Analysis & Review
ANALYSIS & REVIEW
Children and young people with disability
In 2017–18 there were 60,400 children and young people living with disability in South Australia. This is 16.7% of the population of children and young people in South Australia and compares to 13.1% of children nationally who live with disability1. Children with disabilities were described in a recent report by the South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People as “one of the...
Five-year data summary
The intent of the Committee is to improve the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in South Australia. One of the ways it does this is by identifying opportunities for prevention and intervention through the systematic collection, analysis, and dissemination of information about child deaths. This page includes a summary and overview of child deaths in South Australia. The...
A continuing trend in fewer neonatal deaths
Last year, the Committee reported that there was a particularly small number of neonatal deaths in 2019. The Committee noted that this reduction in neonatal deaths did not appear to be random; rather, it appeared to be attributable to fewer deaths associated with 'Disorders related to length of gestation and fetal growth' (ICD-10 code block P05-P08; see footnote). The number of neonatal...
Why were there fewer neonatal deaths in 2019?
A reduction in neonatal deaths Eighty-one deaths of children and young people were recorded in 2019 in South Australia. This is the smallest yearly number of deaths recorded since the Child Death and Serious Injury Committee was formed in 2005. The Committee is interested in whether this decrease was a result of chance, or whether some other factor – for example, a medical advance – has...
Sleep-related infant deaths and socio-economic disadvantage
On average, 13 infants die suddenly and unexpectedly each year in South Australia. Most of these deaths occur in the infants’ sleep environments, and in almost all cases at least one safe sleeping risk factor is identified. As we discussed in a previous blog post, these risk factors are not necessarily causes of death in their own right, but rather behaviours that increase the risk of infants...
Meeting the challenges of becoming a parent after a childhood experience of being in State care
A child or young person’s concept of family and parental responsibility is largely informed by their own experience of being parented. Complex lives The Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee reviewed the deaths of fifteen children whose parents had a history of being in State care. Most of the children who died were infants born prematurely. Many of these children’s siblings were...
Deaths of children due to drowning
The Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee collects and analyses information on the circumstances of all deaths of children in South Australia. The Committee reviews this information to better understand the patterns of death from all causes including: who is most at risk; where these deaths most often occur; and when these deaths occur. This blog post presents information collected...
What can be learnt from the deaths of children due to asthma?
The Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee has reviewed the deaths of 14 children and young people since 2005, resulting from asthma. The Committee found that improvements in asthma care could be made. Recognition of poorly controlled asthma Health services can help families and service providers caring for children with asthma to recognise extended periods of poorly controlled...
Geographic Disparities in Child Death
Over the last 13 years, the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee has documented the higher death rates for children living in more remote regions of the State. The death rate for children living in different parts of South Australia can be seen in more detail in the interactive visualisation below. This map includes all deaths of children who were residents of South Australia and...
Suicide Prevention and Child Death Review
To create a comprehensive set of suicide prevention strategies for young people, many different avenues of intervention need to be considered. The Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee carefully reviews all information available to it to determine if a young person has suicided. The Committee uses this information to build ‘life charts’. These charts help to identify common themes...
Safe Sleeping of Infants
The South Australian Safe Infant Sleeping Standards are a comprehensive set of standards for placing infants less than 12 months old to sleep. These standards were developed to help reduce the occurrence of sudden unexpected deaths of infants during sleep. Several factors occur frequently in the circumstances of these deaths. These factors are not causes of death in their own right. Rather,...
Death and Disadvantage
More children die in areas of South Australia where there are greater levels of social disadvantage. The Committee has documented this association over the past 12 years and published data showing this relationship in its 2016-17 Annual Report. In countries like Australia, this relationship between child death and social disadvantage is well known: ‘Relative poverty is highlighted as the most...
