Why is Poverty a Health Risk for Children - Essay Example

? Discussion The essay aims to address and discuss the following questions, to wit Why is poverty a health risk for children? 2. List and briefly describe three health conditions that have disparities in terms of risk or rates. 3. Locate three HP 2020 objectives related to disparities in children or adolescent health outcomes. 4. Find and list the statistics on tobacco use by adolescents in your state or county. 5. Find two instances of behavior risk on women in education and summarize and provide your source. Discussion 1. Why is poverty a health risk for children? Cite your source of information. Poverty is a health risk for children due to the direct effects of low income, environmental effects in living in a poor neighborhood, and psychosocial effects of poverty (Blair et al., 2010, 82). Poverty is a health risk for children because the scarcities in resources exposed children to certain health and behavioral problems such as malnutrition due to insufficient or inappropriate food, respiratory infections and increased infection risk due to damp, cold and overcrowded housing, increased accident risk due to unsafe play areas, and behavioral problems due to parental stress and conflict, lack of supervision and low self-esteem and powerlessness. 2. List and briefly describe three health conditions that have disparities in terms of risk (danger of having the condition increased) or rates (increased numbers have this condition) for children (higher for some groups, such as racial or ethnic). Cite the sources of your information). The three health conditions that have disparities in terms of risk or rates include childhood asthma, childhood obesity, and preterm births. Childhood asthma is a growing epidemic and children and adolescents under the age of 17 are twice more likely to suffer from asthma than adults. In addition, Black and low income children are disproportionately affected and are not only more likely to ever have had asthma than White or Latino children and children from higher-income families, but are also more likely to have suffered acute asthma attacks (NIHCM, 2007, 9). Yearly, 136,000 children seek emergency care because of asthma and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, treatment of asthma in children less than 18 years of age costs $ 3.2 billion per year (NIHCM, 2007, 9). Obesity is prevalent among poor, ethnic, and racial groups. Treatments for obesity are six times more likely in children covered by Medicaid than by children under private insurance (1,115 per 100,000 versus 195 per 100,000) (NIHCM, 2007, 9). During 1999-2002, 31% of all children aged 6-19 were either at risk for obesity or overweight while 16.0% were considered overweight (NIHCM, 2007, 9). Latino children aged 2-18 are most likely to be overweight or at risk of being overweight, followed by Black children. Meanwhile, children belonging to families under 200% of the Federal Poverty Level are more likely to be overweight or at risk for being overweight (NIHCM, 2007, 9). Preterm infants are another health conditions with significant health disparities. During 1981-2006, preterm rates among non-Hispanic white mothers rose steadily, increased modestly among births to Hispanics, declined slightly for non-Hispanic black, and rates declined from all during 2007 and 2008. The 2007 preterm birth rate for non-Hispanic black infants (18.3%) was 59% higher than the rate for non-Hispanic white infants (11.5%) and 49% higher than the rate for Hispanic infants (12.3%). Non-Hispanic black infants are approximately three times as likely to be delivered extremely preterm as non-Hispanic white and Hispanic infants (1.9% compared with 0.6%). Among the Hispanic groups, extremely preterm birth was most common among births to Puerto Rican mothers (1.0% compared with 0.6%t for all other Hispanic groups) (Statistical data about preterm infants were derived from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011, p. 78). 3. Locate three HP 2020 objectives related to disparities in children or adolescent health outcomes. List the objectives and the sources. MICH-9: Reduce preterm births from baseline of 12.7 percent from live births to target 11.4 percent (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012, n.p.). AH-1: Increase the proportion of adolescents who have had a wellness checkup in the past 12 months from baseline of 68.7 percent of adolescents aged 10 to 17 years who had a wellness checkup in the past 12 months, as reported in 2008 to target 75.6 percent (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012, n.p.). AH-5: Increase educational achievement of adolescents and young adults from baseline of 74.9 percent of students attending public schools graduated with a regular diploma in 2007-08, 4 years after starting 9th grade to target 82.4 percent (HealthyPeople.gov, 2012, n.p.). 4. Find and list the statistics on tobacco use by adolescents (male and female and by age group) in your state (or county, if possible. Not everyone will be able to find county). Briefly summarize and cite your sources. The state of Alabama has approximately 783, 000 (22.1%) adult population that are currently cigarette smokers. Alabama ranks 42nd out of all the states in terms of tobacco used. Majority of smokers are 18-24 years old (29.1%). More men engaged in cigarette smoking with 25.2% rate of tobacco used compared to 19.3% in women (CDC.gov, 2011, n.p.). 5. Some interesting facts have some to light related to health risk and education. Differences in risk have been noted for certain “behavioral” risk in women related to education (the more or less the education, the less of greater the risk of acquiring a condition). Find two such instances, summarize and provide your source. Differences in behavioral risk noted for certain behavioral risk in women related to education were summarized in the CDC (1995) study of prevalence of recommended levels of physical activity among women using the behavioral risk factor surveillance system (n.p.). Women know that regular physical activity provides important health benefits in lowering risks for coronary heart disease, some cancers, osteoporosis, and other leading causes of death and disability; however, engagement to physical activity remained low. The study found out that the prevalence of participation in recommended levels was inversely related to education level and family income: women with less than a high school education were less likely to report regular activity (17.4%) than high school graduates (23.8%) and college graduates (33.5%) (CDC, 1995, n.p.) – indicating that the level of education determine the engagement of women in behavior risk or preventive strategies. Meanwhile, another study in China found out that despite high smoking rates among population, the rates varies according to social status in men and to educational level in women. The study found out that educational level determines the prevalence of smoking wherein, college-educated women reported a prevalence of 1% of women who engaged in smoking (Merson, Black & Mills, 2005, 321). References Blair, M. et al. (2010). Socio-economic Environment. Child Public Health (2nd ed.) (p. 77-82). New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report – United States, 2011. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 60: pp. 1-109. CDC. (1995). Prevalence of Recommended Levels of Physical Activity among Women -Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1992. Retrieved on March 17, 2012 from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00036931.htm CDC.gov. (2011). Smoking and Tobacco Use: Alabama. Retrieved on March 17, 2012 from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/state_data/state_highlights/2010/states/alabaal/index.htm HealthyPeople.gov. (2012). Healthy People 2020 Objectives. Retrieved on March 17, 2012 from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/default.aspx Merson, M.H., Black, R.E. & Mills, A.J. (2005). Chronic Diseases and Injury. International Public Health: Diseases, Programs, Systems, and Policies (p. 293-326). Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. NIHCM. (2007). Reducing Health Disparities among Children: Strategies and Programs for Health Plans (p. 1-27). United States: NIHCM Foundation. Read More