The 2009 North Carolina Child Health Report Card, issued jointly today by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and Action for Children North Carolina, indicates that while the health and safety of the state's children and youth have improved in many areas, there is still cause for concern.

Data from the Report Card highlight the following challenges facing North Carolina's children:

Approximately 20% of North Carolina's 2.2 million children (ages 0-17) continue to live in poverty, providing a serious challenge to the health of children across the state.

Almost 1-in-10 children (ages 0-17) are still without health insurance. However, significant investments in public health insurance coverage have reduced the uninsured rate for children, despite the continued losses in employer-based coverage.

Access to medical care, particularly for children in low-income families, has improved significantly, but remains a concern. Access to dental care for these children has improved dramatically, but still lags well behind access to medical care.

The percentage of children who are overweight continues to worsen despite recent efforts to combat this problem. Almost 1-in-4 children (ages 2-18) are overweight.

While efforts to decrease tobacco use among high school students have been successful, the use of alcohol (37%), marijuana (19%) and other illicit substances remains unacceptably high.

The infant death rate has declined, and the overall child death rate is at an historic low; however, child abuse homicide remains a particularly tragic indicator of the need to provide more support for families. In 2008, there were 33 child abuse homicide deaths.

This is the 15th annual Child Health Report Card, which measures progress in 15 indicators from 2000-2008.

To view a copy of the report click here.