My Connections to Play

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Child Development and Public Health

I choose Immunizations to review for my focus for this assignment.    Schools in the United States require immunizations.  In developed countries, immunizing children is a common practice.  In the United States children begin to receive immunizations with a weeks of birth.  Immunizations serve as a way for the immune systems to build up defenses to foreign bodies.  In doing so, the person is protected in the event that they were to come into contact with the disease. .  There are two types of immunization.  The first is active immunization.  Active immunization occurs naturally when a person comes in contact with a foreign body.  Passive immunization occurs when an individual is given pre-synthesized elements that in turn do not require the body build up its own defenses.  This generally occurs through a vaccine. 
Immunizations are very important topic to me.   Diseases can be prevented through vaccination.  Living in a country where we have access to vaccinations, this eliminates the spread of many diseases.  As an educator, states mandate which vaccinations children must receive prior to entering school.  This helps to ensure overall health in children, family members, and their teachers.   Healthy children perform better and lead more productive lives. 
Africa unfortunately does not have many resources for vaccination.  Outreach agencies such as the American Red Cross and the Measles Initiative help to ensure that children have the ability to be vaccinated.  Vaccination in rural developing areas is difficult given the fact that many children do not have access to clinics and doctors.  Likewise, facilities are often far away.  With programs such as the American Red Cross and the Measles Initiative medical professionals are able to enter the villages of Africa.  It is here that they are able to administer vaccinations free of charge.  Poverty and lack of public funding make it difficult for vaccinations to occur in developing countries.  Support from world organizations; enable the children of developing nations to receive the vaccinations that will ultimately keep them healthy. 




3 comments:

  1. Keli,

    Very informative post. I also agree that immunizations are very important and every mother or caregiver should make sure that his or her child is up to date on their shots. This is very important because if a child receives all of their immunizations then this will prevent the child from being exposed to or possibly catching a disease. This is also important because it is a requirement for children in order for them to go to school. Its very sad that a lot of other countries do not have access to this type of healthcare in which a lot of children sometimes die because they were not able to get their shots and died from the disease. I feel that a lot of things that Americans have they really don't take advantage of while other people are suffering and fighting for these types of services and cant get them. Some people just take things for granted.

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  2. Keli,
    It is very unfortunate that the public health organizations have not reached many rural areas around the world and I think economics has to be tied into the cause of the tragedy. I think it is very ironic that in the well-developed state of California, there was a reoccurrence of the whooping cough due to the delay of immunizations. Another problem in Africa is that a lot of the people live very far away from medical facilities, so transportation should be another concern of the world health organizations.

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  3. Your post is very informative. I am sure that the people of Africa and other developing countries are thankful for the American Red Cross because they can offer vaccinations free of charge.

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