Early Emotional
Development
I
choose to further examine the West and Central Africa region on the UNICEF
overview website. This is one of the
regions I have heard a lot about and want to learn more about. Some of the countries included in this region
would be Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Togo (UNICEF,n.d.)
Some
of the challenges the children face in this region would be poverty, in which
half of the population lives below the poverty line. As we notice on television, where children
are shown from Africa are hungry and sick.
More that 40% of girls and 30% of boys are not in school, which mean
more children without schooling opportunities.
HIV/AIDS is another challenge in West and Central Africa where nearly
1/3 of the 25 million people in Sub Saharan Africa living with HIV. According to UNICEF, in 2005, 170,000 child
deaths were due to AIDS; 1.3 million children are in need of pediatric care and
600,000 women are pregnant with HIV+ and yet only 1.3% receives antiretroviral
drugs to prevent the spread (UNICEF, n.d.) 
Many
children that live in West and Central Africa is watching their hopes and dream
crumble, because many of their family members and teachers has this devastated disease,
AIDS. There are many organizations
working together to help the government in this country to put children on the
policy agenda. As an educator we all
know that children are at risk and experience problems when having to take on
the role of taking care of their parent or sibling with HIV.
It’s very heart
breaking to look and read about the innocent children and their parents caught
up in the hardship in Africa. It’s so
very shocking when I hear about violence and sickness going on in Africa,
despite alI the up to date technology
and knowledge we have. I am so thankful
to have clean water, food, shelter, and medical care. As an early childhood educator, I feel very
happy to teach my children about what’s going on in other countries, how we are
so bless with many things.
UNICEF-Children of
West and Central Africa. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org
It is super interesting to me that almost all countries around the world are in poverty. I found it very interesting after reading your blog that a lot of that part of the world is suffering from HIV/AIDS. That is a very saddening disease.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. You provided a lot of information of the the many issues the children in your region face. It is sad to know that so many children are suffering from HIV/AIDS in those areas. They don't have access to the medicines like we do so they aren't able to get treatment or medicine to help them. Once they contract this disease its nothing they can do. Sad!
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