Abstract

MATOS, Margarida Gaspar de; DAVID, Celso; SIMOES, Celeste  and  TAVIRA, Luis. Children, health assets and poverty in a recent post-war scenario: the Angola case. Rev. bras.ter. cogn. [online]. 2008, vol.4, n.2, pp. 5-18. ISSN 1808-5687.

Angola is a Portuguese-speaking country that faced a recent civil war, after decades of colonial occupation and conflict, and still exhibits a scenario of poverty. Well-fare, health concerns and schooling are still a privilege. A school-based survey was carried out in all four schools in Benguela (South of Angola), 22 randomly classes were selected, including 701 pupils, attending 8th and 10th grade, being 55.2% boys. Mean age in the present study was 17.5 years old, SD 3.25. Descriptive and multi-variated analysis revealed that the perception of family well fare is mainly associated with positive aspects of health: fruit intake, perception of school competence, mother instruction level and number of friends. Life satisfaction was associated with family well fare, as well as with mother level of instruction, fruit intake and perception of safety in school. The health assets’ perspective seems thus to propose a new way of identifying and fulfilling needs in a developing country. Present results suggest a focus on positive issues such as schooling, social capital/friends, and healthy food, as relevant factors to promoting teens’ health and well-being, in a country in a recent post-war scenario.

Keywords : Children; Adolescents; Poverty; Health concerns; Schooling; Well-being.

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