Rights From Day 1. Literally
- Noa Sattath
- Feb 25
- 3 min read
February 25, 2026
Dear friend,
The first few months of a child’s life are critical in monitoring their health and development. In recognition of the importance of this period, and the importance of ensuring that children (and their parents) have access to health information and health services, Israel has a network of well-baby clinics, Tipat Halav (literally, “A Drop of Milk”). At these clinics, children receive their vaccinations and are regularly monitored to ensure that they are healthy and growing. Their parents also benefit by being able to consult with medical professionals on a regular basis, who are also trained to detect signs of postpartum depression and domestic violence.
For Bedouin mothers and their babies in the Negev, Tipat Halav clinics can be a lifeline, especially considering the population’s high infant mortality rate compared to the rest of Israeli society. But recently, ACRI has had to intervene to ensure that babies and their parents, especially their mothers, have access to basic medical care.
The clinic serving approximately 500 mothers in the Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj was closed in response to break-ins, and the mothers were told to take their children to clinics located 20-25 miles (30-40km) away. The vast majority of these women have no access to a private vehicle, which means any trips to the clinics would be hours long journeys in each direction—with a newborn or toddler in tow. But even the mothers who were able to make the trip discovered that they were not registered as being under the purview of these clinics, and so the clinics could not schedule appointments for them. Essentially these women and their children were being punished for a crime that they had nothing to do with, and their vulnerable children were not going to be able to receive vaccinations, follow-up care, monitoring, or preventive healthcare services.
This has not been the only recent issue with well-baby clinics in Bedouin communities. At the end of 2025, the Ministry of Health decided to cut the mediators program operating in Tipat Halav clinics serving Bedouin communities, claiming that it was due to budgetary constraints. The program, which had been operating successfully for many years, aimed to reduce infant mortality in Bedouin society by making healthcare services more accessible to Bedouin women. The program included translation services, escorts that accompanied women and their families to appointments, and workshops and lectures on topics such as nutrition and vaccinations. While the Ministry of Health claimed there was no budget to run the program, worth noting is that it had recently diverted nine million shekels from the health budget earmarked for Bedouin society to fund an unrelated police unit.
In both cases, after ACRI and other human rights organizations sent appeals to the Ministry of Health, services were restored—in fact, another clinic was also reopened together with the clinic in Bir Hadaj. These were major successes, and we are proud of the fact that our work allows mothers and babies access to essential health services that benefit both.
But Bedouin communities in the Negev remain vulnerable. It is not just at the start of life that they have to deal with government neglect and insecurity about access to resources. We have had to step in a number of times when educational services—or transportation services that children and students rely on to get to kindergartens and schools—have been shut down without warning. Bedouin villages in the Negev, especially unrecognized villages, have no protection from rocket, missile, or drone attacks: no sirens, no Iron Dome coverage, and no public shelters, leaving tens of thousands of people to their own devices during attacks. A number of villages have been subject to illegal roadblocks placed by the police: in one, the village of Laqiya, it is likely that the roadblocks were placed for a photo opportunity for the racist and extremist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir. Racism and conscious or unconscious indifference leave these communities in perpetual states of insecurity and scrambling for resources.
Together, we can ensure that every human being has rights from their very first moments. Donate Now.
