Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

The condition is a major cause of long-term ear and hearing problems in Aboriginal children.

with around 8,800 children affected in 2022-23, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

University of Newcastle professor and Worimi man Kelvin Kong is one of Australia's leading ear, nose and throat specialists.

He's spent his career improving access to culturally safe healthcare for Indigenous communities and says services like the EarBus are vital to help close the gap.

I heard you say that the other day.

The recent research, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 80% of kids who go into incarceration are re-offended.

I've been there, Neil, and I've seen how...

You haven't been locked up.

So that was sort of the basis for progressing this work of what kind of detail it could provide us with.

And at the time, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was the data linkage organisation who did the majority of data linkage in Australia.

So we approached them and we started on a very long approvals process.

to combine the case-based HIV notification surveillance system with the pharmaceutical benefit scheme, Medicare benefit schedule and the National Death Index.

It tells us not only how children are doing today, but helps us understand the health and wellbeing of future generations.

Today, we're taking a closer look at the AIHW's latest Health of Children reporting to explore a simple but important question.

How are Australia's children really doing? And now, before we begin, a quick note about the data.

In this episode, when we refer to children, we're generally talking about Australians aged 0 to 14.

And numbers can't tell us what's happening, but they don't always tell us what it feels like to grow up in Australia today.

While many children are doing well, the data also tells us where the greatest health challenges lie.

One way the AIHW looks at that is through burden of disease.

For listeners who may not be familiar with it, what does that term mean?

But what I did discover... was still incredibly concerning.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, that's where my stats came from, around 31,700 Australians aged 55 and over needed help from specialist homelessness services in 24 slash 25.

That's more than the year before.

And the proportion of older people among those seeking support This support has been growing over time.

How dare they overtake you.

We are talking about e-devices on the show today and a recent snapshot from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on the safety of these devices.

That's coming up on The Health Report.

I'm Norman Swan on Guyana Country.

really? And I love it, actually.

So what have you got? I have a private e-scooter, a robust one.

Before we get into this, though, we should talk about the findings in this Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, Norman and Martin, I should say now.

Yeah.

Scarlett Coppola reports.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says while its new report has limitations, it can confirm the rate of hospitalisations due to falls from a category of vehicles that includes e-bikes more than tripled between 2019-20 and 2024-25.

It's unclear how much of this change is due to increased use, but numbers are consistent with the growing popularity of e-scooters in recent years.

The report found three in five hospitalisations involve fractures and it's hoped future data will provide a more accurate picture of the health impacts associated with e-bike use.