International Perspective in Childhood and Childrens Health - Essay Example

International Perspective in Childhood and Children’s Health Client Inserts His/her Name Client Inserts Grade Course Client Inserts Tutor’s Name 20/04/2012 Introduction In developing countries, a large number of children are exposed to various risk factors in their early childhood. These include malnutrition, poor health and reduced levels of home stimulation. The risk factors including poverty, low levels of maternal education, child malnutrition, teenage parenting, increased levels of maternal stress and depression, low weights during birth, unsafe neighbourhoods, and reduced stimulation at home, and those children that are exposed to a variety of risk factors are at a higher risk of poor development. For instance, a study carried out by Save the Children .(2003), estimates that more than 200 million children below the age of five in developing countries are not able to reach to their potential development because of poor health, nutrition and the general poverty levels in these countries. At the same time, the children perform poorly in school and their chances of having good economic opportunities in their later life are limited. This results in poverty generation, poor health and low development (Brooks-Gunn et al. 2003). Over the past few decades the number of children dying in developing countries has reduced significantly. Mortality rates has have decline and the general child health and parenting improved. There have been numerous programs introduced in these countries to enhance the growth and protection of children from the time they are born to a certain age say five years. However, the benefits have not been evenly distributed, such that mortality in childhood remains higher in poorer countries and the gap between the poor and the rich continues to grow. Numerous poorer countries and some regions within countries that are poorer than the rest have been experiencing an increase in the levels of childhood mortality (Conyers et al. 2003). There are two types of programs that have contributed to the decreased child mortality, i.e. the general programs of basic health care and short term initiative programs that are disease-specific. These two types of programs can help significantly in the strengthening of the health systems and enabling communities and households improve their health and sanitation, thus betterment in their standards of living. New strategies are needed in order to continue impacting positively on the health of children and the population of developing countries in general. The intervention programs are usually affected by economic, political and social factors that sometimes cause more harm to the childhood and child care health instead of being beneficial. This means that attention should be paid to these interventions that affect issues concerning health not only during childhood but also in later stages of life (Brooks-Gunn et al. 2003). This therefore means that the intervention programs can either be harmful or beneficial depending on these factors affecting them or the program appropriateness to the child’s characteristics, the surrounding environment and the existing transactions between them. Traditionally, childhood intervention programs believe that the more the stimulation the better, but this has not always been the case; there is a maximum level or specified stimulation amount for individual children, which is usually determined by both internal and external stimulation sources. Increase in environmental stimulation does not necessarily mean it is beneficial and in certain conditions, it may be detrimental. Therefore, stimulation programs for children, which are non specific, are significantly harmful if the type and the intensity of stimulation is not connected to the needs of the individual children (Fuligni et al. 2003). By definition, an intervention program is put in place to help disadvantaged children from low economic and social classes to attain better social, personal, intellectual and emotional development and at the same time attain physical health. This being the main function of an intervention program, most of these programs do not fulfil this and instead, child and childhood care in health deteriorates (UNESCO 2003) There are various intervention programs on child and childhood health put in place to ensure children are getting all the health needs they require. An example of such program is the United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF). This is a program that was put in place to provide healthcare and emergency food to children from poor nations. They focus on the child’s rights, their well being and survival, protection and development. UNICEF was incorporated for the purpose of overcoming obstacles that violence, poverty, disease, malnutrition and discrimination put in a child’s path. They believe that together they can advance the humanity cause (Becker 2004). The best care a child is given at the youngest age forms the basis for the child’s future. Therefore UNICEF advocates for giving the children the best start in life. Promotion of the girl child education is one of the most important functions. UNICEF ensures that at least the girl child has completed her primary school education as education is meant to benefit both girls and boys. Educated girls later become critical thinkers, better parents and better citizens. UNICEF operates in 190 countries and ensures that all children get immunized against childhood diseases, and that they are also nourished properly because it is not right for nay child to die from preventable disease. The program also works to prevent HIV/AIDs spread from the youths and helps those families and children affected by the HIV/AIDs pandemic live with dignity (Karoly et al. 2001). The program encourages the participation of everyone to create environments that are protective for the children. They are always available to alleviate suffering in cases of emergencies, and when there are cases of threatening of children. No child should be abused, exploited and exposed to violence (UNESCO 2003). UNICEF supports the Rights of Children Convention. They work towards enhancing equity and equality to the disadvantaged and to those who are discriminated against especially women and girls. The millennium development goal of doing away with poverty and provision of quality education is their driving force. They are always striving for peace and security for children. The program also works to hold each and every individual especially the governments of different states accountable to the children’s promises that are made. UNICEF is in the umbrella of Global movement for Children whose main purpose is to make sure that each child’s life is improved. Through such movements and other events, for example, the united nation special session on children, the youths are encouraged to contribute and be actively involved in the discussions that are affecting their lives. His help them identify the major problems affecting these people in different countries, and come up with strategies to solve them (UNESCO 2003). In developing countries, where majority of the population is