IA little over a year ago, ten thousand pediatric caregivers questioned the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, about the acute crisis in their specialty. Pediatric emergency rooms were saturated, infants were transferred hundreds of kilometers from home, and the shortage of child caregivers in hospital and outpatient settings was worrying. Pediatric and child health conferences were then urgently convened and strong measures announced for spring 2023.
At the same period, the Ministry of Health saw the term “prevention” (which no longer exists) attached to its title, suggesting a revitalization of prevention services for children. But, since this alert, none of the measures resulting from the Conference have been announced.
However, the facts are stubborn. In France, we are seeing an increase in the infant mortality rate which is higher than the European average. In the ranking of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), France has gradually fallen from 9e at 26eplace between 1989 and 2021. In 2021, 2,700 children under the age of 1 died in France. Of these, 1,200 annual perinatal deaths are currently considered preventable. This statistical indicator is recognized as a marker of the quality of obstetric and pediatric care in a country.
The researchers’ hypotheses relate its recent increase both to the deterioration of the living and health conditions of part of the population and to that of the health care and social and psychological support system. The current crisis in the most specialized neonatology services known as “level 3” illustrates this situation.
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We also observe a worrying evolution of child morbidity: increase in diabetes insulin dependent in children by 4% per year, obesity among 18-24 year olds multiplied by four since 1997, increase in neurodevelopmental disorders affecting nearly 100,000 children and adolescents per year, increased suicidal thoughts and actions among young people, with a two-thirds increase in visits to child psychiatry emergencies over the last five years.
All this in a context where the deterioration of children’s living environment, whether physico-chemical (pollution, endocrine disruptors), socio-economic (growth in precariousness and poverty) or educational (screens, violence , loss of physical activity), adversely affects their health trajectory and maximizes health inequalities.
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