While Austria sees itself as a welfare state and a slogan of “the world’s best healthcare system” has been propagated for years, experts see the situation differently, at least when it comes to children and young people, if not otherwise. Klaus Vavrik, pediatrician and head of the Outpatient Clinic for Developmental and Social Paediatrics in Vienna-Favoriten: “According to Statistics Austria, 17 percent of people in Austria are at risk of poverty. Child poverty, on the other hand, is ‘traditionally’ higher than average. Currently 23 percent of the up to to 17-year-olds.” The latter corresponds almost exactly to the EU average figures, although Austria is one of the richest EU countries.
The European Community recently responded to the problem of child poverty with the decision on a “European Guarantee for Children” (June 14, 2021). Vavrik was subsequently appointed national coordinator for the project by the Austrian federal government by decision of the Council of Ministers (September 15, 2021). “The aim of the European Child Guarantee is to prevent and combat the social exclusion of children by giving them access to a range of essential services. A ‘guarantee’ may already be understood by people as an entitlement. This term is relatively binding “, said the expert.
In Austria, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs assumed responsibility for the “guarantee”. However, this should always be coordinated with the Ministry of Family Affairs and the Ministry of Education. It doesn’t seem that easy. By March 15, 2022, the EU should have a national action plan on the strategy for the intended measures. When asked, the plan was promised by the Austrian authorities for the first quarter of 2023. But even that has already passed.
In terms of content, the EU initiative would be extremely important. Throughout Europe, needy children and young people should be “guaranteed” effective, free and high-quality access to six service areas: early childhood care/education and upbringing, access to educational offers/school-related activities, at least one healthy meal per school day, the best possible health care, effective access to children in need of an overall healthy diet and adequate housing.
“We must break the cycle of poverty and social exclusion across generations,” says the EU. Around 18 million children and young people in the EU (22.2 percent of those under the age of 18) were to be covered by the programme. For Vavrik and the social expert of the poverty conference, also deputy director of Diakonie Austria, Martin Schenk, Austria also has some catching up to do on each of the six points.
“There aren’t enough places for early childhood care. The classic case is that the single mother is deregistered from the labor market service because there is no kindergarten place available,” said Vavrik. Schenk added: “It’s particularly bad for children with chronic illnesses. People often don’t trust themselves to be cared for, which means there’s no place in kindergarten.”
Equal access to education is the next point. “When it comes to mobility, in terms of education, regardless of the origin of the children, we are in the bottom third in the EU. So origin is currently more important than talent. Education would be a strong lever against poverty,” said the pediatrician. Basically, on the basis of the opportunity and social index, every school in Austria could be equipped with funds and staff according to the more or less great needs in order to create a balance. But there is only one pilot project with a hundred schools. “And we must finally get away from the eternal pilot projects.”
Ensuring at least one healthy meal at school also plays a role here. Social expert Schenk: “We know that 20 percent of children in Austria go to school without breakfast.”
A special topic is access to the healthcare system, for example to necessary therapies without private cost sharing. Capacity problems also come into play here. At the end of 2021, for example, the health target control determined the situation in “developmental and social pediatrics: “Apart from the fact that children and adolescents wait an average of five months for the start of therapy, 43 percent of the facilities also have to turn away patients completely for capacity reasons.” When it comes to caring for children and young people with chronic illnesses, Statistics Austria assumes that ten percent of children from wealthy families have an unmet need for treatment, while 24 percent of those affected are at risk of poverty.
Vavrik mentioned his daily experiences in caring for children with autism disorders: “Here there are waiting times of one to one and a half years. We have to constantly say: ‘Sorry, we can’t take anyone.’ Aisle beds are regularly criticized in hospitals. In our area, however, there are often no offers for many children if their parents are not able to pay privately.”
In addition to the lack of social housing in many federal states (Schenk; note), families in need are currently particularly at risk from inflation. Additional funding and financial shielding measures would have to take effect here. Evictions would have to be prevented, and arrears of payment would have to be absorbed as far as possible. There are individual measures, but there is no overall strategy.
According to the experts, this overall strategy should be included in the national action plan that is being coordinated between the three ministries and coalition partners. It was only in February of this year that a whole series of Austrian children’s rights organizations pointed out its absence – again and again.
