During the visit of the President of Ukraine to Canada, First Lady Olena Zelenska met with Minister of Children and Women's Issues in the Government of Ontario Jill Dunlop. The meeting was also attended by Commissioner for Children’s Rights Mykola Kuleba and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health of Ontario Robin Martin.
The main goal of the meeting was to study the program of implementation of the strategy for supporting child health in the Canadian province and the opportunities for cooperation. According to Olena Zelenska, Canada's experience in this matter is interesting to Ukraine, since it is impossible to build a prosperous country and a happy society without due attention to the healthy development of children.
"Children are our future. We are interested in creating all opportunities for their healthy development in Ukraine. This is about school meals, promotion of a healthy lifestyle and physical education culture, development of pediatric medicine," the wife of the President of Ukraine noted.
Minister Jill Dunlop told that the government of Ontario had been successfully implementing the Healthy Kids Strategy Strategy, including the assistance in teaching parents during pregnancy and in the first years after the birth of a child, healthy eating of children, physical activity and necessary conditions for their healthy development.
For his part, the Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children’s Rights emphasized that the state should pay special attention to the health of little Ukrainian citizens.
"Canadian experience can be successfully applied in Ukraine. Studies conducted in different countries show that every dollar invested in health and development of children under 3 years old saves in the future $ 15 for their treatment and rehabilitation, and increases the chances for a child to have a healthy and happy life," Mykola Kuleba said.
The wife of the President of Ukraine also visited the SickKids Hospital in Toronto. This Children's Hospital is the largest in Canada and has a Research Center, which is considered to be the largest pediatric research institution in the world. Accompanied by the President of the Hospital, Dr. Ronald Cohn, Olena Zelenska got acquainted with the premises of the medical institution and the Pediatric Internship Program for Ukraine. According to the First Lady, the experience of SickKids may be interesting for the development of children's hospitals in our country.