Public Health Area - Essay Example

Introduction: Health status of a person is an important factor that determines the quality of life. To assure better health in future, the health of every child needs to be taken care of from very young age itself. To make the children aware of their health, one important thing is that parents should teach them about the different ways or measures that need to be taken to protect their health and also another way to keep oneself healthy is by taking part in the seminars and programs conducted by various health organizations in the city. By taking part in these kinds of activities with the collaboration of various organizations in the city it is very easy to eradicate diseases and improve the health conditions of the children. Situational Analysis: A program that aims to improve the health status of the children in a suburban area will be successful if it is well planned and executed. The first stage of the program is the determination of current health status of children in that area. To achieve this goal a good planning and preparation is necessary. By collaborating with the health institutions such as hospitals and child clinics, the data about the overall health condition of children can be obtained. The number and medical history of unhealthy children who sought treatment and were admitted in hospitals will indicate the prevalence of different childhood diseases commonly occurring in the area. Such an enquiry will help the officials to understand infant mortality rate and the life expectancy of children at birth. This survey also assists in finding the level of immunization of children in the locality. Many of the diseases such as Diphtheria, Pertussis, Hepatitis, Influenza and Measles can be effectively prevented through vaccination. (Vaccines and immunizations, 2009). The information on the insurance coverage of children in the locality can be obtained from the concerned agencies. An analysis of this will show the health condition and the awareness level of people about the health care needs of children. The report entitled ‘State of America’s Children 2008’ reveals the fact that about 1 out of 9 children in America are uninsured and the number comes around 9 million. The report shows that “among uninsured children: 9 out of 10 have at least one employed parent; 9 out of 10 are United States citizens; and 6 out of 10 live in two-parent families.” (Uninsured children younger than 19, 2008, P. 29, para. 1). By obtaining the number of uninsured children, further measures can be taken to increase the rate of insured children which would ensure better health care. Also the information regarding the health condition of children can be obtained from the schools or day care centers by enquiring the details about what kind of diet the students are consuming. The officials can collect the details in respect of all the students in those centers, for example, what type food each student is eating, how much they are eating etc. By getting these details the authority can come to a conclusion in which category each of the student belongs to. To those students who are lacking in keeping proper health maintenance, the officials can give them suitable advice regarding maintenance of proper health. Also the officials can collect the record of physical fitness of the students – their height, weight etc. The officials can conduct physical fitness camps for those students who are not having the required fitness and they can be provided with various tips for maintenance of proper health. Implementation of the program: Poverty is the main reason for increasing the number of unhealthy children in inner-city areas. To prevent this situation, immunization is one of the best solutions. If immunization is started from the small children, it is more effective. In inner-cities it is not an easy task. As a first step select three or four clinics for the purpose of serving children predominantly with the help of Medicaid Insurance. Based on the information from the Medicaid billing records one can easily find out the details of children in the particular city. For this purpose, seek help from the employees of the clinic. Then send mails to the selected children’s parents. Offer a certain amount as allowance for the participants. Then conduct interview with the parents. It is absolutely necessary that the interviewer must be trained staff. Here the computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) is the suitable method. After this interview decide the date for immunization. The immunization package includes “4 (DTP), 3 polio virus containing and I (MMR) vaccine doses.” (Trauth, Zimmerman, Musa, Mainzer, & Nutini, 2003, p. 5s, subjects, para. 3). Health care by proving food and nutrition: In this poor city, children struggle because of unhealthy condition. For overcoming this problem in the selected city, the best way is to start from the day care, pre-school and school. The reason for this kind of choice is that early intervention is essential for developing a healthy person. As the first step, arrange a tie up with these institutions and develop a package with their cooperation. First, visit day cares and pre-schools and collect details of the children there. Then inform their parents and call a meeting. Give awareness to the parents about the importance of children’s health care and their basic food requirement. Give a menu of the food items for the children. After that, prepare a questionnaire which will help to find the current diet system and if there is any deficiency. After getting feedback of the questionnaire, prepare a package which includes the essential food and nutrition. Another thing is entrust the concerned persons at daycare or preschool to keep the records of each child’s weight details on a weekly basis. This same package can be announced in the school level also. At school level, give awareness program to the children about the importance of health and choose poor children for providing food and nutrition. Teachers are the best persons to prioritize the children based on their economic status. Choose poor children who face problems related to the lack of food and nutrition. Then entrust special food scheme for such students. As per this scheme distribute one packet in each week which includes essential food and nutrition items. Entrust the teachers to check whether there is any improvement in this students. And collect the feedback every fifteen days. From the above mentioned methods of distribution of food and nutrition, the health condition of the children in the selected city can improve. Health care by proving physical activities: Lack of facilities for physical activity is an important problem faced by the children in the inner cities. For overcoming this, first call a meeting of the school going children and adolescents in the selected area. Then prepare a plan for constructing a playground for them. Support from the local government is essential for this. For this purpose, form a committee for the going through the legal aspects and to lead the followers. Construct the play ground; prepare schedule for conducting physical activities like football, tennis etc to different age groups. Give priority to the children. Other plans: Find out the uninsured poor children in this city and provide insurance coverage to them. Give priority to the children in preschool and day care centers. Some other methods are conducting health care awareness programs in this selected city for parents as well as for adolescents and providing free medical checkup for children. Moreover, create a group of proper persons for guiding people and conducting necessary health care programs and other entertainment activities. It is good for the physical and mental health of the children. The program needs people who are ready to co-operate with the officials for the betterment of the children. Some paid volunteers from the locality can assist in measuring the health status of children and in the implementation of the program. These people can help the officials for monitoring the program and evaluation of its success. Thus the continuity of the program will be possible with the local collaboration. The medical experts and the school authorities can spend a part of their valuable time to ensure good health of the children. Funding of the program: The future citizens of the nation are to be properly looked after by the state. Hence enough funds should be allocated for the programs for children. In America, it is estimated that nearly 13 million children live in poverty. (Child poverty in America, 2008). There are enough funds to ensure comprehensive health care of children. In this program a better strategy for funding would be to adopt a collaborative approach between public and voluntary sectors. Nearly half of the total expenses, especially that of medical and immunization can be allocated by the departments concerned with child welfare and public health. The remaining can be contributed by voluntary agencies advocating for child development and also by corporate firms who give prime importance to corporate social responsibility (CSR). A well prepared project proposal that emphasizes the need of health improvement of children in that particular inner city and which includes proportionate expenses of materials for awareness, media support and communication, salary and remuneration for staff and volunteers etc will be highly useful in the fund raising process. Contribution from the local community is not so relevant because of the large number of poor people in the locality. Thus the program can be sufficiently funded from public and private contributions. To conclude, such a program with an objective of improving the health status of poor children in the remote areas of the country will prove highly beneficial in creating a better future for children of America. References Child poverty in America. (2008). Children’s Defense Fund. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/child-poverty-in-america.pdf Trauth, J M., Zimmerman, R K., Musa, D., Mainzer, H., & Nutini, J F. (2003). Do beliefs of inner-city parents about disease and vaccine risks affect immunization?: Subjects. Journal of the national medical association, 95 (4 suppl), 4s-15s. Pub Med Central. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?artid=2568314&pageindex=2#page Uninsured children younger than 19: 2005-2009: Which children are uninsured?. (2008). Children’s Defense Fund. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-of-americas-children-2008-report-child-health-coverage.pdf Vaccines and immunizations: Vaccines and preventable diseases: Vaccine-preventable childhood diseases. (2009). CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/child-vpd.htm Read More