Politic Matters and Its Effects on Childhood in Congo - Research Paper Example

WAR & CONFLICTS IN AFRICA: THE INTERVENTION OF THE MINORITY/DEVELOPED/NORTHERN HEMISPHERE COUNTRIES AND POLITICAL, ECONOMIC & ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS AND ITS EFFECTS ON CHILDHOOD & HEALTH. EMPHASIS ON THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Introduction Child health is a nation’s investment in its future (Haggerty et al, 1993). This is because children are the foundations of the existence of every society. Childhood is a phase everyone goes through to learn, socialize and integrate into the wider society. However, due to the fact that a child is in a preparatory phase of their lives to be ushered into an era where they will work and become productive to their nations, they need to be given proper care and medical attention to ensure that they remain healthy and have a good early life to give optimal results in their adult life. Maintaining and enhancing childhood and child health has not been easy for nations in the developing world, particularly conflict plagued nations in Africa. These nations are often plagued with war and conflicts. These conflicts make it difficult for Western influenced medical and social intervention difficult. This paper examines the childhood, war and conflict as well as how it affects children in Africa with special emphasis on Congo. Child Health & Childhood Childhood is seen as the early years of a person’s life where the person socializes with members of the society and gains an understanding of the world around him or her in preparation for a productive life after age 18 (NICHD Early Childhood Research Network, 2005). In most studies covered by this research though, childhood seems to stretch from the time of birth to about age 12, where a child needs care and attention. As a child grows, s/he needs to get a proper blend of emotional, mental and physical health (Kehily, 2004) in order to become a stable and healthy adult. Emotional health encompasses the right bonds with adults, care and protection from trauma and other harsh conditions that may make a child disturbed. Mental health has to do with the right structures that will give the child a stable mind. Physical health means protection from diseases and other physical injuries that would prevent the child from a normal life. In the modern setting, these things should be available to the child as he goes through contact with his or her parents, school and the local community. Clarke et al (2003) stress that a good childhood is one in which a child gets the opportunity to grow up an ideal setting. This includes the access to good and health food, the opportunity to learn and play, protection from diseases and harsh environmental conditions as well as access to proper health care. Child health is the “professional and academic field that focuses on the determinants, mechanisms and systems that operate and maintain the health, safety, wellbeing and appropriate development of children and their families in countries and societies in order to enhance the future health of society and subsequent generations” (Alexander et al, 2004) This is an aggregate and collective view of the process and system of child health. It shows that child health is about the entire health profession, research and academic community and its relation with the creation and maintenance of structures and systems that ensure the wellbeing and proper growth of children and the people closest to them that they will normally fall upon for assistance and support. This puts the whole discussion into a context whereby the child, the family unit, the health sector have responsibilities in child health. This also makes the nation or state a caretaker and steward of the process to ensure that the children who will be its future custodians as well as generations yet unborn are protected and given the necessary health and wellbeing support they need to ensure that they grow up healthily. The nation therefore has a responsibility to ensure that preventive health services like immunization is rendered to children and also the health delivery system is effective and efficient in protecting child health (Haggerty et al 1993). This therefore means that government needs to ensure the development of medical knowledge, expertise, technology and delivery systems. War/ Conflicts & Children Modern conflict involves large scale fighting and violence between groups of people organized with heavy weapons and implements (Hawley, 2002). It usually results in killing, rape, destruction of property and social infrastructure and many more in a given society (Ryan & Lumley, 2002). Hawley (2002) goes further to say that war can cause a nation to become a failed state where a faction loses faith in the governance system and begins wars that destabilise the social system. War and conflicts make it difficult and impossible for governments to play their role as effective and efficient stewards of child health around the world (Coghlan, 2006). War and conflict has so many effects on childhood health and this affects the social structures of the nations within which it occurred. D’Harcourt & Purdin (2009) state that war and conflict have seven major effects on health delivery in a given nation. First of all, war causes direct and physical injury. Unfortunately, some of the people injured in conflicts and wars are children. This leads to the killing of parents and destruction of the social structures and this impairs the proper development of children. Secondly, wars cause impaired food availability. This is because during war, food production falls significantly and food distribution channels are cut. This has the effect of causing malnutrition and starvation for children. Also, war brings about economic collapse which leads to so much financial difficulties on the part of parents and guardians therefore depriving children of their right to a proper growth and development. Wars also