Medical News Today reported April 4 that a special supplement to the April 2005 issue of the AAP's journal Pediatrics called on pediatricians to confront environmental threats to their young patients' well-being.

"In the past, pediatricians focused solely on the patient and the treatment of disease," said Jeffrey Kaczorowski, M.D., a pediatrician at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and a co-author of the supplement. "The health problems that we are confronting in kids today, such as obesity, mental-health concerns, drug use and violence, are the result of the conditions in their communities."

Pediatricians were urged to work with community-based organizations, governments, schools, churches, and families to address environmental-health concerns. The supplement particularly stressed the need for more sensitivity to the link between socioeconomic status and health, since poor kids tend to be more susceptible to becoming pregnant, contracting sexually transmitted diseases, experiencing violence, and having mental-health problems.

"Factors such as race, poverty, and education are among the most important determinants of the future health of an individual," said Andy Aligne, M.D., a URMC pediatrician and report co-author. "These factors have their roots outside what has traditionally been considered the realm of pediatric care. But in order to have a meaningful impact on health, we have to engage with the community to confront these problems."

The report said that pediatricians must become advocates on behalf of their patients. "Although a pediatrician can write a prescription for an antibiotic, the pediatrician cannot write a prescription for one of the 9.2 million children who are uninsured. Although a pediatrician can refer a patient to a nutritionist, the health foods that are recommended often cost more than junk food and may not be geographically or financially available," the supplement noted. "A surgeon may be able to extract a bullet from a wound, but is unable to remove the victim from the environment of failing schools, gangs, drugs, violence, and struggling families that constitute the culture of poverty. Such obstacles to health require pediatricians to expand their roles to include that of advocate, not just for the individual but for the population of children as a whole."

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Your Turn! Post a public comment (read guidelines):

Name:
Comment: (limit 200 words)
Enter this word (help):	Change

GUIDELINES: 
To keep this feature useful for everyone, please:

1. Keep it clean, courteous, focused, and on-topic. Comments are meant for thoughtful discussion of the article published above.
   
   
2. Do not post personal requests for help or general promotions for your organization (Get help).
   
   
3. Proof your comments carefully, use good spelling and punctuation, and don't use ALL CAPS. Comments are published immediately and cannot be edited.

Deceptive, slanderous and commercially-motivated posts are prohibited. We reserve the right to remove comments not conforming to these guidelines. (Report a comment).

Have questions or feedback? Contact us.