The Ministry of Health will draft a Protocol on violence against children and adolescents, with the aim of better and more effective protection of that population, announced the director general of the Directorate for Public Health and Program Health Care, Miro Knežević.
At the workshop on the response of the health system to the abuse and neglect of children and adolescents, he said that it is the responsibility of every sector and professional to join the chain of prevention and protection.
"Multisectoral cooperation is key. It is the responsibility of every sector and professional to join the chain of prevention and protection. Spurred on by the unfortunate events that rocked Montenegro, we must work urgently and efficiently to identify and help the victims," Knežević said.
Knežević reminded that the National Strategy for the Prevention of Protection of Children from Violence from 2017 to 2021 was adopted last year.
"Today, we have the responsibility to ensure the full implementation of the Strategy through joint efforts. The role of the health sector is of great importance, and by creating the Protocol for the assignment of health workers in the prevention and protection from violence, we want to further help health workers", said Knežević.
According to him, the role of the health sector in the domain of violence detection and providing quick and effective protection to victims is irreplaceable.
"I call on health workers to actively work on the identification of victims and their reporting and protection, in accordance with the legal regulations of Montenegro. In the coming period, we will actively work on improving the capacity of the patrol service, i.e. the home visit service", explained Knežević.
He said that health workers should actively use matrices for identifying social risks, which are integrated into the health information system, with the support of the UNICEF office.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Montenegro, Mina Brajović, said that the development of national guidelines for the response of the health system to violence against children is in the process.
"The development of national guidelines is organized by the WHO, within the framework of the implementation of the two-year agreement between the Government of Montenegro and the WHO, in partnership with UNICEF, and under the auspices of the relevant ministry," explained Brajović, the PR center reports.
She said that violence against children is a complex challenge facing society.
As Brajović said, the health system must have the capacity to detect cases of abuse and neglect early, perform a risk assessment in a specific case and apply early intervention and care for the victim.
"Montenegro, according to the recommendation of the WHO, should focus its capacities on the design and implementation of population health interventions. The health system, with strong and strong primary health care, is the best platform to bring quality intervention to every citizen who needs it," Brajović assessed.
She said that according to research, it is a very common problem in Montenegro, but also in the region and Europe.
"Two-thirds of respondents confirmed that they were victims of one of the traumatic experiences during childhood, one in three was a victim of emotional abuse, and four out of ten respondents confirmed that they were physically abused during childhood," stated Brajović.
According to her, it is a problem of human rights and a problem of a socio-economic and political nature.
"The pain and suffering of violence does not burden only the individual and the family, but costs the entire community. According to the latest estimates, the indirect and direct costs of child neglect measure 4,21 percent of the total gross social product at the global level," Brajović assessed.
Traumatic experiences have a negative effect on, as she pointed out, neurological development and overall human potential.
"A child who is a victim of abuse and neglect focuses his brain resources on survival, to the detriment of the development of cognitive functions, and later achieves less success in school and has poor prospects when it comes to employment and career. Violence is contagious and transmitted, so today a child is a victim of violence, and tomorrow he becomes a bully," explained Brajović.
The head of the UNICEF representative office in Montenegro, Osama Makavi Kogali, said that there must be no compromise when it comes to dealing with violence against children.
"The recent news about what happened in Plav calls us to speak loudly and openly about this phenomenon and warns us to step up our efforts and improve the response of the entire system in the prevention of violence, abuse, neglect and any other form of exploitation of children," said Makavi Kogali .
He stated that violence against children occurs all over the world, regardless of culture, class, level of education, income and ethnic origin.
"In addition to unnecessarily causing pain to children, violence undermines self-esteem and slows down their development. The uniqueness of each child and their dependence on adults makes it imperative that they have more, not less, protection from violence," explained Makkawi Khogali.
He assessed that it is necessary to develop a wide range of support services for families that strengthen the quality of the mental health system.
"The reform should be intensified in all areas, with a special focus on improving the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the public and professionals about the phenomenon of violence, as well as strengthening the multi-sectoral response to violence against children," said Kogali.
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