Brazil Child Health facts for kids

Brazil Child Health (also known as Associação Saúde Criança) is a special organization in Brazil. It helps sick children from families who don't have much money. Their main goal is to stop these children from getting sick again and again after leaving the hospital.

The organization understands that being sick isn't just about your body. It's also about where you live and if your family has enough money. They believe that to truly get better, children need help with their health, their home, and their family's situation. They offer full support after a child leaves the hospital. They also try to help families get out of poverty. Brazil Child Health has an office in New York City. This office helps raise money from other countries to support their work in Brazil.

How It Started

Associação Saúde Criança was started in 1991 by a doctor named Vera Cordeiro. She worked with children at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dr. Cordeiro noticed a sad pattern. Many of her young patients would get better in the hospital, go home, and then get sick again. They would end up back in the hospital.

She realized that hospital treatments weren't enough. Children were returning to homes and neighborhoods that made them sick in the first place. So, Dr. Cordeiro started Saúde Criança from her own home. A few volunteers helped her. They gave families things like food, clothes, and money. This helped children stay healthy after leaving the hospital. Since then, Saúde Criança has grown a lot. It now helps families in six different states across Brazil. Their work is praised both in Brazil and around the world.

Helping Families in Need

Saúde Criança works with families from some of the poorest areas in Brazil. Many of these families live in crowded neighborhoods called favelas. They often don't have good access to government help. When a child in these families gets sick, it affects everyone. It can make the family even poorer.

Sometimes, parents have to choose between buying medicine for their sick child or buying food for the rest of the family. Even if they buy expensive medicine, it might not work well. This is because the child goes back to a home that might be dirty or too small. This can make them sick again. So, families can become poorer and feel sadder. Their health problems might not get better.

How They Help: The Family Action Plan

Saúde Criança uses a special plan called the Family Action Plan. This plan lasts for two years. It helps families set goals in five main areas:

• Housing (where they live)
• Income (how they earn money)
• Education (learning)
• Citizenship (getting official papers and rights)
• Health (staying well)

The plan starts after a family is sent to Saúde Criança by a hospital. Volunteers talk with the family to learn about their lives. Together, they decide on the goals for the plan. Each plan is different for each family. But Saúde Criança has some basic goals that every family must reach to finish the program.

Health Goals

Saúde Criança works with families to manage a child's illness. They provide special food, medicine, and support. The main goal is to make sure every child in the family is healthy.

Housing Goals

If a family's home is in bad shape, Saúde Criança helps fix it. They provide materials and workers. The goal is to make sure homes have basic things. This includes clean water, working sewers, painted walls, and a roof that doesn't leak. A good home helps children stay healthy.

Income Goals

Family members, especially mothers, can join training courses. These courses teach them skills for jobs. The main goal is to help families earn more money. Saúde Criança offers workshops. They also help families find courses from other groups. They even give tools to help families start their own small businesses.

Citizenship Goals

Saúde Criança helps families get official papers. This allows them to get help from government programs. Families can also get legal advice. This helps them with things like land issues or family problems.

Education Goals

Parents can attend talks about important topics. These include healthy eating, staying clean, preventing accidents, and family planning. Also, all children in the family between ages 5 and 17 must go to school.

Making a Difference

A study in 2013 looked at families three to five years after they finished the Family Action Plan. The results were amazing!

• Family income went up by 92%.
• Home ownership went up by over 90%.
• Many more families felt their well-being was "good" or "very good." This went from less than 10% before the program to over 50% after.
• The number of families who felt their well-being was "bad" or "very bad" dropped by 73%.
• Children spent 86% fewer days in the hospital. This also saved a lot of money for the public health system.

Growing and Sharing Their Ideas

The Family Action Plan has been very successful. Other organizations and hospitals in Brazil and other countries are interested in it. Saúde Criança constantly checks how well their program works. They keep good records of their information and data. This helps them improve and share their methods.

Their way of helping families has been copied by 24 other groups in Brazil. The city of Belo Horizonte has even used their ideas for its own human development program. Saúde Criança's methods can also be used in other places where poverty is a problem. They offer training and exchange programs for people who want to use the Family Action Plan. They also work with universities.

Saúde Criança also does research to find better ways to use their methods. They offer advice to other groups. They hold meetings with leaders, companies, and governments. This helps them share ideas and find new ways to improve health and help communities. They are even working to bring their program to the United States and Portugal. Their plan has also inspired programs in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

Sharing Their Success

Saúde Criança has inspired 23 other organizations to use its methods. To help these groups, Saúde Criança became a "social franchise" in 2010. This means they help other groups use their successful ideas. Now, there are 11 branches of Saúde Criança in six states in Brazil.

Helping Governments

The city of Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais has officially added Saúde Criança's methods to its public health program. It's called "Família Cidadã: Cidade Solidaria." Saúde Criança is also working with the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Florianopolis on similar programs.