OPTIMIZING CHILD HEALTH
THROUGH COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
Santos Ocampo P D
UP-PGH Medical Center, Manila, Philippines
The
complexity of health, the multifactorial nature of illnesses and issues
affecting the child and the extremely varied interventions needed to
resolve childhood concerns make it imperative for the pediatrician to
address all determinants of health: social, economic, political, ecological
and technological.
The pediatrician can assume
several roles depending on the community’s needs, Health Care
Provider/Life-Long Learner/
Teacher/Educator/ Counselor,
Researcher/Decision Maker, Health Manager/Team Leader, and Social
Mobilizer.
Functions under each category
are defined, serving as suggestions or a “smorgasbord” of possible start
off programmes from which a pediatrician can take his choice.
Presented are an example of a
programme sponsored by a number of international organizations and other
community programmes.
A new term, “engaged
pediatrics” is being forwarded to meet the needs of the child, his family
and community. Pediatricians
must recognize that the community must not only be knowledgeable and
informed but must also be empowered to transform reality from that which is
characterized by powerlessness and poverty to that which enables
communities to think and act in order to effect a measurable improvement in
health within a generation.
Your community needs you. This is the time and place for the
committed and innovative pediatrician.