Guest editorial

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHRH-07-2022-209
• Published date: 02 June 2022
• Date: 02 June 2022
• Pages: 213-214
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Inequalities & diverse/minority groups,Sociology,Race & ethnic studies,Minorities,Multiculturalism,Racial identity,Work,economy & organizations
• Author: Theo Gavrielides

Guest editorial

Theo Gavrielides

Children, young people and their international human right to healthcare

Welcome to a new Special Issue of the International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare

(IJHRH). In 2017, we were honoured to publish a Special Issue on youth matters with Guest

Editors Lee Hudson AND DeborahChristie. This was launched at the House of Commons [1]

and was one of our most successful publications. Therefore, a new issue focusing on youth

matters was long overdue, andthat is why I am pleased to edit 15:3 bringing together under

one roof a truly internationaland original research on the topic.

Starting with “Sleep habitsamong overweight and obese school-aged children and the right

to health”, it presents an observationalcross-sectional case–control study conductedon 100

children aged 6–12years, selected randomly from the OPC of the Pediatric Hospital, Ain-

Shams University. Among many othertimely findings, the study found that 72% with bedtime

resistance comparedto only 14% among the control subjects, 68% of children experienceda

delay with sleep onset compared to 14% among controls, 68% experienced sleep duration

abnormalities compared to 12% in the control group, 60% of children stated they needed

their parents while going to sleep,compared to 12% among controls, 64% of cases suffered

from walking during the night compared to 12% among controls, 64% of cases had a

Parasomnia compared to 12% among controls. The study showed a strong association

between excessive weight and increased risk of sleep. It is hoped that this research will

enhance the adoption of a child-centred approach inspired by the rightsto health and play,

and the general principlesof the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The second paper “Body image perception as predictor of positive and negative self-

concept scale for youngadults (BIPS)” reminds us of how important body image is especially

in the eyes of young people and how it impacts on their physical and mental health.

Perception is indeed a complex cognitiveprocess that involves several different dimensions.

According to the authors, body image perception is also a continuous and constantly

evolving process. They argue that the development of self-concept depends largely on

positive or negative perceptionof body image in today’s time. The paper develops a much-

needed instrumentthat measures beliefs and attitudes of people involved in the perception of

body image, defined as the perception that a person has of their physical self and the

thoughts and feelings that result into a positive or negative self-concept. Our journal hopes

that this tool will enable researchers to identify the positive and negative feelings and

attitudes of male and females towards their body image and towards the development of

healthy self-concept. Moreover,it can be used by clinical psychologists and medical health

professionalsto help assess and treat their patients

“Association of child survival with birth size and mother’s BMI: a human right approach”

assesses the risk of child mortalityassociated with size of child at birth and mother’s anaemia

level in northern India. The paper is based on 2015–2016 data extracted from the National

Family Health Survey(NFHS). According to the authors, there were a total of 2,835deaths out

of 41,412 births in the pastfive years preceding the survey period. Children of very small size

at birth were significantlytwo and half times more likely to die than childrenof average size at

birth. The estimated adjusted hazard ratio indicated that the children of severely anaemic

mothers were significantly 1.5 times more likely to die compared to children of not anaemic

mothers. Size of child at birth, mother’s anaemialevel, mother’s age at time of her first birth,

Theo Gavrielides is based

at Restorative Justice for All

(RJ4All) International

Institute, London, UK.

DOI 10.1108/IJHRH-07-2022-209 VOL. 15 NO. 3 2022, pp. 213-214, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2056-4902 jINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN HEALTHCARE jPAGE 213