The Major Contemporary Issues Associated with Primary Health Care for Children - Term Paper Example

Introduction Health is usually an essential part of a human beings development because it enables them to wholly contribute to the trade and industry and also to social growth of their countries thus improving the value of life globally. Governments have an obligation of ensuring that their people’s wellbeing is taken care off so as to have them fully participating in the countries growth (World Health Organisation 2002). This goal can be fully realised if much is done to ensure that primary health care is provided because it is very vital in the human society. Primary health care is usually a vital form of health care whose foundations are realistic, systematic and globally recognised hence suitable to the human population. Primary health care covers essential care, ailment avoidance and communal health with the sole objective of ensuring that the entire society is well taken care of (Thomas-Maclean et al. 2008). The Commonwealth of Australia (2011) further asserts that this health care should be made reachable to all at a cost that the society can easily afford because it is vital despite being the one Australians have a preference for. This paper intends to study primary health care in children, its principles and how they facilitate the quality of health and the major contemporary issues associated with primary health care for children. Primary health care All over the world, there is an ever-increasing concern for children’s primary health care because it is not receiving the due thought that it demands. According to Addisse (2003) primary healthcare is essential because it takes care of the child birth complications and other child related defects that occur due to its in availability. Keleher (2002) asserts that immunizations are very vital in a child’s growth and thus it is the duty of primary health care providers to ensure that all children are adequately vaccinated so as to avoid deficiencies that could have been managed. In order to ensure the importance of primary health care in children is attained, essential needs, for instance; food, clothing and shelter should be provided because primary health operates from the basic foundations of the society. To this end, the government has a role ensuring that primary health care is made affordable and in so doing facilitating its access by all the families in the community (Podger & Hagan 2000). Child inoculation and surveillance is vital because it ensures that the child’s growth is not hampered in any possible way thus facilitating a wholesome growth. This usually ensures that the factors that form the basis of diseases in children are avoided thus promoting good health in children. According to the Johns Hopkins University (2003) the government should allow the societies to come up with their main concerns regarding the primary health care of their children because through self-sufficiency, they are able to carter for their essential needs thus ensuring that their children’s health is a priority. As a section of primary health care, child care is essential and thus mothers are usually advised to breast fed their children because a mother’s milk is usually vital to newborns because it contains most of the nutrients that they require thus averting some of the diseases that afflict young children, for instance dehydration. Through primary health care, children mortality is usually managed because the care offered is usually professional and technologically accepted. This health care usually ensure that the parents have all the relevant information regarding how they can take care of their children as they grow up thus reducing child related complications, for example, diseases brought about as a result of negligence (New South Wales Department of Health 2009). Cueto (2006) asserts that children primary health care is necessary because it enables the examination of growth in children hence resulting in the avoidance of diseases. He further added that PHC has enabled mothers to easily manage diarrhoea in children through oral rehydration. Since it stresses self-sufficiency, they are taught how to prepare a concoction of sugar, salt and water, ingredients that are locally available. The importance of breast feeding in ailment prevention is also stressed. To ensure a wholesome growth in children, female education and family planning are the other issues that PHC handles thus ensuring that the children that are born can be provided for adequately. A dietary supplementation in children is another issue that primary health care introduces to mothers thus ensuring that children get a well balanced diet thus a wholesome growth. Roy & Sharma (2009) assert that children are to be exposed to uncontaminated water and up to standard measures should be taken in the provision of sanitary facilities. In addition, they are of the view that indispensable drugs should be made available to the community so that they can access them when need arises. Roy & Sharma see community involvement in the health care of their children because it gives them a clear understanding of the basic tenets of primary health care. Moreover, the community involvement enables the health practitioners to be able to discover the key issues affecting the children health care of their children. It also gives them a chance of individually discovering the needs of their children and in the process take the liability of planning for their health and in the process discovering that the major part of their children’s health rests with them. Principles of primary health care Primary health care is essential in any family setting and in this regard for the children’s wellbeing. Its convenience, the need for community involvement, health promotion, proper equipment and inter divisional partnership are some of the vital principles that primary health care is founded on (McMurray & Clendon 2011). These factors usually affect the convenience of primary health resources available for the benefit of children thus resulting in either ill health or healthy children. The presence of an all inclusive primary health care usually makes the growth transition of children from one stage to the next easier because good health is usually facilitates growth (College & Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta 2006). The accessibility of primary health care is usually of great importance to the community because they often view it as an epitome of good health. Coupled