Write a 3-5 page paper in APA format on the importance of health in children as related to
the community.
Include
Who is responsible for that group’s health.
How you address the poor and uninsured (of the population you have chosen).
How the nursing process and levels of care help promote wellness in the community.
Include a minimum of two scholarly references besides your text.
Importance of health in children as related to the community
Children are important as they form part of a community. Therefore, ensuring the health
of children is something that needs prioritization. A good start in the health and wellbeing of
children is paramount as it impacts positively to the entire community (Valentine, 2002). A
healthy community is able to achieve its various objectives. This paper delineates on the
importance of health in children by factoring in aspects concerning whose responsibility is to
ensure healthy children and issues to do with poverty and nursing processes in ensuring the
promotion of wellness in the community.
As stated earlier, a community comes from children and therefore, they are required to
have proper health. Childhood is complex as many factors combine to influence their
development and health. The health and wellbeing of children depends on what happens to
them as individuals who are part of the family, and as the larger members of the community and
society as whole (Valentine, 2002). Taking preventive measures or initiatives early in life is
effective in improving health outcomes among children. Preventive initiatives to enhance the
health of children include immunization, nutrition and physical activities.
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The benefit of health in children trickles down to the community. Healthy children
reduce the number of deaths. This therefore helps in continuity of the society. The community is
also able to prosper in terms of economic paradigm. The cost of seeking medical services will
certainly reduce and this will allow increased levels of investment. Children are dependent and
cannot live on their own. Parents, guardians and other stakeholders as children’s homes,
community members and government have the responsibility of ensuring that children are well
taken care of (Binder & Rudolph, 2009). Parents are the closest people to children and are
required to ensure that they are well taken care of in terms of health care, nutrition and diet. The
government for instance is also responsible for the well-being of children in terms of healthcare
system. It has the responsibility of facilitating accessibility of healthcare through the setting up
of health facilities, ensuring adequate medical supply, the recruiting of qualified medical
practitioners and ensuring that all children are taken for major immunizations such as polio and
measles. Consequently, the responsibility for the health of children is in the hands of the parents
and the community at large.
Accessibility to healthcare is however limited to few children, especially those that are
fortunate enough to be born in families that parent are economically stable. Many children from
poor backgrounds are often unable to access to medical services and many succumb to death.
Likewise, many are uninsured and this makes it difficult for them to access to quality health care.
This problem is prominent in many developing countries where the rates of poverty are still high.
However, these problems can be solved if appropriate measures are put in place (Valentine,
2002). One of the strategies is to make healthcare accessible to children by reducing the amount
of money required. The government should be at the forefront in supporting such children.
Another alternative is to make health facilities accessible among children free. This will ensure
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that all children are able to access to health care. It is also prudent for the government to create
awareness through campaigns to educate parents from poor backgrounds on the importance of
seeking medical services for their children. At the same time, insurance premiums should be
reduced to ensure that parents who are not economically stable are able to afford their children
cover.
Nursing processes and levels of care are instrumental in promoting wellness among the
children. Nurses should be well trained to ensure that they have enough skills and competences
to provide better health services to children. The healthcare can also be provided at various
levels to enhance wellness (Binder & Rudolph, 2009). The medical services can be provided at
home whereby medical practitioners can make visits to various homes or communities to
administer medical services. Major vaccinations such as polio can be provided at home to ensure
that all children are immunized. Health facilities can also be built in the community to provide
short and long-term health needs for the children (Levels of care. (2013). Referral hospitals
should also be built to ensure that any complicated cases are addressed from there to ensure that
all children access to quality medical care. These facilities should be well equipped with
sufficient equipments and should have experienced physicians. Furthermore, they should operate
24 hours a day to ensure that all patients are attended to during at any time. These will help to
improve the quality of health and wellbeing of children and community at whole.
Health in children is therefore essential and much attention need to focus on its provision.
Community as a whole has the responsibility of promoting better heath by ensuring that
children are immunized, eat balanced diet and engage in physical activities. Furthermore,
government and medical practitioners have as well the responsibility of promoting wellness and
quality healthcare amongst children.
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References
Binder, L., & Rudolph, B. (2009). Commentary: A Systematic Review of Health Care Efficiency
Measures, Health Services Research, 44(3): 806-811.
Levels of care. (2013).