Malnutrition

Malnutrition is important to me because I see children at the Head Start where I work who, if they do not eat at school, go hungry at home. Poverty is one of the worst precursors to malnutrition. When a child is malnourished they do not grow and develop as they should because they are lacking in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients which impacts their growth and development. 

It is sad that this occurs in the United States. We are supposedly the richest country in the world yet people still die in our country from not having enough food to eat. I find that very atrocious. At my school we give our leftover food to some of our families because we know via home visits and calls from the social worker who is going hungry. 

Malnutrition is very prevalent in Central America where "one out of every three children under fiver years is affected". (The World Bank, 2006). The countries most affected are El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. 

When you have such disparaging poverty, it affects the whole country. Malnourished children do not perform well in school and when they grow up the poverty cycle continues. This affects the country's "economic growth" (The World Bank, 2006). 

This information will impact my future work because I never knew that malnutrition and such severe poverty existed in Central America. It is as bad as the malnutrition you see in Africa and yet you do not hear much about it. This affects my work because I have students from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. I now know why they come to the United States - they want more opportunity and a better life for their children. I have always had the utmost respect for my students and their families and the obstacles they had to overcome to come to this country but now I am also very proud of them for it as well. 

References 

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/0,,contentMDK:21161481~menuPK:258559~pagePK:2865106~piPK:2865128~theSitePK:258554,00.html

Personal Birthing Experience and Birth Around the World

What I remember about my first born's (my son) labor:  I was 17 years old (not married yet) and in a ton of pain! I remember that part like it was yesterday! After 22.5 hours of labor  they told me I had to have a C-section because I am very small and my son was huge. He also was in some distress after 3 hours of pushing. They gave me an epidural and wheeled me away. The next thing I knew: We had a son! My daughter's birth was quite different; she was a repeat C- section and we scheduled when she would be born and it just so happened to be on my mom's birthday. I remember more about her birth perhaps because I was not in such horrible pain. When they took her out the anesthesiologist had her dad bring her to me so I could touch her since I could not hold her. He was very much for immediate bonding which was really great. I remember crying the instant I touched her hand :) 

For birthing practices around the world I choose Mexico. In Mexico, midwives attend only 50% of births. These are women and they are of the same culture and same community as the women they attend. Only women attend a birth in Mexico. If a woman gives birth in a hospital, the cleanliness of it and the qualifications of the staff could be called into question. You also have to bring your own essentials such as food, medicine, and soap. 

References 

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/international/mexico.asp

http://www.oaxacaadvisor.com/uncategorized/giving-birth-mexico/