Sofia, March 9, 2021
On March 9, 2021, took place the first national forum “Gaps in Early Childhood Development Policies. Possible Solutions”, in which 4 national campaigns aimed at changing early childhood development policies were presented. One of the campaigns is the draft "Ordinance 26 in action - for more healthy babies and happy mothers". In drafting it the National Network of Health Mediators (NMHM) cooperates with the Club of Non-Governmental Organizations - Targovishte, Association LARGO - Kyustendil and Association "Thirst for Life" - Sliven. The aim of the advocacy initiative is to achieve equal and effective access of pregnant women with no health insurance to health care - adequate follow-up of their pregnancies. At present, according to the current Ordinance №26 of 14.06.2007 of the Ministry of Health for providing obstetric care to uninsured women and for conducting lab testing outside the scope of compulsory health insurance for children and pregnant women, the uninsured pregnant woman is entitled to one a single examination with accompanying lab tests for the entire period of pregnancy. This single examination cannot guarantee the birth of a healthy baby, as it is not possible to prevent the various risks to the mother and child in the prenatal period. It is important for the problem to receive support from specialists, institutions, partners, but also from the general public. The communication component among the activities led by the NMHM will be aimed at this.
The goals of the other three campaigns, implemented by other organizations working in the field, are:
- Improving the opportunities for complete nutrition of children from poor families through the introduction of a specialized national food program - informing, consulting and providing food
- Implementation of integrated services and programs to support parental capacity building for childcare at an early age
- Accessible procedures for issuing personal documents and address registration of women and children without valid documents
Assoc. Prof. Diana Kovacheva, Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria, expressed her support for the campaigns. According to her, "A national strategy for early childhood development is necessary. In our society, we are still talking about survival, here we are fighting for the survival of children, and in other countries - for their participation in development of policies that concern them”. In her speech, she stressed that the European Quality Framework defines 5 main components of quality systems - access to education and care at an early age; conditions for training and work of the staff responsible for education and care in early childhood; defining appropriate, adapted curricula and management; financing; monitoring and evaluation of systems.
The event is organized by all 11 organizations working on the project to improve maternal and child health among the Roma community "With care from 0 to 3". The project is managed by the Trust for Social Alternative Foundation. The campaigns will continue for the next two years until September 2022.