with other family pressures usually sway the provision of quality health care. The nature of socio-economic outlook usually affects the provision of provision of primary health care even though it might be readily available. How the parents will be providing for the child is also essential in determining the child’s health. In cases where the parents are unable to provide for the child, such children are usually prone to leading an impecunious life resulting in sickly health as compared to their counterparts in financially able families. Equal allocation of primary health facilities usually ensures that all families are able to access them thus an enhanced growth of their children. Moreover, this equal allocation enables the health sectors to identify the regions that are most needy thus intensifying the care provided to the inhabitants in the noted regions. Since the most susceptible families are usually settled in the country settlements, primary health care implementers often shift their focus to such regions so as to ensure that the growth of such children are not hampered. A suitable, readily available and inexpensive primary health care is vital to a wholesome growth of children (Primary Health Care Advisory Committee 2010). Through community involvement, the available resources within the community are usually utilised to the benefit of the inhabitants thus improving the general wellbeing of the children. With regard to their involvement, the community is usually able to come up with measures that enable them to meet their health requirements. Their involvement is majorly importance because it sensitises them to their own communal and individual needs and in the process challenging them to come up with the courses of quitting their predicaments. Through this, they are usually able to prioritise on their wants hence coming up with ways of working through their situations (Preston et al. 2010). Health promotion is a very essential facet of primary health care because it sensitises the community on the importance of PHC on the growth of children. Significant subjects regarding primary health care, for instance; health education forums, dietary education, hygiene management, maternal care and child wellbeing and the avoidance and manage of prevalent diseases are some of the matters that a health promotion usually handle within the community. Through such ventures, families are able to come up with the health issues that usually undermine their children’s health and in the same breath coming up with reliable measures of overturning them. Through health promotions, accommodative health surroundings are usually fashioned thus reinforcing the community’s resolve towards the health issues affecting them. Moreover, such forums enable parent to garner skills and knowledge that often come in handy while dealing with some of the common ailments that afflict their children. Through health promotions, most health agencies, for example, the World Health Organisation is usually able to uphold health constitutions that are core to its global health. With the uptake of health promotions, child mortality has been curbed to a greater degree in the developing countries (Qatar Primary Health Care 2008). The application of proper equipments whose authenticity is easily verifiable is usually essential in handling ailments that require further study thus ensuring that children are kept out of harm’s way. Of great importance is usually the adaptableness of the new applications to the demands of the community. Moreover, the tolerability of the community to the novel technology is usually vital because its immediate uptake into the system of the community is usually guaranteed. The introduction of technology in primary health care has proved cost-effective hence easier to implement at the communal level hence ensuring that the health of children is given first priority. The introduction of information technology to the field of primary health care has seen untold improvement because it has necessitated the issuance of excellent health care despite the placement of the community from urban settlements. With regard to this, most health facilities boost of a children’s department that entirely deals with children related complication thus leading to specialisation. On the same, information administration has been improved due to it being computerised thus it can retrieved at any time when need arises, hence essential in future diagnosis where a change in medication could be required (Lovell & Celler 1999). The inclusion of the other sectors of the economy in the provision of primary health care is usually essential because it ensures that through interdisciplinary relationships, the best PHC for children is offered. Since primary health care does not mainly focus on the health status of individuals but on their environment and dwellings as well, the inclusion of the housing and environmental institutions will reinforce the initiative that the health care department is attempting to assume. In such a setting, the agricultural department will take care of dietary needs hence ensuring that impoverished children are no longer a thing of the present. This interdisciplinary relationship usually makes the patients feel that they are the focus of health care thus making them trust the existing health care structures (Heshka et al. 2011). The partnership between the diverse sectors of the economy is essential because it ensures that health care accountability is equally shared out thus enabling the health sector to factor in other issues that demand immediate attention. Contemporary Health Issues Advancements in the health sector are usually pulled back by a myriad of factors that are usually prevalent in the society. In most cases, these are usually the matters that lead to the unmanageable child health care situations in some communities. Poverty is one of the factors that pull back the great strides that the health sector is attempting to make in achieving a sufficient primary health care for children. In some communities, the issue of limited socio-economic structures result in poor lifestyles that later on lead to laid up health in the children. Due to the poor living conditions, access to food and clean water is usually a hard thing to come by thus resulting in water born diseases and malnutrition. The future of such children is usually dim because with the inadequacy of essential requirements, for instance; food, clothing and shelter, education becomes a leisure activity that