Working the Data
› Case Study > Maternal & Child
Health Data
This data set provides selected maternal and child health
indicators by LGA and region, primarily relating to service usage. The
data is reasonably comprehensive for those children whose parents/guardians
utilise maternal and child health centres; note that there is a substantial
element of self-reporting (e.g. for breastfeeding), which could lead
to data inaccuracies. The data provides its own assessment of target
population coverage, by stating the percentage of children attending
the key ages and stages visits. It covers a wide range of indicators
including service usage, breast feeding rates, reasons for counselling
or referral to specialist services, first time mothers and ATSI participation.
The data is released annually but there is a considerable lag time, with
2006/07 data not yet available on the website.
The source of this data were the Maternal and Child Health Services Annual
Reports 2005-2006, published separately for each region; the data was
accessed by downloading the pdf reports from the DHS website (the data
is free). The reports use base data such as the number of birth notifications
and the number of children in each target age/population group within
each LGA (e.g. 2 year olds, ATSI children) to calculate percentages such
as the percentage fully breastfed at three months. This makes the data
relatively easy to work with, although percentages are only provided
for selected data tables.
The uses for the data include:
› Obtaining an overview of total demand for Maternal and Child Health Services, via data such as birth notifications. This sort of information is also useful for other child services such as child care services.
› Analysing variations in service utilisation between ATSI and non-ATSI children, different age groups and different geographic areas. For example, participation in key ages and stages visits tends to be high in more advantaged areas, as do breastfeeding rates.
› Identifying trends in total births and service usage patterns.
› Helping to identify health issues (reasons for counselling
and referral) amongst mothers/families and young children – data on counselling
and referrals for both mothers/families and their children are provided.
The ATSI participation rate data is likely to be less reliable
due to population mobility issues and the potential for miscounting of
this group; also, the data is not published for several LGAs.
The data for LGAs in the Southern Metropolitan region shows that:
› The level of birth notifications was by far the highest in Casey (23% of total notifications for the region).
› A well below average level of infants were fully breastfed at three months in Casey, Frankston, Greater Dandenong and Mornington Peninsula.
› The participation rate for 4 month old visits was highest in Bayside, Port Phillip and Stonnington.
› The participation rate for 12 month old visits was highest in Kingston, Bayside, Cardinia and Stonnington
› The participation rate for 2 year old visits was highest
in Bayside and Kingston.
It also shows that the decline in participation between 4 months and 2 years was much higher than the regional average in Casey, Port Phillip, Cardinia and Stonnington.
