Over 90% of mothers reported that they did not smoke during pregnancy and over 8 out of 10 that they did not consume alcoholic beverages.
However, there are still too many children (38%) potentially exposed to secondhand smoke due to the presence of at least one parent and/or other smoker living together.
Furthermore, if it is true that more than 90% of mothers took folic acid during pregnancy, only a third (32.1%) did so properly from one month before conception.
Again: between 11 and 15 months, over half of the little ones are already exposed to screens, including TVs, computers, tablets or mobile phones.
These are some of the results, presented at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), of the 0-2 year old surveillance system on the main determinants of child health, promoted by the Ministry of Health and coordinated by the ISS,
in collaboration with the Regions.
In this 2nd edition of the survey, over 35,000 mothers of babies up to 1,000 days of life were interviewed, using an anonymous self-completed questionnaire at the Vaccination Centers between June and October 2022. The purpose of the Surveillance is to produce indicators at a regional or company, required by the WHO and/or by the National and Regional Prevention Plans.
"Investing in the early stages of life means encouraging positive effects throughout life, not only in the individual but in the entire community - says Giovanni Capelli, Director of the National Center for the Prevention of Diseases of the ISS - The results of the The 2022 edition of the Surveillance show that behaviors favorable to the full psycho-physical development of children are not always guaranteed and highlight territorial and socio-economic differences worthy of attention".