 24, 2014

Children’s Health in the Suburbs

Public Citizens for Children and Youth has issued its latest reports on the state of children’s health in Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties.

HOW HEALTHY ARE CHILDREN IN BUCKS, CHESTER, AND DELAWARE COUNTIES?

Childhood obesity and access to health care remain some of the most pressing issues when it comes to children’s health in Bucks, Delaware and Chester counties, according to recently released reports from Public Citizens for Children and Youth, a children’s advocacy non-profit.

The reports found that nearly 20,000 children in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties are uninsured. More than a quarter of those kids (5,692) are undocumented and cannot enroll in CHIP or Medical Assistance.

In the three counties, about 114,000 children are overweight or obese. In addition, disparities persisted between children of different races, ethnicities, insurance statuses and incomes.

“We need to do a better job of insuring children and making kids healthier,” said Estelle Richman, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and PCCY Board Member in a written statement. “The healthier our kids are, the more successful they will be later on in life.”

Each county report looked at 15 indicators of children’s health which included teen birth rate, low birth rates, teen pregnancy, asthma diagnoses, and insurance enrollment. Behavioral health was not included because of the lack of reliable public data, according to PCCY.

https://www.pccy.org/?page=news__43&newsid=445