Image
In partnership with WHO and UNICEF, UNDP is supporting Mexico's efforts to ensure full inclusion of children with disabilities.
Every day at dawn, Melitón Rodríguez and María de los Santos go out to sell hot bread. The couple live in the town of Tecamalucan, in the southern state of Veracruz in Mexico. They have a 2-year-old son, Charli, for whom they work hard everyday to give him a lifetime of opportunities.
In April 2016, Melitón and María decided to take Charli to the Yoltzin children's day care centre in their community. They wanted to leave their son in good hands while they went to work. Yoltzin - which means 'little heart' in the Nahuatl indigenous language - is part of the Children's Day-Care Programme to Support Working Mothers. This is an initiative of the Mexican Government that supports mothers, fathers or guardians who work, are job-seekers or students and have incomes below the minimum welfare line, making it difficult to access care services.
Cristina Jiménez works in the day care and welcomed Charli on his first day. As soon as he arrived, she realized that the boy, moved very little compared to other children his age and his legs were not as strong.
"We thought that he was left lying down lot of the time and that he lacked stimulation,” Cristina remembers. “We also saw that he had strabismus," a condition in which the eyes are not aligned. Neither Melitón nor María mentioned their son´s condition, and Cristina surmised it was because they were unaware or because they feared that he wouldn´t be accepted.
Currently, more than 350 staff at children's day care centres in nine Mexican states are able to identify early warning signs in children that could present potential development challenges and/or disabilities. They are participants in a pilot project led by UNDP in collaboration with the Mexican Government, PAHO/WHO and UNICEF, and with funding from the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD).
To read the full story, please go to https://stories.undp.org