Early childhood
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© UNICEF Serbia / Zoran Jovanovic Maccak |
The effort of early childhood development includes all the necessary support for child from his/her birth to the age of six, to realize his/her rights to survival, protection and care, which will ensure their optimal development. It covers such areas as infant stimulation, health and nutrition, early childhood education, and community development among others.
ISSUE
Most indicators of maternal and child status in Serbia illustrate good progress:
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The infant mortality rate in 2002 was 9.6 per thousand live births;
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Immunization coverage of children is preserved at the high level (over 90%);
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Iodine deficiency disorders had been eliminated; and
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Only a few percent of children are malnourished.
However, there is a considerable gap between the mainstream and the marginalised population, e.g. the child mortality among Roma is at least four times higher than the national average, and access of Roma children to preschool education is below 1%, compared to 31% on national average. Regrettably, rather little is known about the exclusion in the country.
So far little has been done to provide parents with information on early childhood stimulation and on good parenting practices.
ACTION
- The Phone Counselling project was launched in Belgrade. In the past three years, over 140,000 families with young children were provided with the appropriate advice on health, nutrition, care and protection. In Belgrade, Sjenica, Tutin and Novi Pazar, over 3,600 most-at-risk families were identified and appropriate action was taken.
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© UNICEF Serbia |
Training was given to 60% of doctors and nurses working in primary health care centres. Provision of basic equipment contributed significantly to the strengthening of mother and child health care system. Useful reference manuals on maternal and child health were distributed in Serbian language: “Primarna zdravstvena zastita majke i deteta” (Integrated Maternal and Childhood Health); “Urgentna pedijatrija u vanbolnickim uslovima” (Emergency Paediatrics Manual); and “Zivotne poruke” which is based on UNICEF publication “Facts for Life” adapted to local context. Particular attention was drawn to prevention of injuries, addressed in the manual published for parents, “Nezgode se desavaju: sta uraditi kada se dese i kako ih spreciti” (Prevention of childhood injuries.) If you would like a hard copy, please contact UNICEF office.
The new models of stimulating growth and development of marginalised children, 3 to 5 years of age were established in several municipalities in Serbia.
Majority (84%) of all maternity wards became Baby Friendly – promoting close contact of mother and baby immediately after birth, with increasing number of fathers participating in the deliveries and sharing the excitement of this moment of life.
Personal growth monitoring cards were introduced in Serbia. National growth monitoring system has been developed and national growth monitoring chart for preschool children was prepared.
National Plan of Action for children of Serbia has been developed and adopted by the Parliament as a leading strategy for government investment in protection and fulfilment of child rights in next 10 years.
IMPACT
All the interventions above contributed to better status of young children, and to the decreasing trend of child mortality. However, still many issues remain to be solved. Addressing social exclusion of children and their families, and creating environment where all children will enjoy the same rights remain the key challenge in the coming years.
