Child Health Research
Did you know that around 2 million children under 5 years of age are dying of pneumonia in developing countries every year?
Did you know that around 2.2 million children under 5 years of age are dying from diarrheal diseases every year?
Did you know that 9.2 million children are dying due to other treatable and preventable diseases?
These numbers are really staggering. Children just under the age of five are already dying? The average life expectancy of a human being is around 70 to 80 years old. In other words, 75 years of their lives are wasted due to treatable and preventable disease.
The international community is now alarmed on the increasing numbers of death among children, especially those who are under five years of age. Around two-thirds of the 10 million child deaths every year could be prevented with the use of the existing information and treatments for the major causes of child deaths which are malaria, pneumonia, diarrheal disease, and neonatal causes.
There is a need for an urgent call for active response through enhanced global leadership as well as increased resources to ensure that every government as well as various health agencies around the world prioritizes child survival.
And one of the active participants in combating child mortality problems is the Child Health Research Project (CHR). Of what it is and why it is formed, together with other concerns about this project will be discussed in the following sections.
About Child Health Research
It is a USAID (United States Agency for International Development)-funded project to achieve the agency’s strategic goals of reducing, if not eliminating, childhood morbidity and mortality. It conducts applied research on the following:
* Respiratory and diarrheal diseases;
* Malnutrition and neonatal health problems; and
* Infectious diseases.
It identifies and assesses existing as well as new technologies to further improve existing medical treatments and prevents the possible existence of various diseases which includes different methods of child health programs management. In addition, it also seeks the strengthening of problem solving capacity of health institutions on developing countries and the endorsement of medical research findings that will serve as a guide in certain improvements with regards to national health policies.
CHR’s Partners
In order to effectively accomplish the project’s mission and vision, there are five major collaborating partners assigned on the implementation of the project with each of them bearing their respective complementary roles. They are the following:
1. The Word Health Organization’s Department of Child and Adolescent Health (WHO/CAH) and Department of Vaccines and Biologics (V&B) which are responsible for any interventions with regards to the concerns of children of ages 0-19 years old on their health, growth, and development. Their main goals are the following:
a. To lessen cases of diseases and deaths among adolescents and children; and
b. To enhance their health and development.
2. The Applied Research on Child Health (ARCH) project of the Boston University is committed on extensive scientific research that will help in the improvement of existing health programs and policies around the world.
3. The Center for Health and Population Research (ICDDR,B) was established in 1978 to help in alleviating problems with regards to diarrheal diseases.
4. The International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN) was formed by different health professionals worldwide to ensure the improvement of efficiency and quality of health care by means of trainings.
5. The Johns Hopkins’ Family Health and Child Survival which is tasked on the identification of latest technologies and schemes for the improvement of family health and child survival.
With the Child Health Research project supported by the international community, rest assured that children mortality and morbidity problems will now be addressed.
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