MaximsNewsNetwork: SOMALIA: CHILD HEALTH: UNICEF & WHO

                                       

MaximsNewsNetwork: 05 September 2009 – UNICEF: Building on the success of the six-month-long Child Health Days initiative that began late last year, UNICEF and the WHO kick off the second round of a campaign to reach every Somali community with a life-saving package of essential services for children and women. Children in Somalia are receiving essential life-saving, high-impact health services during the Child Health Days Campaign. Building on the first round launched last December, UNICEF and WHO, with local authorities, communities and NGOs, kicked off the second round of this large-scale nation-wide initiative to reach every community in Somalia. More than 50 local and international partner organizations across the country are participating in this massive undertaking. This intervention is crucial for Somali communities that are severely affected by conflict, drought, poverty, and lack of basic social services. Somalia has one of the lowest routine immunization rates in the world, with one in every seven children dying before the age of five, and one in five children acutely malnourished. During the first round of Child Health Days, one million children under five in Somalia were immunized against polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus, and received vitamin A and de-worming tablets. 800000 women of child-bearing age were immunized against Tetanus. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Ayan Ibrahim, Mother of six: We only receive vaccination at the health clinic but here …