poor, intervention programs are very significant. The interventions programs carried out by different organizations perform vital roles in the development of children. Some of them include; Improving the intake of food and decreasing stunting. When the diet of pregnant women, toddlers and infants is improved, this can minimize chances of stunting thereby resulting in better mental and motor development. Supplementation of food during the early years of childhood improves cognition when the child is three years and above. Motor development is also enhanced through exclusive breastfeeding. This translates to supplementation before three years of age that shows beneficial impacts on reading, schooling and intelligence during adulthood (Myers 2001). Early childhood education programs have also proven to work towards a better developed child. The early stages or years in a child’s growth are critical and so children who get appropriate care and nurture develop and grow in ways that are healthy, encounter few illnesses and appropriate thinking , emotional, social and language skills are developed. When these children join school, they are able to follow the map of the school processes. They have great self esteem after completing their school life. This results in the child being more productive in the society (Becker 2004). Another program is health and nutrition which is going to be used as an example. Health and nutrition program interventions are programs put in place to ensure the improvement of quality health in children. The first three years in a child’s life are very delicate and need to be taken care of. Health and nutrition programs aims to alleviate preventable diseases and illnesses in children and making sure the children are fed in nutritious balanced diet. This is ensured by coming up with programs in schools that ensure children are given certain type of food in given portions for their well being. The mothers are also encouraged to feed well and observe balanced diet so that their children can emulate them. A good example is the health program put forth to close the health and life expectancy gap between the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians (Karoly et al. 2001). Unfortunately, these programs face major challenges in terms of political, economical, social and environmental factors. In developing countries, the early years of the child are normally the least to be considered by the government in terms of investments. The education policies are considered within the individual’s national context and prove to be difficult because of the dynamic cultural, economic and demographic trends. This inadequate investment exists despite the fact that early intervention investment in some countries has shown positive results beyond the first financial subsidies. The ideologies against investment come from various sources and are usually the decisions of policy makers’ disbelief concerning the significance of investing in people. Sometimes the ones in the authority fail to understand the role played by the enhancement of child development especially in terms of health and nutrition. They fail to take into consideration the conditions of many poor families who always strive to survive in environments that are not supportive with no basic needs like employment, health care, and child care (Conyers et al. 2003). This means that in order for the programs to be effective, the government, which dictates the political conditions of a country need to cooperate with the agencies from third world offering these services. Political instability may hinder the success of these programs where the developed countries come up with rules to be followed in order to give the intervention programs. These may take the form of withholding the services until the stability in the country is attained, sometimes they may threaten these countries which makes it difficult for them to implement the programs because no one will be cooperating with them (Sammons et al. 2002). The political unrest in these countries and the emerging civil wars leads to inadequate infrastructure to deliver the services intended by the intervening programs. The wars lead to the displacement of families and children while at the same time separating these children from their families. The changing political parties also confuse the developed countries in terms of planning thus rendering their services unbeneficial. The surrounding environment also plays a crucial role in determining the success of these programs. The family is the initial environment that a child interacts with from birth. The family plays a vital role in providing the child with stimulation, nurturance and support (Fuligni al 2003). In turn, these factors are influenced by the available resources in the family that enhance the child raising process, majorly determined by income. It has been observed that children coming from families with low incomes do not acquire the same amount of cognitive and verbal skills as those who come from rich families (Karoly et al. 2001). Poverty exposes the children to risks due to the inadequacy in resources that are associated with poverty, for example, poor nutrition. The same children from poor families perform poorly in school work, in social skills and in cognitive functioning as compared to those who come from rich families. This is because the economy of most developing countries is extremely divided where the gap between the haves and the have not’s continues to increase day by day (Conyers et al. 2003).Poverty in families can also determine the extent to which the basic needs of the children are met. Basic necessities like nutritious meals, safe housing and improved healthcare are determined by the level of income in a family (Myers 2001). The ability of families to give their children good parenting that can help develop a child are also hindered by some socio-economic factors and personal circumstances like stress, unemployment and depression. Studies have shown that most women who are prone to depression or stress are the ones who come from poor backgrounds with low incomes. This hinders them from providing their kids with responsive and positive parenting and this in turn hinders the intervention programs because stressed parents will find it difficult to engage their children in such interventions (Reynolds et al. 2003). The nurturing attributes of the environment in which the family is can be improved through the intervention programs that involve advanced parental skills, supplementation of nutrients and improved childcare arrangements. The socio political factors which refers to the wealth of a nation and the economic condition of a particular society plays a significant role in determining whether the intervention program on health and nutrition is beneficial in a given country or not. The distribution of income, employment pattern and migration all determine the conditions in which the children grow and learn. When these factors are experienced in any given place, the intervention programs are rendered inactive because of the inequalities in these programs which will seem to work well in given regions and not others (Fuligni et al. 2003).The issue of family is very