Streetism In Children

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND INFORMATION TO THE STUDY

Streetism is a desperate situation of children who are forced to spend most of their time outside their homes engaging in menial income generating activities in order to survive and often having to sleep rough on the streets. Streetism has created numerous problems to millions of children in all parts of the world (UNICEF, 2007) especially in Sub Saharan Africa. According to the Declaration of the Rights of the child which was adopted unanimously by all 78 Member states of the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 1386(XIV) which was on the 20th of November,1959. The child is recognized, universally, as a human being who must be able to develop physically, mentally, socially, morally

Mostly victims and children inclusive involved in this streetism act are referred to as those who come from developing world and homeless youth who come from the developed world (Lewis Aptekar, 2015).

The problem of health are major problems of street children. Streetism exposes the children to lot of health problems and other hazards. These health constraints comes about as a result of their environment being unconducive most at times.

Environment within which these children finds themselves more often expose them to diverse health risks. Aside being a threat to their health, there’s also a challenge in their ability to access health care(Ansell,2005;Panter-Brick,2002).However, owing to the nature of their living conditions, their health is arguably the most important resource for their survival on the street. This means that the living of these street children is inseparable from their health status (Grierson and Schnurr, 2003). Tackling these health challenges among such a group (street children) however requires a complex process and these complexities hinders the development of addressing health problems. They often have to make tough choices regarding where, when, how and which health services and methods to be used in addressing their health

-To identify the health seeking behaviour among street children in the metropolis.

-To examine the problems encountered by street children in health care utilization and accessibility.

METHODOLOGY

Due to the exploration of the broad study of health-related problems of street children, the study intended to appreciate how children address these health-related problems themselves, other prevailing social structures were also involved.

Due to the descriptive nature of the study a number of qualitative data used to gather data were employed even though quantitative data was also used here. The study aimed at understanding issues related to health of street children in order to help them withstand harsh conditions and not to measure children’s agency(Bryman,2008). The approach also helped to understand the in-depth study of the children’s health worries by engaging them at length.

Data was employed from both primary and secondary source and administered questionnaire were used on specific targeted groups which were the street children.