This was a lot of information to take in from World Forum Foundation, and National Association of Child Care Resource &
Referral Agencies. I wanted to share both because it’s good to have world
information and home trends, and issues information about poverty. I’ve learned
poverty is everywhere, and some places are worst then others. People all around
the world are willing to help others in need, and that where we all should be
willing to support the cause of anyone in need. How do you feel about helping
those who are in poverty?
Improving Health and
Nutrition of Under-Threes
Window of Opportunity for Enriched Childhood
by Joseph M. Hunt
THEMES
1.
Health and Nutrition
for mother and infant should be priorities for all developing countries but
rarely are.
2.
Empowered women raise
tall, bright, healthy children. Women’s rights and children’s rights are
interwoven and non- negotiable.
3.
Investing in early
childhood is the investment bargain of the decade.
4.
Community- based
programs that integrate food, health and psychosocial care are the most
successful.
5.
Lifelong learning and
earning are the outcome.
6.
Human and Economic
Development are two sides of the same coin.
7.
Child Development IS
Sustainable Development.
Malnourished children are the scars of global
poverty global poverty
· 150 million underweight
· 177 million stunted
· Nearly 3 billion people suffer from iodine,
iron and vitamin A deficiencies
* Most are poor children and their mothers
· 11 million children under five die each year
· Poor Health and Nutrition is the Main Cause
· Malnourished Survivors bear the brunt
o poor cognitive and learning skills
o low achievement in school
o low wages
o low investment in Quality of their Children
o disability (mental and physical)
o shortened life
o life- long susceptibility to illness (double
risk of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes
Asia is the “Big Show” for Improving
Children’s Prospects
· Three- quarters of the underweight, stunted
and micronutrient deficient people live in Asia, the majority children
o 72 million children born yearly
o 26 million (36%) underweight
o 6 million die before age 5
o malnutrition underlies 3 million deaths
· Half of young women and preschoolers are
anemic
o 65,000 maternal deaths each year
o school dropouts
· 30 million kids (ages 6 -11) not enrolled in
school
· 150 million (ages 5- 14) working, half full-
time
· 1 billion people (400m children) need iodized
salt to avoid iodine deficiency, which robs children of 13 IQ points
Turning the Spiral of Malnutrition dull Minds and Poverty…..
To a Virtuous Cycle of Learning and Earning! The Key is Enriching Early
Childhood
International Development Goals by 2015
1.
Eliminating most of
infant, child, and maternal deaths.
2.
Reduction of extreme
poverty by half.
3.
Universal primary
school enrolment
Improved maternal and child nutrition is essential
to accomplish these goals. Why?
· One fifth of maternal deaths (65,000 in low-
income Asia each year) are caused by iron deficiency anemia
· 54% of under- five child deaths in Asia (2.8
million each year) are caused by moderate and severe underweight condition.
· Low birth weight infants (from short,
undernourished mothers) are ten times more likely to die in their first year
than normal birth weights.
· Stunted children enter school later and are
more likely to drop out
· Malnutrition reinforces poverty, low mental
competence, achievement, and earnings, and depresses economic growth by at
least 5% of GDP.
The “Education for All” Evaluation (1990 —
2000)
Universal Primary School Enrollment could not be reached because of
preschoolers’ poor “readiness for learning.”
Primary dropout and retention rates have not improved enough.
Poor nutrition dulls learning capacity.
The Life-Cycle Perspective
· There is new evidence on importance of:
· Nutrition of girls
Fetal development
Nutrition of next generation of
girls
o Fetal development
Adult chronic disease (a linking of
the two burdens)
· This gives us an expanded view of:
o Productivity impacts of improved nutrition
o Opportunities for action
TEMPORARY
ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY
FAMILIES
AND CHILDREN IN POVERTY
BACKGROUND
In 1996, Congress
created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to provide
states with funds to
assist families earning low incomes and their children through a variety of
services
or activities,
including monthly cash aid payments and child care assistance. TANF replaced
the Aid
to Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC) program, which had provided cash welfare to families
earning low incomes,
and the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program, which provided these
families with job
training and job search help. While caseloads under TANF have dropped by 60
percent since 1996,
only about 40 percent of income-eligible families receive TANF. About 80
percent
of eligible families
benefited from TANF’s predecessor, AFDC.1
Nearly 60 percent of
the TANF caseload decline reflects fewer eligible families receiving
assistance, not
a decline in families
who are eligible for TANF. TANF does not lift families out of poverty. In 2008,
with the exception of
Alaska, all states set benefit levels for TANF at less than half the federal
poverty
line (and about 20
states had benefits below 25 percent of the poverty line). Even when combining
TANF and food stamps
(renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP), all but
three states (Alaska,
Hawaii and California) have benefits below 75 percent of the poverty line.2
2012
Federal Poverty Guidelines3
People
in
Family
Poverty
Line
Alaska Hawaii
1 $11,170 $13,970
$12,860
2 $15,130 $18,920
$17,410
3 $19,090 $23,870
$21,960
4 $23,050 $28,820
$26,510
5 $27,010 $33,770
$31,060
6 $30,970 $38,720
$35,610
7 $34,930 $43,670
$40,160
8 $38,890 $48,620
$44,710
Note:
For families with more people in the 48 contiguous states, add
$3,960 for each additional person. For
families in Alaska,
add $4,950 for each additional person. For families in Hawaii, add $4,550 for
each
additional person.
Families
with young children continue to disproportionately experience poverty.
• About one-quarter
(24.5 percent) of all children younger than age 5 lived in poverty in 2009.
1 US Department of
Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
(2008). Indicators of Welfare Dependence:
Annual
Report to Congress 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from, http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/indicators08/index.shtml#hardcopy.
2 Center on Budget
& Policy Priorities.(2008). TANF Benefits Are Low and Have Not Kept Pace
with Inflation. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from
http://www.cbpp.org/11-24-08tanf.pdf.
3 US Department of
Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
(2011). Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 13,
January 20, 2011, pp.
3637-3638 Retrieved February 13, 2012. http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml
160
The
National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies 2012
2009
Poverty Rate and Number of People Living in Poverty4
Age
Group 2009 People in Poverty 2009 Percentage of People
Under 5 years 5.2
million 24.5 %
5-17 years 10.2
million 19.2 %
Under 18 years 15.5
million 20.7 %
18-64 years 24.7
million 12.9 %
Over 65 years 3.4
million 8.9%
US
Total 43.6 million 14.3 %
• For African
American children under age 5, 41.7 percent were living in poverty -- three out
of
every five (60.2
percent) African American children under age 5 living with their mother alone
were living in
poverty.5
• For Hispanic
children under age 5, 34.5 percent were living in poverty – more than half of
Hispanic children
under age 5 (56.1 percent) living with their mother alone were living in
poverty.6
Single-parent
households are particularly vulnerable to poverty.
• For children under
age 6 in households headed by a single mother, more than half (54.3 percent)
lived in poverty in
2009 – four times the rate of children in married couple families (13.4
percent).7
• About 90 percent of
adult TANF recipients are women, and 40 percent of TANF recipient
children are younger
than age 6.8
Source: United States
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2012). THE EMPLOYMENT
SITUATION -
-
JANUARY 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2012 from, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf.
4 US Census Bureau.
(2010). Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic (ASEC)
Supplement, 2009 Poverty Table of Contents. Retrieved
February 25, 2011,
from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstables/032010/pov/toc.htm.
5 Ibid
6 Ibid
7 Ibid
8 U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of
Family Assistance. (June 2009).
Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Eighth Annual Report to Congress. Retrieved
February 13, 2012 from,
