Childhood deaths

 

Our WA Mortality Database describes the deaths of every Western Australian-born infant, child and young person.  
It is important to understand why our children are dying so we can work towards improving programs and services aimed at reducing childhood death.  The project also aims to identify more accurately Aboriginal births and deaths in large population datasets. It is important to identify this particular group within the total population so that patterns and trends of deaths among Aboriginal infants, children and young people may be identified and areas of critical need addressed.

The database describes the cause, location and circumstances of death for all infants, children and young people born in WA between 1980 and 2005 inclusive. 

Our research
During 2007, we collected information on childhood deaths for the years 2004 and 2005, and began collection of 2006 data.  We now have around a quarter of a century of comprehensive mortality information that describes the deaths of WA-born infants, children and young people.  This database has the ability to provide comprehensive information that will enable the development of targeted policy and initiatives to prevent childhood deaths.  An example of this is our work in the area of preventable deaths including deaths attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in the Indigenous population where we have used the database to develop interventions to prevent SIDS.  
 
In 2007, we began the first-of-its-kind analysis of data to compare patterns and trends of deaths of Australian Aboriginal, Alaska Native and New Zealand Maori babies and children.
 
Last updated 27 May 2008