Child Sexual Abuse Awareness

Child Sexual Abuse Awareness

April month is considered as Child Sexual Abuse Awareness month. It’s just my small part in spreading this awareness. Again thanks to The Chennai Bloggers Club (CBC) for the alert and I can proudly tell that this one is also a CBC inspired post.

What is Child Sexual Abuse?

Theoretically Child sexual abuse may mean the dominant position of an adult that allows him or her to force or coerce a child into sexual activity. But in reality, it is much more than that. This is more common across the globe.

The below screen shot itself tells whether it is common or uncommon. It is the screen shot of google news for “Child Sex Abuse” and it just one page of many pages, most of the news updated in last 2 days. It proves that, child sex abuse is increasing every day.

Screenshot of Child Sex Abuse related news in Google News

 Risk Factors:

The family and its environment are the determining forces behind a child’s sexual abuse. Few of them are listed below:

Source: kathmanduk2.wordpress

• Family structure is the most important risk factor in child sexual abuse. The risk is higher when children live with step-parents or a single parent. Children living without either parent (foster children) are 10 times more likely to be sexually abused than children that live with both biological parents
• Gender is also a major factor in sexual abuse. Females are 5 times more likely to be abused than males
• Age is a significant factor in sexual abuse. While there is risk for children of all ages, children are most vulnerable to abuse between the ages of 7 and 13
• Children who live in rural areas are almost 2 times more likely to be identified as victims of child sexual abuse
• Children who witness or are the victim of other crimes are significantly more likely to be sexually abused

How to Prevent Child Sex Abuse:

In most of the cases, it is evident that the abuse has been done by the people who are known to the children. It is the duty of the parents to teach certain things to the kid. The disabled kids are more prone to sexual abuse than the others.

Image Source : all4women.co.za

• The most important thing is to believe your kid when they tell about the abuse. Most of the parents are ignoring those words since its coming from the mouth of a kid.
• Don't scare your children in order to keep them safe. Teaching them the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching will help them from the predators. As early as age 3, children should understand that parts of their body are private and that it is not okay for anyone to touch them.
• Start talking to your children by explaining how certain parts of their body - those covered by a swimsuit are private. No one should touch them there except for parents when they're being cleaned—and the doctor, too, but only if Mom or Dad is there in the room. Avoid telling like "some people are bad" kind of explanation.
• Use real names for body parts. Avoid calling your child’s private parts made-up names. “It makes kids think that there is something weird or shameful about their bodies, and they’ll be less likely to tell you if someone touches them,” says Sharon W. Doty, author of Keeping Them Safe: Protecting Children from Sexual Predators and Evil in Our Midst: Protecting Children from Sexual Predators. Nothing wrong in using the words like “penis,” “testicles”, “vagina,” and “breasts” instead.
• Advising your children not to talk to strangers is good. But the truth is, most of the abuse is committed not by strangers but by someone the child knows well. You have to worry more about with whom your child spends time on daily basis
• Advice your children not to keep anything as secret if they have asked to do so by any adult. Because, this is one way where the abusers gain advantage. They asks the kid to keep it as secret, else their parents would go mad at them.
• Do NOT insist that children hug or kiss relatives or friends. Let children express affection on their own terms

American Academy of Paediatrics recommends the following age-oriented conversations with children :

·         From ages 18 months to 3 years: Begin teaching children the proper names for all body parts.

·         3 to 5 years: Teach children about private body parts and how to say “no” to anyone who touches them in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable. Give them direct answers to questions about sex.

·         5 to 8 years: Talk about good touches and bad touches and safety away from home.

·         8 to 12 years: Focus on personal safety issues

·         13 to 18 years: Discuss issues such as rape, HIV, other sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy.

Why do offenders involve in Child Sex Abuse ?

There are many causes of child abuse however none of them can be treated as excuse.

• Some abusers have mental problems and see themselves as kids too. They tend to have a strong desire for sexual things with kids. This mental condition is called pedophilia. A person suffering from that is a pedophile.
• Most adults who sexually use or abuse children were, during their own childhoods, abused sexually - physically, and/or emotionally, as well as neglected physically and/or emotionally. In reaction to those experiences of abuse, neglect, betrayal and powerlessness, they may have attempted to find feelings of power and control over others – including sexual power over children.
• Drug and alcohol abuse also seem to be a common factor in child abuse cases.

Conclusion:

As discussed above, there can’t be any single reason for the offenders to involve in child sex abuse. We can’t predict when our known and reliable person will become an offender. Better to be safe than sorry. Try to follow the Age-Oriented conversations as enunciated by the American Academy of Paediatrics. Let us make a better tomorrow.

Disclaimer: All content in this blog is provided only for general information and awareness based on the references cited at the bottom, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical / psychological advice of the professional.

