Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Natural Disaster

Hurricane Katrina- August 23, 2005

I can recall the time when Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans Louisiana, Killing over a thousand people and destroying buildings and homes. The people of New Orleans had to evacuate and find shelter. During this time, I was a freshman in college and had a good friend  by the name of Chelsey, who happened to be from New Orleans and had family who had to evacuate, which included her mother, three siblings and would have been her father as well, but unfortunately drown from the flood waters of the Hurricane. Chelsey's three siblings were age 5, 7 and 10 and seemed to be pretty distraught over the tragic event. I noticed how much of a toll the effects of Hurricane Katrina took on Chelsey's siblings, especially the five-year old girl, whose name was Cora. Cora was too young to understand how to cope with natural disasters and always asked questions as to why such a horrible thing had to happen to them when they didn't deserve it. It was hard for Cora to adjust to the changes of moving to another state, currently living in a hotel and starting over from nothing. Not to mention the loss of her father, Cora stayed devastated for many days. As being a friend of Chelsey, I visited as often as I could, helping her family to get donated shoes and clothes for her mother and siblings and helping them myself as much as I could. days and months went by and things gradually began to get better. Cora was still not her usual self, but she slowly began to adjust and cope better. I took Cora under my wing and had talks with her and took her and her other siblings for outings to make them feel a little better about their situation. Once the government began to issue FEMA checks to those involved in Hurricane Katrina and lost all of their valuable belongings, Chelsey's mother receive a check which allowed her to be able to put a down payment on a house, find a job and work to provide for Chelsey's siblings. Since Chelsey was old enough to assist as well, she help her mother in providing for the family. after a long process, Cora finally began to see the light in the dark tunnel she had been in. Cora is about 15 years old now and doing much better than ever.  I still talk to Cora and visit her every chance that I get.

PAKISTAN

I would like to learn more about the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in South Asia, which is supposed to be the 36^th largest country in the world. I would like to learn more about the Ancient cultures in Pakistan and the challenges this country faces, such as terrorism, corruption, overpopulation, illiteracy, corruption and air pollution, which all can cause some kinds of issues in the developing child. Air Pollution is known to have bodily effect on children, especially ones that are still in the developmental stages of their lives.

AIR POLLUTION IN PAKISTAN

Majority of children in Pakistan suffer from indoor air pollution from Biomass: a fuel used for cooking and heating. Biomass comes from wood, crop and animal dung and burned from three-stone stoves, causing a great deal of concentration and smoke. According to the (W.H.O) World Health organization,

“More than 21% of infants born in Pakistan have a birth weight less than 2500g, defined as low birth weight (LBW). In the postnatal period, LBW is associated with increased risk of mortality, morbidity, micronutrient deficiencies, and impaired psychomotor development” (W.H.O. P10) 

The World Health Organization created a workshop to devise a plan on reduce the issues of child mortality die to the air pollution.

“A proposal development workshop was organised by the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health after the seminar in which interested groups/agencies were invited to develop proposals of health interventions to reduce indoor air pollution.” (W.H.O p18)

REFERENCE

 W.H.O. (2006). Indoor Air Pollution and Child Health in Pakistan. Report of a seminar, Karachi, Pakistan,     29 September 2005 , , 32.