The Maine Kids Count, a statistical profile of how Maine children are faring in areas such as health, education, family environment and crime, generally shows positive news for the state. But a closer reading of the numbers exposes some specific problems that Maine should address and a disparity among counties that is alarming.

The annual study by the Maine’s Children’s Alliance suggests that fewer Maine infants are dying, more children are being immunized, their suicide rate is down and more are planning to go on to post-secondary education. Fewer teens are getting pregnant and more are finding work. That is the good news.

The bad news, statewide, is that more children are being arrested, slightly more are in the custody of the Department of Human Services and nearly 1 in 5 lives at or near the poverty line. Of more concern than these general staistics are the county profiles, which show not only disparities in, for instance, the availability of doctors and dentists, but also in death rates and violent deaths of children.

More than 30,000 Maine children currently are without health care insurance, and with this edition of the Kids Count book, the alliance introduces its Child Health Care Access Project. It seeks to quantify the health care problems for children and to find a variety of ways to get children the preventive and primary care they need to stay healthy. This work promises to become even more important as the health care system continues to emphasize cost-savings.

There is no absolute cause-and-effect between poverty and childhood tragedy, but there are disturbing trends: children from poor families are less likely to be ready for school and more likely to suffer from health problems. When Maine outlines its priorities or creates statewide programs for children, the Kids Count study suggests, it needs to pay special attention to these problems within specific areas of the state.

Teens ages 15 to 19, for instance, have twice the death rate in Washington County compared with Kennebec County. Infant-mortality rates in York and Cumberland counties, where median household income from the last census was more than $32,000 annually, are below the state average; they are above the state averages in Somerset and Aroostook counties, where the household income was less than $23,000.

That is the value of the statistical profile. By creating these health snapshots, at least down to the county level, the Maine Children’s Alliance gives the public a sense of where Maine government agencies and charities should be focusing their work. The statistics can allow people who want to help be more efficient and effective.