STREET CHILDREN: HEALTH CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD

The key root cause of most health problems in many of the developing countries
around the world, including Nigeria has been identified to be poverty. In Nigeria,
half of the total population of 210 million, is aged less than 18 years. 7 million of
these populations are street children mainly due to poverty. The Street children are
constantly being exposed to varying unhealthy conditions predisposing them to all
kinds of health risks thereby affecting their health status in diverse ways. Against
this background, this paper focuses on the concepts of street children and the root
causes, the health challenges of the street children phenomenon in Nigeria and the
way forward. The paper proposed that government, non-governmental
organizations, individuals, teachers, church leaders and the entire community all
have a role to play to alleviate the suffering, preventing health challenges and
promoting the health of the street child. It therefore, recommends that the
community health educators should exercise their roles in promoting the health of
members of the community including the street children.