Health and nutrition
Child survival under threat Children and women in Mozambique stand a better chance of surviving than they did more than a decade ago. Over the past two decades, the under-five mortality rate decreased from 219 to 152 per 1,000 live births and the maternal mortality ratio dropped from a high of 1,000 maternal to 408 per 100,000 live births. The proportion of one-year old children fully immunised against the six main vaccine preventable diseases has increased substantially over the past decade. Gains in child and maternal wellbeing, however, have not been even across the country, and large numbers of children and women, especially those living in remote rural areas, remain at risk. Malnutrition is a compounding factor in child mortality. Children that are malnourished are more susceptible to illness and are less likely to recover from a bout of sickness. Chronic malnutrition has not improved in Mozambique in the past few years – 41 per cent of children are stunted, which is considered very high by international norms.
Saving children’s lives The Ministry of Health, with support from UNICEF and other partners, works to address the underlying causes of the high mortality and poor nutritional status of children. Interventions are implemented nationwide while particular activities such as malaria prevention and immunisation are focused on areas where coverage of services is low and children are most vulnerable to disease. Children’s lives can be saved if communities know how to protect children’s health and well-being. When children fall ill, it is critical that families bring them to health facilities in time and that children receive proper treatment. The Government works towards this goal by increasing public awareness of and demand for child and maternal health services and improving the quality of services in health centres and communities. UNICEF works with other partners to provide technical and financial assistance to the Ministry of Health in conducting training for primary healthcare workers and community health workers in the integrated management of childhood illnesses, emergency obstetric care and neonatal care, distributing insecticide treated mosquito nets to households looking after vulnerable children and immunising children against vaccine-preventable diseases. As malnutrition is a major underlying cause of child mortality, UNICEF and other partners support the Government in implementing a Basic Nutrition Package to prevent children from becoming malnourished at different stages of their life cycle. The package is carried out in primary health care centres and in communities. It comprises activities on infant and young child feeding, maternal nutrition, micronutrient supplementation, de-worming and growth monitoring. Families and other child care givers are taught good childcare practices and ways of improving children’s nutrition. To address acute malnutrition found in children living in areas of drought, food insecurity and high HIV prevalence rates, therapeutic and supplementary feeding interventions are being scaled up to help save the lives of chronically vulnerable children and women.
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