WHAT'S YOUR OPINION:

200 MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WITH MENTAL BACKWARDNESS

The medical journal “The Lancet” has published a research directed by the Institute of Child Health of the LondonUniversity, in which the data of 45 developing countries are analyzed. The results are alarming figures: 219 millions of children live with cognitive handicap in the developing world, most of them (66%) in the South of Asia, in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin-America. In developing countries, an estimated 99 million children of primary-school age are not enrolled, and of those enrolled, only 78% complete primary school. The causes are poverty, poor health, malnutrition and unstimulating home, society and scholar environments. Each child is born with a developmental potential and depending on the factors of their environment, it is going to be developed or not. Children with a bad cognitive development are likely to do poorly in school and subsequently have low incomes, high fertility, and provide poor care for their children, thus contributing to the intergenerational transmission of poverty.

There are actions that could decrease the poor children’s development such as:

• Stimulating them with recreational programmes
• Involving parents in the strategies to improve their familiar environment
• Complementing psychological stimulation with a balanced diet.
• Providing better health care.

If you have had more developing opportunities than them, it is sure you can do something. Do you think VMY in your country can establish a programme to cover this need? Could our VMY members weekly participate in any kind of project related with low cognitive development children? If you know a similar project that is already being carried out by a VMY group in you Region, Could you share with us a testimony?

E-mail us: secinterjmv@telefonica.net / jmvinter@telefonica.net

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