One stressor that I experienced as a child was childhood diseases. I recall contracting chickenpox as a young child. While playing with my cousin over the weekend, he was already a carrier of chickenpox because he broke out in bumps everywhere on that Monday. By the end of the week, I had broke out as well. I had never experienced something so bad in my life. All the bumps with the itching and scratching, taking lots of Benadryl and the misery. I could not go outside to play with my friends. That was horrible. Chickenpox is a contagious disease that I don't wish on anyone. I'm very glad that I was able to go through it as a child and not as an adult. My grandmother experienced it as an adult and she had major complications and had a hard time getting over it.
A part of the region that faces many childhood diseases is Haiti. The children face diseases such as diarrhea, respiratory infections, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS which are the leading causes of death amongst children. A lot of these diseases are due to poverty and inadequate access to basic health care. It is estimated that there are 19,000 children with HIV/AIDS in Haiti. Other things that are high risk are hepatitis A and E and typhoid fever which are caused by lack of water. Children are particularly vunerable because they depend on adults to care for them.
Resource:
Wilkinson, E. (2010, January 15). Haiti Children at Risk of Disease. BBC News. Retrieved from
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools
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