they cannot afford. In such cases, the parents often have inadequate employment openings thus they cannot adequately make available the basic requirements of the children. In the prevailing state of poverty, the neighbourhood too often find it hard to provide a healthy and accommodative environment that can oversee the general wellbeing of the children. In such situations, adequate support structures are usually not forthcoming due to the limited resources. In most cases, poverty is usually as a result of lopsided allocation of resources within a community as a result of pathetic health structures (Krech 2010). Poverty is usually a major setback in the attainment of quality primary health care for children thus leading to the prevalence of some diseases that are easily manageable, but due to the setting, they become widespread. Immunization is another problem that affects most societies hence resulting in disabled children for instance in cases of poliomyelitis. In some cases, it is usually due to ignorance that some parents fail to take their children for vaccination hence leading to some ailments that could have been managed if the necessary precautions would have been taken. In some cases, the mothers have inadequate knowledge regarding the immunization cycle, in most cases due to juvenile age and the unavailability of people to look up to for advice. In other cases, the unavailability of health amenities is usually the cause of unvaccinated children. Accessibility to health amenities is usually essential in ensuring that children are vaccinated thus preventing them from contacting certain preventable diseases (Datar, Mukherji & Sood 2005). In some communities, mothers fail to have their children vaccinated because of inadequate health promotion measures thus they miss on some vital information with reference to immunization education. The enclosure of oral health in the primary health care is essential in putting off tooth decay in children because it is an issue that most parents overlook. Ensuring that oral health is part of child care is vital because it is a measure that is yet to be fully taken up by most communities. Measures to ensure that dental health is well engraved in the community are hampered by inadequate infrastructures, for example screening zones that support this health issue. Moreover, public education regarding dental care is yet to pick up because much is yet to be put in place to attract the attention of parents to the fact that their children dental care is essential, just like other preventable diseases. The intensity of knowledge that health bodies have released into the community are yet to be reinforced by measures such as open forums where practical displays are set out for the easier comprehension of the society (Hajizamani et al. 2012). Facilitation of a quality healthy outcome To a greater extent, the principles of primary health care can be employed in the facilitation of a quality outcome in the health sector, thus alleviating poverty, immunization and dental issues. Ensuring that an equal allocation of resources and that the available health facilities within the community are made accessible to all can help in the reduction of poverty. Moreover, through inter sector partnerships, the community members can be helped into empowering themselves through activities that will ensure that they are able to adequately provide for their children hence alleviating the vicious circle of poverty. Through community facilitation, they can have a say in what they require in order to improve their lives and that of their children. In this regard, they get to understand that their health initiatives lie with them because they are usually the controllers of their fate. Health promotion is usually essential in the disseminating of information to the community thus empowering them to act since they have been made aware of what they are required to do in order to see to it that their children get the best out of the primary health care. Despite their poor conditions, the community can be educated on how they can improve their living conditions and in the process changing the fortunes of their generation. Making immunization centres accessible to all the community members usually ensure that their children are vaccinated thus protected from preventable ailments. Moreover, through health promotion avenues, the society is usually made aware of the importance of immunizing their children and in so doing having a well informed society. Through community participation, the parents get a chance of determining and thus getting hold of their children’s health needs and in so doing being able to ensure that they adhere to the vaccination time table. With the improved technology, through refrigeration, those vaccines that were usually inaccessible by the community are now available. In this regard, parents should take hold of such avenues to have their children vaccinated thus having them protected by children prevalent ailments for instance measles. Through inter department relationships and coordination, immunization workshops can be set up to educate the people on the importance of having an immunized society. On the same, they can set up mobile vaccination centres in areas that are far removed from the main health care facilities. Since dental health care is as vital as immunization is, screening facilities should be made accessible to community members thus ensuring that the children’s dental care is well managed. Holding health promotions will ensure that community members are made aware of the importance of oral health among the younger generation. Moreover, parents should be made aware of the improved technology in the dental health department; hence they should take advantage of such facilities by ensuring that their children’s dental health is given the due importance it requires. Conclusion Ensuring that children are given the best primary care is a responsibility that parents should fully embrace because denying them such vital health giving avenues amounts to promoting child mortality. Through open forums and seminars, the health care practitioners with the help of other stakeholders should ensure that the community is well informed of the importance of have a well nursed child’s growth. For all this to be realised, the health facilities should be made accessible to all regardless of their placement. References Addisse, M. (2003), Maternal and Child Health Care. University of Gondar. 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