Social pediatrics

Social pediatrics is a whole-family and whole-community approach to child medical problems and prevention. It was pioneered in Montreal by a group of doctors who took the African proverb as their guide:

Others argue that Abraham Jacobi (1830-1919) was the Father of Social Pediatrics. He recognized that “ It is not enough to work at the individual bedside in the hospital…(but also to influence) school boards, health department, legislature, advisor to judge and jury, seat in council.”

Social Pediatrics can be considered a branch of Social Medicine, whose founder was also the founder of Pathology--Virchow (1821-1902). As a he politician, worked to improve health of Berliners including water and sewage systems--“Disease never purely biological, often socially derived.”

Social pediatricians recognize that many common diseases in children are refractory to traditional and research interventions because health outcomes are intimately involved with reality:

- macro-environment: societal, community, and institutional factors

- micro-environment: intra and interpersonal factors

For example, an asthma patient may be admitted to the ICU not because of treatment failure, but because a lack of recognition of early signs, supervision of medication compliance (both parents work, has variable care givers) or $$ for medication. Because of this realization, it is necessary that pediatricians strive to change conditions to elevate life trajectories of those socially excluded, by acting on the social determinants of health because they drive brain development by the experiences they create.

A main center of training for social pediatrics exists in the Department of Family and Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. Montefiore Department of Family and Social Medicine. The Social Pediatrics Program at Montefiore is designed for individuals who see their future as pediatricians interested in clinical practice and the process of health care delivery in the community. Graduates of social pediatrics continue to work towards social justice by practicing in underserved inner-city health centers, community hospitals, rural and urban medical centers. Several of them serve as health policy advocates, health administrators, and leaders in community medicine. Others use their social pediatrics training in subspecialties or Global Health, bringing community-oriented approach.

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Wikipedia