Vitamin D Deficiency in Children: Development of a Community Health Program

Vitamin D Deficiency in Children: Development of a Community Health
Program

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Outline for the Health Promotional Program...................................................................................2
Goals and Objectives...................................................................................................................3
Rationale......................................................................................................................................4
Health Promotion Approaches.........................................................................................................4
Comparison..................................................................................................................................4
Role of Community health nurses...................................................................................................7
In relation to the two identified approaches.................................................................................7
In relation to the planned health promotion program..................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
Appendix........................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
The Community Health Programs are generally locally based education and treatment programs
available typically to poor individuals or the ones who do not have any sort of insurance
coverage. These programs are usually not-profit and most of the funds are arranged through
various health department programs or through donations or government grants. The following
report is written to develop a community health program for Vitamin D Deficiency in Children.
A part of the report is dedicated for the discussion of the goals and objectives of the program and
another part of the report talks about various health promotion approaches and comparison of
their strengths and limitations (Lhamo, Chugh, & Gautam, 2017). Lastly, there will be a
discussion of the role of the Community Health Nurse in relation to the identified approaches
and to the planned health promotion program.
Outline for the Health Promotional Program
Vitamin D deficiency is more common among urban Canadian children as compared to the rural
children. The researchers have found that one third of the toddlers had less than the
recommended levels of Vitamin D. As a result of deficiency of Vitamin D, the Urban Toddlers
are at a greater risk of a number of medical problems including Rickets, Type 1 Diabetes,
Multiple Sclerosis and certain types of Cancer (Gold & Nebres, 2009).
For the prevention and treatment of the Vitamin D Deficiency among children of Canada,
various Health Organizations and Societies in Canada can come forward to fund a viable Health
Promotional Program for treatment and prevention of Deficiency of Vitamin D among Canadian
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Children. These organizations might include Canadian Society of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
(CSEB), Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF), Child Care Human Resources Sector Council,
Canadian Pediatric Society, YMCA Canada, etc.
Goals and Objectives
Vitamin D Deficiency has been a long-standing public health issue among children. A severe
vitamin D deficiency leads to impairment in the mineralization of bones tissues, which further
leads to Osteomalacia and even the impairment of the growth plates, which leads to Rickets. In
order to deal with both of these cases, our projected Health Promotional Program will have
following goals and objectives:
Goals:
 To improve the food intake habits of the urban children of Canada and to respond to the
underlying determinants of the deficiency among them. Intake of naturally containing
Vitamin D can be increased.
 To encourage children for joining various weight loss programs as it may mobilize
vitamin D and its metabolites from the adipose tissue (Ladhani & Ward, 2015).
Objectives:
 The prime objective of this program is to identify the urban children showing deficiency
of Vitamin D in the urban areas of Canada.
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