References: apa.org, cachouston.org, parenting.com, virtus.org, voices.yahoo.com

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Being a woman - Part 1: Positive Edge on Health Front

Being a woman - Part 1:

Positive Edge on Health Front 

(Guest Post by Dr.Sai Sriram)

I take this opportunity thank you all for the responses on my post about women’s day which talked about women’s health. Based on the comments and the requests made by few people , I came to know that there is not much awareness on the women’s health front. I must thank Dr. Sai Sriram wholeheartedly for coming forward with this excellent article. Here I am introducing Dr. Sai Sriram as a Guest Author in my blog and now he is writing about the health benefits of being women.

Women are predisposed to several medical conditions by virtue of the additional X chromosome, but there are certain benefits as well. Few of them are listed below :

·         Women have a greater number of circulating white blood cells and tend to produce antibodies at a quicker rate. This makes recovery from infections relatively faster.

·         There are a bunch of diseases that manifest themselves when there is no properly functioning X chromosome. A genotypic male has just one X , hence, if something is wrong with it, he is hit.

·         The woman on the other hand, has the luxury of the additional X chromosome. She ‘carries’ the disease without suffering from it, but transmits to her children. Haemophilia follows this criss-cross mode of transmission. It is extremely rare for a women to be affected by this condition and the odds are further reduced with non-consanguineous (outside the family) marriages.

·         Another disease with a similar pattern is colour blindness. While billions of men have been accused of not recognizing colours (we just recognize the colours from sporting teams’ kits), the ones that are actually affected by color blindness are all men. 

·             Estrogen is known to protect women from certain cardiac illness by reducing the ‘bad cholesterol’. This appears to be just one of the several mechanisms that protect pre-menopausal women.

·         Also, since women tend to inexplicably link body image perception and self esteem, they are relatively easy to convince to take up a regular exercise regime. They burn those extra calories with more intent than men and reap the benefits..

·         Another important aspect of women’s health is the mental aspect. Women have higher rates of attempted suicides but paradoxically, few of those attempts actually end with the woman dying.
In other words, when a man decides to get himself killed, he sadly gets it done.

·         Although an average female tends to spend 15% (men-12%) of her life with some sickness (health is not just absence of disease or infirmity), she lives longer than the male. Surely, longevity is a gift

Despite the differences, many people realizes the importance of women only during their pregnancy. Social and cultural stigmatization accounts for the unwillingness of a woman unwell to come forward and seek help at the earliest possible. For all we know, beyond the purview of medicine, a healthy happy woman is the most vital component of a happy family, a nurturing childhood and most importantly, for a brighter tomorrow. Let us make a better tomorrow. Lets share and spread the awareness.

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My Articleship Experience - The Best Phase of My Career

Image Source : Facebook Articleship Page

My Articleship Experience - The Best Phase in my Career

As you all know, I am pursuing CA. And as a part of the course, I supposed to have 3.5 years of articleship in an audit firm. 

I have completed my 3.5 years of articleship in a mid sized audit firm on December 2011. I have learnt as much as I can during the stay of 3.5. years there.

I commenced my articleship on May 2008 immediately after completing my B.Com., from C.Kandaswamy Naidu College, Anna Nagar. I didn't enjoy much during my college days.  I was just being a "Moodi" till my college days. The only thing I know when I was studying college was just studies. Nothing beyond. But I should be proud of my college, which imparted me of professional knowledge. The professors are not world-class, but they are the best ones who have shaped up my career. I am indebted to them till my last breath. 

I must say, this articleship was the very important phase in my career, since its my first exposure to the outside world. I joined this firm when I dont even know many areas in chennai and to be frank i must say am "0" when I joined here. 

But my workplace and the people around there in office (Generally called Colleagues, But i can call them as FRIENDS) played a major role in changing myself. Mainly the attitude towards education and profession has been the greatest outcome of this 3.5 years. 

I got the real good friends here like Tamil, Harini, Santhoshi (The Best one), Senthil, Ramesh among few others . We never gone for outing, but still we have fun in our workplace and enjoy the work. 

For a profession like this , we need to be up to date and I got such a good guys here who will update me and me in turn share updates which I am aware of. 

The memories of our Aayudha Pooja Celeberations in our office , get to-gether in a Hotel near Mount Road during October of 2010 , Saturday Review meetings, Tension in office during the Due Dates, etc etc can never be erased.
 
I really wonder how fastly this 3.5 years has passed. 

Still i remember the day when I received the call from my boss (Principal Auditor) to join this firm for articles and you wonder what, the first thing i noticed in our office was a print out with a wonderful quote "THERE IS NEVER A WRONG TIME TO DO A RIGHT THING". May be that first impression has its impact on the positive change in my attitude. 

