Child Development and Public Health

There are more than 30 million children that are not immunized either because vaccines are unavailable, because health services are poorly provided or inaccessible, or because families are uninformed or misinformed about when or why to bring their children for immunization.  I am very passionate about children being immunized because it is a simple process and it prevents children from dying.

Children die everyday in developed countries because of pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles, HIV/AIDS and malnutrition.  Measles in industrial countries are not a health concern for infants but is developed countries can cause up to 40 per cent mortality among infected children in unsanitary and overcrowded situations.

In Sub Saharan Africa 90 per cent of malaria cases occur in this region.  Malaria.  In 2003, measles, a viral respiratory infection killed over 500,000 children, more than any other vaccine-preventable disease.  The measles death toll in Africa is so high, that every minute one child dies.  Most mothers do not give their children real names until they have survived the disease.  Children that due survive this disease may suffer blindness, deafness or brain damage.

The cost of immunizations in not very expensive at all.  As a society we all need to help to make sure all children have a chance for a long and healthy life.  UNICEF is an organization that helps developed countries receive funds to assist in this global issue.  We too, can help by donating a few dollars a day to help a child receive immunizations.

Birthing Experience

 My second son was born in a Naval Hospital on July 27, 1996.  He was born on his due date during the Olympics. The night before I started to go into labor but my husband at the time was out to sea.  Chad was in the Navy and was to return the next day.  I did not want him to miss the birth of his second son.  That morning I drove to Mayport and waited 2 hours until he walked off the John F. Kennedy Aircraft Carrier.  We proceeded to go to the Naval Hospital.  It took us 40 minutes to get there from our home. Once we got there the nurse checked us in and the doctor examined me.  I was only 3 centimeters dilated.  So the doctor told us that we could not be admitted yet.  His suggestion was for Chad and I to walk around the hospital and to ses if it would help the baby come sooner.  At 10 pm the finally admitted me.  Seven minutes later my son Austin was born during the 1996 Olympics.

The country that I focused on was Ghana.  Ghana infant mortality rate is at least 10 times higher than in North America.  Almost all infants are born in homes.  Doctors are only called if there is an emergency.  In Ghana midwifes are the ones who assist with the birth.  "Gentle Birth" is when there is no sound at all during the birth, the mother is quiet, the mid wife is quite.  Even when the infant is born there is no crying or yelling.  

I am very concerned on the infant morality rate.  Because of lack of proper medical care infants die because they do not their newborn immunizations.