Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect defines:  Child Abuse
as any recent  act of fenhore on the part of a parent or caretaker  which  results in death, serious  physical  or emotional harm, sexual  abuse or exploitations, an act or failure  to act  which  presents an imminent risk of serious harm.
In western countries, preventing child abuse is considered a high priority and detailed laws and policies exist to address this issue. Different  jurisdictions  have developed their own definitions of what constitute child abuse for the purpose of removing  a child from his/her family and prosecuting a criminal charge.
Child abuse is more than bruises and broken  bones. While physical abuse might be the most visible, other types of abuse such as emotional abuse and neglect, also  leaves deep, lasting scars. The earlier  abused children get help, the greater chance of  healing  and breaking  the cycle.
Learning common signs of abuse and what  you  can do to intervene,  you can make a huge  difference  in a child’s life.
The idea that it’s only an   abuse if violent, only bad people abuse  children. Child abuse does not happen  in good families,  most child  abusers are strangers. That abused children always  grow up to  become  abusers is almost  not  true  as the issue of child abuse could  take various turns.
Child abuse takes different forms. It could be  emotional or physical. Ignoring  a child as a punishment,  constant belittling  and humillations,  frequent yelling, threatening or bullying a child, not being predictable using fear to control behavior of a child, lashing out in anger on a child, among others.
The effect of child abuse  and neglect among others are: Lack of trust and difficult relationship with children  and the children to others. Core feeling of being worthless or damaged, due to re-current  to others. Core feeling of being worthless or  damaged, due to recalcitrant  bard thoughts  and talks.
Having children is certainly one of life’s greatest joy, but raising children  can  also be stressful, even for those who have the best information and support.
Overwhelming stress and lack of knowledge about  child  health and development  can sometimes lead to child abuse  and neglect, and it can happen in any community, anywhere.
We all have a role in preventing child abuse  from ever happening  but when we fail, our children, our communities  and our  country pay a steep price.
Victims of child abuse have a greater chance of academic failure,  substance,  abuse  and  mental health issues, chronic health conditions, Juvenile  delinquency and criminal behavior.
In economic terms, child abuse costs American taxpayer  more  than $80 billion a year to fix something after the fact  that it could have been  prevented. The good news is that  we know how to prevent child abuse and we are making  some progress, but we can and need to do much better.
However, it is challenging to build  support for such a cause as preventing child abuse and neglect. Some people  shy away from the issue, the various reasons,  including  discomfort  with the tragedy of child abuse, blaming “bad” parents who yeildto such a thing, and believing that  child abuse does not happen in my neighbourhood.”
I recently met with a prominent political leader who also serves on the  board of an organisation involving therapy dogs. He noted  that it had just received  a donation of several million dollars from someone who loved dogs.
We acknowledge the fact that the cause of child abuse prevention was unlikely to see  that level of  support,  for all of the reasons abore.
Many people love dogs too but our children deserve better care.  The founder of a national  philanthropy that supports child abuse  prevention as  its  primary goal, noted that “there is really no direct  constituency for the causes, of child abuse prevention” compared  to that of other nonprofit cause, such as universities, hospitals faith-based organisations or specific  health issues.
So it makes it much  more difficult to generate  awareness and support  and the opportunity to prevent  abuse before it ever happened.
Prevent  Child  Abuse America  was invited  to ring  the opening bell at the Nasdaq Stock  Exchange to raise  awareness about April as child abuse  prevention month and about an event happening in Times Square .
The invitation from Nasdaq the second-largest stock exchange the  Unites State, highlights  the understanding that investment in childhood health and development has been shown to be an effective  tool for economic development, with proven returns to American taxpayers and economic productivity.
On the same day as the Nasdaq event, newspaper in New Jersey  reported the death of a 4-month old infant  in the state who was shaken by his mother because he  wouldn’t  stop crying. The baby’s father was quoted as saying that he believes  the baby would still be alive if they had received “parenting lessons”.
A number of hospitals across the state have recently begun an intensive  programme that provides a powerful reminder  to new  parents  about the stress a crying baby can cause  and how parents can cope. Rigorous evaluations have shown  the programme to be effective,  dramatically reducing the incidence  of shaken baby syndrome.
So far however, only a small group of hospitals has  adopted  it. We know  how to  prevent  child abuse, but we  can and must do a better job.
Egumah is of the University of Port Harcourt, Choba.

Alaad Ruth Egumah