Australian Pre-school Children Set For Government Mental Health Screening

Australian pre-school children are set to be screened for early signs of mental illness as part of an extension to the voluntary Government funded program, Healthy Kids Check. The Department of Health and Aging via it website say that the program aims to improve the health and well-being for Australian children by encouraging early detection of lifestyle risk factors and physical health issues, and facilitating early intervention strategies through the Healthy Kids Check Medicare items. This initiative aligns with the broader policy agenda of optimising outcomes for children through attention to health, learning and development.

The Australian Medical Association – AMA – currently supports the Federal Governments initiative to look for early signs of mental illness in three-year-old children. Though this hasn’t always been the case. In 2010, the then AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce said via statement that the AMA supported the principle that parents should be given greater incentive to take personal responsibility for making sure that their children have a healthy start to life, but the Healthy Kids Check program was not the right way to achieve this outcome :: Read the full article »»»»