Dominican Republic.-The first lady Raquel Arbaje held a virtual meeting on Tuesday with her counterparts from Costa Rica and Paraguay, organized by the Alliance of Spouses of Heads of State and Representatives (ALMA), to present their most relevant programs and initiatives developed in the year 2022.
Arbaje shared with Signe Zeikate (Costa Rica) and Silvana López Moreira (Paraguay) the achievements of the Cabinet for Children and Adolescents, which she presides honorarily, as well as the actions carried out under her initiative Uniting Wills for the benefit of the sectors more vulnerable.
The first lady highlighted the ongoing implementation of the Policy for the Prevention and Care of Early Unions and Adolescent Pregnancy, which unifies efforts to combat both social problems, and the Positive Parenting, Life Skills, and Life Project program, in which more than 13,000 children, adolescents, fathers, mothers, guardians, and community leaders participated.
“We developed the intervention model for the protection of street children and adolescents in a pilot mode, this being the first time that the country offers an articulated response to this problem that, as we know in all our countries, it is the result of poverty and its negative influence on the family,” said Arbaje.
The president of the Cabinet for Childhood and Adolescence also referred to the approval of the Laws for Intersectoral Regulation and Coordination for the Care and Comprehensive Development of Early Childhood and the Acts of Civil Status, the latter to facilitate registration timing of births.
On health issues, she presented both the Cochlear Implant Program for Boys and Girls with Hearing Impairment, which will treat hearing loss at an early age and that in its first stage will benefit 40 boys and girls; the National Fund for Children and Adolescents with Disabilities; such as the Program for the timely detection of breast, cervical and prostate cancers, under the slogan of Check yourself, which promotes, together with the National Health Service (SNS), free check-ups for women and men in ten hospitals of the public health system.
In this sense, he pointed out that due to efforts by the Office of the First Lady before the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), non-reimbursable financial cooperation for one million dollars was achieved for the acquisition of the first gamma camera or gamma camera for cancer patients. , which is part of the construction, already in progress, of a pediatric monotherapy unit at the Incart.
The first lady also highlighted the construction and renovation of nine parks in different communities in the country, with an investment of close to a million dollars from the private sector, as part of the Recreational Parks: From Industry to the Community program, which she sponsors in coordination with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs.
At the end of her words, Arbaje thanked all the entities and people who have contributed to these programs and initiatives, responding to many tasks and challenges that have accumulated a significant social debt with the Dominican population.
