Children and the Effects of Poverty

I chose poverty because it seems that it is striking so many families lately. During my undergraduate degree I done some observations at a local elementary school where poverty was evident. Many of the children grew up in the projects and were sent to school with uniforms that were to small or way to big, and many of them didn't have breakfast before hand. I remember one little girl very vivid. It was a cold October morning and she was sitting in class with pants that were about two inches too short but a jacket on that looked like it was her mothers. I remember thinking to myself "Wow, if only I could help this child and children like her." After the class the teacher made a comment to me that still sticks out in my mind. She said, "Get use to this scene, because this is what you get in this school. Children who are from poor homes and have parents that could care less." I walked away discouraged and thought "hmmm...it might be discouraging BUT those chilren may only have that teacher who they feel cares for them." Children do not ask for the circumstances that they are brought into. I have made it a goal to donate clothing to the clothes closets for less fortunate families, donate to food drives, or any other activiites that supports children in poverty.

As I thought of how poverty strikes anyone at anytime. I found some interesting research on it.

• "In 2008, 39.8 million people were in poverty, up from 37.3 million in 2007 -- the second consecutive annual increase in the number of people in poverty (Census Bureau 2010).
• The 2008 poverty rate (13.2 percent) was the highest since 1997 (Census Bureau 2010).
• In 2008, the family poverty rate and the number of families in poverty were 10.3 percent and 8.1 million, respectively, up from 9.8 percent and 7.6 million in 2007 (Census Bureau 2010).
• 15.4 million Americans live in extreme poverty. This means their family’s cash income is less than half of the poverty line, or less than about $10,000 a year for a family of four (CBPP 2007).
• 16 million low-income households either paid more for rent and utilities than the federal government says is affordable or lived in overcrowded or substandard housing (CBPP 2007).
• 46 million Americans — more than one in every seven — do not have  medical insurance (USBC 2009 p. 20).

Causes of hunger and poverty
(Hunger is principally caused by poverty so this section will focus on causes of poverty.)
There are, we believe, three main causes of poverty in the United States: poverty in the world; the operation of the political and economic system in the United States which has tended to keep people from poor families poor, and actual physical mental and behavioral issues among some people who are poor.
Poverty in the world  There are a lot of poor people in the world. An estimated 2 billion people are poor, and the same amount hungry (World Hunger Facts)  They are much, much, poorer than people in the United States.  As can be imagined, people do not want to be hungry and desperately poor.  In the world economic system there are two main ways in which relatively poor people have their income increased: through trade, and through immigration.  Trade, we believe, is the most important.

• Trade. It is important to understand some basic economics. We in the United States live in a rich country, that has a  large amount of capital--machinery, etc.--to produce things relative to the amount of labor--people that want to work. Poor countries have a lot of labor, but relatively little capital.  There is a basic idea of economics--the factor price equalization theorem--that states that wages in rich countries will tend to go down and increase in poor countries through trade (Wikipedia 2010b). Thus China, with low wages, puts pressure on wages in the United States, as production is shifted to China from the United States. This movement of production from richer to poorer countries is initiated by corporations, not individuals, but it does  shift jobs and income to poorer countries and people, and has been doing so for the last 30 years or so. Lower income people in the United States are particularly vulnerable to such shifts.
• Immigration.  A clear strategy for poor people is to go where there are higher paying jobs (often opposed to the alternative of no jobs at all). Thus immigration has been a major response to poverty by people in poor countries. "

http://www.worldhunger.org/

Nutrion in India

The Food & Nutrition Board (FNB), set up in 1964, is an attached office of the Ministry of Women & Child Development and has a countrywide set up. Originally with Ministry of Food, the FNB was shifted to Ministry of Women and Child Development (then Department of WCD) in 1993.

Nutrition is the focal point of health and well-being. Nutrition is directly linked to human resource development, productivity and ultimately to the national growth.

