Sample Nursing Paper

Question

Research children’s health issues, focusing on environmental factors and links to poverty. The assessment of environmental processes includes agents and factors that predispose communities and populations to injury, illness, and death. What correlations did your research show between environmental and health issues in the school-aged child? Make sure to include references to the article(s) you consulted.

Answer

Children’s Health Issues

            Environmental factors constitute a high-risk factor for the health of school-going children. The risk factor is further heightened when children come from poor families. Children from poor backgrounds often live in an environment where they are exposed to factors that contribute to health issues. In most cases, there is little that their parents can do to mitigate health problems due to their precarious financial situation. Some of the environmental factors that can lead to health issues due to poverty include poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water, nutritional deficiencies, as well as natural and technological disasters. Therefore, there is a need to address environmental factors that lead to an increased risk of health issues among school-going children.

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            Poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water expose children to the risk of diseases that include cholera, typhoid, diarrhea, and trachoma. According to Center for Disease and Prevention (CDC), 2,200 children die every day as a result of exposure to poor sanitation and unsafe water that leads to diarrhea (CDC, 2016). Children in developing countries are often the ones that are most affected. In those countries, millions of children are vulnerable to diseases because of nutritional deficiencies. The most common diseases include kwashiorkor, marasmus, and rickets. Children from poor families are prone to these diseases due to inability of their parents to afford balanced-diet meals (Prüss-Üstün&Corvalán, 2006).

Some of the natural and technological hazards that can harm school going children include flooding, famine, or earthquakes (Healthy People 2020, 2017). Such disasters lead to insufficient food as well as deprivation of good shelter. Children are therefore at a risk of nutritional diseases, physical injuries, drowning, as well as unsafe water and poor sanitation diseases. Because of technological developments, children can be exposed to hazardous chemicals such as lead that can contribute to severe health issues.

            It is important that health workers come in to identify and offer support to children who require health advice as well as treatment. This will help limit exposure to the environmental risks that can lead to health issues. Besides, parents and caretakers, especially those from poor backgrounds, need to be given tips on the ways of protecting the children from the environmental factors that lead to diseases.

References

CDC. (2016). Global WASH Fast Facts.Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Healthy People 2020. (2017). Environmental Health.Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services.

Prüss-Üstün, A.&Corvalán, C. (2006). Preventing disease through healthy environments. Geneva:World Health Organization.