Sarina Musa by QMC

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations

YOUTH HEALTH IN THE 21st CENTURY Introduction Have you ever thought about the youth of New Zealand and the health issues that they are faced with daily? All children are dependent on their parents or caregivers for their wellbeing. Some children and youth have more intensive health issues, due to their own ill health, behaviours, or just inability for self-‐ care for multiple reasons. Normally parents or guardians can adequately care for them. But what happens when their parents or caregivers can't provide their children with the medical needs that they require? What are the health policies that the government have put in place to help? Because it is important to remember that the youth of today are the future of tomorrow.

Obesity is a common issue worldwide, and especially in the Pacific Islands.

Obesity is the issue of being overweight to the point of causing serious harm to your body. This is defined as having a BMI (body mass index) of 30 or more. This high weight can cause serious problems overtime and cause different types of diseases and other health problems. Obesity can cause heart damage from as early on as childhood. As your body mass increases so does your risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Coronary heart disease is a condition in which a plaque starts to build up inside the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries are important in supplying rich blood to your heart muscle. With the coronary artery narrowed with plaque and therefore unable to supply the heart muscle with oxygen-‐ enriched blood, the heart muscle weakens over time and can lead to heart failure. Obesity can be caused by many things like genetics, lifestyle or a lack of exercise. Obesity causes many health issues, both physically and mentally. There are many problems that obesity causes, such as the risk of diabetes, pains in joints (mainly knees due to weight) high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, asthma and sleep disorders. 3

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations

High cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease and a stroke. This happens because the cholesterol in your blood can cause fatty deposits. This is known as plaque, in the walls of your arteries. If the plague ruptures, a blood clot can form which therefore restricts or blocks the blood flow to the heart, which can cause a heart attack.

Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure, also known as hypertension, can lead to stroke damaging and weakening to your brains blood vessels, causing them to narrow, rupture or leak. High Blood Pressure can also cause blood clots to form in the arteries that lead to your brain, blocking a blood flow and potentially causing a stroke.

Heart disease can cause your blood pressure to rise and fall often. It can also cause a fatal heart attack. This happens when atheroma starts to build up in an artery and starts to block the artery. This can lead to problems such as a stroke, dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, stress and depression and persistent coughing and wheezing. There are also many more effects of heart disease. To avoid the possible damaging effects of heart disease, you should take measures to prevent it, such as diet, exercise and lifestyle changes (e.g. stopping to smoke) will put you in a great position to prevent heart disease.

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations

Rheumatic fever is a serious but preventable illness. It mainly effects pacific islanders and Maori aged at 4 and above, yet it can affect anyone. When you have a sore throat it normally gets better on its own, but sometimes if a severe sore throat is not treated with antibiotics, it can leave lead to a high risk of rheumatic fever. Effects of Rheumatic fever are swollen and often painful heart, joints (elbows and knees), brain and skin. Rheumatic fever is an autoimmune disease. That means there is a problem with the immune system (the cells and organs that protect the body against illnesses and infection). Rheumatic fever starts when the immune system begins to attack other parts of the body instead of the illness. While the symptoms of rheumatic fever may wear off, the inflammation can cause rheumatic heart disease. Rheumatic heart disease which can cause scarring of the heart valves, which can be life threatening.

Diabetes There are two types of diabetes; type I and type II. Type I uses to be called ‘insulin dependent diabetes’, which basically means you depend on insulin. Type I is rarer than type II, and has less of a genetic factor associated with it. It is considered more of the serious one because if you have type I, insulin must be injected into your system in order to regain your body’s balance. It also tends to happen when you are younger. The other one is type II, which is significantly more common and was previously called non-‐insulant dependent diabetes, because you do not generally have to be injected with insulin, but often people choose to use insulin anyway. This type generally is genetic so if someone in your immediate family has type II, it increase the risk of you developing it yourself. If a child has type I, (the type which generally tends to be present in younger children) and is being treated with insulin, it can lead to a good, normal lifestyle. However, the longer a person has diabetes the more risk of damaging problems to that person’s health such as eye disease which can cause blindness, kidney disease which can be mortal and other problems associated with the blood vessels like high blood pressure strokes and heart attacks. It basically affects the blood vessels of the eye and the kidney, which are the smallest blood vessels and are very important to the organs they are supplying. Other blood vessels, which lead to organs such as the brain and the heart, are bigger which means 5

