Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

Children’s Health released their annual report regarding issues impacting Dallas County Children. Here’s what they’ve recommended our communities to prioritize in 2024.

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Recommendations:

  • Improve health coverage for uninsured Texas children and families.
  • Remove barriers to high-quality, culturally competent care.
  • Increase access to affordable housing throughout North Texas.
  • Mitigate the impact of inflation on children’s health and well-being.
  • Combat substance use and abuse in children and youth.

The organization also studied demographic changes in local youth, here are the results.

Total youth population: 680,444 – 53.0% Hispanic and/or Latino, 23.2% Other or Multiple Races, 22.1% Black/African American, 16.2% White/Caucasian Non-Hispanic, 5.9% Asian, 0.5% American Indian.

21.2% youth live in poverty: 27.0% Black/African American, 24.8% Hispanic and/or Latino, 7.6% White/Caucasian Non-Hispanic.

Additionally, Children’s Health compiled their research findings from the past calendar year.

Findings:

  • Percentage of Texas children, 12.7%, without health insurance is more than double the national average 5.4%.
  • 85% of eligible Texas children participate in Medicaid or CHIP while 92% nationally do.
  • 40.1% of North Texas students were overweight or obese in 2022, up 34.4% since 2017.
  • The number of childhood vaccinations given declined in all 7 counties from 2017-2022.
  • 1 of 10 air-monitoring sites in North Texas met the EPA standard in 2022 for healthy ground-level ozone.
  • About 22% of middle and high school students contemplated suicide in 2021.
  • The 5 year survival rate for children with cancer has risen by almost 30%.