UNICEF

1. UNICEF UNICEF = United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund Year of existence: December 1946 Headquarters: United Nations, New York Regional Office: South East Asia Main functions/services of UNICEF 1. Child Health UNICEF helps countries produce vaccines and serum. Its purpose is to reduce child diseases and deaths. It also works to improve the quality of life of children in villages. 2. Child Nutrition UNICEF gives high priority to improving child health. 3. Family and Child Welfare UNICEF helps improve the care of children both inside and outside their homes. It supports parents, education, day-care centres, child welfare agencies and youth agencies. It also supports women’s clubs. 4. Education UNICEF provides science laboratories and educational equipment. It also provides workshop tools, library books, audio-visual aids and other educational materials. UNICEF and GOBI UNICEF promotes a campaign called GOBI to improve child health. G – Growth monitoring: Checking the growth of children. O – Oral rehydration: Giving ORS to treat mild/moderate dehydration. B – Breast feeding: Encouraging mothers to breastfeed babies. I – Immunization: Protecting children against diseases like: Diphtheria Polio Pertussis (whooping cough) Tuberculosis 2. Medical Care vs Health Care — Medical Care Medical care means services given directly by doctors or services given according to a doctor's instructions. It is mainly the treatment of a sick person, including giving medicines. Health Care Health care means services provided to individuals, families and communities by health professionals. Its purpose is to: Promote health Maintain health Monitor health Restore health Characteristics of Health Care Availability – Health services should be available. Accessibility – People should be able to reach and use them. Affordability – People should be able to afford them. Appropriateness – Services should be suitable for people's needs. Comprehensiveness – Health care should cover different health needs. Adequacy – Services should be sufficient. Feasibility – Services should be practical and possible to provide. 3. Health System — Health System A health system is designed to provide health services. Its main aim is health development. The main components of a health system are CIOP: C – Concepts: e.g. health and disease I – Ideas: e.g. coverage, equality, effectiveness, efficiency and impact O – Objects: e.g. hospitals and health centres P – Persons: e.g. health providers and consumers 4. Indicators of Health Health indicators are variables used to measure changes in health. They give an idea about a particular health situation. Characteristics of an ideal indicator An ideal indicator should be: Specific Feasible – possible to use Relevant – related to the problem Valid – gives correct information Reliable – gives consistent results Sensitive – can detect changes 5. Disability Rates Disability rates tell us about the effect of illness on a person's normal activities. A. Event-type indicators Number of days of restricted activity – days when a person cannot do normal activities. Bed disability days – days a person has to stay in bed because of illness. Work-loss days – days a person cannot go to work because of illness. B. Person-type indicators Limitation of mobility – difficulty in moving around. Limitation of activity – difficulty in doing normal activities. 6. Nutritional Status Indicators These indicators tell us about a person's nutrition and physical growth. Anthropometric measurements – measurements of the body, such as weight and height. Height Prevalence of LBW (Low Birth Weight) – number/proportion of babies born weighing less than 2.5 kg. 7. Health Care Delivery Indicators These indicators show how health services are being provided. Doctor–population ratio – number of doctors available for a given population. Doctor–nurse ratio – number of doctors compared with nurses. Easy way to remember: UNICEF → Child Health, Nutrition, Welfare, Education + GOBI Health indicators → Disability + Nutrition + Health-care delivery Health Indicators 4. Utilization Rates These tell us how much people use health services. Fully immunized infants → Percentage of babies who received all vaccines against 7 EPI diseases. Family planning → Percentage of people using different family planning methods. Bed occupancy rate → Percentage of hospital beds that are occupied/being used. 5. Indicators of Social and Mental Health These show problems related to social and mental health, such as: Suicide Homicide (killing another person) RTAs (road traffic accidents) Smoking Juvenile delinquency (crime by young people) 6. Environmental Indicators These show health problems caused by the environment, such as: Air pollution Radiation Noise pollution Solid waste/garbage 7. Health Policy Indicators These show how the government uses health resources and money. Providing enough health resources. Percentage of national income (GNP) spent on health services. Percentage of total health resources spent on Primary Health Care (PHC). 8. Socioeconomic Indicators These show the economic and social condition of people. Rate of population increase → How quickly the population is growing. Per capita GNP → Average income/resources per person. Unemployment → Percentage of people who do not have jobs. Dependency ratio → Number of dependent people compared with working people. Literacy rate → Percentage of people who can read and write. Family size → Average number of people in a family. Per capita calorie availability → Average amount of food/calories available for each person. 9. Indicators of Quality of Life These tell us about the quality of people's lives. Infant mortality Life expectancy at age one Literacy 10. Other Indicators Social indicators Basic needs indicators Health for All indicators 11. Mortality Indicators Mortality = death These indicators tell us about death rates. Crude death rate → Number of deaths in the whole population. Life expectancy → Average number of years a person is expected to live. Infant mortality rate → Deaths of babies under 1 year. Child mortality rate → Deaths among children. Under-5 mortality rate → Deaths of children below 5 years. Maternal mortality rate → Deaths of mothers related to pregnancy or childbirth. Disease-specific mortality → Deaths caused by a particular disease. Proportional mortality rate → Percentage of all deaths caused by a particular disease/cause. 12. Morbidity Indicators Morbidity = illness/disease These tell us how much disease is present in a population. Incidence and prevalence → Number of new and existing cases of a disease. Notification rates → Number of disease cases reported to health authorities. Outpatient attendance rate → Number of people visiting outpatient departments. Admission and discharge rates → Number of patients admitted to and discharged from hospitals. HALE and DALY HALE — Health Adjusted Life Expectancy Easy meaning: HALE tells us how many years a person is expected to live in good health. 👉 It starts with normal life expectancy but reduces the time spent in poor health. DALY — Disability Adjusted Life Year Easy meaning: DALY tells us how many healthy years of life are lost because of: Early death Disability/illness 👉 1 DALY = 1 year of healthy life lost. Sullivan's Index It is calculated by taking life expectancy and subtracting the expected time spent with: Disability Inability to perform major activities Clinical Medicine vs Community Medicine Point Clinical Medicine Community Medicine Information required Patient's history, physical examination and laboratory tests Population data, health problems, disease patterns and availability of health services Diagnosis Finds the different possible diseases in one patient Finds health problems/diagnosis of the whole community Action plan Treatment and rehabilitation of the patient Community health programs Evaluation Follow-up and checking the patient's condition Checking whether the community's health has improved Aim Reduce illness and prevent death in a sick person Reduce unnecessary illness and early deaths in the whole population Objective Cure the disease of the patient Improve the health status of the community ⭐ Easy way to remember: Clinical Medicine = Individual patient ➡️ History → Examination → Diagnosis → Treatment → Follow-up → Cure Community Medicine = Whole population ➡️ Population data → Find community problems → Health program → Evaluation → Improve community health