Ecuador works to eliminate child malnutrition

Ecuadornews:

On the cheekbones of María José Pincay, 8, two small hearts are drawn, and on one of Jesús Jiménez’s, on the other hand, a spider, the same one that she wears in her Spiderman costume, one of her favorite characters.

The minors, who attend the fourth year of basic, shared with another 258 students of the Teniente Hugo Ortiz educational unit a day of shows and games in the Samanes Park of Guayaquil. On leaving the school they went to celebrate Children’s Day in an activity organized by Real Estate. The first show was juggling. A couple of young people amazed the little ones with their acrobatics. Sitting on the artificial turf, they shouted and applauded every grace that the couple performed, whose elasticity and strength were their strength. “It seems that they are going to fall, but they are very strong”, repeated impressed Eimy Altamirano, 8 years old.

Then appeared Bruno, Figo and Chispitas, three dogs of the National Police that upset the students. The interest to see and touch them increased when the dogs obeyed the orders of their guides. The dogs sat and jumped by metal arches placed near the stage. The excited attendees could not touch them, but they could take some selfies, and live the experience of being guides for a moment.

The children gathered their voices to ask Bruno, Figo and Chispitas to sit down, lie down and put themselves in the position of asleep. Finally, they shouted “get up.” In the last act two students had the opportunity to participate. Thus, they held the hula where the trained dogs jumped. After a hectic morning the celebration for Children’s Day ended.

Previously, the children participated in competitions and were the first to release the games area boosted by Real Estate, as part of the integral maintenance carried out at Parque Samanes. When Nicolás Issa, director of Real Estate, opened the area, the 250 children ran to the newly painted slides, bridges, rocking chairs and wooden houses. Reina Zambrano and Scarleth Villacís helped Ilis Santillán to rock when she asked for “stronger, stronger”.

With some difficulty Damaris Sarango, 4 years old, climbed up a mesh in the form of a spider’s web. Her progenitor, Alexandra Altamirano, looked at her closely. Another mother accompanied her daughter Cristel, 8 years old, to the activity. “It seems to me that this type of initiative should be taken more often. The games allow children to develop their motor skills. ” Also, Alexandra San Lucas went with her son Alejandro to celebrate the day. “This helps keep children away from drugs, a situation that concerns us as much as parents.” She tells that every year she takes her children to the shopping centers to play and to eat ice cream.

This is how they celebrate the world holiday. Real estate, responsible for managing the parks, will continue with the celebration of its main users, children. This Friday June 1 will be in the Atarazana Park, where from 18:00 competitions will be held for children to receive prizes. While this Saturday, June 2 there will be an activity in Santa Elena.

It is planned that a workshop to develop piggy banks with recycled material will be held in Valdivia Marine Park. Today the minors will remember the international date with activities in the educational centers of the country. On Thursday, May 31, there were also tours of hospitals to bring joy to those who are interned.

Malnutrition is still pending

In Quito, about 50 children who remain hospitalized in the specialty hospital Baca Ortiz left-for a moment-the beds in which they recover from their ailments to participate in the celebration for the International Children’s Day. Verónica Espinosa, Minister of Health, presided over the activity.

The official informed that this health center serves more than 1,000 infants a month. Espinosa added that the attention is focused on the maternal and child area. Therefore, both the Baca Ortiz and the Francisco de Icaza Bustamante Hospital in Guayaquil were re-empowered to improve coverage and care for minors. In the last one, it is planned to open a neonatology room.

For two hours the infants enjoyed a show of magic, music and theater. Andrés Andrade, 9 years old, sat next to his mother, Eugenia Páez, in the first row.

The boy had a traffic accident and remains under observation. For Paez, the celebration allowed them to “escape for a while from the reality of a hospital, to enjoy activities that children deserve.” At the end of the celebration, Espinosa said goodbye to the children and reminded them that their role is to play.

Among the outstanding issues in the field of health the official highlighted malnutrition, but said that the Government is working to eradicate it. One of the actions it has taken is to strengthen breastfeeding and guarantee access to basic services such as drinking water to the most vulnerable population. The children receiving treatment at the Baca Ortiz Hospital in Quito had a clown visit. They also watched magic shows.

Unicef advocates a specialized protection system

“The child cannot defend himself, he needs others to protect him, therefore a comprehensive protection system is necessary to prevent violations of rights, and if This does not exist should ensure the well-being of the child as a whole, “said Joaquín González-Alemán, representative of Unicef in Ecuador.

The international entity advocates the strengthening of a specialized comprehensive protection system for children and adolescents in the country. The entity clarifies that Ecuador assumed the commitment to comply with it by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It was also a recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. He emphasized that when there is no comprehensive protection system, justice collapses due to the strong demand for complaints received, and as a result, children are revictimized.

Unicef points out that “if a child receives education, adequate food, lives in a healthy environment, is loved and cared for, he becomes less prone to be a victim of some type of violence. And when it is, the system not only seeks justice but also seeks that child has a safe place to live, is integrated into their school and receives specialized care according to their needs.

What he expects is a “national law that recognizes a comprehensive system of specialized protection for children. The law must establish that the system has a governing body that coordinates and articulates, that is decentralized, has a budget and ensures monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. ” The comprehensive protection system aims to a large extent at prevention and long-term solutions. This is not only the most responsible decision, but also the most profitable one for the States. According to the expert Nicolás Espejo: “for every dollar that is invested in prevention, 38 are recovered”. (I)

Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/sociedad/6/ecuador-dia-nino-desnutricion-infantil-agenda