[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 20:47:56 11/08/07
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 7 November 2007 -- Late last month, Madagascar held its third national Mother and Child Health Week with the goal of providing more than 4 million mothers and children with life-saving health care.
In the course of one week at the end of October, some 59,000 health workers, community health agents and social mobilizers travelled to virtually every village in the country, offering valuable health-care packages at more than 8,500 sites.
UNICEF Representative in Madagascar Bruno Maes commended the Government of Madagascar on its leadership in addressing this situation through Mother and Child Health Weeks and other efforts. He noted that 40,000 additional children under the age of five are surviving each year in Madagascar.
"Together we have to build on this, and focus on the 60,000 under-fives who continue to die from diseases that can not only be treated, but also prevented," Mr. Maes said. "As we all know, this is an unnecessary tragedy, but one that we can tackle together."
For more information, visit: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/madagascar_41711.html