The words can be erased, but the memories can't ! This memory will never be erased. 

"Miles to go before we sleep" :) 

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World Health Day - Theme: Hypertension (7th April)

World Health Day 2013 (Theme: Hypertension) – 7^th April

Today is celebrated as World Health Day. On this special day, I just wanted to share few points which can help us to create a HEALTHY TOMORROW. It is an initiative by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to spread the awareness about health quotient. This post is just my small part in spreading the awareness about the Hypertension, which has been chosen as the theme for this year. Read it and spread the awareness if you find it useful. All the facts and contents are based on the references cited at the end of my post.

History behind World Health Day:

World Health Day is celebrated on 7th April to mark the anniversary of the founding of WHO in 1948. Each year a theme is selected for World Health Day that highlights a priority area of public health concern in the world.

The theme for 2013 is Hypertension (High Blood Pressure).

What is Hypertension :

Image Source: Stock.xchng

Hypertension also known as High blood pressure or raised blood pressure - increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. If left uncontrolled, high blood pressure can also cause blindness, irregularities of the heartbeat and heart failure. One in three adults worldwide has high blood pressure.

High blood pressure is very common, especially in middle-aged and elderly people. Once it has developed it tends to last for life. High blood pressure puts a strain on the heart and circulatory system, which can ultimately cause damage to many parts of the body.

The normal level for blood pressure is below 120/80, where 120 represents the systolic measurement (peak pressure in the arteries) and 80 represents the diastolic measurement (minimum pressure in the arteries).

•    Blood pressure between 120/80 and 139/89 is called prehypertension (to denote increased risk of hypertension), and

• Blood pressure of 140/90 or above is considered hypertension.

Causes of Hypertension :

Though the exact causes of hypertension are usually unknown, there are several factors that have been highly associated with the condition. These include:

• ·         Smoking
• ·         Obesity or being overweight
• ·         Diabetes
• ·         Lack of physical activity
• ·         High levels of salt intake (sodium sensitivity)
• ·         Insufficient calcium, potassium, and magnesium consumption
• ·         Vitamin D deficiency
• ·         High levels of alcohol consumption
• ·         Stress
• ·         Aging
• ·         Medicines such as birth control pills
• ·         Genetics and a family history of hypertension - In May 2011, scientists from the University of Leicester, England, reported in the journal Hypertension that some genes in the kidneys may contribute to hypertension.
• ·         Chronic kidney disease
• ·         Adrenal and thyroid problems or tumors

Who are more prone to Hypertension:

• ·  Up to the age of 45, more men have high blood pressure than women.
•    More women have hypertension by the time they reach 65.
•    You have a greater risk if a close family member has high blood pressure or if you are diabetic
• ·  About 60% of people with diabetes have high blood pressure.

Symptoms of Hypertension:

There is no specific symptom for identifying hypertension. About 33% of people actually do not know that they have high blood pressure, and this ignorance can last for years. For this reason, it is advisable to undergo periodic blood pressure screenings even when no symptoms are present.

However, extremely high blood pressure may have some symptoms which include:

·         Severe headaches

·         Fatigue or confusion

·         Dizziness

·         Problems with vision

·         Chest pains

·         Breathing problems

·         Irregular heartbeat

·         Blood in the urine

Effects of Hypertension:

·         Brain: High blood pressure can cause tiny blood vessels inside your brain to rupture. A bleeding vessel or clot inside the brain can result in a stroke.

·         Eyes: If a blood vessel inside the eye ruptures from hypertension, it can cause blurred vision and even blindness.

·         Kidneys: If blood vessels inside the kidneys become too narrow, these organs can lose their ability to filter waste products out of your blood. This can lead to kidney failure, which may require dialysis or a kidney transplant.

·         Heart: The heart is a muscle that requires oxygenated blood. If it doesn't get enough oxygen to function properly or blood flow to the heart is blocked, this can cause angina or a heart attack. Over time, the pressure of having to work harder can weaken your heart — a condition called congestive heart failure.

Prevention of Hypertension :

High blood pressure is both preventable and treatable. The risk of developing high blood pressure can be reduced by:

·         Reducing salt intake

·         Eating a balanced diet

·         Avoiding harmful use of alcohol

·         Taking regular physical activity

·         Maintaining a healthy body weight and

·         Avoiding tobacco use.

Conclusion:

Since there is no specific symptom for the Hypertension, we need to be extremely cautious. Hypertension is often a life-long condition. It is important to take your medications and continue to monitor your blood pressure. If you keep it under control, you can reduce your risk of stroke, heart disease, and kidney failure. Lifestyle modification plays an important role in the treatment and prevention of Hypertension. Lack of awareness also leads to increase in the incidence of Hypertension. Lets share and spread the awareness and make a healthy tomorrow.

