A research division focused entirely on child health is appropriate because the cycle of ill health among Indigenous Australians begins early in life. The Indigenous infant mortality rate remains more than twice that of the total population while Indigenous mothers are twice as likely as non-Indigenous mothers to deliver babies of low birth weight. Failure to thrive and infectious diseases are all too common.

The Division brings together many existing child health-focused research groups and aims to increase research into immunisation and vaccine-preventable diseases. The Division will also initiate new research examining the links between education and health and novel approaches to improving health and developmental outcomes in early childhood. :