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations

they can have a bigger build-‐up of plaque before it causes serious health issues, but the small blood vessels such as the ones leading to the eyes and the kidney are the main ones that cause problems first with diabetes. (Information from Dr Tim Ngan Kee) I interviewed Dr Tim Ngan Kee about the health issues, his personal opinion, and how the government is involved in youth and children’s health. His personal opinion about what the government was doing is that they are not doing enough. He talked about how the government was good at identifying the issue but they do not provide the resources to make things happen and approve things. He continued, saying the government is quite good at making people aware of the issues out there, but most of the information comes from parents and organisations. But the government itself does not actually initiate many things. He said that the government should put more money into resourcing ideas that other people are coming up with. I also asked the doctor about what health issues he comes across that children have. He said the one thing that is quite topical at the moment is childhood obesity. He talked about how it was quite a real thing that does not just relate to health, but also the social aspect of it too. He says that kids are not as active as they use to be, and that they spend a lot more time indoor and on computers than outside. He spoke about how fast foods are much easier and how they cost much less than healthy alternatives, which greatly contributes to the problem surrounding obesity. I asked him next about the difference between childhood and adult obesity. He said there was not much of a difference because they are caused by the same issues and have the same effects, but the implication is greater when it is in childhood because that is when you set up the ways of your adulthood. We also went into the ways of childhood he explained that when you are young and you have the habits of being a healthy, fit child, then the chances are that when you grow up you will be a healthy, fit adult. We then talked about the other costs associated with being obese. If you are an obese child, the risk of developing diabetes dramatically increases. In terms of being obese, you also increase the chance of developing high blood pressure which can then lead to 6

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations

heart disease and strokes. Next, we carried onto the government policies that really impact the youth. His response was that the government comes up with the ideas and they make everyone aware of it them, but then they do not put in any money to make it actually work, and the work is left to a lot of voluntary organisations. So it makes it difficult because the government is very good at starting the ideas but they don’t carry them through. Our talked carried onto diabetes. He explained how there are two types of diabetes; type I and type II. Type I uses to be called ‘insulin dependent diabetes’, which basically means you depend on insulin. Type I is rarer than type II, and has less of a genetic factor associated with it. It is considered more of the serious one because if you have type I, insulin must be injected into your system in order to regain your body’s balance. It also tends to happen when you are younger. The other one is type II, which is significantly more common and was previously called non-‐insulant dependent diabetes, because you do not generally have to be injected with insulin, but often people choose to use insulin anyway. This type generally is genetic so if someone in your immediate family has type II, it increase the risk of you developing it yourself. We moved onto childhood diabetes and the consequences and effects of it. If the child has type I, (the type which generally tends to be present in younger children) and is being treated with insulin, it can lead to a good, normal lifestyle. However, the longer a person has diabetes the more risk of damaging problems to that person’s health such as eye disease which can cause blindness, kidney disease which can be mortal and other problems associated with the blood vessels like high blood pressure strokes and heart attacks. It basically affects the blood vessels of the eye and the kidney, which are the smallest blood vessels and are very important to the organs they are supplying. Other blood vessels, which lead to organs such as the brain and the heart, are bigger which means they can have a bigger build-‐up of plaque before they cause serious health issues, but the small blood vessels such as the ones leading to the eyes and the kidney are the main ones that cause problems first with diabetes. Our talk led us to think about rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is quite common in New Zealand. It’s mainly a disease that we see mostly in the North Island. It’s a condition where you pick up an infection, usually in the throat, 7

