A new health record for children comes into force on January 1, 2025. In this new edition, a dematerialized version of which will be integrated by the end of 2026 in the digital space, My Child Health Space, the twenty examinations of Mandatory health requirements are all detailed, indicates the General Directorate of Health (DGS) in a press release.
The child’s health record includes several pages intended to help parents by offering them prevention advice that promotes their well-being and development.
The messages intended for parents, already developed in the previous edition, have been updated in particular on the following points:
- Advice for raising your child without violence;
- Tables relating to the introduction of foods;
- Advice regarding the child’s sleep;
- Advice on using screens;
- Benchmarks for detecting neurodevelopmental disorders.
- The twenty compulsory health examinations are also an opportunity to deliver prevention messages and better identify risks.
Examinations in the child’s 1st year allow professionals to deliver prevention messages to parents regarding sleeping position, prevention of unexpected infant death and shaken baby syndrome. The health professional is invited during the first year to provide information on the risks of postpartum depression for the mother and on the importance of parent/child interactions.
From the age of 3 months and until adolescence, questions on exposure and then on the use of screens were introduced in a process of identifying misuse of screens by the health professional. From the age of 2 and up to adolescence, questions on the child’s practice of physical activity were added.
Finally, during adolescence, specific questions aim to identify endometriosis in girls or the psycho-emotional state of adolescents, including the identification of situations of harassment.
The health record is accompanied by three health certificates which allow the transmission at the national level of non-nominative data for the purposes of statistical and epidemiological monitoring of children’s health and, locally, individual monitoring by the departmental PMI services. .
New features in the medical monitoring section
The twenty mandatory health examinations are all detailed. The content of eight health examinations has been added in this new version of the health record, to cover all compulsory consultations.
For each age, a section intended for parents allows them to be given benchmarks to situate the child in their development (social, cognitive, motor) and prevention messages are associated with it.
A new compulsory medical examination at the age of 6
This new examination aims to strengthen prevention at a time when the majority of children enter primary school, particularly in terms of sensory screening and developmental disorders. This new examination also makes it possible to carry out the booster vaccination against whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus and poliomyelitis recommended at 6 years of age and is an additional opportunity for dialogue with families.
Better detect neurodevelopmental disorders
In accordance with the recommendations of the High Authority of Health and as part of the 2023-2027 national strategy for neurodevelopmental disorders, the health record integrates the grids from the booklet for identifying signs of unusual child development in the compulsory medical examinations.
Vaccination tracking
The two double pages devoted to vaccinations have been updated to accompany the new vaccination obligations and recommendations in force at the time of printing. As in the previous booklet, the copy of these two double pages serves as a vaccination certificate, particularly for the admission of children to a community.
