Child Health Concerns
Child health is a pattern that is difficult to predict and maintain globally because of the forces surrounding it. Environmental factors are associated with child health in a significant proportion because of their growing nature. However, other factors such as poverty in the underdeveloped nations affect child health and irrespective of the efforts to minimize the forces, reports from the World Health Organization indicate that child illness and death is still a health concern.
Research conducted on the influence of the environment in child health reveals that various agents and contaminants predispose children to illness. Indoor and outdoor air pollution is the leading cause of respiratory conditions. Reports indicate that more than 500,000 children die every year due to indoor air pollution (CDC, 2017). Asthma is estimated to cause more than 25,000 deaths in the world yearly (Consumer Federation of America, 2013). Poor sanitation and unsafe drinking of water forms the second barrier to child health and reports indicate that people in rural areas are at a higher risk. Children from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are affected by unsafe drinking water. Other environmental factors include exposure to vectors such as mosquitoes and chemical agents such as lead.
Poverty is a risk to child health that causes indirect suffering and illness (CDC, 2017). The poor housing conditions contribute to health risks such as fires, asphyxiation, and injury from electricity which jeopardizes child health. Statistics reveal that about five million children are treated in the emergency departments yearly due to indirect injuries such as fire and electrocution (Consumer Federation of America, 2013). There is a direct correlation between the environment and child health. Various factors in the environment are observed to hinder child health. Poverty is a factor that hinders child health in third world countries at a greater percentage.
References
CDC. (2017). Children’s Environmental Health. Retrieved from
https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/showChildEHMain.action
Consumer Federation of America. (June, 2013). Child Poverty, Unintentional Injuries and Food Borne Illness- consumer federation of America. Retrieved from
https://consumerfed.org/pdfs/Child-Poverty-Report.pdf
