tailieunhanh - Child-friendly health care: the views and experiences of children and young people in Council of Europe member States

The most important treatment of acute rheumatic fever is prevention, associated with improvements in socioeconomic conditions. Once acute rheumatic fever has occurred, treatment includes penicillin to eradicate the streptococcal infection, high dose aspirin as an anti-inflammatory drug, or steroids if the cardiac disease is severe. Heart failure is treated with diuretics, and urgent heart valve replacement may occasionally be required. Long-term antibiotics throughout childhood are essential to prevent recurrences and to reduce the risk of subsequent valvular heart disease. Penicillin is commonly given as a monthly intramuscular injection. Heart surgery may be required at a later stage to. | MSN 2011 1 E Child-friendly health care the views and experiences of children and young people in Council of Europe member States Dr Ursula KILKELLY University College Cork Ireland Alto Comissariado da Saúde 2 Introduction The Council of Europe guidelines on child-friendly health care are designed to provide a framework to ensure that health care systems operate in line with best practice in children s health care and fulfil commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child UNCRC and other international standards. At its meeting in December 2010 the Committee of Experts mandated to draft the guidelines agreed to consult children and young people on their opinions and experiences of health care. A literature review on the existing research evidence on children s rights in health care completed by the author and submitted to the Group in December 2010 noted that although much research had been undertaken especially in English-speaking countries about children s participation in clinical decisionmaking little was known about children s experience of health care more broadly including their involvement as service-users. Moreover the research noted that little was known about children s experiences of health care in certain parts of the Council of Europe. For this reason a Council of Europe consultation was planned chiefly by means of a survey with a view to recording the views of as wide a group of children as possible. The survey was developed piloted on a small scale and made available to the Council of Europe s national partners in the health care and children s sectors. The survey was then placed on line at the start of June 2011 where it was available in 14 languages. This report presents the findings of that consultation process. It is important that the Council of Europe has begun to involve children in its legal and policymaking work. Children and young people have a right to have their voices heard and taken into account in matters .