Social paediatrics refers to the health and well-being of children, most specifically those living at the margins of society, disadvantaged, disabled, or dispossessed. This description hinges on recognition of the social determinants as critical mediators of child health. The 2013 UNICEF report of "Child Well-being in Rich Countries," which benchmarks health and well-being among the world's richest countries, underlines once again that Canada's performance is spotty at best. Overall, Canada remains right in the middle of the pack, ranked 17th of the 29 countries included. We rank 27th in childhood obesity, 22nd in infant mortality and 21st in child poverty rates. Furthermore, for Aboriginal children and youth, health outcomes continue to be far lower than Canadian averages.

Advocacy, in fact, sustained unprecedented activism mobilizing every inspired and inspiring person, is required to tackle the three problem areas of disadvantage and poverty, access to consistent and comprehensive primary health care and "toxic stress". The concepts of child protection and protection of the child along the life trajectory demonstrate the imperatives at the individual and community levels (and beyond) respectively. Several examples within the local Social Pediatrics educational initiative will be discussed as contributors to "the growing movement to implement place-based, multilevel, multi sector interventions that focus on transforming both neighbourhood and educational conditions" (Halfon, JAMA, March 5, 2014).

This is the second webinar in an exciting three-part series.

Presenters

Dr. Sue Bennett is currently Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Child & Youth Protection Program at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa. She is also an Associate at the International Institute of Child Rights & Development, Royal Roads University and a Board member for the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect.

Sue is a pediatrician and a trained psychoanalyst and her clinical work with maltreated children and youth and their families spans over 2 decades.

Sue was the Co-Chair of the Program of Development international Working Group to develop the General Comment on Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (The Right of the Child to Freedom from All forms of Violence) at the request of the UN CRC Committee (2011). She is committed to its implementation in her daily work.


Dr. Denis Daneman completed his medical training at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 1973, and his residency in pediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto, and a fellowship in paedatric endocrinology at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Pittsburgh, Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. He assumed his appointment in the Paediatrics Division of Endocrinology in 1981 at the University and has been on the medical staff of SickKids in the Division of Endocrinology since then.


Dr. Elizabeth Lee Ford-Jones is a an Infectious Diseases Specialist and Clinical Researcher at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. She holds special interests in vaccine-preventable diseases, childhood encephalitis, congenital infections, and infections in day centre attendees. Since June 2007, Dr. Ford-Jones leads a new educational initiative in social pediatrics that targets the disadvantaged. She is a recipient of the Claus Wirsig Humanitarian Award at The Hospital for Sick Children and the 2010 recipient of the Certificate of Merit for the Province of Ontario of the CPS, an acknowledgement awarded regionally to members who have worked locally to make a difference for the health of children in their community. She is a strong believer and activist for the needs of disadvantaged children, advocating for a national poverty reduction strategy, better support and funding for early childhood education and care and more opportunities in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Jean Clinton, is an Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster, division of Child Psychiatry. She is on staff at McMaster Children's Hospital and an Associate in the Department of Child Psychiatry, University of Toronto and Sick Children's Hospital. She is an Associate Member of the Offord Centre for Child Studies and has been a consultant to child welfare and children's mental health programs for over 25 years.