While
working on this blog assignment I unfortunately did not have any success
reaching out to contacts from other countries. None of the contacts that I made
returned my emails or phone calls and I was unable to get the podcasts to work
so I had no choice but to research the UNICEF Website. On the website I found a
document that has shown me some startling statistics and makes me realize that
even though poverty is present in the United States it is so much more prevalent
in other countries. For example, more than 658 million people is South Asia
alone have no place to use the restroom or wash their hands and are forced to
openly defecate which means that they find a bush or a river to defecate in causing
a lack of sanitary conditions that lead to sickness and disease. Even the
homeless people in the United States can find someplace to use the restroom and
wash themselves. Another startling fact for me to see is that 63 million
children under the age of 5 have had their growth stunted due to malnutrition
in South Asia. After some careful research I could not find any statistics of
the same problem in the United States. While I am certain that this a problem
seen in the United States it is not nearly as serious as it is in other
countries. Another statistic that was shocking to me was the fact that more
than half of all deaths to children under the age of 5 years old take place in
just 5 countries with the majority of those 5 countries being in South Asia
(UNICEF, 2014). I realize that poverty is an important issue that affects child
development and that the United States should be doing everything they can to
help the children of this country to overcome this challenge so they can have
proper development but as an advocate for all children I challenge you to notice
the children of other countries, less industrialized countries and find out
what you can do for them as well. These children deserve the same chance at a
healthy development as do the children of the United States and it is a sad
state that the world is in when only a few notice the problems of so many.
Resources
UNICEF. (2014). UNICEF Strategic Plan 2014-2017. Retrieved
on January 22, 2015 from, http://www.unicef.org/strategicplan/files/UNICEF_Strategic_Plan__2014-2017_e-version.pdf
Jennifer, I also had no luck with international contacts. I'm not sure any of us did! I researched the UNICEF website as well. Wasn't it eye opening?? I had an idea of how pervasive poverty is in the world but it is a larger problem than I was aware of. I agree that we need to be doing all we can right here in the United States to help our own children overcome this challenge (as you stated). I found from my research for the Application assignment this week that poverty is even more prevalant right here in my own town and county. All children have the right to healthy development. The question is, what are we going to do about it?
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteI understand Jennifer. I too am having the same problem with my international contacts of not returning emails. The UNICEF website was awesome. I stayed on it one day reading and forgot to write my blog. Poverty affects the growth and development of a child. We have to be positive to every child we work with no matter what their home life is like.
Machelle
Hi Jennifer I too haven't heard a response back from my contacts so I also explored the UNICEF Madagascar site and other countries, but you're totally correct with the poverty rates being extremely high. When exploring Madagascar UNICEF it was very alarming that only 11% of children are attending school, and children with disabilities aren't allowed to attend school with other children, it is thought that children with disabilities is considered as a distraction to other children. Jennifer I also think that the United States should be doing more to correct other countries children affected by poverty. Thanks Jennifer for the helpful information.
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteI also had no idea that the poverty in South Asia was so bad. I know that the United States has a poverty problem but like you stated I have not heard of anyone in America having no place to use the restroom. I sometimes think that maybe all the money that Americans have sent to other countries would have made them have so much less poverty. I know that there are programs that send money to other countries to "adopt" children so that they can get an education, have food, and clothing but I am not sure why there is still so much need. It seems like America is now becoming the country that needs to have programs for helping families to have enough food.