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Giselle Fernandes
Honors 232 D
4 June 2013

Academic Synthesis Essay: Child Health Inequality

The article Child Health Inequality: Framing a Social Work Response
discusses the concern about disparities in pediatric health and describes how these
disparities can be erased so as to better the health of our nation. Many factors,
including poverty, access to health insurance and healthcare, racial and class
situations, can all have major effects on the quality of childrens health. As a result
of these issues, many children suffer with health conditions that are not only
avoidable, but can also have devastating effects on their lives. To combat the child
health inequality, social workers must work to understand the full scope of the
problem they face and all its causes and implications. Using the three methods of
practice, policy, and research, they can lessen inequalities in child health and thus
improve public health for the entire population.
This article introduced me to many new insightful concepts. It was interesting
to learn how environmental and societal factors can really have a huge impact on
peoples health. In my public health class, we discussed the idea of an ecological
model of health and wellness which depicts the interrelationships between
individuals and their environments. By examining this model, we can better
understand how environmental factors such as public policy, community and social
institutions, interpersonal relationships, as well as individual factors can act as
social determinants of health by impacting health and wellness both directly and
indirectly. Though we tend to view a persons health as something that is individual,

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external issues can actually have an equal or oftentimes even greater influence on
health as individual characteristics. The data and statistics outlined in the article
show that there is often a very strong link between factors like poverty or lack of
health insurance to medical problems like asthma, infant mortality, obesity, and
toxic exposure. Because there are so many extreme disparities in the factors
discussed, there is a real injustice in the fact that so many innocent children suffer
from such preventable difficulties.
Many of the socioeconomic factors the article discussed as major influences
on child health were related to poverty and access to health care. Low-income
families have been especially impacted by the recent economic recession which has
made it even more difficult for all people to afford health insurance and make
healthy lifestyle choices. A documentary called Food Inc. shown in my human
anatomy and physiology class depicted how poorer families often choose to buy
unhealthy foods over healthy types because those foods are less expensive. As a
result many more children from low-income families suffer from childhood obesity
which only served to further the health outcome disparity between classes.
Another ramification of poverty the article talked about was stress. Due to
increased stress from financial worries, children and families that suffer from
poverty can also struggle with mental health problems and may have tense parentchild relationships. In my public health class, we found that statistics actually show
that stress resulting from racial discrimination is strongly correlated with mental and
often even physical health problems. Though we often tend to disregard how strong
a relationship there is between our bodies and our brains, this article really
underlines how mental stress can take a toll on our entire bodies. For children
especially, whose minds are still in their developmental stage, the effects of any

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sort of stress can really be amplified. As a result, children can often suffer even
more from social stress and emotional problems.
Many families living in poverty may also not be able to afford health care or
insurance or may live in an area that is far away from any medical institutions.
Those who may come from different cultures may also face the extra challenge of
language barriers. All these factors can contribute to a decreased understanding of
health education and literacy that can prevent patients from getting the care they
need and deserve as a basic human right.
Furthermore, this article was really eye-opening as to how the effects these
long-term effects of these problems and how they can have drastic impacts on adult
health as well. These medical issues can also influence a childs education and
occupation and create an ongoing cycle that can impact many generations
afterwards. The article highlighted the fact that children are the future of our world,
so it is vitally important that all children receive the medical attention and health
care they need to live up to their full potentials.
Too often I feel that our society does not acknowledge how much the world
around us affects our individual health. I believe that simply being educated about
this can give people a much better and broader view of health as a region where we
really need to be taking care of each other. One of the most important topics the
article gained from reading this article was information about how social work can
be used to accomplish this and make many other changes to reduce disparities in
health outcomes.
Because poverty is the leading cause for health inequities, one of the biggest
plans both social workers and the government is working with is poverty reduction.
An organization called Place Matters which aims to address poverty and other

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causes of health disparities is an example of this work. It also hopes to educate,
raise awareness, and actively engage communities and neighborhoods in this goal.
This is part of the practice approach used by social workers to use outreach and
intervention to reduce the impact of detrimental social determinants on individuals
health.
Another approach that can be used involves policy which includes lobbying,
calling for reform in health care and changes in funding. By advocating overall
policy change in areas where legislation does not address causes that affect health
outcomes disproportionately, social workers can help lessen the gap in health
outcomes.
Social workers also use research to better understand the scope of the issue
and assess how well programs designed to improve the situation are actually doing
so. One such research association is the National Childrens Study which collects
data about more than 100,000 children from birth to age 21 in order to analyze how
certain environmental aspects impact their lives in terms of health. Overall, the
article emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches joining forces to
fully confront this challenge and improve public health for all children in our nation.
I feel that a great deal of the material I learned from reading this article can
apply not only to my future academic pursuits, but also to the work Id like to do in
the future in my community. Id like to someday work as a pediatric physician and I
think this article has provided me with a lot of information that can really help me
serve people to the best of my ability in a potential future career. In my servicelearning project volunteering at a hospital, Ive definitely seen that the doctors that
are most effective are the ones who really work to listen and empathize with their
patients. I feel that the job of a physician is not just about helping people heal

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physically, but also emotionally, mentally, and socially. To truly accomplish this, I
think doctors must not only address their patients medical needs, but also
understand their backgrounds and causes and implications of health issues they
face. I feel that the information presented in this article does support the work I do
at the hospital where I volunteer, but also motivates me to really go about that work
whole-heartedly. I think this article shows that patients and their families need more
than medical attention; they need understanding and compassion.
Reading this article introduced me to many ways in which I can use what Ive
learned at school to better my community. As a biology major, Im working to not
just understand the scientific element of the subject, but also how these matters
really affect lives. This article does an excellent job of demonstrating how science
and medicine connect to the lives of those in our communities. Most importantly
though, I think the article also shows how people can bring positive change to those
who struggle with medical issues or suffer because of disparities in health
outcomes. By trying to understand the full scope of a patients circumstances and
also working to remedy certain socioeconomic inequities that plague so many, we
can ensure that our efforts to serve patients and their families really serves them in
the most beneficial way. Both this article and my course of study have shown me
that though there are limits to science and socioeconomic barriers in the medical
world, there is still so much we can do to help people live healthy, happy lives.

Works Consulted:
Hernandez, Virginia Rondero, Salvador Montana, and Kris Clarke. Child Health
Inequality: Framing a Social Work Response. Health and Social Work 35.4
(November 2010): 291-301. Print.

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