Wheezing in childhood is extremely common, nearly 50% of children experience at least one episode of wheezing before the age of 6 years and wheeze is one of the commonest health problems requiring medical care. Children aged between 1-5 years account for 75% of these admissions with the median age of admission for acute attacks of wheeze being 3 years.
Adolescent use of violence in the home (AVITH) refers to violence, or abusive or intimidating behaviours by a young person against their parent, carer, sibling or other family member within the home. The Victorian Family Violence Reform recognises violence used by young people as a distinct form of family violence, requiring unique responses to the inherent complexities of this form of family violence. I
The term ‘learning health systems’ is not new. But widespread consensus that learning is crucial for health system performance is not matched by shared understanding of how health systems learn. The speaker will present ideas for such shared understanding based on a recent report by the WHO’s Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research.
The Vernon Collins Oration was established in 1981, in memory of Professor Vernon Collins, the first Medical Director of The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. He held this position from 1949 to 1960 and then became the Professor of Child Health in the University of Melbourne, before retiring in 1974.
The primary mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation disorders are characterized by clinical and genetic heterogeneity, limited treatment options, and poor outcomes. Part of the complexity is because both the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes may be involved. Mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited. From a reproductive counselling perspective, couples with a family history of mitochondrial DNA disease often have limited reproductive options available to them.
Very large, truly population-representative pregnancy cohorts are rare internationally. Generation Victoria (GenV) is a whole-state cohort targeting all newborns (~150,000) and their parents over 2 full years. Components include (i) families recruited soon after birth, (ii) biospecimens from pregnancy onwards, (iii) extensive data linkage supplemented by (iv) minimal GenV collected data, all enabling (v) many additional integrated research studies, both observational and interventional.
Sibling sexual abuse is 3-5 times more common than father/step-father abuse. This study looked past the factors that might contribute to the occurrence of sibling sexual abuse with the aim of better understanding the experience of therapists working with families with such experience and collaboratively developing principles to guide practice in this complex area of child sexual abuse.
The Melbourne Children’s Campus is a global leader for longitudinal and life course data. Being one of the few centres worldwide with such extensive longitudinal cohort studies, we are positioned to address an array of questions central to early life health and development and its progression throughout the life span.
Victoria’s newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) program commenced in 1966 with screening for phenylketonuria, and from the early 1970’s close to 100% of newborns were being screened. Improvements in analytical and genetic testing technologies saw the successive introduction of screening for congenital hypothyroidism, cystic fibrosis and 22 metabolic conditions. Today, Victoria’s NBS program detects about 80 babies per year with these conditions, preventing life-long debilitating outcomes and even death.
Among individuals with cerebral palsy (CP), rehabilitation needs and treatment have been established, but are mostly focused on the pediatric population. Evidence demonstrates that the number of adults who live with CP and other childhood-onset disabilities is increasing, and that they experience significant physical and mental health inequalities as they grow up.
