CRC/C/CRI/CO/4
concerned that there is still no inclusive education programme for children with disabilities
in the State party.
56.
In light of article 23 of the Convention and the Committee’s general comment
No. 9 (2006) on the rights of children with disabilities, the Committee recommends
that the State party:
(a)
Adopt a comprehensive policy for the integration and participation of
children with disabilities in public, social and community life, including the provision
of inclusive education;
(b)
Improve the coverage and response of the public support network aimed
at children and adolescents with disabilities to ensure that they have adequate access,
including in rural areas, to specialized equipment, financial subsidies, medical care,
transportation, social services, and spaces for rehabilitation as part of the National
Health System;
(c)
Progressively develop screening services for prevention and early
detection of disabilities; and
(d)
Ensure that all health services provided to children and adolescents with
disabilities, including mental health services and, in particular, the administration of
psychotropic substances, are based on the free and informed consent of the children
concerned, according to their evolving capacities.
Health and health services
57.
While welcoming the continuing decrease in infant and child mortality as well as
malnutrition rates, the Committee is concerned about the persistence of disparities resulting
in high infant mortality among indigenous and other minority children due to, inter alia,
preventable diseases. It notes with satisfaction the State party’s plan to expand the network
of Care and Integral Development (Red de Cuido y Desarrollo Integral) to all cantons.
However, the Committee is concerned about the low coverage of primary health-care
services for young children and mothers in rural and coastal areas and about reports that
medical attention is sometimes effectively denied to indigenous and migrant children owing
to excessive charges and lack of personal identity documents.
58.
The Committee recommends that the State:
(a)
Review its centralized system of health care and ensure affordable access
to basic health care for all children, particularly indigenous and migrant children,
including those without personal identity documents, while giving priority to regions
and communities with the lowest coverage, with a view to redressing the existing
sharp inequalities;
(b)
Allocate adequate technical and financial resources to the Red de Cuido
y Desarrollo Integral in order to reach universal coverage of health-care services, as
planned; and
(c)
Harmonize the methodology for calculating the infant mortality rate in
accordance with international standards;
Breastfeeding
59.
While noting the State party’s creation of the Breast-Milk Bank, the Committee is
concerned that the goal of exclusive maternal breastfeeding for infants below 6 months of
age has still not been achieved primarily due to a stark decline in breastfeeding after three
months, that the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes is frequently
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