Access to healthcare: a daily struggle for children in street situations
On the International Day for Children in Street Situations (12 April), we joined forces with our partners to highlight a simple but essential truth: health is a right for every child. Yet, in many countries, millions of children are still deprived of real access to healthcare. This is particularly alarming for children in street situations, whose extremely precarious living conditions severely undermine their health: lack of access to safe drinking water, exposure to pollution, poor hygiene, exposure to disease, and the absence of medical follow-up.
Together with our local partners, present in several countries, we observe that many barriers prevent these children from accessing their right to healthcare. Despite the existence of theoretically free care, hidden costs (medicines, tests) remain a major obstacle. Added to this are insufficient infrastructures, often poorly equipped, as well as discrimination that further distance these children from health services.
In the face of these obstacles, solutions do exist. It is essential to strengthen the training and awareness of healthcare staff, to guarantee genuinely free healthcare, and to invest in adapted services such as local health centres or mobile clinics.
Health is a right, not a privilege. Even on the streets.
Discover how our partners and the children they support mobilised around the world to claim their rights.
Madagascar
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In Madagascar, with the local consortium of partners “Sandratra”, which we support, a concrete initiative was set up to assist children in street situations and their families: free and accessible care services open to all during the day.
From the early hours, the service provided immediate support to more than 500 children and young people, offering medical care, awareness sessions on hygiene, nutrition and health, as well as administrative support for civil registration, including the issuing of birth certificates for unregistered children.
Fandresena, aged 13, spoke out to share the difficulties these children face in accessing healthcare:
“I asked my friends to accompany me to our doctor in Antaninarenina. They paid for my medicines, and I paid them back later, once I had recovered.”
By bringing together key institutional actors involved in child protection, the day also helped to demonstrate in concrete terms, the importance of the work carried out by our partners on the ground and to remind all stakeholders of the urgent need to improve access to healthcare for children and families in street situations.
Cameroon
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In Cameroon, our partner Foyer de l’Espérance organised several actions in Yaoundé, the capital, on this international day, in order to raise awareness of the right to healthcare and mobilise the community.
The activities began with a community awareness walk bringing together children and adults to alert the public to the difficulties faced by children in street situations. They continued with an official ceremony at the Foyer de l’Espérance, marked by several speeches, including testimonies from children sharing their reality.
Artistic activities (dance, poetry, theatre) were then organised around health-related themes, followed by an advocacy competition during which the children presented concrete solutions to improve their access to healthcare and living conditions.
Peru
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In Peru, our partners Sinergia por la Infancia, Casa Generación and the collective Hagamos Visible lo Invisible (Lets make the invisible visible) organised a mobilisation day with several actors engaged in supporting children and adolescents in street situations, alongside the national movement of young workers MANTHOC.
Through games, discussions and speaking opportunities, the young people shared their journeys and voiced their demands.
Organised during the weekend of the first round of the presidential and legislative elections, this mobilisation was a powerful moment to remind everyone that children in street situations have rights and that public authorities have the responsibility to guarantee them. In the presence of candidates, the young people delivered a clear message: their voices must be heard and their rights respected.
Republic of the Congo
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In Congo, our partner REIPER (Network of Stakeholders on the Phenomenon of Children in Rupture) marked this day through several advocacy initiatives in Brazzaville, placing children at the heart of the mobilisation.
A particularly significant moment of the day was the participation of young people in a special radio programme, enabling them to take a full part in the advocacy work led by the network. This original initiative gave them the opportunity to speak directly about their right to healthcare, share their experiences and voice their demands to a wide audience.
In the same spirit, REIPER also organised a meeting day bringing together children, representatives of local authorities and member associations of the network. This exchange was punctuated by several concrete activities, including artistic performances (theatre, slam poetry, singing), an exhibition of drawings highlighting the realities experienced by the children, as well as a women’s football match, symbolising inclusion and solidarity.