Main directions of activity of the institute of the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child in assistance of protection of health and formation of the environment of “safe childhood” from positions of public health

BACKGROUND Participation in leisure activities is essential for child development and a human right as per the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children with disabilities face several restrictions when participating in leisure activities as compared to same age peers without disabilities. Access to information about accessible, inclusive leisure activities is one of the barriers limiting participation, and one potential health promotion strategy is to provide access to information to increase participation. The Jooay App is a mobile App listing such activities in Canada and Australia. With the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) global pandemic and subsequent public health measures, most community-based facilities providing the activities listed on Jooay were closed. The App, therefore, started listing online activities offered with the expectation of continuing to provide information for families and also understand the extent to which users relied on the mobile App as a tool to identify new safe leisure opportunities. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to describe the engagement of the Jooay app before and during COVID-19, and to estimate the extent to which the listing of online activities was related to the engagement of the Jooay app. METHODS Retrospective study comparing Jooay app usage between March 2020 and February 2021 to the engagement between March 2019 and February 2020, by Jooay users. Spearman rank correlations were carried out to identify associations between the activities listed and the users’ engagement from May 2020 to February 2021. RESULTS Active engagement with the Jooay app from March 2020 to February 2021 dropped an average of 64.2% compared to usage in 2019-2020. Largest monthly drop in engagement was observed in May 2020 (88.8%). There was a strong, positive correlation between the number of active users and the number of online activities listed on the app (rs=0.900). CONCLUSIONS The engagement with the Jooay App presented an expected decrease during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Availability of online adapted leisure activities to the app’s listings during the pandemic enabled children and families to re-engage in finding virtual leisure opportunities that promote health. Mobile-health solutions must be responsive to contextual factors and consider the social determinants of health such as socio-economic and public health emergency issues that can impact participation of vulnerable populations such as children with disabilities. The provision of online leisure opportunities during the pandemic could lead to increased participation, which is essential and beneficial for the physical and mental wellbeing of children with disabilities and their families.

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Roots, Rights and Risk: Canada, Childhood and the COVID-19 Global Pandemic.

Canadian Journal of Children s Rights / Revue canadienne des droits des enfants ◽

10.22215/cjcr.v8i1.2814 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 13-33

Author(s):

Sarah Ciotti ◽

Shannon Moore ◽

Maureen Connolly ◽

Trent Newmeyer

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Economic Status ◽

Qualitative Research Study ◽

Rights Of The Child ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

Constructions Of Childhood ◽

Media Reports ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

The Impact

The COVID-19 global pandemic highlights pre-existing inequities as well as the challenge of ensuring the protection of children’s human rights in countries like Canada that have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. SARS-CoV-2, referred to as the 2019 novel Coronavirus disease or COVID-19, presents a significant threat to public health. Although children are considered to be low risk of contracting, spreading, and serious complications of the disease, are considerably impacted by COVID-19 government-sanctioned distancing measures. COVID-19 is a persistent public health threat, thus, the long-term consequences are largely unknown. This qualitative research study, a content analysis of online Canadian media reports of COVID-19 and children, engaged transdisciplinary social justice methodology, social constructions of childhood at the intersection of race, socio-economic status, gender, and disability. The findings suggest COVID-19 reinforces the impact of social exclusion and economic disparity on equity-seeking young people and families in Canada.

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A decade of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child: implications for child nutrition and for the conceptualization of norms and interventions in public-health nutrition

Nutrition ◽

10.1016/s0899-9007(00)00247-1 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 16 (7-8) ◽

pp. 640-642

Author(s):

Noel W Solomons

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

United Nations ◽

Child Nutrition ◽

Public Health Nutrition ◽

Rights Of The Child ◽

United Nations Convention ◽

The United Nations

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Mediating tensions between public health and individual rights

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.044 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

B Toebes

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Human Rights ◽

Family Life ◽

Individual Rights ◽

Best Interest ◽

Health Measures ◽

Rights Of The Child ◽

Laws And Policies ◽

Health Laws ◽

Individual Human

Abstract Public health laws and policies are powerful tools. Yet, they are often at tension with individual rights, including physical integrity, and privacy and family life. For example: extensive quarantines to curb the spread of an infectious disease may restrict freedom of movement; the introduction of compulsory vaccination for pre-school entry may create tension with the freedom of conscience or religion of parents who do not wish to have their children vaccinated; and smoke-free zones can create tension with the rights to privacy and family life. Overcoming such tensions is both an ethical and a legal imperative. The primary legal framework in which this settling of tensions takes place is human rights law, which is binding on all countries around the world. Human rights standards reflect individual values that need to be taken into account when introducing public health measures. However, there is still insufficient understanding as to how the various human rights are to be weighed and integrated into public health laws and policies. Many questions remain, including how to balance public health or the collective ‘right to health' with individual rights. This presentation will identify the most important tensions between public health measures and individual human rights. Subsequently, it will offer some solutions on how to better integrate human rights into public health laws and policies. Specific attention will be paid to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The point will be made, that the ‘best interest of the child' norm under this Convention may under circumstances set aside other interests, including parental freedoms. The presentation will conclude with the identification of a so-called ‘Human Rights-Based Approach' (HRBA), an integrated approach that may serve to make public health laws and policies ‘human rights proof'. Key messages There is an inherent tension between measures to protect the health of the public and individual human rights. We need to come to a better understanding of how to resolve these tensions.

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Neonatal Circumcision: Public Health Necessity or Ethical Dilemma? – Systematic Review

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1083676/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Brian J. Morris ◽

Beth Rivin ◽

John N. Krieger

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Health Benefits ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Legal Aspects ◽

Best Interests ◽

Health And Human Rights ◽

Rights Of The Child ◽

Legal Arguments ◽

The Right

Abstract Male circumcision (MC) is common in many countries. Despite clear health benefits, ethical arguments have been invoked opposing MC, especially when performed neonatally (NMC). NMC is when most MCs are performed in developed countries. Here we provide the first PRISMA-compliant systematic review of the disparate evidence of ethical and legal arguments concerning NMC and MC of older boys. Searches were performed of PubMed, Embase and Scopus for publications relevant to ethical and legal aspects of MC in developed Anglophone and European countries. This led to retrieval of 48 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. A further 18 articles and 16 Internet publications were identified from searches of bibliographies of articles retrieved. Two more were supplied by a legal academic colleague. In total 84 publications were reviewed. The literature revealed arguments by some that parent-approved MC of a nonconsenting child is unethical. But parental consent also applies to vaccination and all other medical therapies in children. Strong data support a conclusion that: (1) NMC is low risk, (2) NMC provides immediate and lifetime medical and health benefits, and (3) NMC has no adverse effect on sexual function and pleasure. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child articulates the right to health and focuses on the best interests of the child as its guiding principle. Discouraging or denying MC to neonates is arguably unethical, given the overwhelming health benefits. Legal scholars regard case-law as supporting the legality of NMC. Ethical and legal arguments support the rights of males of all ages to lifetime protection against infection and diseases caused by lack of MC. Arguments opposing NMC generally involve distortion of the medical evidence, poorly designed studies and opinions. Opposition to NMC goes against the principles of evidence-based medicine used in reviews conducted to develop pediatric policies in support of optimum public health, sexual health, mental health, and human rights.

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