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations

caused by a bacteria called streptococcus. What happens in some people is that they get the strep throat the body will produce chemicals to kill it. The problem is with this is that their body will attack the bug but will also start to attack other parts of the body that are not the bug. In particular, it tends to attack the kidney and some parts of the heart. We talked about sugar next, and how it affects kid’s lives. Sugar often creates a lot of hyperactivity like food colouring does. It’s a very short acting energy source, and when you have it, it tends to hype you up but then you crash because it’s such an immediate source of energy it doesn’t last very long. So your body tries to store it away as fat, which therefore causes weight gain and can sometimes, in extreme amounts, lead to obesity. The final question was if Dr Tim Ngan Kee had any ideas for some health policies that the government should make. He responded about the under 13 years health check-‐ he thought that free visits do not make a difference because the people who were going to go could most likely afford it even if it was not free. But the people who need to be targeted are the people who cannot afford it, and who would not go to the doctors even if it were free. The problem with this policy is that although health checks are free, the advice that the doctor would give would be things the parent already knows-‐ such as cut down on the junk food and get healthy food, whereas the parent cannot afford healthy food as it is. Dr Tim Ngan Kee also said he thought that tuck shops should have less sugary food and more healthy food instead. And that will make a huge impact. Lilly and I went to the Pre-‐school to observe their lunches. We wanted to know what parents packed in their child’s lunch box every day. Here are the statistics: Pre-‐School Lunches Series1

Series2

6 5

4 3

3 2

2 1

0 Cupcakes

Yogurt Jelly Snacks Popcorn

Crackers

Chips

Raisons

Sugar Coated Bread

Chocolate Milk

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations

I was surprised to find of the number of packaged food in the lunches. There was no fruit or vegetables which I was found also surprising. Overall there was a lot of sugary food. This made me think that if this was a typical diet of a preschooler it could lead to health issues.

The government has many systems in place to support children and children with medical needs. Here are some examples. Children under 13 can get free doctors’ visits to a doctor they are enrolled with. This also includes free prescriptions which means there is no $5 cost, although you may have to pay for some medicines or extra services. Children under 13 will be able to access free after-‐hours care for urgent medical needs and nearly every GP offers free visits

In Addition Children Under the Age of 5 are offered free health checks from a nurse or registered health practitioner. Also, parents will be given a book to track their child’s progress and health record. Parents will be given information on protecting and improving their child’s health and development.

Plunket is a non-‐profit organisation that strives to ensure every child has the best possible start to life. Plunket is free and helps with children under five. All families are offered new born metabolic screening for their baby. This tests for life threatening disorders when a baby is between 48 and 72 hours old. All families are offered hearing screening for their baby by the time they are a month old. B4 School Check is a free health check for 4-‐year-‐olds, to check they’re ready for school. That means they will be checked with any problems in health, behaviour, social development and communication.

Conclusion 9

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations

To conclude, youth health has always been a growing issue in our society. In order to make a change, and to fully evolve as a country, we need to aid the youth in their comprehension of important health issues and how they can make a change. In order to decrease the number of individuals suffering from illnesses such as diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity. Important changes need to be made to the diet and lifestyles of young people in society. Government policies are also a significant aspect of controlling the growing numbers of obesity in New Zealand and important changes need to be made to these policies to ensure that they are helping the people at the most risk for serious health problems. These changes need to be made urgently in order to ensure the health and wellbeing of our future generations. Cholesterol, C27H46O, which, occurs in all animal tissues Rupture the state of being broken or burst Arteries are a blood vessel that is connected and transports blood from the heart to any other place in the body Antibiotics are a type of medicine which kills bacteria Bibliography • http://deeperweb.com/results.php?cx=%21004415538554621685521% 3Avgwa9iznfuo&cof=FORID%3A11%3BNB%3A1&ie=UTF-‐ 8&q=helath+children+inequality&as_qdr=&siteurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdee perweb.com%2F • https://aq.smartchat.co.nz/client.php?thread=34701&token=6389804&l evel=ajaxed&style=anyquestions • https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?sourceid=chrome-‐ instant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-‐ 8#q=effects%20of%20high%20blood%20pressure&es_th=1> • http://www.healthy-‐eating-‐and-‐nutrition.com/effects-‐of-‐heart-‐ disease.html • What Can We Do About Obesity? (Global Questions) (Franklin Watts) London 2010 • Obesity and Health by Adam Hibbit (2005) Australia Franklin Watts • http://curing-‐diabetes.blogspot.co.nz/p/pre-‐diabetes-‐symptoms-‐ provide.htm

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations

Youth Health Report

What Health Issues New Zealand Youth And Children Are Facing And What The Government Is Doing About It

The way youth develop in t he 21st century may have influence for future gener ations. Responsibility, Change Septe mber 2015 Sarina Musa

Sarina Musa-‐ The Way Youth Develop In The 21 Centaury May Have Influence For Future Generations