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  • Essay / Exploring Behavioral Challenges and Educational Strategies for the Nigerian Child

    Attitude is a predisposition to respond cognitively, emotionally or behaviorally to a particular object, person or situation in a particular way. There is need to supplement and enrich the Nigerian child with training that can strengthen his attitude and other attitude problems that can affect his health. Health education, as a distinct form of literacy, is very important for the social, economic and health development of an individual and therefore must be pursued vigorously. As a contribution to health literacy issues, this article reviews the concepts and definitions of health attitude and education, and raises the conceptual measures and strategic challenges necessary to develop a set of indicators to quantify health literacy using experience gained from national health literacy surveys around the world. world. It discusses health education as a means of empowerment and a key to public health issues for the Nigerian child. The paper also makes findings and recommendations highlighting the benefits of literacy for every Nigerian child in accessing their health issues in schools, government and every way individuals in the society should do the needful. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essaykeywords: attitude issues, health literacy, education, Nigerian childContemporary attitudinal issues affecting health education Health of the Nigerian Child draws attention to some of the major problems which beset the human race and which the Nigerian child may encounter in his health and social life. These may include: physical, mental and emotional illnesses; drug addiction; alcoholism and sexual harassment/rape. In general, attitudes are evaluators of objects and ideas that one encounters throughout life, and the functional values ​​of attitudes, the processes that modify them, have been a major concern throughout life. history of social psychology (Ziegler, 2016). Literacy, for its part, is the prerogative of the individual. ability to read, write, and speak in English and to calculate or solve problems at the skill levels necessary to function at work and in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential (Parker, Baker , Williams and Nurse, 1995). Literacy can sometimes describe a person's comfort or knowledge on a particular topic (for example, "driving literacy"). In this context, “health literacy” is a group of skills that constitute the ability to perform basic reading and numeracy tasks to function in health care settings and act on health care information. According to the American Medical Association (1999), low health literacy can, on the other hand, impair functioning in the health care environment, affect the communication dynamic between patient and physician, and consistently lead to quality medical care. lower. Subsequently, (Schillinger, Piette, Grumbach, 2003) asserted that low health literacy is associated with poor understanding of written or oral medical advice, health problems, and negative health outcomes. population. The link between literacy and health education or well-being will gain importance not only in the face of extreme contemporary problemssuch as those described above, but also because societies will increasingly depend on healthy populations to meet the costs of health care facing their populations (Ziegler, 2016). Following this line of thinking, it is necessary to develop a set of measures that indicate the full societal benefits that can be derived from a health-literate population. This could bring new and productive dimensions to the debate on the effectiveness and evidence base of health promotion and health education. Health education or awareness considers health as a resource for daily life and describes the creation of health as a process aimed at increasing individuals' control over their health and its determinants, and this is where subject of this article. Education in the broadest sense is any act or experience which has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits accumulated knowledge, skills and values ​​from one generation to another (UNESCO, 2000). The aim of tackling attitudinal issues affecting the health literacy of Nigerian children's education is to empower them to lead meaningful and productive lives. It is about allowing the child to keep in mind that he should not be a handicap or a problem for society but that he must become an agent of change and development. Although public policies must set certain prerequisites for health, the Nigerian child must also actively participate in positive health issues as part of his contribution to civil society, hence the importance of developing knowledge in health. predisposition to respond cognitively, emotionally, or behaviorally to a particular object, person, or situation in a particular way. Attitudes are important because they can guide thinking, behavior and feelings. Attitudinal issues affecting the health education and health knowledge of Nigerian children include those encountered in the individual life of the child. Lest the list become endless, let us confine ourselves to the acute/major problems besetting the human race and the Nigerian child in particular. These may briefly include: physical, mental, emotional illnesses, disrupted family relationships; drug addiction; sexual harassment/rape; alcoholism and other health-related problems. Health researchers and professionals in both developed and developing countries have long been concerned about the link between health and education (Eiser, 1994; Health Canada, 1999; World Bank, 2000). Education and literacy are key determinants of health, as are income and its distribution, employment, working conditions and the social environment, even if the relationships and weight of these various determinants require further research. Reports abound from developing countries that highlight the positive impact of education and literacy on population, health and, in particular, women's health and children's health (Christomalis, 2009; Bledsoe, Casterline, Jonson-Kuhn and Haaga, 2001; The recent State of the World's Mothers report published by Save the Children (Save the Children, 2000) identified the adult female literacy rate (the percentage of women over the age of 15 who can read and write) as the one of the 10 key indicators for assessing “women’s well-being”. It is estimated that two-thirds of the world's 960 million illiterate adults are women. All countries ranked amongthe top 10 for “women’s well-being” have a female literacy rate of 90% or more. Latin America has a female literacy rate of 80%, the highest among developing countries. On the other hand, Africa has the lowest rate with large disparities. For example, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nigeria have literacy rates close to 80%, while in some of the poorest countries, such as Niger and Burkina Faso, only 10% of women can read. and write. It indicates that the mother's education level is closely linked to the risk of child death before the age of 2 and that developing countries that have achieved a female literacy rate of between 70 and 83 % also reached an infant mortality rate of 50 (per 100,000 inhabitants). ) or lower (Save the Children, 2000). Most research on health and education has focused on the population effects of education and health and literacy. However, recently, a reanalysis of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS has brought to the fore new questions and new relationships (Crawley, 2000; UNICEF, 2000). Although Zimbabwe, South Africa and Nigeria have some of the highest illiteracy rates in Africa, they are also among the countries most affected by illiteracy.the countries most seriously affected by HIV /AIDS, physical, mental and emotional illnesses and disrupted family relationships; drug addiction; sexual harassment/rape and alcoholism. It is estimated that in Nigeria, up to 25% of the population is infected, the majority of them women and children (UNAIDS/WHO, 1999). The recent UNICEF Nations Progress Report 2000 highlights that there is a disproportionately high incidence of HIV/AIDS among teachers in sub-Saharan Africa (UNICEF, 2000). It shows that literacy and health literacy are moving targets and must be considered in context. For example, the high mortality rate among teachers may be partly explained by the fact that many teachers are women and that, in most of these cultures, women do not have much power compared to their peers. family roles and the sexual demands of their husbands. This dramatically demonstrates the impact of low health literacy on other policy sectors, in this case education. The hard-won gains in school education, health and general literacy in African countries and Nigeria in particular are under serious threat, with increasing social and welfare effects. economic development of children. These effects pave the way for a common agenda between health and education, focused on the relationship and interdependence between investment in literacy and health literacy, in schools and in society at large ( Harrison, 2009). Although education and literacy are important determinants of health, health education as a distinct form of literacy is becoming increasingly important to the social and economic development of the Nigerian child. The challenges we face are: developing reliable measures of health literacy of societies and population groups; scientifically quantify its impact on health and quality of life; and propose public health interventions that significantly increase health literacy in its various dimensions. The next step is to review some definitions and measures of general literacy and discuss the extent to which they can be applied to specific health literacy challenges. A common understanding of literacy encompasses.