Disclaimer: All content in this blog is provided only for general information and awareness based on the references cited at the bottom, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of the health care professional.

References: who.int, patienthealthinternational.com, medicalnewstoday.com, webmd.com, everydayhealth.com

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Maya Devipujak - Wonderul Achievement by a Vegetable Vendor's Specially Abled Daughter

Image Source : 4to40.com

Yet another Inspiring Story - Vegetable vendor's daughter Maya Devipujak got selected and participated in special winter olympics which was held at South Korea.

Her family might be struggling to make ends meet, but that did not stop Maya Devipujak from following her dream of wielding the hockey stick on ice despite being bracketed among those with with Mild Intelligence Quotient.


Maya is the only girl from Gujarat in the Indian Floor Hockey team which has participated in World Winter Games (Special Olympics) held on Pyeong Chang,South Korea, from January 29 to February 5, 2013.

Hailing from the economically backward Devipujak community, the 19-year-old is the first person from her community to scale such heights, her mother Kamu Devipujak, a vegetable vendor, says proudly.


"I have not even gone to Ahmedabad...It is forthe first time that someone from our community is flying in an aeroplane. I am veryhappy...she has brought our community a good name," Kamu told PTI.

Maya's father suffers from a mental disorder and is unable to go to work and earn for the family, Kamu said, adding they live in a slum near Mehsana railway station, 77km from here. 

Maya was enrolled in a special school for mentally-challenged children run by Khodiyar Education Trust (KET), the trust's project co-coordinator, Vishnu Chaudhary, said.


After completing Class VII, she helped her mother in running the home for one year. That's when KET enrolled her again and started giving her vocational training in making handicrafts.


However, what caught the eye of sports teachers at KET was her performance in the district and state tournaments organised by them, Chaudhary said, adding, she had pace and her control over the puck (ball) was good.


She was then selected for the national camps and from then on, she has not looked back. The teenager attended national camps in Delhi, Shimla, Chandigarh and Bilaspur before being shortlisted for the national side.


However, there arose a small hurdle -- to get a passport.

The joy of being selected for the Indian Floor Hockey team soon gave way to disappointment when her application was rejected as she didn't have a permanent residential address.


Belonging to a below poverty line (BPL) family, she lived in a slum built on Government land and did not have an electricity bill, Chaudhary said.


Other mandatory residential documentary proofs were also not there and that's when J R Mothaliya, Superintendent of Police, Mehsana, intervened and issued a bonafide certificate so that Maya could get the travel document and fulfil her dream of participating in the Games.


Mothaliya said "without a permanent address,it was difficult for the family to get a passportfor the girl. So, I issued a bonafide so that the girl could fulfil her dreams of participating in the Special Olympics."

Source : NDTV

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Fools' Day - Why April 1 ?

Vector source: vector.us

The Real History Behind Fools' day :

Happy Fool's Day buddies !!!!

This supposed to be a funny day, but before playing pranks and making others fool , we must know the history behind this day !!!

History:

April Fools' Day, sometimes called All Fools' Day, is one of the most light-hearted days of the year. Its origins are uncertain. Some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it stems from the adoption of a new calendar.

New Year's Day Moves

Ancient cultures, including those of the Romans and Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1. That year, France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New Year's day to Jan. 1. According to a popular explanation, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe.

Problems With This Explanation

There are at least two difficulties with this explanation. The first is that it doesn't fully account for the spread of April Fools' Day to other European countries. The Gregorian calendar was not adopted by England until 1752, for example, but April Fools' Day was already well established there by that point. The second is that we have no direct historical evidence for this explanation, only conjecture, and that conjecture appears to have been made more recently.

Constantine and Kugel

Another explanation of the origins of April Fools' Day was provided by Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University. He explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.

"In a way," explained Prof. Boskin, "it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor."

This explanation was brought to the public's attention in an Associated Press article printed by many newspapers in 1983. There was only one catch: Boskin made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they'd been victims of an April Fools' joke themselves.

Spring Fever
It is worth noting that many different cultures have had days of foolishness around the start of April, give or take a couple of weeks. The Romans had a festival named Hilaria on March 25, rejoicing in the resurrection of Attis. The Hindu calendar has Holi, and the Jewish calendar has Purim. Perhaps there's something about the time of year, with its turn from winter to spring, that lends itself to lighthearted celebrations.

Observances Around the World

April Fools' Day is observed throughout the Western world. Practices include sending someone on a "fool's errand," looking for things that don't exist; playing pranks; and trying to get people to believe ridiculous things.

The French call April 1 Poisson d'Avril, or "April Fish." French children sometimes tape a picture of a fish on the back of their schoolmates, crying "Poisson d'Avril" when the prank is discovered.

Source: http://www.infoplease.com 

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