title: Pediatricians and the Rights of the Child. UN Convention provides blueprint for monitoring the well-being of children worldwide.
abstract: The Convention should have a special resonance for pediatricians and others who have both the capacity and responsibility to care for children. A basic tenet of pediatric practice is to advocate for the best interests of the child. According to the Convention, this does not mean that a child's interests will always prevail; rather, it allows for child interests to be considered and given equal weight to competing interests. The pediatric community could benefit in this regard by using a human rights perspective to inform the public debate on children's issues. Pediatricians use growth charts in their daily practices to compare a child's growth to norms for his or her particular age and gender. One may think of the Convention as the growth chart for children's interests, a template by which child advocates can measure progress in promoting the health and well-being of children.
authors.affiliation: Doctors for Global Health, Decatur, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kasper
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000592:standards; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D028701:Patient Rights / Q000592:standards; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000379:methods; D014480:United Nations / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*