Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković, sent the initiative to the Ministry of Health to adopt procedures for dealing with children and students with diabetes and other non-communicable chronic and rare diseases during their stay in preschool institutions and schools. The goal of the initiative is to support good control of the disease and prevention of its complications, which also affects the improvement of the position of children and their protection from stigmatization and discrimination.

The initiative also pointed out the need for permanent cooperation between health centers, health workers, and employees in educational institutions, both in terms of preventive action and necessary education. The initiative should be implemented with the cooperation and support of the Ministry of Education, which should distribute the established procedures to preschool and school institutions.

The Commissioner’s practice shows that children are often exposed to discrimination due to their health condition, both by peers and teaching staff, says Commissioner Brankica Janković. Parents of these children often decide that one of them stops working to ensure that their child receives appropriate therapy in time at kindergarten or school. There were also cases when a child’s enrollment in an educational institution was refused or made difficult because of their particular health condition, as well as cases when children were not allowed to go on excursions and recreational classes with other students. The Commissioner states that it is extremely important for children to receive therapy regularly because the failure to administer therapy at a specific time can endanger the child’s life or worsen their condition. It is important to solve all these challenges, primarily to provide quality health care and equal inclusion of children in daily activities with their peers, but also because for parents who need support, concludes Janković.

The Association for Combating Diabetes, “Blue Circle”, and the association “Hrabriša”, approached the Commissioner about this problem, pointing out the problems that children with diabetes and other non-communicable chronic and rare diseases have been facing already since kindergarten.