It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears.
It’s a world of hopes and a world of fears.
There’s so much that we share,
That it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small world after all.It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small, small world.There is just one moon and one golden sun.
And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide,
And the oceans are wide
It’s a small world after all.It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small, small world.— “It’s A Small World” by The Sherman Brothers.
In order to “be the change” we want to see in the world, Dr. Linda D. Arnold asks pediatricians to think globally, even as we work tirelessly to provide care in our local communities:
Pediatricians are uniquely qualified to advocate and care for children, but there aren’t enough of us working in settings where children’s needs are greatest. For this reason, all pediatricians must help provide a voice for children everywhere, by calling for global prioritization of children’s needs, and inclusion of specific health targets for children in all global development agendas. Regardless of where we practice, each of us has the ability, and responsibility, to promote global child health.
Dr. Arnold, Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, describes how the world looks regarding pediatric health in 2016:
Although children’s needs are universal, the likelihood of having them met is not. More than 400 million of the world’s children live in extreme poverty and, despite marked reductions in global under-5 mortality, 5.9 million young children still die each year.
Of these, 2.7 million are neonates, dead within 1 month; 1 million the day they are born. Every 5 seconds, somewhere in the world, a child dies. More than 16,000 dead children every day. As recognized, trusted experts in child health, we have the power to change this.
Promoting global child health begins here at home, where “one in 4 U.S. children is an immigrant, or the child of immigrants,” and, where “in the past decade alone, more than 200,000 refugee children have resettled in communities throughout our country.” And the world is getting even smaller:
Last year, 32 million flights carried 3.1 billion passengers worldwide. Children traveling internationally are vulnerable to both environmental hazards and infectious exposures, especially when visiting low or middle-income countries. Even among children who never leave the United States, recent measles outbreaks provide sobering evidence of the growing risk of domestic exposure to diseases transported by American or foreign travelers.
Some things, Dr. Arnold says, threaten ALL children and have no borders:
The actions of individual nations have repercussions for children living far beyond their borders. Just as contaminants in imported foods and medications pose hazards to children in the United States, our carbon emissions contribute to growing rates of asthma and to global climate change, endangering the health and wellbeing of children worldwide. Intentional or not, we are responsible for the consequences
Read the rest of Dr. Linda Arnold’s inspiring commentary in Pediatrics here.
Unreleased Third Verse:
It’s a world of wonder, a world of fun.
And in years to come we’ll know peace on earth.
We will open our eyes,
And we’ll all realize
It’s a small world after all.It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small, small world.