Discrimination as a barrier to health care (Articles 2 and 23)

In the last session we explored some of the obstacles that keep people, including children, from accessing healthcare they need. Sometimes these obstacles are physical barriers — for example, in some places there may be no clinic or hospital to go to. Other times people can be excluded from getting the care they need just because of who they are. This is called discrimination. 
 

Discrimination means treating someone differently because of how they look, where they come from, what gender they are, what language they speak, what their religion is, who they love, the colour of their skin or the ethnic group they come from, or if they experience any different abilities. Children are sometimes also treated differently because of who their parents are or even where their parents came from.

Article 2 says that children with a disability should not be discriminated against, Article 23 talks more about this specifically. It says: Every child with a disability should enjoy the best possible life in society. Governments should remove all obstacles for children with disabilities to become independent and to participate actively in the community.

What is diversity? What makes you different to other people in your family or your friends? What is good about being different?
 

Quite often in Paddington’s story he felt like he didn’t fit in and that he was different to the people in London. Have you ever felt this way? Can you think of a time when you felt different or misunderstood?

Health care scenario

Today is immunisation day at your school. Normally there are enough vaccinations for all of the children who need them, but because of delayed production due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are only enough vaccinations for half of the children.

• ƒYear 6 are told to go to the front of the queue.
• Year 5 have to get in the queue behind Year 6.
• Year 3 and 4 have to go to the end of the line.
• Year 1 and 2 have to stay seated.

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The healthcare worker will count half of the queue and send the rest of you home. Is this fair? 

Health equity means that everyone has a fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible. All children have the same right to stay in the best possible health, some children who face discrimination or have a disability might need more access to healthcare. For example, a child who lives in a country where the health system is not strong, may need more support to be able to get the care they need, which is why organisations like UNICEF work to support healthcare for children in their countries. Likewise, a child with a non-preventable health condition may need to visit a health facility more frequently or need more types of healthcare

Look at picture what do you notice? What do the words equality and equity mean? How are they different? Should we treat everyone the same? Does everyone need the same things? Talk about what you can see in the picture.