126
Health Systems
in
South America
Ahí Plan (Families and Nutrition): A comprehensive approach aimed at intensifying the intervention in the hard cores of poverty, expanding the State presence in the territory by the joint and articulated work of the Ministries of Health, Education and Social Development, partnering with the different actors of the community and social organizations; production and service organization; practices and service organizations; and infrastructure and social equipment organizations. In cooperation with Unicef, this project aims at consolidating the families' basic function of supporting and raising their children, feeding them, nurturing them and taking care of their health. Based on a comprehensive approach which promotes the application of the rights of children in ordinary life situations, the work relates the feeding and nurturing with the early care of child development within the family and community environment. Primeros Años (First Years) (National Promotion of Children Development): This program contributes to strengthening the State in the development of institutional capacities to carry out comprehensive actions at the national, provincial and local levels. It aims at providing the families and the communities information, accompaniment and resources to consolidate the essential role of family groups in the raising of children from 0 to 4 years. REDAF (Physical Education Network): Management unit aimed at helping develop the national physical activity project for the human development and quality of life of all Argentineans. Installing physical activity as a right in Argentina is a challenge, and this project aims at addressing such challenge. This section should also highlight the impact on health of the Social Protection Universal Allocation per Child (AUH). After a little more than one year from its implementation, by the end of 2009, we may see some specific results which are reflected in more children and teenagers with updated health controls and complete immunization schemes. The synergy between the AUH and the Nacer Plan is evidenced, mainly, in the high increase of the levels of enrollment on Provincial Mother and Children Health Insurance schemes. As from its implementation in November 2009, 1,352,192 boys and girls under 6 years of age were registered with the Nacer Plan. In addition, contributions were reciprocal due to the relationship of public policies. There was an initial contribution of the Nacer Plan which allowed to identify 230,000 children which were not included in any of the databases or lists used by the National Social Security Administration to determine the universe of AUH holders. This was possible due to the active search and population nominalization model which has been effectively promoted since its inception by the Nacer Plan (MoH, 2010). Likewise, it may be expected that the impact of the recently implemented extension of this benefit to pregnant women lacking of a specific health insurance after the 12th week of pregnancy, called Social Protection Allocation for Pregnancy, generates a similar impact in terms of mother and children health.