Problems of chronically ill children in educational institutions

How is nutrition awareness in Polish families, especially concerning children?

Let me tell you what it looks like from the perspective of our office. We believe that this continues to be a very big health challenge. When it comes to health awareness among Poles, there is a lot of work to be done here. Nutrition awareness certainly requires not only prevention, educational activities, but also the introduction of nutrition and dietary advice into the basket of guaranteed benefits, both for children with chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity and overweight, as well as for parents of children. In order for health education to make sense, it has to be conducted by a fully informed person, health educators, public health specialists and, above all, doctors. I think that nutrition and dietary advice dedicated to pregnant women and mothers of young children will certainly contribute to the fact that prevention is also maintained at the level of the child's later years. That is, so that healthy habits and awareness of how and what to feed the child and how to do it should be introduced from the earliest stage.

If we look at children in school, in kindergarten, we see that some are chronically ill. What challenges does this raise for them? You said about children with diabetes, with special dietary needs. What does this look like in the bigger picture?

Our broader picture is drawn as a challenging path. On the one hand, we have the Law on Pupil Health Care, which has brought some solutions, while from our perspective and the signals we receive, it seems that this is further a topic to be thoroughly addressed. The problem of chronically ill children in educational institutions is all sorts of problems with access to pre-medical assistance, to help with, for example, the administration of medications, and in the case of catheterized children with assistance in changing this medical device while in kindergarten. This is to exclude children from certain recreational activities such as the school trip and other school events. This is the management of the topic of mass nutrition of children in educational institutions and children with special dietary needs, children on elimination diets, including, for example, precisely children with diabetes or food allergies. Above all, a very important issue for us, which has already been and will continue to be addressed, is the provision of pre-medical support and assistance to children in kindergartens. For schools, we have a law, there is a nurse and a hygienist, who should take care of chronically ill children, as well as children with disabilities. Children in kindergartens, on the other hand, are left without such regulations, which de facto boils down to the fact that it is solely at the discretion of the head of such an institution whether to provide such assistance and support, and whether to adapt the facility to the needs of such a child. I think this is a topic that will soon come up as an action by Ms. Ombudsman.