lead to the diversion of public spending. Governments will prefer to spend money on security and ammunitions rather than spend money on health. This impairs the academic, research and health delivery structures of the nation and children cannot get access to primary healthcare when they need it. War leads to the destruction of infrastructure. It is very common for parties in conflicts to bomb and capture health facilities of their opponents because that is a source of military advantage. This ravages health delivery infrastructure and leads to long-term health delivery challenges for children in the locality. War causes the migration of qualified personnel in the health sector. This is because the services most health workers are in demand elsewhere and if they feel threatened by a war, they move to other nations and get access to safer lives and better working conditions. Finally, war causes a decline in the habitat. This is because war often leads to people leaving a given area in masses and this disturbs the ecosystem and natural habitat. It breeds more diseases and encourages the growth in population of dangerous and undesirable organisms in the environment. This exposes people, including children living in the vicinity to diseases and harsh social conditions. In some instances, children are enlisted into militias and armies in conflict zones (Berry, 2001). This is a very dangerous situation for the children, in that they get exposed to serious emotional and health challenges which can traumatize them and affect them for the rest of their lives. Also, enlisting children in war zones exposes children to many dangers of injury that can ruin their lives forever. In other situations, conflicts lead to social exclusion by one party against another (Wright & Zena, 1988). In such a case, one social group comes up with discriminatory rules against another and this causes the group discriminated against to get access to inferior health services. In most of such instances, children, who need health services the most are deprived of their rights to health and wellbeing. Intervention in War & Conflicts Medical intervention basically means saving lives and improving wellbeing through the use of science and related techniques and skills (Jones, 2006). This is done by the promotion of health and prevention of diseases, relief of symptoms and suffering, cure of diseases, prevention of untimely death, improvement of functional states of people, education and counselling and avoidance of harm to patience (Jonsen et al, 2002). In war and conflict situations, it is difficult for health care and wellbeing to be honoured and such services delivered. Wars and conflicts lead to political instability, social disruption and chaos of conflict, which affects the health of the population (Foege, 1997). Most conflicts over the past 40 years have been in the poorer southern continents of Latin America, Asia and Africa. In conflicts in such regions, the international community, led by developed northern hemisphere nations intervene in the conflict to help deliver health services to the vulnerable, mainly women and children. According to Hawley (2002), this is done through a six-point model: 1. Military assistance 2. Humanitarian operations 3. Peace-support operations 4. Low intensity operations 5. Moderate intensity operations 6. High intensity operations This is usually done through the use of members of the International community like the United Nations and its agencies and allied bodies like NATO and the like (Basu, 2004). This is done with the support of various national donor agencies and non-government organisations that often have their roots in northern hemisphere nations. After the emergency activities are done, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other international bodies supervise the development of health and other related infrastructure for human usage. Effects of War and Conflict on Children in Africa Wars in Africa have affected children directly and indirectly. Although all these wars are promoted and caused by factors that are in the northern hemisphere, the biggest price is paid by women and children in Africa. Directly, there are so many health challenges that affect children because of war. In a research about wars on the continent, Coghlan et al (2006) identified that war in Africa leads to stunted growth and chronic infection amongst children. This is because war affects the distribution of food across the continent and this prevents children from getting their fair share of nutrition. In cases where the international community intervenes, the failure of these Western-led food aid targeting leads to child stunting and other nutrition related diseases like kwashiorkor (Yamano et al, 2005) Also, due to the harsh conditions that wars bring on the continent, many children die from these wars and conflicts. In Rwanda for instance, child mortality rose to 25% after the genocide in 1994 as a direct consequence of the hardships that the war brought to the nation (Coghlan, 2006). Indirectly, conflicts in Africa leads to poverty that affects the growth of children. Shehza (2006) identifies seven major factors that determine the wellbeing of a child. They are: 1. Household income 2. Household size 3. Housing facilities 4. Hospital facilities 5. Mother’s schooling 6. Father’s schooling 7. Mother’s age Household income determines the quality of life that a child will get in terms of education and health. War in Africa brings about complete economic collapse. In Sierra Leone and Rwanda, the conflict shattered the economy totally and left people in dire poverty. This therefore means that the average household in a nation emerging from war will not have enough money to pay for the necessary things that a child needs to get a good life. Also, the killing of parents makes children of people to live with other people and this expands household sizes and makes adults have a lot of dependants. Children therefore have to share a