The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), aware that the socio-economic effects of COVID-19 are particularly severe for households with children and adolescents with disabilities, announced Monday that it had concentrated its support to the Dominican Government for the inclusion of this population in social protection programs in Dominican Republic .
“Children with disabilities, especially those in the most vulnerable households, have greater limitations to receive education and health services, and their families make additional expenses that could be devoted to other basic needs,” says Gavino Severino, Social Policy Officer at UNICEF.
According to the official data available from the National Council on Disability (CONADIS), based on the ENHOGAR 2013 survey, in the Dominican Republic, it is estimated that there are some 198,000 children and adolescents with at least one disability, defined according to the international standards and functionality.
According to a statement, responding to its mandate to protect children at most significant risk, the UNICEF office in the Dominican Republic has been working with social protection programs since 2018 to include homes with children with severe disabilities as part of the population eligible for special government assistance. It highlights that the Government had already taken concrete steps to make these adjustments, at the time of the emergency by COVID 19.
It indicates that the economic effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, the social protection system have responded through the Comer es Primero program, substantially increasing the amount received by participating families. Also, local authorities have implemented the temporary Stay at Home program, with more than half a million new homes in extreme and moderate poverty, as well as self-employed workers at risk of falling into poverty.
UNICEF has undertaken a support response to the Dominican Government for the targeted expansion of the national cash transfer program to 2,700 families with children with disabilities (about 8,640 people directly or indirectly benefited), using the regular payment mechanism of the social protection system. This transfer is temporary, without conditionalities, and is accompanied by the sending of text messages to families with information about the network of shops where they can buy food and other necessary products.
