Final answer:
Public health professionals can prevent child maltreatment by increasing awareness, providing education, offering social support, ensuring surveillance and intervention, recognizing contributing factors like poverty, and ensuring parents use available services.
Step-by-step explanation:
Child maltreatment is a complex issue that health professionals strive to prevent. According to the CDC's fact sheet and other reports from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, preventing such maltreatment involves a multi-faceted approach. This includes raising awareness about the signs and consequences of child abuse and neglect, providing parental education, improving social support networks, and intervention when needed.
Increased surveillance and reporting by professionals such as teachers, law enforcement, and social services staff can lead to earlier detection and prevention of abuse. It is also essential to recognize cultural values, standard of care in the community, and poverty as factors contributing to neglect.
Furthermore, ensuring that parents are aware of and have access to available public or private services is crucial. If there is a failure to utilize accessible services, child welfare agencies are known to intervene to protect the children at risk, especially the most vulnerable group, infants.