complex, there are some issues in which the civil society or the state will have to intervene inform of political, capacity or cultural will (Myers 2001). In the context of the developing countries, many societies do struggle with the acts of violence, gender discrimination, slavery, the pandemic of HIV/AIDs and many other issues of survival like proper sanitation, access to clean water and availability of infrastructure. These has significant implications in the welfare of children, affecting the portion of childhood population that is poverty exposed, and the resources availability for the implementation of intervention programs on health and nutrition (Campbell et al. 2001). In these same countries, there are indifferences that exist within them in regards to special populations and their geographical locations. For instance, the major problem in countries like Australia, Kenya is the challenge of doing away with the gap between the health and the school results of the indigenous Australian children and the same results amongst the non indigenous Australian children (Power et al. 1999). For instance, the child mortality rate for the aboriginal children living in areas that are very interior is as high as three times as compared to the rest of the population. This shows health inequalities in a country that is developed. This is, rural versus urban population and indigenous versus non indigenous Australians. This means that in a developing country, this can be twice as high and would be overlooked by the intervening programs on health and nutrition may not be able to focus on the between countries and different areas within the same country (Fuligni et al. 2003). The family economic conditions are popularly known to influence the intervention programs on health and nutrition. In a given community, the chances that families with children might lack the resources to cater for the children’s needs are set by how wealthy the general society is. If the economic conditions of a family matters, then the policies that affect the family also matters. This is regardless of whether they affect the family through directly providing income or indirectly via policies which shape the surrounding environments in which the children grow up, learn and live. However, as compared to other social determinants of to what extent the intervening programs will be beneficial to the health of children and childhood development, which are associated with the economic processes in the given country, most of the determinants that are social in nature regarding the intervention programs are easily modifiable. The issue of globalization cannot be left unmentioned. This is because it has raised severe concerns within communities. Globalization has resulted in increase in the economies of the market, thus increasing inequality, exclusion, poverty and the employment in white collar jobs with no benefits. This has given rise to the redefinition of the nation, thus pressuring changes in ways whereby many social challenges are developed and institution of the allocation of budgets. The increasing level of intervention programs like the health and nutrition program has raised a lot of concerns about how these programs are funded, instituted, and the goals they are after (Karoly et al. 2001). Furthermore, globalization has brought to the lime light the changing values and cultures in various countries with a belief that there should be state sovereignty especially in the developing countries who feel that they are independent enough to be depending on the developed countries. This has made it difficult for these countries with the intervening programs to implement them if they do not receive support or cooperation from the governments of these developing nations (Campbell et al. 2001). The impacts of the above trends are dynamic and differ from country to country. The above problems, when incorporated with the knowledge on the development of children and their special requirements during their early stages of life calls for a change in the way the development of early childhood is supported. Consideration needs to be given to the overall argument of the program interventions as much as the above problems provide a foundation for supporting families and their young children (Becker 2004). Conclusion Early childhood health care and intervention programs are very essential for the development of a child. They cater for the overall well being of a child starting from the time a child is conceived through birth and when the child starts to grow. For decades now the programs have been seen as resulting to positive results like reduction in the levels of infant mortality, children’s literacy levels rising by day, improved standard of living and the overall development of the children. This especially has helped many children n developing countries who could not afford to have good health due to poverty, social and cultural factors etc. As much as there has been massive improvements in child well being, the development has been unequal where certain areas are favoured to others. Due to the political, environmental, socio economic and political factors, these programs have been finding it difficult to realize their ultimate goal in the child’s healthcare. The programs have therefore been rendered unbeneficial. This calls for the promotion of these programs as policies that occupy the current agendas of the children’s rights, their survival and equality in general. Health and nutrition intervention is a significant factor that determines the advancement of mental and physical health of a child and therefore measures to make it work should be implemented. Providing young children with nutritious elements in diet, physical exercise and educational intervention develops a child in cognitive thinking and improves their school performance. The value of investing in these programs is therefore of essence. List of References Becker, G., 2004. Human capital. New York: Columbia University Press. Brooks-Gunn, J., Fuligni, A.S., & Berlin, L.J. (Eds.) 2003. Early child development in the 21st century: Profiles of current research initiatives. New York: Teachers College Press. Campbell, F.A., Pungello, E., Miller-Johnson, S., Burchinal, M., & Ramey, C.T., 2001. The development of cognitive and academic abilities: Growth curves from an early childhood educational experiment. Developmental Psychology (37), 231-242. Conyers, L., Reynolds, J., & Ou, S. 2003. The effect of early childhood intervention and subsequent special services: Findings from the Chicago child-parent centers. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, (25)1, 75-95. 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Reynolds, A.J., Wang, M.C., & Walberg, H.J. (Eds.) 2003. Early childhood programs for a new century. Washington DC: Child Welfare League of America. Sammons, P., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B., & Elliot, K., 2002. Measuring the impact of preschool on children’s cognitive progress over the pre-school period (Technical Paper 8a). London: Institute of Education. Save the Children .2003. What’s the difference? The impact of early child development programs. Katmandu, Nepal: Author. Read More