Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

After examining the United Nations International Emergency Children’s Fund (UNICEF) website (n. d.), the country that I decided to study in regards to childhood poverty in Jamaica. Learning about childhood poverty in Jamaica provided me with three insights.  For example, one thing that I learned about child poverty in Jamaica is that “income inequality persists, poverty levels remain unacceptably high and there is a high probability that many who are only living just above the poverty line could fall back into poverty” ( cited in UNICEF, 2009, p. 13).  If families cannot make enough money to support their children, then the probability of trying to eliminate poverty from their lives can be a daunting task.  No money means no economic stability; no economic stability means no chance to become self-sufficient. Not only does this problem exist in Jamaica, the country also has to deal with a substantial level of disease.
            Furthermore, Jamaica has many diseases to compete with, and it affects children.  For instance, according to UNICEF (n. d.), its 2009 report on childhood disparities in Jamaica stated that the country “is challenged by a high incidence of HIV/AIDS, unacceptably high infant mortality rates, and high rates of cardiovascular diseases” (cited in UNICEF, 2009, p. 13).  Children are dying because of disease, and this too can be a result of living in an impoverished area.  This goes back to money because without it, children cannot receive the proper care needed to overcome illnesses.  In this case, a lack of money determines a child’s length of life in Jamaica. Despite this information, another insight that I gained from studying Jamaica is that there is plenty of crime that occurs there, and this can be a result of living in poverty. 
Moreover, Jamaica has to deal with its crime problem.  To explain, according to UNICEF (n. d. ), the 2009 report on Jamaica stated that “High levels of crime and violence are at once problems of security,…” (cited in UNICEF, 2009, p. 13).  Crime and violence can be a result of poverty because there is no money available.  When money is scarce, then people use other tactics to obtain it, and that can mean stealing from and/or possibly killing tourists because they believe that visitors have more money than they do.  If children are living in poverty, then they may attempt to perform the aforementioned actions to get and/or make money.
                                                References
United Nations International Emergency Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (n. d.). Retrieved from


Comments

  1. DiahPutriPramiandariNovember 17, 2017 at 8:19 PM

    Thank you for your post. I am interested to know, how far does crime issue play role in Jamaica so that the crime issue get involve in early childhood field in Jamaica. Based on your post, I assume that crime issue play massive role in Jamaica, and I cannot imagine the trauma of the children in Jamaica, who has been a victim in crime incident, and grew up as a crime actor or continuously keep being a crime victim the whole life.

    Thank you for your post.

    Regards,
    Diah Putri
    (Uti)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 18, 2017 at 3:16 PM

    Thank you for your post. I learned new things from it. I never realized Jamaica has high poverty levels. I went to Jamaica on vacation a few years ago. As a vacationer you don't realize how much poverty most of the people there live in. They are so happy to help you out and they're probably trying to feed a whole family on what little income they make. Makes you very thankful for what you have here.

    Nina

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 19, 2017 at 8:01 AM

    Greetings,

    As I read your post about the issues with children dying from not receiving proper health care, I made connections to the issues that are happening in the United States. Americans are having this same issue because of access and funding. It is interesting to me that with the two countries being many miles apart have the same poverty issues and it all goes back to the funding that is needed for those resources.

    ReplyDelete

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