Thursday
May 15, 2003
International
Family Day
Georgetown, GINA, May 15, 2003
International Day of Families is May 15.
United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan, in addressing
the issue of the family, stated that there must be substantial
political commitment to put families at the centre of the
public policy process, with particular sensitivity to “changing
family structures, the rise in migration, the HIV/AIDS pandemic
and globalisation.
The aim of International Day of Families is to foster equality,
a full sharing of domestic responsibilities and employment
opportunities and supporting families in the discharge of
their functions.
The United Nations intends to promote the inherent strengths
of families, including their great capacity for self-reliance,
and stimulate self-sustaining activities.
The Family is a very important unit of society that socializes
the individual for proper functioning in society. Therefore,
the family must be protected and assisted, so that family
members may fully assume their responsibilities within the
community and to the provisions of International Conventions
on Human Rights and Social Development.
The family structures the individuals’ functioning.
It molds them through the socialisation process that transmits
emotions, educational values, language, culture, dress and
other values that are accumulated through the family environment
first and foremost.
The Guyana Government has endorsed a commitment to equip families
with the tools for their own development, especially through
the Ministries of Health, and Housing and Water., and including
other Ministries too.
The Ministry of Housing and Water has made available low-cost
housing to families and enables access to bank loans to enable
people to begin constructing their own homes.
The Ministry has distributed over 50, 000 house lots over
the last ten years and developed basic infrastructure, such
as, roads and drainage in housing areas. In support of poor
families, Government also has built homes that may be acquired
at a small cost for persons without the necessary finance
to proceed with their own construction.
They have also worked assiduously to ensure that all Regions
have access to potable water. Over 100 new wells were drilled
over the last ten years and a number have been rehabilitated
countrywide
Through the Ministry of Health, countless communities now
have access to health care facilities. The Ministry continues
to provide edification on HIV/AIDS and provides family counselling.
It also has now initiated the Prevention of Mother to Child
Transmission (PMTCT) and immunisation programmes.
They have built and rehabilitated hundreds of health centres
countrywide. At the end of 2000 there were 141 Health Posts,
119 Health Centres and 20 District Hospitals, among others,
culminating in a total of 295 Health Institutions.
Infant mortality rate as per one thousand live births was
28.8 in 1994 and now it is 25.6. Under five mortality per
1000 live births has declined from 34.6 to 31.3. Pregnant
women immunized against tetanus were 56.2 percent in 1996
to currently 82 percent.
One year olds immunized against measles (MMR), have increased
from 84.1 percent to 85 percent.
The Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security
addresses numerous issues that relate to the family through
the Women’s Affairs Bureau and the Adoption Board. Counseling
is a pivotal role of the Ministry, directed at children, women
and parents. They also give assistance to the poor.
In education, 800 of 1200 schools were rehabilitated and training
provided for over 600 teachers in 2002. The Ministry of Education
has revised the school curriculum to accommodate physical
education and parental involvement in children’s education.
Approximately $200M was also allocated in 2002 for school
uniforms for children.
The Government has also ratified the Convention on the Rights
of the Child which emphasizes rights of the child within a
family.
The UN’s endorsement of an International Day for Families
and year of Families is a signal that the most comprehensive
solution to the world’s problems may be addressed within
the confines of the family.
International Year of the Family was initiated in 1994, with
the aim of addressing serious family-related problems coupled
with comprehensive developing policies.
Guyana ranks relatively well in relation to other developing
countries, in the areas of health care, housing and human
services, among other services, in making substantial provisions
for consolidating the family unit.
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