This week I have been exploring the issue of childhood poverty around the world. While my primary focus is on childhood poverty in the United States and specifically in my community, but in order to be an advocate for the field of early childhood it is important be aware of the needs of children around the world. During my reading about poverty and child nutrition I came across a paper written by Catherine Porter of Oxford University on child nutrition in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in Africa and 44% of the population is suffers from under-nutrition. The children in the study they conducted lived in families that had less than a dollar a day to spend, but they did find that children who had even a small amount more money had a a greater chance of catching up and refusing some of the effects of malnutrition even if they were underweight. The earlier that they are lifted out of poverty the better the chance they have of catching up developmentally and physically. Throughout the years of following the children the researchers learned that family wealth was a direct indicator of child health even in the poorest country where the wealthiest families are still far below the global poverty lines.
References
Porter, C. (2013, January). Nutrition in Early Childhood: Insights
from rural Ethiopia. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from
http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Catherine_Porter_CPI_Jan2013.pdf
It is truly sad that after all the years of development in this world, Ethiopia still is suffering such horrid poverty rates. I remember when I was a child (I am now 38) our parents, teachers and grandparents talking about Ethiopia. It was always "eat all your food there are starving children in Ethiopia" I never understood what they meant until I got older. There has to be more the global community can do to help them. It is such an underdeveloped nation, no wonder people move to the United States.
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