As a child growing up in Guyana, South America, I have gone hungry many times but survived it. I lived with my mother and younger sister while my dad worked away from home and only visited once per month and that was when we bought grocery for the month. The grocery did not always last for the entire month so there were times we did not have anything to eat. My mom would try her best to make sure we had dinner regardless of what it was which was mostly rice cooked in coconut milk with some stir fry spinach or some vegetable that was growing in our yard. Breakfast was always some form or porridge made from cornmeal, flour, oatmeal or farina. Lunch was always fruits that were picked from the trees that grew in the yard or neighbor’s yard. There were some days where there was absolutely no food except for fruits off the trees.

Immunization

Blog wk. 2

Immunization

Public health refers to the wellness of an entire population. There are many laws that are mandated to prevent contagious disease and one of them is immunization.  (Berger, 2009, Ch. 5, Pg. 149). There are many parents who chose not to immunize their children due to various reasons. Some are worried about the side effects of the vaccination. Some are religious, some are that they believe that it was cause autism or developmental delays and some just don’t think it’s important and don’t always ensure that their child immunization is up to date…

I truly believe that immunization from birth have saved many children’s lives from childhood diseases that would normally kill them in a few months if these vaccinations were not administered.  Immunization is said to have had “a greater impact on human mortality reduction and population growth than any other public health intervention besides clean water” (J.P. Baker, 2000). (Berger 2009, pg. 150)

There has been dramatic success with the following disease such as smallpox, polio, measles and a newly developed vaccine against rotavirus.  Immunization plays a very important part in a child’s life and protect them from complications such as deafness, blindness, sterility and meningitis.(Berger, 2009, pg. 150) It’s also stated that each vaccinated child stops the spread of the disease and protects others including people who cannot be safely immunized. . (Berger, 2009, pg. 150)

As a former center director the task of maintaining immunization records was very stressful especially when parents are refusing to get their child vaccinated or they are refusing to bring a doctors or personal notarized note stating why their child will not be vaccinated.  This maintenance of the immunization records was audited yearly by the county health department for accuracy and expiration dates.  A few years ago the department of health introduces an online program access for childcare providers where they can have access to immunization records and print it out so that the records will be available for audit.  During this process most pediatrician were charging parents $5.00 per record if they did not pick it up at their appointment.

The GRITS system worked well only when they child is immunized and the doctors update the records on the GRITS system.  I am hoping that in the future those parents will be educated and trained on the importance of immunization so that all children can be vaccinated. I am also hoping in the future that all the states in the United States and worldwide will be on a national registry so that children coming from a different state of country will not have a hard time starting school or childcare because the immunization records are not current of updated.

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, 22 June 2010 – The fourth round of a national immunization campaign against polio has just been completed in Tajikistan, targeting almost 3 million children under the age of 15. (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/Tajikistan_54040.html)

Four in five children (83%) worldwide received the recommended three doses of diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis (DTP) vaccine during infancy in 2011, according to new data.

The data show sustained progress from the previous two years, and a significant achievement from when WHO’s Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) was originally started nearly 40 years ago. At that time, fewer than 5% of the world’s children were being vaccinated against these three deadly diseases. ( http://www.who.int/immunization/en/ )

WHO today confirmed that China has eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus—a major achievement to improve the health of mothers and children.

 

“The achievement came as a result of a number of different programmes in the Ministry of Health, other government sectors and partners working together for a joint goal to better improve the health of mothers and children and enhance the well-being of families and communities,” says Dr Michael O’Leary, WHO Representative in China.( http://www.who.int/immunization/en/)

My grandson

My grandson

Child Development

 

Emily Carter

 

I took part in the birth of my grandson about 8 months ago and it was a very emotional, stressful and exciting   experience because it was a very long and tedious process and I was witnessing my first grandson’s being born.  My grandson’s mother enters the birthing room about 5 pm on 2/2 and actually delivered on 2/3 at 5:30 am.  This was a very controlled environment in a local hospital in a birthing room where labor and delivery occurs then after delivery the mother and baby is transferred to a regular patient room in the women’s center.  The room was well equipped with all the state of the art equipment to monitor the mother and baby as well as a delivery bed and the infant care cart with all the required tools and equipment that the nurses would need to assist the infant once he was born.

 

The mother was given sedatives to keep her comfortable until she was ready for an epidural.  The nurses constantly monitored the mother’s contractions, blood pressure and the baby’s heart rate to ensure that the labor was going along fine.  They also did constant examination of the mother to monitor and measure the dilation of her cervix. The actual birthing was very short once the cervix was ready with a few pushes he was born screaming his head off and so his life begun.

 

I choose this example because it was more of a common version of childbirth in that it was not forced and there were no complications with the labor, delivery and birth of my grandson. I believe that there are many infants being born today that are born too soon due to a variety of complications.  Some are premature, C-section and even some vaginal but there are too many sedatives and pain medication given to the mother during labor that I feel it affects the baby’s respiratory system. I believe that lack of appropriate prenatal and postpartum care, delivery in an environment that is medically equipped and the type of delivery could have a direct impact on child’s development.

 

Region Guatemala – Latin America

 

In the western world childbirth is considered to be a medical event. In Guatemala childbirth is performed differently.  Most of the countries use midwife to deliver babies and most of the delivery occurs at home. Guatemalan culture views pregnancy as a natural condition that does not require medical care.

 

The extended family is very important in Latin American culture, and patients will most likely involve family members in appointments and medical decisions. Women from many Latin American cultures believe that they should monitor their own pregnancies and will act based on past personal experience and the advice of extended family members. Latin American women, especially those who have given birth previously, may expect a greater degree of control over the process of childbirth and may expect to be able to deliver in positions other than the traditional gynecological position favored in most U.S. hospital settings. Finally, most Latin American women value the development of the bond between mother and infant and will expect to be given the baby immediately after birth. ( http://www.wehbycreative.com/emily/Childbirth.pdf)

 

 

 

References:

 

http://www.wehbycreative.com/emily/Childbirth.pdf)