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Children's Health
Hundreds of millions of children in the developing world face critical challenges, including exploitation, abuse, violence, poverty, environmental degradation, war and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Not only do these issues affect children's health, they stretch the family's ability to protect and care for them.
Children with disabilities, especially those who live in rural areas, face even more daunting challenges. Yet with the right resources and support, their parents and caregivers can learn how to adapt their home, play and work environments to suit their child's developmental needs.
Hesperian's work is based on the principle that most of the answers for meeting disabled children's needs can be found within the community, the family and in the children themselves. Our groundbreaking book Disabled village children includes clear, simple, yet detailed information on the most common disabilities of children, as well as suggestions for simplified rehabilitation, low-cost aids and ways to help disabled children find a role and be accepted in the community.
A child's first few years of life are critical to determining her future development. This is especially true for a child with a disability. Hesperian's Early assistance series provides parents and caregivers resources and guidance on how best to nurture their child's unique abilities and to fully develop thinking, language, emotional and social skills. We are currently developing the latest book in the series Helping children at risk for emotional and behavioral problems.
