The purpose of this study was to determine if a statistically significant relationship existed among Salvadoran children’s access to piped water and knowledge of personal hygiene. This study utilized data collected from a mission trip to El Salvador in January 2014; therefore the study is cross sectional. Data was collected via VCOM surveys, some of which were adapted from Save the Children.
Study population
The population of interest was children aged 8-13 who attended school and were residents of the towns Santiago Texacuangos or Sonsonate, El Salvador. The age bracket of 8-13 was used to mimic guidelines from a Save the Children survey which was used to collect basic data on environment and household demographics. Researchers hoped to collect longitudinal data by using Save the Children methodology. The requirement for school attendance was based on the need for children to be literate and accustomed to the school setting where education modules were delivered. The two towns of Santiago Texacuangos and Sonsonate were selected based on VCOM’s medical mission presence and rapport with government officials. Data was collected from this population from January 6 through January 10, 2014.
Geographical map
Data was collected from the residents of Santiago Texacuangos and Sonsonate. Santiago Texacuangos is located 11.5 miles southeast from San Salvador, close to the western boarder of Lake Ilopango. Sonsonate is located 55.9 miles west of San Salvador and exactly 17 miles northeast of Acajutia. Figure 1, from NationsOnline, displays a map of El Salvador with San Salvador, Lake Ilopango, Sonsonate, and Acajutia clearly demarcated.
Geographical graph
Santiago Texacuangos has a population of 19,428 (GeoHive, 2007). The sur...
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United Nations. (2014). [Population of El Salvador]. Retrieved from http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3A240#POP
University of Buffalo. (2001). An Introduction to the Culture of El Salvador for Providers of Disability Services in the U.S. Retrieved from http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/culture/monographs/elsalvador/#s9
Water, U. N. (2007). Coping with water scarcity: challenge of the twenty-first century. 2007 World Water Day.
Walker, S. P., Wachs, T. D., Meeks Gardner, J., Lozoff, B., Wasserman, G. A., Pollitt, E., & Carter, J. A. (2007). Child development: risk factors for adverse outcomes in developing countries. The lancet, 369(9556), 145-157.
Question: In considering the monetary estimates of childhood lead poisoning prevention, list and note the relative importance of the categories of costs and benefits that need to be considered is projecting a cost/benefit ratio. Use a standard housing remediation approach for those expenses. Where does the balance lay? What are the options and barriers to moving it forward?General Effects of Childhood Lead Poisoning When lead in inhaled it, the lead could be deposited in the bones where some essential body function occurs e.g. blood formations, calcium absorption. Lead is also transported in blood stream and deposited in muscle and nerves and blood vessels. The deposition of lead in these organs systems eventually results in the malfunctioning of these organs. These malfunctions could include decrease in bone and muscle growth/co-ordination, damage to the nervous system and other organs of the body. (KidsHealth, 1995-2010) The above mentioned effects could also impair breakdown and use of nutrients by the body, decreased hearing ability. In addition, it affects child growth, in the sense that it has been shown that children with higher blood lead levels may on average be shorter than their genetic potential by 1cm.Effect of Lead on cognition and Behavior of Children: Lead poisoning have been identified as one of the factors responsible for cognitive deficits and mental illness among children. There has been shown a correlation between Blood Lead Level and cognitive functioning in children and infant (Bruce P. Lanphear, 2005). Bruce P et al in a study of Low-level environmental lead exposure and children's intellectual function, showed an inverse relationship between blood lead concentrations and IQ score...
Once used for varying applications, lead is now known for its toxicity in the human body. Dr. Gary Goldstein, the chief executive of Kennedy Krieger Institute wrote, “Exposure to excessive amounts of inorganic lead during toddler years may produce lasting adverse effects upon brain function (Goldstein 1990).” Lead poisoning awareness has become increasingly prevalent in the American government, with lead poisoning testing recommended as early as nine to twelve months of age (Health and Human Services 2011). This paper will explain briefly lead’s history and industrial uses, as well as give an in-depth analysis on lead’s exposure to children and how it affects their developing brains.
The Republic of Guatemala has an inconsistent supply of clean water. Although 94% of people have access to water, the other 6% are totally deprived of this resource (xxii). In addition, 51% of its people live in poverty (xxii). The National Water Commission holds the authority over the nation’s water and its regulation, as well as sets the National Water Law (xxiii). Since the nation is unequally populated, the supply of water may be insufficient in some areas. Citizens that live in the “dry corridors”, where common droughts cause infertile and dry soil, suffer from malnutrition (xxiv). The Coffee Crisis has also been a big problem to the families; the coffee crop yield dramatically dropped in 2012 and has been declining ever since (xxv). These families have switched from planting coffee beans to bananas which sells for a much lower price (xxv). Because of this, they are unable to afford their children’s education, food or water. Fortunately, the government of Guatemala and the World Food Program offers families food in exchange for their share of work on community projects (xxv). Some areas are also vulnerable to disasters such as hurricanes and floods that can ruin their yearly income in a matter of minutes (xxiv). Due to the nation’s economic crisis, the government has no choice but to reduce foreign investments and take away their citizens’ access to credit as well as lessen the budget for seeds and fertilizers (xxiv). The Government of Guatemala launched the “Mi Comidita”, a food supplement program, in 2014 to focus on eradicating child malnutrition (xxvi). The Government of Canada had donated $2 million to the cause (xxvi). The ‘Guatemalan Maize Alliance Against Hunger” Programme was also launched to reduce malnutrition by ...
