Launch of campaign for improvement of services for young children with disabilities and their parents
ZAGREB, Croatia - 10 February 2009 In cooperation with corporate and media partners, national experts and parents' associations UNICEF Croatia launched a new campaign aimed at raising awareness on the rights of children with disabilities and the rights of their parents. The campaign, called "The First 3 years are even more important", is a continuation of the young child development programme which started in 2006, specifically targeting the improvement of services for young children with disabilities and their families. Timely identification and intervention, information and advice, support to parents in the early years and access to services and experts can have a life-changing impact on the development of children with disabilities. “Where many see disability, we see our child” is one of the messages in the campaign featured on TV, outdoor and print. Daniela, the mother of two-year old Lea, both of whom featured in the campaign, said that the campaign which is visible on billboards throughout the country has already changed the perspective of their local community in a positive way. “People around us no longer avoid talking to us about Lea’s condition, and even doctors and health professionals are more understanding and supportive.” During November and December, UNICEF along with its corporate partner T-Croatian Telecom started raising funds to strengthen support to parents of children with disabilities. More than U$480,000 has already been raised, through donations of individuals and companies.
One of the key programme activities will be improving health workers’ skills in supporting parents in the first days, when they are adjusting to their children’s disabilities. It has been noted that doctors often advise parents to place a child in a residential care institution, and in general lack a child rights prospective. On 13 February, UNICEF is organising the first national training for doctors and nurses in maternity wards titled “How to communicate tough news to parents” UNICEF will work with a large number of small, local parents’ self-support groups established recently across the country, in order to increase their capacity to address needs for information, advocacy and psychological support. With the aim of empowering school children, with and without disabilities to promote the principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNICEF will launch in April the Croatian version of the publication “It’s about abilities”. Air time and advertising space for this campaign was fully donated to UNICEF by local media companies – National Television, Europlakat and Europapress Holding and the creative for the campaign was also a pro bono contribution by the leading national advertising agency Digitel. For more information, please contact:
|
.jpg)
