Healthcare and unhealthy food for children under two years old: data from the National Health Survey, Brazil, 2013

Abstract

The study by Jaime PC et al. 1 shows that there is an inequality on the issue of childcare access in Brazil, with only 28.7% of the children have their first medical appointment until the seventh day of life. There also were researches on unhealthy eating behaviors at childhood, with a high rate on the consumption of soft drinks, cookies, crackers, or cakes. Thus, it is clear when speaking about child healthcare, there is a national level problem and efforts should not be measured to generate methods and regulations, as well as guidelines of intervention so that this reality is taken into another direction.It is known that in Brazil, there are still many challenges to overcome in order to qualify child health. 1 This can be exemplified by the low frequency of the newborn's first consultation in his/her first week of life, which can be expressed by the insufficient link of the maternities with primary care, and the timely access to the health network is not effective. 1 In a study 2 on child healthcare in Russia, they have put a pillar, the "neighborhood principle," at a polyclinic which allows excellent communication between health professionals and the child's family. 2 A study conducted in Mexico in 2006 reports that infant feeding practices, which include breastfeeding and the introduction of complementary food, are determinants for the children's health, growth and development. 3 However, in this study, 1 unhealthy foods, such as soft drinks and cookies, were consumed by children under two years of age. 1 This ultimately compromises the protection that breastfeeding and healthy eating offer gastroin-This article is published in Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, without restrictions, as long as the original work is correctly cited.