lot with others and this affect the quality of their lives. Housing also comes in as a serious factor because war destroys houses in African nations so children do not get the right protection they need from the weather and a comfortable life. Wars also have a toll on the education of parents and this affects the quality of things they give to their children. Illiteracy breeds ignorance and due to this, some parents in war ravaged nations fail to give the right childhood to their children without knowing about it. These parents do not co-operate with health professionals in programs like immunization and they fail to provide the basic needs of children because they do not know the value of that for the children. This affects the growth of children in these areas. Also, war creates situations that lead to the destruction of health infrastructure and leads to brain drain in Africa. Wars cause the destruction of health infrastructure. This therefore means that as long as there is conflict, children cannot be guaranteed of getting good healthcare from health facilities. Grossman (1972) identifies that health infrastructure depreciates over time and it can be increased by acts of investment into health. This therefore means that a government must spend money to enhance and maintain infrastructure and invest more money to build more infrastructure. After wars, during rebuilding, not much funds are channelled into health. Most governments look to northern hemisphere nations for more ammunition to enhance national security rather than spend on health. In such situations, children, who cannot demand their rights are neglected. Also, during wars, most Africans seek refuge in other nations. The unskilled typically end up settling in other African nations as refugees. However, qualified medical professionals seek asylum in nations in the western hemisphere and because their skills are needed there, they end up getting jobs there and never returning. This leads to a shortage of medical staff in these war ravaged nations. In Southern and Eastern Africa where the principles of social exclusion like Apartheid were practiced, there is still a huge social and economic gap between the ones who discriminated and the ones discriminated against. This reflects in the quality of life of children and their growth as well as the health services delivered to them. The Critical Analysis of the Case of DR Congo The United Nations had to intervene in The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire on two occasions: the first in 1960 and then in 1997 (McQueen, 2002). In 1960, the Congolese nationalists declared the nation independent and this led to hostilities on the part of the Belgian colonialists, who reacted by triggering a civil war and withdrawing all social services, including health services at a time where the nation did not have single African doctor (Katayanagi, 2002). This gave the impetus to a serious humanitarian crisis. The Congolese government requested for UN support. The UN responded by sending troops and medical teams who although sought to help could not do much in terms of delivering health and social care for children (Katayanagi, 2002). This is because the nation did not have the right infrastructure for the delivery of health service, a modern social structure that supported orthodox medicine and also, the nation did not have social infrastructures like educational facilities and the like (McQueen, 2002) In the second phase of UN pro-medical and humanitarian mission in Congo, there was a spill over of the genocide in Rwanda and the Mobutu government of 1997 could not prevent the cross-border violence because around that time, there was a rebellion that eventually overthrew his government (Langholtz et al, 2004). In this bloodshed, refugee camps were raided and attacked. Over 1 million people were internally displaced. Up to 2.5 million Congolese died of disease, malnutrition and violence by 2004 (Langholtz et al, 2004) This was a horrific period for every child because of the atrocities they suffered and witnessed. This could affect the mental and emotional development of these children. Secondly, some of the children were involved in the war as child soldiers and they were denied education and other opportunities to get a good childhood (Berry, 2001) Bryer et al (2007) also state that the political situation had a direct influence on health and health delivery in the country. It led to the distruction of scientific and research infrastructure. The chaos led to the exodus of over 70% of the nation’s health professionals and lowered the standards of living and increased poverty. The International Community intervened in the conflict in the region by forming the UNO Mission in Congo, which led to the stationing of over 5,000 troops in the nation (Langholtz et al, 2004). They secured a number of strategic locations and provided humanitarian services for women and children. However, there were challenges like serious poverty conditions and the collapse of infrastructure that meant that a lot of people had to rely on humanitarian aid (Boya, 2010). This has a lot of negative effects on children and their growth like malnutrition and the lack of education. The Western led intervention also attempted to support peace operations in the region. The British government for instance provided a lot of money in aid and promoted international justice and rebuilding efforts through agencies like the World Bank, the International Criminal Court and other donor bodies (British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, 2004). Efforts of these nature have been faced with challenges like corruption in the refugee camps and the break-up of rebel groups whose leaders were arrested by the International Criminal Court (Adelman & Rao, 2002). All these affected the lives of innocent children, their health and their growth. Also, the Congolese government has no clear-cut strategy for rebuilding the nation (OECD, 2010). Education