10,914 calls for Child Helpline

MSP founder and executive director Jennifer Poole said their counsellors were working around the clock counselling children who called their help line for assistance.

Medical Services Pacific, says it received 10,914 calls through the child helpline for the last one year of its operation.

The organisation responsible for helping Government set up and operate the Child Helpline services has released the following statistics. This is from the month of January last year to March this year - 843 were genuine calls. Of this genuine calls number, a three-year-old was the youngest of calls assisted by an adult. There were 2446 prank calls, 2945 silent calls and 2068 testing calls from children or adults. Voice mails that were received after hours totalled 2612.

According to a statistics released from MSP, from January last to March this year, 42 clients reported being physically abused by the perpetrators.

“Forty-four clients called to report negligence they faced at home or community; 30 callers called for emotional reasons; 25 called in for other reasons,” the report stated.

“Thirteen calls were received following the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Winston, seven cases of sexual abuse surfaced in the first quarter and 3 clients called in to report physical abuse.” MSP founder and executive director Jennifer Poole said their counsellors were working around the clock counselling children who called their help line for assistance. The Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Rosy Akbar, said CHL services ensured that all children have their fundamental right to be heard and protected as per the rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that was ratified by the Fijian Government in 1993.

Edited by Naisa Koroi