Children’s Health Is Too Often Ignored in Elections—Here Is Evidence to Help Change That

Abstract

When elections focus on health policy, children are too often ignored. This is as true during the present election cycle as any other. Because children do not vote, are disproportionately poor and disenfranchised, and usually inc ur lower health care costs than older adults, their health issues are given less attention in public policy debates. Very few Democratic Congressional campaign websites discuss pediatric health policies; even fewer Republican ones do. 1 It is troubling that candidates would neglect issues directly affecting the current and future health and well-being of more than 73 million Americans-more than one-fifth of the US population. 2,3 Worse, child health can be indirectly impacted by adult-focused policies, but this issue is often considered after the fact. While we may not be able to directly change how candidates focus on these issues, we can offer them the evidence they need to do so.To call attention to child health as an important policy issue and provide data to inform the decision-making of voters and policy makers, JAMA Pediatrics issued a Call for Papers on Election-Year Policies and Children's Health last year. The resulting submissions, highlighted herein, focus on a range of significant issues. Some articles point out underrecognized or unaddressed topics in child health and help characterize the problem and the populations affected, providing visibility and evidence to encourage policy makers to take action. Other studies evaluate the impact of existing policies to examine which may be beneficial and which may not, providing evidence to strengthen the former and reconsider the latter.Children spend much of their time in school, and school policies impact child health. School reopening during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has generated considerable debate. Kroshus et al 4 highlighted the factors affecting whether parents intend to keep their children home from school during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Miller et al 5 found that a school-based, coach-led gender violence prevention program for middle school athletes led to increases in positive bystander behaviors and reductions in reported relationship abuse downstream. A study by Nance et al 6 reminds us that, even when mass shootings occur beyond school walls, children are involved 29% of the time and more than 90% of shootings occur within a mile of a school or other place where children congregate.

Concerning Trends in Hormonal Birth Control Use among Adolescent Females between Politically Conservative versus Liberal States

“…Scholars have called for conducting strong policy evaluations, and the need for encouraging policymakers to use these data to promote child health and well-being [36]. It is important for public health officials not to shy away from confronting the sociopolitical context in which health-related decisions are made, and work to protect our children by giving their needs the attention they deserve.…”