Numerous studies acknowledge that the well-being of our nation hinges on the health of its people. There is specific concern about children because they represent the future. Ignoring children's health needs can compromise their educational preparedness, occupational pursuits, productivity, and longevity. Current science demonstrates that developmental, emotional, or behavioral limitations experienced during the early years of life and over the life course are associated with poor adult health outcomes. Poverty, restricted access to health insurance and health care services, cultural and linguistic barriers, neighborhood conditions, and racial and class inequalities exacerbate poor health outcomes and contribute to child health inequality. To respond to the complexities and threats of child health inequality, social workers must be sensitized to the physical and material constraints that support them and join forces with other disciplines in comprehensive approaches to reduce and prevent them. This article focuses on current knowledge about child health inequality and recommends how social workers can effect change in this area through practice, policy, and research that adheres to the profession's ethical principles and standards and promotes the public health.
Needle exchange is one of the most effective public health interventions to prevent the transmission of infectious disease by injecting drug users. Despite the preponderance of scientific evidence, US federal funding for needle exchange programmes has been banned since 1988. This prohibition has resulted in the lack of a centralised policy on needle exchange and has given birth to a patchwork of diverse practices and regulations throughout the nation. This article focuses on how various local players interpreted the meaning of needle exchange through the debate on an unauthorised site in Fresno, California. In exploring a specific context, this study delineates the narratives used to outline competing views about needle exchange and to offer a snapshot of how the issue of widespread injecting drug use was handled in an impoverished and socially conservative region of the United States.
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