is not a priority to the Congolese government although the nation needs to empower its children to build a vibrant nation, less than 3% of government spending was on education between 1994 and 2004 (The World Bank, 2004). Four million children are not in school in Congo(OECD, 2010). Weiss & Collins state that the problem with child health challenges and health delivery can be connected to the existence of complex internal conflicts, large scale displacement, infrastructure collapse, interruption of food production and trade, civilian killing and random violence. This makes it difficult for health systems to be put together and childhood health and safety guaranteed. Conclusion Child health and childhood are important elements of a nation’s progress and development. However, war has serious economic, social and political consequences that affect health delivery and child health directly. That is why northern hemisphere nations have put in place mechanisms through international agencies like the UN to provide health intervention programmes to ensure that child health is enhanced and promoted. This is in the form of military intervention in conflicts, humanitarian services, rebuilding effort and the re-introduction of health services. However, the case of war and conflict continue to have harsh effects on the African continent. It has plagued a nation like the Congo and had a serious effect on the children and their health. References Adelman, Howard & Rao, Gorind (2002) War & Peace in Zaire-Congo Analysing and Evaluating Intervention 1996 – 1997 New York: Africa Press Alexander, G. R. (2004) Maternal & Child Health (MCH) Encclopedia of Health Care Management Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publishers Basu, Rumki (2004) The United Nations: Structure & Functions of an International Organisation New Delhi: Sterling Publishing Limited Berry, de Jo (2001) “Child Soldiers & The Convention on the Rights of the Child” Annals of American Academy of Political & Social Sciences Sage Publication Inc. Boya, Loso Kiteti (2010 Democratic Republic of Congo: The Darkness of the Heart New York: Xlibris British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (2004) Human Rights Annual Report 2004 Norwich: Crown Corporation Bryer, Chris, Terzian, Arpi, Lowther, Sara, Zambrano, John, A. Galai, Nya, Melchior, Mwandagalirwa Kashamuka (2007) “Civil Conflict & Health Information: The Democratic Republic” Public Health & Human Rights: Evidence Based Approach Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press pp 268 - 289 Clarke, M., Knight, S., Prozesky, D. van Rensburg, C. (2003) Child Health Lansdowne, SA: Juta & Co Ltd. Coghlan, B, Brennan, R. & Ngoy, P (2006) “Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Nationwide Survey” Lancet 367, 44 – 51 D’Harcourt, Emmanuel, Purdin, Susan (2009) “Impact of Wars & Conflicts on Maternal & child Health” Maternal & Child Health: Global Challenges, Programs & Policies New York: Springer Science Foege, William, H. (1997) “Arms & Public Health: A Global Perspective” War & Public Health 3 – 11 New York: Oxford University Press Grossman, M. (1972) Demand for Health: Theoretical & Empirical Investigation Columbia University Press for NBER: New York. Gupta, Joyeeta (1997) Climate Change Convention & Developing Countries From Conflict to Consensus? Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers Haggerty, Robert, J, Roghmann, Klaus, J., Pleiss, Wan Barry (1993) Child Health & The Community New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Hawley, Alan (2002) “The Spectrum of Conflict” Conflict & Catastrophe, A Practcal Guide London: Springer Verlag Jones, Andrew, M. (2006) The Elga Companion to Health Economics Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. Jonsen, Albert, R. Sieglen, Mark & Winslade, William, J (2002) Clinical Ethics: A Practical Approach to Ethical Decisions in Clinical Medicine New York: McGraw Hill. Katayanagi, Marc (2002) Human Rights Function of the UN Peacekeeping Operations The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International Kehily, Mary, Jane (2004) Understanding Childhood: An Introduction to Some Key Terms & Issues New York: McGraw Hill Education Langholtz, Harvey, Kondoch, Boris, Wells, Alan (2006) International Peace Keeping (2004) The Yearbook of International Peace Operations Vol 10 The Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers McQueen, Norrie (2002) UN Peacekeeping in Africa Since 1960 NY: Longman NICHD Early Childhood Care Research Network (2005) “Early Child Care & Children’s Development in the Primary Grades: Follow Up Results from NICHD Study of Early Childhood Care” American Educational Research Journal Fall, 2005, Vol 42 No 3 No 537 – 570 OECD (2010) Conflict & Fragility Building a Better Response New York: OECD Ravindranath, N, H. & Sathaye, Jayant, A. (2002) Climate Change & Developing Countries Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers Ryan, Jim & Lumley, John (2002) “The World in the New Millennium – Globalisation and Humanitarianism” Conflict & Catastrophe, A Practcal Guide London: Springer Verlag Shehzad, Shafqat (2006) “Determinants of Child Health in Pakistan: An Economic Analysis” Social Indicators Research Springer Vol 28 pp 531 – 556 Spielvogel, Jackson, J. (2011) Western Civilization: A Brief History Mason, OH: Cengage The World Bank (2004) Education in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Priorities & Options For Regulation The World Bank. Weiss, F & Collins, C. (1996) Humanitarian Challenges & Intervention: World Politics & Dilemmas of Help Boulder, CO: Westman Press. World Health Organisation (1983) Apartheid & Health Part 1 – 2 World Health Organisation Wright, Marcia, Stein, Zena Scardlyn (1988) Women’s Health & Apartheid Cornell University Press Yamano, Takashi, Alderman, Harold & Christiaensen, Luc (2005) “Child Growth, Shocks & Food Aid in Rural Ethiopia” American Journal of Agricultural Economics Vol 87 No 2 May 2005 pp 273 – 288 Read More