Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Sample
Children within the age bracket of 2-19 years living in abject poverty are susceptible to chronic illnesses such as malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and ubiquitous malnutrition. According to a 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) Report, 30,000 children living in poverty die yearly (Cox, 2018). As of 2019, WHO documented that globally, approximately six million children have died in the last five years from preventable diseases such as malaria and Tuberculosis. The most vulnerable age groups are children 1-11 months and 12-16 years (Cox, 2018).
Health stakeholders need to develop a promotion and disease prevention program to mitigate child deaths associated with impoverished conditions. Therefore, what optimal health policies are targeted at improving the health conditions of children living in destitution? Children from low-income families are entitled to health promotion and disease prevention plans from health agencies to reduce early mortality rates.
My population is children in black and Hispanic Black low-income communities. The aforementioned two communities mostly live in neighborhoods such as Detroit where the median income is consistently 11000 lower than the income of similar neighborhoods with white families (Moffat, 2020). African American girls and boys aged 2-19 years living in such poverty conditions are predisposed to malnutrition, malaria, and Tuberculosis.
Both the black and Hispanic Black’s spiritual needs are interconnected to the sufferings of the black community during the great depression era. In this regard, the key spiritual need of the African American community is the holistic concern of the social status of their people as well as the fundamental belief in the existence of a supreme God. The central healthcare need of African Americans living in poverty is the establishment of a high-quality pediatric center. Thereafter, the children require urgent health interventions for mitigating the three aforementioned recurrent child diseases.
The following 3 interventions are necessary to reduce health disparities between African American children living in poverty and white children. First, specific mental health diagnostic groups require special programs that offer therapeutic programs for autism, and Attention-deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADH) (Moffat, 2020). Health Agencies should identify areas with widespread child mental health cases before developing the therapeutic centers. Second, community providers should attend vocational programs, webinars, or seminars where they are trained on how to treat and communicate with children from black communities.
Also, the health department should partner with schools to train teachers how to handle African American children with special needs. Lastly, providers should advise the children to use alternative mobile telehealth apps such as what’s up and Mood kit (Englander, 2018). Whereas the former uses cognitive therapy to alleviate depression and anxiety, the latter uses the same therapeutic framework to develop the user’s positive attitudes and self-awareness.
Concisely, Health providers should enroll in educational programs and incorporate telehealth platforms to treat both the mental and physical health of children living in poverty conditions. The mainstream society should support health providers to safeguard the health of African American children living in abject poverty by providing financial donations to needy families.
References
- Cox, K. (2018). Reducing toxic stress experienced by children living in poverty. Nursing Outlook, 66(2), 108-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2018.02.010
- Englander, L. (2018). Telehealth and Digital Technology. Telehealth And Medicine Today, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.30953/tmt.v1.62
- Moffat, P. (2020). Protecting Children Living in Poverty. Journal Of Health Visiting, 8(10), 401-401. https://doi.org/10.12968/johv.2020.8.10.401