HEALTH Minister Horace Dalley has stressed the importance of ensuring that every child is educated and has access to health care and the love and guidance of parents/guardians.

He noted that although progress had been made in improving the conditions of the nation’s children, there were still too many children who were not getting the care they should.

“As a country, I think we have to now find ways and means to ensure that every single child in Jamaica has education and access to health care, and access to love,” he said. “We are seeing too many children on the street begging. Too many of our children are still not getting the parental attention that they need.”

He was speaking Wednesday at a stakeholders workshop hosted by the government, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The aim of the workshop, held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, was to facilitate and review the finalisation of Jamaica’s progress report on achievements and challenges in preparation for the mid-decade review of the UN’s 2002 special session on children and World Fit For Children (WFFC) Plan of Action.