Archives for March 2010

From Argentina to Zambia, Regina Guthold of the World Health Organization in Geneva and her colleagues found most children aren't getting enough exercise and it made no difference if they lived in a rich or a poor country.

"With regards to physical activity levels, we did not find much of a difference between poor and rich countries," Guthold told Reuters Health. "Growing up in a poor country does not necessarily mean that kids get more physical activity."

The study, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, looking at 72,845 schoolchildren aged 13 to 15 from North and South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The children were surveyed between 2003 and 2007. The researchers defined adequate physical activity.

As at least an hour of exercise outside of gym class at least five days a week.Children who spent three or more hours a day watching TV, playing computer games, or chatting with friends -- aside from time in school or time spent doing homework -- were classified as sedentary.

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You may not think the flu is a big deal, but each year, about 20,000 children under 5 are hospitalized and 100 die from it. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that all kids between 6 months and 18 years of age (except those with an egg allergy) get the flu shot.

Even though it may not prevent all strains of the virus, the vaccine can still lessen the severity and prevent complications such as pneumonia. Ask for a mercury-free shot since some are still made with a mercury-based preservative, says Bob Sears, MD, author of The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child. Another option: the nasal spray vaccine, which is approved for healthy kids 2 and older who don’t have asthma.

The playground is one of the fun places where kids can enjoy playing and also have fresh air compared to playing indoors. Not only it is fun but can largely contribute to good health. This is the reason why most parents would rather want their kids play at the playground rather than at home where there are potential damages to the appliances where kids may be left unattended. However, it is undeniable that though this may be true, the playground also posed hazards to the kids where accidents and injuries are likely to happen by use of playground equipment and also, the manner how the kids play carelessly. Nonetheless, there are playground safety tips for toddlers and school age kids that can guide parents and guardians how to ensure the safety of the kids while they enjoy their leisure.

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Its shocking to see how many loving and caring parents do not realize that by not taking prompt action to help their kids to get within their desirable weight they are only paving the way for early onset diseases that will result in a less healthy adulthood and reduced longevity for their off springs because of Childhood Obesity.

I remember back then when I was a kid forty six years ago to this date to be more precise, there where fewer kids that where overweight. My classroom was composed of 48 kids and only a couple where obese and still all of us where very active including them, today you only have to look around to realize how evident are the pandemic proportions that this health problem is acquiring in the United States.

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The dangers of marriage between first cousins are to be highlighted by a leading professor, with a warning that their children are at risk of genetic defects. Baroness Deech, a family law professor and crossbencher, will call next week for a “vigorous” public campaign to deter the practice, which is prevalent in Muslim and immigrant communities and on the rise. She will reignite a debate started five years ago when Ann Cryer, MP for Keighley, drew attention to the number of disabled babies being born in the town and called for cousin marriage to be stopped.

Fifty-five per cent of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins and in Bradford the figure is 75 per cent. British Pakistanis represent 3 per cent of all births in Britain but one third of children with recessive disorders.

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Chairing a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing today (Wednesday, March 17), U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar highlighted the heightened environmental risks facing children and called for the development of a coordinated strategy to improve children’s health.

The hearing focused on a recent report Klobuchar requested from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessing how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has acted to protect children’s health in priority initiatives, programs, and interagency efforts.

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The effects of advertising on children should be treated by the Government as a public health issue, an expert is to say. Dr Aric Sigman will encourage the Government to give overall responsibility for policy relating to the commercial world and child wellbeing to the Department of Health, saying: "Commercial media affects the health of children and is therefore a public health issue."

Dr Sigman will tell the Children in the Commercial World conference at Westminster: "It seems that advertisers are labouring under the misapprehension that they have an assumed right to communicate with British children. Government and society must inform them otherwise.

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Wyoming has been awarded a federal grant to help improve treatment of children with serious behavioral health disorders. The children involved are enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. The CHIP program is known in Wyoming as Kid Care CHIP. The state's Medicaid program is known as EqualityCare.

Wyoming partnered with Maryland, Georgia and the Centers for Health Care Strategies to submit a grant application, which was awarded nearly $11 million. Wyoming's share will be $450,000 per year for five years. One key area Wyoming plans to make use of the grant is helping monitor and administer mental health services provided to eligible children.

The West Virginia KIDS COUNT Fund has been publishing data books broken down by county for 20 years to raise public awareness of the importance of early childhood development. Recently, the 2009 W.Va. data book was released, and Jefferson County was ranked the fourth best county in the state. Morgan County was ranked 50th and Berkeley County was 30th in the state, based on the best available data to measure the well-being of children in West Virginia.

According to the data book, there are 11 factors that determine a county's rank: "percent low birth-weight babies, infant mortality rate, child death rate, percent eligible children served by Head Start, percent children approved for free and reduced-price meals, teen birth rate, percent births to unmarried teens, percent high school dropouts, juvenile delinquency case rate, teen violent death rate and percent births to mothers with less than a 12th grade education.

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 Parma, Italy - Europe's 53 member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday pledged to implement national programmes aimed at providing equal health opportunities to children in their countries by 2020. In a final declaration after a three-day conference in Parma, Italy, they agreed to ensure access to safe water and sanitation, give children opportunities for physical activity and a healthy diet, improved air quality and an environment free of toxic chemicals.

Governments vowed to tackle the adverse health impact of climate change and to reduce social and gender inequalities in exposure to health risks.

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