Malnutrition is a complex phenomenon. It is both the cause and effect of poverty and ill health, and follows a cyclical, inter-generational pattern. It is inextricably linked with illiteracy, especially female illiteracy, lack of safe drinking water and proper sanitation, ignorance, lack of awareness and ill health. It creates its own cycle within the large cycle of poverty.

Malnutrition in India continues to be at a high level with 42.5% children below the age being underweight and almost 70% being anaemic. 22% children are born with low birth weight. Lack of adequate information on nutritional needs, has been identified as a major factor for the prevailing nutritional situation in the country. Child malnutrition is both the result of economic conditions and poor nutritional awareness. Nutrition education and extension has been recognized as one of the long-term sustainable interventions essential to tackle the problem of malnutrition and to generate awareness and to promote the nutrition status of the country. FNB’s major task is to address this major challenge. (http://www.motherchildnutrition.com/india )

Nutrition has always intrigued me. I have a strong passion for childhood obesity and malnutrion through out the world. One article that I read for this assingment stated that children betweent the ages of 1 to 3 yrs old should get 40 calories per inch of heigh per day. For example if a toddler is 32 inches tall he/she should consume about 1300 calories per day. Children may or may not always consume this many calories depending on their appetites. 

Childbirth in Mexico

In Mexico the birthing process is considered a woman's job, ideally the job of her mother and midwife.  Cultural tradition dictates that a husband not see his wife or child until the delivery is over and both have  been cleaned and dressed.  In general, Hispanic women prefer that their mothers attend  them in labor.
Latin American women practice the custom of postpartum lying -in period.  This period is designed to give a woman the period of rest between childbirth and returning to work.  In these cultures women traditionally did not return to office work, but to physical labor in the fields.

Birth generally takes place in the home but for the birth of a first child it may take place in the mother's parent's home. After the onset of labor women continue doing house hold tasks until the labor intensifies to the point that it is no longer possible to finish doing what they were doing.

Child birth experience....

For this blog assignment I chose to write about the birth of my first baby. I remember finding out I was pregnant with my precious little boy about 8 months after a miscarriage at 12 weeks...so majority of my pregnancy with my little boy I was on pins and needles. For the most part it was a good pregnancy....I was convinced that he was a girl and was a little in shock when the ultra sound tech said "BOY". However, I would NOT change it...I love love love that little guy. As I said my pregnancy went fairly well despite me being so nervous that something was going to happen....In March of 2009 I went in for my last ultra sound and the tech sent me straight to my doctor. Of course she couldn't answer my questions as to why I had to go see my doctor. That afternoon I went completely limp, couldn't hear or speak as the doctor was talking to me about this latest ultra sound. Thankfully my husband was in there to fill me in later. The doctor said that he was sending me to a specialist because my baby's ventricle on his brain looked a little enlarged. So for the next three weeks I was back and forth to the specialist and my doctor. The day I saw the specialist, he done a three-d ultrasound and said the same thing that my doctor said. This made me more nervous....I worked in Early Intervention and had children on my case load that had hydrocephalis and couldn't imagine my baby having that. So days went by and then I had to have an amnio because I had to much amniotic fluid...wow, did that forever hurt!! Plus I am terrified of needles. The amnio determined that at 37 weeks my baby boy's lungs were still not quite developed so I had to wait another week. So at 38 weeks I went in for a scheduled c-section due to the doctors thinking my baby's ventricle was enlarged. I was at a speciality hospital so that made me a little more at ease....but I wasn't completely at ease until I KNEW for sure that my precious little boy was healthy and okay! The c-section went well..and after briefly seeing my baby, he was wisked off to be checked. A day later we got the results from his ct scan and he was A-Okay.....the doctor said, "Things are fine...he just takes after his dad and has a big head" haha.....I chose my own experience because it was more familiar to me and something good came from such a scary situation. My sweet little boy just turned 2 in April and has been a sure delight! With medical technology these days, situations such as mine are better treated.