Violence In Young Children's Lives

I know a woman who experienced violence in her childhood, she has remember very little about her childhood until recently. She is beginning to get little snippets of memory of the age of 4 being molested by her stepfather. She has had to confirm these little memories with family members because she wasn’t sure if they were dreams. She is seeing a therapist and realizes she had lived in fear from the age of 4 until 6 or 7 when her Stepfather left, by bringing these memories back up she can heal.

I am interested in Peru since my son and his wife live there. Peru is afflicted with poverty, in 2008 45% of the total population lives in poverty, of that 60% are children ages 0-5. Now the poverty rate has dropped to 30%. Peru has the fastest growing economy; they have made great advances in keeping the infant mortality rate down by introducing more prenatal information and health services for people living in rural areas. Unfortunately there are still a high rate of chronic child malnutrition and a high incidence of family violence. Malnutrition takes its toll on children development; Peru is attempting to get as many children as possible in preschool where they will receive food and parents receive education as well as the children.

My son told me that when he visits the rural areas he feels as though he has gone back in time 100 years, there is more inequality now because some areas are doing well and other conditions have not changed.

Unicef (2008) Situation of Children in Peru, Executive Summery. Retrieved September 29, 2012 at

http://www.unicef.org/peru/spanish/Folleto_ing_correc_1.pdf

Andean Air Mail & Peruvian Times March 30 (2012). Peru’s Poverty Rate Drops to 30.8 Percent.

http://www.peruviantimes.com/30/perus-poverty-rate-drops-to-30-8-percent-inei/15436/

The Need for World Wide Immunizations

I am all for healthy living, I eat food grown in my garden, I buy organic or locally grown food, I get outside and hike, do yoga, and I am very lucky! This is why I get very frustrated with people in my situation that don't immunizing their children because it is not safe. In this country many people do immunize and we all protect those who are not. But in developing countries they are not as lucky. For example there is an amazing vacine for measles, humans are the only host for this virus, so it can be destroyed if everyone is immunized. Developing countries are riddled with very preventable deseases, but do not have the resources to immunize all their citizens. This country is now experiencing an epidemic of pertussis because groups of individuals chose not to immunize their children, putting not only their children at risk but the elderly and people with compromised immun systems. If anyone wants to donate to a world cause consider immunization for developing countries, give children a chance to survive, life is hard enough finding clean water, nutritious food and a safe home. I'll now step off my soap box!

I found some great information from Vacines for the Developing World at http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/07/vaccines-developing-world.html

And Immunize for Good (this is for Colorado, but the CDC has links to any state)

http://www.immunizeforgood.com/

Birth Experience

My birth experience of my three children were amazing. I had great prenatal care where my sister was my OB's nurse for the first two, I have a loving husband and supportive family and well nourished both with food and love. For the birth of my third son I had a nurse midwife, it was an intimate experience that only lasted 45 min. Recovery was so easy and even at a high elevation my children were all 9 lbs. 

Pictured above is my daughter ready to give birth any day now, also with a nurse midwife and she is hoping to do it naturally (In my day there were no options of drugs and inducing was not as common as it is now). She asked me to be a part of it and I am thrilled, each day I'm wondering if this is the day? Again her experience like mine has been one of beauty because of all the advantages of prenatal care, education on what affects the fetus and low stress with so much support. However my daughter had so much lab work done and ultrasounds, technology has advanced so much. She told me with her next child she will not have all the NIPD's done. No matter what the outcome is she would not terminate the pregnancy. She is in her 20's and very healthy, she will definitely have a home birth for her next pregnancy, on the contrary home births are not covered by insurance and there are not many midwives within a reasonable distance to assist in the birth. 

I chose Peru to investigate prenatal experiences because my son and his wife live there (she is Peruvian). I found out that Peru has an astonishingly high maternal mortality rate, in every 100,000 births 185 mother's die. Peru's health minister is trying to entice women to have their babies in clinic's or hospitals, saying that they now allow vertical births which is healthier for the mother and child. Although this is true, many of the rural women having children at home do not summons a midwife unless something is wrong. These women are malnourished and have no prenatal care, it would be more affective to educate women families and providing midwives with education on prenatal care and  how to treat shock, equipping them with life saving anti hemorrhaging medication. The alternative is for a woman to hike 5 miles during labor to a clinic, and with other children at home that is not a possibility. This has really opened my eyes to the advantages I've had in my experience, thinking this is a typical occurrence, how lucky I have been!