The Tragic Issue Of Child Advocacy And Child Prevention

Taylor, Y. J., & Nies, M. A. (2012, June 23). Measuring the impact and outcomes of maternal child health federal programs. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 17(5), 886-896.

The health of a community is a multifaceted and complicated issue. Of utmost importance is protecting the most vulnerable in a population, which some would argue includes adolescents and the pregnant population. The city of Reading has many areas which need improvement including decreasing poverty and crime rates, improving the educational status of it’s inhabitants and, overall, improving the health of it’s

Watson and Mason’s article, “Power of the first Hour” and Risworth, et al.’s article “I was on the way to the Hospital but I Delivered in the Bush” both focus on aspects of maternal and infant care and demonstrate the fundamental differences between western policies enacted to improve women’s lives in developing countries and the local realty in those developing countries.

Today there are two countries in the world that do not currently guarantee paid maternity leave for employed new mothers and/or expecting mothers, those countries are the United States and Papua New Guinea, according to the International Labour Organization, an United Nations agency (Rubin 2016). In recent years, the controversial issue of guaranteed maternal leave has been a prominent topic of debate amongst political activists and elites, particularly in the United States, where reform is both an ethical protection for employees and a feasible option for employers, but has yet to be achieved. It is this absence of policy that has been linked to significant health related issues of which does not only effect mothers, but their children as well. In addition to these adverse health impacts, it generates economic hardships to mothers and families. Thus, the consequences to mothers, families, and newborns that the absence of guaranteed paid maternal leave presents and the potential benefits of guaranteed paid leave for these individuals as well as employers, creates a case for policy reform in this particular area that would implement such protection.

The Ottawa Charter emphasises the importance of global health promotion by identifying necessary conditions, sectors and resources involved in obtaining optimum community health. This is broken down into five strategies building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments for mother and child, strengthening community actions, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services (McMurray & Clendon, 2015). This essay will address optimum maternal health being ensured by the support of nurses and midwives to maintain healthy lives for both mother and child. Proceeding with a brief description of maternal health, followed by the role of the nurse/ midwife in response to the condition. This will be in relation to the five major

Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries (CMACE) (2011) Saving mothers’ lives; reviewing maternal deaths to make motherhood safer: 2006-2008. BJOG 18(1): 1-203. London. Blackwell Synergy.

According to the World Health Organization, maternal health refers to the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Determinants of maternal health vary greatly among countries. It is

That is almost thirty-five percent of all births. Along with all of the common issues, there are new ones arising. For example, in Afghanistan there has been an increase in sales of over-the-counter oxytocin which is an injectable hormone that can be used to stop postpartum bleeding and speed up labor but can be deadly if given incorrectly. Finally, after millions of deaths and little government action, the issue of maternal mortality is once and for all attracting attention. In July, at the G-8 summit of industrialized nations in Hokkaido, Japan, maternal deaths were acknowledged as an important obstacle to development for the first time. It paid off and there has been progress in multiple poor countries. For example, in Honduras maternal mortality rates dropped by about fifty percent after rural clinics were opened and thousands of midwives were trained. In the Indian states of Assam, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa pregnant women were given financial assistance. In Sierra Leone there were even fines set if a woman didn’t give birth in a

The health benefits of breastfeeding are established, but low breastfeeding rates remain a U.S. public health concern. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) designed Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (Ten Steps) as a guideline to increase breastfeeding rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) biennial survey in 2007 to monitor U.S. maternity care facilities on the basis of the Ten Steps guideline.1 Researchers have used the mPINC data in multiple studies identifying practices in U.S. maternity care facilities that can guide public health initiatives to improve breastfeeding outcomes in the U.S.

Maternity care in the United States is not as well developed as maternity care in several other wealthy countries. Maternity care in America is extremely expensive; therefore many women choose not to get the care they need to maintain a healthy pregnancy and baby. Therefore, the infant mortality rate in America is much higher than it should be. Also, women’s overall physical and mental health during and after pregnancy is not as good as it could be. The United States government should provide a way for every single woman to have access to free or exceedingly cheap maternity care so that all of the women and babies in America have a chance to get the professional care that they need to have a healthy pregnancy and baby.

Pregnant women with social risk factors lack of psychological and finical resources, and on Medicaid are at a higher risk for negative pregnancy outcomes. These women require support, guidance, and assistance from health or social services that can meet with them geographically and psychologically (Glavin, 2013). Nurses all over the world share the same beliefs and values of promoting of health and prevention of diseases, holistic care no matter the living conditions, collaboration with the government, client, and health organizations, caring and understanding relationship, and independence in public health (DM). In the United States, a Nurse-Family Partnership is a free voluntary program that services new high-risk mothers to have a health pregnancy, improve the child development and health, and become more economically efficient. A nurse that has been specially trained visits the first time mother throughout the entire pregnancy and continues until the baby reaches the age of two. With each visit, the nurse offers support and any crucial information the mother will need to know for present and future care of the child. Public health nurses obtain knowledge from public and social health disciplines to protect and promote the health of the population. Nurses strive to create societal conditions to support health for an individual, families, and communities within the states.

1. Monitoring and evaluating health status – One of the important programs conducted by my practicum cite is Women, Infants and Children program. WIC is a federal assistance program for health care and nutrition of low-income pregnant women, breast feeding women, and infants and children aged less than 5 years. Through WIC program women and children get nutrition counseling, breastfeeding support and health education. In addition to education WIC program also collects data for Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System. The data collected includes demographics, maternal health indicators - prepregnancy BMI, maternal weight gain, anemia, parity, interpregancy interval, and diabetes and hypertension during pregnancy, maternal behavioral indicators – medical care, WIC enrollment and multivitamin consumption, and infant health indicators – birthweight, preterm birth, full term low birthweight and

"If a child is abused, they would have to be interviewed seven, eight, nine different times by different people, which is very traumatic for children," she said. "The child advocacy center model brings the system to the child for a child-focused response.

included. Third, mothers with multiple births were included as a single observation. Fourth, only mothers whose survey child is 18 months of age or less at the time of assessment were included. They excluded mothers of infants older than 18 months because they could not confirm their prenatal WIC participation status due to the structure of the survey. Fifth, only observations with complete information for all relevant variables were included. Sixth, only mothers who are

A program called Healthy Moms helps women get their GED or college degrees, job training, and helps with food, shelter, and clothing. This allows the women to help themselves and their children by trying to get out of poverty. Yolanda Sayers from the Perinatal Network of Monroe County walks the streets trying to help women get free or low-cost health insurance and prenatal care. Some hospitals in the area are providing yoga as a way to help lower stress in pregnant woman and offer programs for at risk mothers to get to and from appointments for their children. While they cannot help every pregnant woman, this is at least a start to a very serious problem.