Infant Mortality - Essay Example

"Infant Mortality" is an outstanding example of a paper on child development. Infant mortality is utilized in the comparison of wellness and wellbeing of the populace for diverse nations around the globe. The rate of demise for babies with less than a year has gradually reduced over some decades with the prologue of programs that serve to alleviate this problem. However, infant mortality has prevailed in a certain portion of the globe thus presenting significant challenges in the alleviation of such predicaments. The differences have occurred in various countries such as the US due to numerous ethnic groups. Infant mortality can be ascribed to certain frequently mentioned causes that substantially contribute to numerous deaths in diverse countries.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

SIDS is considered significant grounds for excessive deaths for infants due to various risk factors that predispose an infant to such mortality possibilities. SIDS emanates from diverse and sensitive causes that cannot be recognized easily by the mothers or caregivers. Some of the risk factors that contribute to infant mortality in this category are side sleeping for infants, overheating developed through excessive clothing, smoking mothers predispose their children to SIDS as well as bed-sharing for infants with their mother or care providers (CDC, 2011).

Public health ought to take measures that offer mothers and care providers the opportunity to establish the risk factors that add to SIDS. Therefore, public health ought to offer education to the care providers for infants concerning risk factors, as well as, reduction of occurrences of such mortalities. The education can be centered on the prevention measures and other related issues that lead to the sudden deaths of infants. In addition, public health has to develop programs that assess the prevention of these occurrences and utilize the data for the prospect since it serves as a better way of preventing further occurrences. Public health can utilize the opportunity to offer qualified skills to mothers and care providers for their infants to prevent these occurrences.

Birth Defects

In accordance with CDC statistics, birth defects have caused numerous deaths for infants with the estimates being that birth defects lead to the demise of a single infant in every 33 infants (CDC, 2011). In addition, birth defects have offered numerous costs to families with about $2.6 billion being utilized in the treatment of this problem (CDC, 2011). Birth defects can be ascribed to either hereditary or environmental factors although the causal agent for most defects is yet to be uncovered. In order to manage the problem, tracking these occurrences concerning the place and time of occurrence can serve as a better ground for alleviating the problem.

Information obtained through tracking of these instances can be utilized in determining principal cause within a given region thus allow for the provision of a long-term solution (Bale, Stoll, Lucas & Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2003). Public health involvement in research concerning birth defects can assist in preventing certain defects whose causes are known within the healthcare sector. Community health has the responsibility of offering pregnant women information concerning measures to undertake in an attempt to lessen the occurrence of certain defects for their infants (Bale, Stoll, Lucas & Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2003).

Low Birth Weight

Low Birth Weight (LBW) is considered a serious problem within public health since it contributes considerably to infant deaths coupled with poor nutrition for the mothers (Ramakrishnan, 2004). Additionally, LBW can be ascribed to dissimilar causes such as smoking and certain infections as malaria. Research has revealed that LBW can be effectively addressed through the utilization of iron-folate supplements instead of multivitamins (Ramakrishnan, 2004).

Public health can undertake measures that can appreciably assist, in alleviating deaths from LBW through education, to the public concerning the common causes of LBW, thus assisting them to observe these causes in the pregnancy period. Public health can also utilize nutrition-based programs within the society to address the subject of nutrition being a contributing fact to LBW (Ramakrishnan, 2004). Public health can encourage the utilization of iron-folate and other necessary supplements in alleviating the predicament.

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