Keele Research Repository

BACKGROUND: Children have the right to health and countries a duty under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to facilitate this. The European Union has emphasized the importance of investing in children, but at times this seems more wish than pragmatism. Furthermore, European statistical systems do not provide any relevant data, and the degree of unmet need has hitherto been unknown. However, new ad hoc household survey data have now been published by Eurostat showing the percentage of children with a purported unmet medical or dental need and the expressed reasons for this. METHOD: This paper critically reviews these data on children with a reported unmet medical or dental need to create an indication of the number of European children with unmet medical and dental needs, and the contributory factors. RESULTS: This paper calculates that some 1 million European children can be estimated to have an unmet medical need and 2 million children an unmet dental need, though the survey approach has some weaknesses. A probable overestimate of children affected in sample households offsets the likely failure to capture data about children in institutions, homeless, or in fractured families, or about multiple needs. The reported reasons for not obtaining treatments are a valuable first step in highlighting an important issue for Europe's children-measurement of service accessibility. CONCLUSION: Potentially over 3 million European Union children are failing to have their health needs and their rights met. If the incoming European Commission is serious about its predecessor's promise to invest in children and to take seriously their rights, action is needed to improve quantification of unmet need and to reduce suffering and potential lasting damage.