HLTH200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Centrelink, Least Developed Countries, Micronutrient Deficiency
28 May 2018
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HLTH200: Week 7 Lectures
Child Health and Development
Background → Millennium Development Goals
• Millennium Summit in Sept 2000
o Largest gathering of world leaders in history
• Adopted the UN Millenium Declaration
o Committing of nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme
poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets, with a deadline
of 2015
o I.e. the millennium development goals
• To achieve these goals
o Poorer countries pledged to improve policies and governance and
increase accountability to their own citizens
o Wealthy countries pledged to provide the resources
Improvements in under 5 child mortality –
• Goal: reduce child mortality → target = reduce by two thirds, between 1990
and 2015, the mortality rate of children under five
• Worldwide, deaths among children under 5 years have declined from 12
million a year in 1990 to:
o 7.6 mill in 2010
o 6.3 mill in 2013
o 90 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990
o 46 deaths per 1000 live births in 2013
• Thus, improvements have been made BUT goal still not met
And progress is not equally distributed –
• In Africa, child mortality at 90 per 1000 live births vs. 12 per 1000 live births
in European regions
• In Africa, rates decreased, but not at the same rate
o And now have increasing share of under five deaths
o Not all HIV related
▪ 60% of child mortality HIV related
▪ versus 15% of newborn deaths attributed to infections related to
the delivery process
And not surprisingly, mortality still relates to wealth
• deprivation
o % of households lacking three or more essential items
▪ ability to face unexpected expenses
▪ take one week’s annual holiday away from home
▪ pay for arrears such as mortgage or rent, utility bills or hire
purchase instalments
▪ have a meal with meat, chicken or fish every second day
▪ keep the home adequately warm
▪ Have a washing machine, a colour TV and a telephone
o these items represent patterns of consumption considered as social
norms for households in Europe in the first decade of 21st century
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
But mortality is only part of the story –
• Three domains
o 1. Physical health e.g. nutrition
o 2. Cognitive development and school performance e.g. academic
achievement
o 3. Emotional or behavioural health e.g. attachment, self-regulation,
social skills
Physical health
• Nutrition for growth, bone strength, brain development
• Physical activity to develop motor skills and for muscle development
Brain development
• The brain is undergoing explosive growth in the first years of life and needs
organizing experiences to facilitate development
• Brain development is highly active between 18 months – 4 years
• Brain development is ‘activity-dependent’
• Every experience excites some neural circuits and leaves others alone
• Neural circuits used over and over strengthen, those that are not used are
dropped resulting in ‘pruning’
• Limited exposure to language, touch or social interactions, or emotional or
cognitive neglect impedes development
Social and emotional learning
• Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor & Schellinger (2011) meta review of
213 studies involving 270,034 kindy through high school students
demonstrated:
o Better academic performance → achievement scores an average of 11
percentile points higher than students who did not receive SEL
instruction
o Improved attitudes and behaviours → greater motivation to learn,
deeper commitment to school, increased time to devoted schoolwork,
and better classroom behaviour
o Fewer negative behaviours → decreased disruptive class behaviour,
noncompliance, aggression, delinquent acts and disciplinary referrals
o Reduced emotional distress → fewer reports of student depression,
anxiety, stress and social withdrawal
A framework for child health and intervening
• Framework to promote health equity within and between countries
• Macro-level context → wider society/systems → life course stages
o All work together
o Accumulation of positive and negative effects on health and wellbeing
over lifecourse
• A couple of ponts:
o 1. Perpetuation of inequities
o 2. A focus on wider society and systems to improve health and social
determinants
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
The macro-level context (society and systems)
• 1. Society: policies/programs that achieve societal cohesion and mutual
responsibility
• 2. Systems: refocusing delivery systems to whole-of-government and whole-
of-society approaches
• 3. Macro-level context: wider influences, both within countries and
transnationally
o 1. Globalisation
o 2. Economic crises e.g. Greece
o 3. Sustainability
• all three of these are interconnected
Social transfer --> a transfer of income or services, from one group in a society to
another, e.g from the active to the old, the healthy to the sick, or the affluent to the
poor, among others
Addressing inequity
• Social transfer system such as Europe, lifts people out of poverty
• Other macroeconomic reforms to alleviate poverty
o Job training programs
o Improved public education in poor communities
o Moving low-income households to more advantaged neighbourhoods
o Other measures to facilitate upward mobility
Parental responsibility vs. SES
• Move the argument away from individual responsibility
• Responsibility for what children eat, what children do, for how they behave
Summary
• Child health and development
o Multiple indicators
o Interact and have accumulative long term effects
o Physical health, emotional wellbeing as well as learning/cognitive
development and school performance
o All underpinned by SES
• How to address it?
o Relieving poverty
o Upward mobility and re-focus on the argument on responsibility
Refugee Health
Info largely from:
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• Established in 1950 to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect
refugees and resolve refugee problems world-wide.
• Primary purpose to safeguard the rights and wellbeing of refugees.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
In africa, child mortality at 90 per 1000 live births vs. 12 per 1000 live births in european regions. Have a washing machine, a colour tv and a telephone these items represent patterns of consumption considered as social norms for households in europe in the first decade of 21st century. But mortality is only part of the story : three domains, 1. Cognitive development and school performance e. g. academic achievement: 3. Emotional or behavioural health e. g. attachment, self-regulation, social skills. Physical health: nutrition for growth, bone strength, brain development, physical activity to develop motor skills and for muscle development. Social and emotional learning: durlak, weissberg, dymnicki, taylor & schellinger (2011) meta review of. A focus on wider society and systems to improve health and social determinants. The macro-level context (society and systems: 1. Society: policies/programs that achieve societal cohesion and mutual responsibility: 2. Systems: refocusing delivery systems to whole-of-government and whole- of-society approaches: 3.
