“According to the work we do in early childhood, the development of the country will be in the coming years,” said the Minister of Social Development, Martín Lema, at the opening of the Regional Colloquium on Early Childhood, which will take place on Monday 30 and on Tuesday May 31 in the auditorium of the Executive Tower. The hierarch highlighted the activities carried out this month to raise awareness about this issue.
Also attending the start of the event, organized by the National Directorate for Social Development, through the Uruguay Crece Contigo program, were the Undersecretary of Public Health, José Luis Satdjian; the president of the Institute for Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (INAU), Pablo Abdala, and the head of the first agency mentioned, Cecilia Sena.
In his speech, Lema highlighted the activities carried out during this month to raise awareness on this matter and illustrate the achievements.
He also pondered the inter-institutional work and maintained that, in a permanent way, the actions in this regard must be reviewed, in order to make better decisions, since it is not only the future of the child, but also of the country.
For his part, Satdjian pointed out the importance of the first years of life of people in the construction of the individual. In this sense, he assured that Public Health seeks prevention, which is why it insists on pregnancy control and on exhorting future mothers to maintain healthy habits, with special emphasis on reducing tobacco consumption. She also said that the agency’s Childhood Program includes a specific area dedicated to breastfeeding.
He reported that the infant mortality figures for 2021 remained stable compared to 2019. He explained that, in children under one year of age, the mortality rate per 1,000 live births was 6.8 in 2018, 6.2 in 2020 and 6 .3 in 2021. Regarding children under 5 years of age, in 2018 the rate per 1,000 live births was 8.4; in 2019, it was 8.5, in 2020 it was reduced to 6.9 and in 2021 it was 7.5. “This is news that comforts us and forces us to continue working along these lines,” she reflected.
The hierarch stressed that Public Health has tools to follow the trajectory of the child, among which are the certificate of live birth and the unified child card for the entire country.
He also mentioned that, in conjunction with the Ministry of Social Development (Mides), it is planned to be part of the nutrition, child development and health survey for the year 2022, which will allow evaluating the impact in these areas from the year 2018.
In his speech, Abdala praised the activities carried out during the Month of Early Childhood and valued that spaces for reflection and exchange on the subject were fostered in society.
He added that the first days of people’s lives are defining in terms of the neurological and the physical, intellectual, affective and emotional conformation of children, so that public policies should seek to contribute to good parenting practices.
He also considered that the country is on a continuous and successful path in the care of children over the years and highlighted the articulation of public institutions linked to the subject.
Sena, meanwhile, assured that during the month of May in more than 160 points of the country activities related to this age group were carried out. “Uruguay occupies a substantial place at the regional level in terms of early childhood policies,” she stressed. He added that these policies are an example for the world and exemplified by mentioning the Child and Family Care Centers Plan (CAIF) and the family support programs, such as Uruguay Crece Contigo, and the work of the Children’s Directorates in the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) and the State Health Services Administration (ASSE).
The colloquium will take place over two days, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with workshops by national and foreign experts on education, care services, health and early childhood policies in the region, development and parenting, social development.
The presentations will be led by representatives of the Ministries of Economy and Finance, Education and Culture, Public Health and Social Development and members of the Planning and Budget Office (OPP), the Uruguayan Agency for International Cooperation (AUCI), INAU and ASSE .
