TEXAS MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2017-18

Chair Report

UNICEF

Chair:

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REPORT: Child Health within Poverty-Stricken Areas

Introduction

In various countries throughout the world, rates of mortality coupled with disease among children continue to remain at large with the imbalance of socioeconomic standards further preventing the poor from the attainment of financial security. The lack of sufficient funds has prevented the necessary sanitation of areas throughout the world which continue to remain at risk of disease contraction and malnutrition. Furthermore, understanding how to tackle the threat of poverty in order to suppress these child health conflicts by the United Nations is vital to their survival. If adults fall into poverty, the issue may remain problematic, but only for a temporary amount of time; however, when children fall prey to poverty, their lymphatic systems lack development leading to even worse situations like mortality. Without proper education and services, children lack the ability to even resurface from poverty leading to further destruction to their health. With the current state of these poverty-stricken areas, solutions must be implemented to counteract the negative conditions that seek to reduce child health.


Key Terms

Poverty is the state of one who lacks a usual or sufficient amount of money or material possessions.

Poverty Line is a level of financial security in terms of income below which one is classified as poor according to government standards.

Health is the general condition of being both physically and mentally able in both the body and mind.

Sanitation is the promotion of hygiene and the prevention of disease through the progressive maintenance of healthy conditions

General Overview

Besides causing detrimental effects to the systems of many children, poverty greatly reduces the social wellbeing of children specifically their ability to self regulate and utilize executive function leading to inattention, defiance, and impulsivity. As a result of poverty stemming from the childhood of a person, it becomes a lifelong hardship from a lack of education to an inability to effectively thrive in the workforce. All leading to psychological and emotional damage to the child who may foresee such things as these. Areas like that of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, all suffer from this; however, the concern is even seen in developed countries like that of the United States. According to 2014 Census data, an estimated 21.1% of children under the age of 18 in the United States lived in households designated as poor. This can effectively result in food insecurity, homelessness, loss of health care, and school disruptions. All allowing children that are forced to live in these areas to suffer significant effects to their health as they lack the resources to battle diseases like pneumonia and the necessities to battle conditions like malnutrition. In relation to the poverty-stricken areas, it seems that these can be found anywhere in the world; although they are more abundant in developing and third-world countries, it is important to understand that the goal of the United Nations remains to solve this issue at a global scale making areas in developed countries just as significant.

Major Parties Involved

The United States ranks 34th in terms of poverty with one in five American children impoverished. However, with policies like the Affordable Care Act, it is obvious that the United States has taken measures to fight health reductions in areas where this may be abundant. However, even areas like that of Western Europe suffer from conflicts with child health as seen with Northern Ireland, where 23% of children live in poverty, many of whom deal with poor mental health and obesity. Furthermore, upon recognizing the widespread amount of child poverty and health issues in first world countries such as these, it's astonishing how much worse the threat is in developing areas like that of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Central America where often half of the children live in extreme poverty affecting their social wellbeing. Through careful examination, many factors were found to be poured into this conflict, for example, many people in the Middle East are displaced humans -forced into poverty and often living in terrible conditions that cause deterioration in children’s health. Furthermore, the drug and gang related violence in Central America impose on many families in their far reaching areas causing unnecessary problems to occur with the children that ultimately sacrifices their social wellbeing such as child homicide. With the analyzation and understanding of these factors, it can be found that these areas will remain major players in this situation.

Previous Attempts at the Issue

UNICEF has utilized their extensive global presence and strong partnership with governments and organizations to bring about greater health to children on an individual to community level. Furthermore, it has recognized the weak health systems of many, and is working with developed areas to create solutions to reach the areas where these remain in abundance.

Methods/strategies to combat child health in poverty-stricken areas:

  • The “Every Newborn Action Plan” represents high target interventions around births as a strategy to reduce newborn deaths
  • UNICEF has aided in the dropping of malaria rates by 65% for children under the age of five
  • UNICEF’s Expanded Programme on Immunization has provided immunization coverage for six major vaccines: pertussis, childhood tuberculosis, tetanus, polio, measles and diphtheria
  • Measles deaths has decreased by 85% in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2000 where the program remained at large

Suggested Websites

1│UNICEF Chair Report