Towards a national child and adolescent health strategy in Switzerland: strengthening surveillance to improve prevention and care

Excerpt

In recent years, Switzerland developed two overarching health strategies: one on health in general [Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) (Bundesamt für Gesundheit) 2013] and one on the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCD) [Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) (Bundesamt für Gesundheit) 2016]. Both strategies allude to children and adolescents as vulnerable populations and to childhood as a relevant life phase for adult-onset diseases. While the European community has launched a child and adolescent health strategy (WHO Europe 2014), a specific strategy for children and adolescents is still missing in Switzerland. This lack of a health strategy for society’s youngest age group partly explains the lack of an age-specific surveillance concept. …