“Water is the driving force of all nature.” Leonardo da Vince once said. Water is a huge part of life, and everything that lives requires water to make it through its days on earth. A lot of people think that the world has massive amounts of water available for use; therefore, most roll their eyes when conserving water is mentioned. After all, 71% of the earth’s surface is made up of water. However, the truth is that only 2.5% of that is clean, drinkable water, and two-thirds of that percentage is unavailable because it is stuck in ice caps and glaciers (water). The water ordeal in America is bigger than many realize, and the United States needs to begin looking at how we can solve this issue. The U.S. needs to acknowledge the impending dangers and help the states that are already suffering by putting water conservation methods in place and investing money into research for alternatives.
Childhood development is both a biological and psychological period that occurs to every human from birth to adolescence. The transition from dependency to autonomy characterizes this period. The crucial factors that affect this period include parental life, prenatal development and genetics among others. Childhood period is immensely significant for the child’s future health and development. Efforts in ensuring proper child development are normally seen through parents, health professional and educators who work collectively. Such efforts are essential in making sure that children grow to reach their full potential. However, it is not extremely easy to raise a child in modern times because certain factors emerge to ruin this pivotal stage in life. Poverty is a serious problem that can immensely affect childhood development (Horgan, 2007). Children are susceptible developmentally to problems in their earliest period of their life. Poverty is not a selective issue and it can affect all ages in any place, but its
Seeing the look on that young man’s face had been just enough to want to explore more into this topic of sanitation. What makes sanitation so complex is that in order to have a proper sewage system, it would take billions of dollars to achieve full water borne in all countries. Also being able to keep up with the growth of urban areas would have to be a full blown investment. According to Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor, sanitation progress has only increased 5% since 1990. Not to mention that 1 in 4 city residents worldwide live without improved sanitation which is about 2.5 billion people (WSUP, 2016). This means that more people in the world lack sanitation that the people who actually do have proper sanitation. Just sitting here pondering that is absolutely mind-blowing to me, that in 2016 many parts of the world are still struggling to achieve sanitation and clean
There are many factors that influence the development and social inequalities in a child’s life. These include biological, family and social factors, parenting factors, attachment, and the way non-maternal care is influenced. All of these are risk factors that are likely to have a bearing on the child’s social inequalities on their health.
Poverty can have damaging effects on children. Poverty rates amongst children are higher than another other age group according to Dalaker, 2001. Though there have been many improvements made, there are still approximately 1.2 million children still living in poverty. In terms of race and ethnicity, the poverty rate for children under 18 years of age are as followed; 30% African American, 29% Latino and 13% White. This extenuates the statistics ...
Water has become a very controversial issue in the United States and around the world. As populations increase and resources decrease, the way we use our resources and keep populations safe become more and more important. Throughout the world there are nearly 1.1 billion people who do not have access the clean drinking water. 5 Most of these 1.1 billion people are located in poor areas and do not have the financial means to build the infrastructures needed to provide water to the citizens of their country. 5 Drinking water is an essential part of our everyday life. People must have water to survive, but it must be clean and safe to consume.
Introduction on Water It covers 70% of our planet, makes up 75% of our body, it is necessary for survival and it is declining at a rapid rate (http://www.sscwd.org). It is water. Unfortunately, clean water is rare, almost 1 billion people in developing countries do not have access to water everyday. “Yet, we take it for granted, we waste it, and we even pay too much to drink it from little plastic bottles” (The Water Project). Use of earth’s natural resources should be seen as prosperity, although it is taken for granted, every aspect of daily life revolves around the environment, forcing water conservation to be necessary for future on this planet.
"Water Crisis." World Water Council. 7th World Water Council, 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/library/archives/water-crisis/
One main causes of water scarcity is water mismanagement worldwide. Water mismanagement has become a crisis of governance that will impact heavily ...
Having clean water to drink means that water must have microbial, chemical and physical characteristics that meet WHO guidelines or national standards on drinking water quality. Around 780 million people in the world don’t have access to clean drinking water (Millions Lack Safe Water). More than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes. Nearly all deaths, 99 percent, occur in developing countries. Around the world, diseases in unclean water kill about 1,400 children every day (Clean Drinking Water). There are many organizations that raise money in order to help develop ways or create ways for people to obtain clean drinking water. However, many people are unaware that this is even a problem in other countries because we take clean water for granted.
Freshwater is quite scarce, but it is even scarcer than one might think: about seventy percent of all freshwater is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland and is unavailable to humans. Most of the remainder is present as soil moisture or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater. It is not economically feasible to extract this waster for use as drinking water. This leaves less than one percent of the world’s fresh water that is available to humans. It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, groundwater that is shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. These freshwater sources are the only sources that are frequently replenished by rain and snowfall, and therefore are renewable. At the current rates of consumption, however, this supply of fresh water will not last. Pollution and contamination of freshwater sources exacerbate the problem, further reducing the amount of freshwater available for human consumption. Something must be done if humans want to even survive in the near future: the lack of clean drinking water is already the number one cause of disease in the world today. The first step is worldwide awareness of the water crisis: governments and the citizens they govern worldwide need to know about this problem and be actively involved in solving this problem.
Water is the most priceless resource on our planet. Billions of gallons flow through our rivers and lakes. Millions of gallons are consumed by humans each day. Our world’s surface is seventy percent water. With so much water around us, how can 1.1 billion people still lack access to clean water (Cooper, Water Shortages)? People are already using fifty four percent of all the freshwater available on this planet (Cooper, Water Shortages). We cannot afford to neglect something so essential to our very survival. We must defend our most important natural resource—water.