The NC Child and the NC Institute of Medicine recently released the 2023 Child Health Report Card.

The report shows North Carolina earned failing grades in several key areas: mental health, school health, housing and economic security, and birth outcomes, but made progress in preconception health and maternal health support, and substance use.

Below is a snapshot of the grades in the 2023 report:

A – Insurance Coverage

B – Environmental Health; Health Services Utilization and Immunization; Preconception and Maternal Health and Support;

C – Teen Births; Breastfeeding; Oral Health;

D – Education; Healthy Eating and Active Living; School Health; Child Abuse and Neglect; Tobacco, Alcohol, and Substance Use;

F – Birth Outcomes; Mental Health; School Health; Housing and Economic Security

The authors of the report recommended several approaches to improving children’s mental health:

  • Removing barriers to mental health care;
  • Enhancing the availability of mental health care and crisis intervention in public schools, particularly in rural areas where specialty care is less available; and
  • Making it harder for children and youth to get access to lethal means of self-harm (e.g., safe storage of firearms and prescription drugs).

View the 2023 Child Health Report Card here.