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afrol News, 25 February - The Beninese Ministry of Health has launched an early-childhood development project in partnership with international aid agencies. The programme is to reduce the incidence of preventable diseases and ailments linked to poor nutrition. Almost 30 percent of Beninese children are suffering from malnutrition, 7 percent have severe underweight. According to UN sources, the Beninese programme targets infants up to five years old. It aims to protect them against tetanus, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, reduce the incidence of malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea, and fight diseases linked to vitamin A deficiency. In the long term, the Beninese government and donors hope to reduce the food deficiency/disease tandem by 25 percent in selected regions in Benin. The Beninese Ministry of Health has embarked on a partnership with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Germany, Switzerland and the United States, through their international aid agencies to launch the programme. The project was launched in Cotonou on Wednesday. According to the head of UNICEF-Benin, Esther Guluma, the country's infant mortality rate dropped from 94 percent to 89 percent between 1996 and 2001, due in part to a higher budgetary allocation to the health sector, a constant supply of basic vaccines, and a high national vaccine coverage rate. UNICEF statistics however show that the situation of child nutrition in Benin is rather bleak, even in a regional context. The underweight prevalence among 1-3 years old children in 1996 was at 29.2 percent and the "severe underweight prevalence" was at 7.4 percent. - Good nutrition is the cornerstone for survival, health and development for current and succeeding generations, UNICEF informs. "Well-nourished children perform better in school, grow into healthy adults and in turn give their children a better start in life." Malnourished children have lowered resistance to infection; they are more likely to die from common childhood ailments like diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory infections, and for those who survive, frequent illness saps their nutritional status, locking them into a vicious cycle of recurring sickness and faltering growth.
Sources:
Based on UN sources and afrol archives
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