Health
UNICEF works to expand the use of integrated health services for children under five years old with emphasis on newborns.
Challenges
42 per cent
Neonatal mortality accounts for 42 per cent of under 5 deaths.
1 / 3
1/3 of maternal deaths are related to teenage pregnancies.
25 per cent
Barely 25% of children aged 12-23 months are fully vaccinated by their first birthday, while nearly 20% receive no basic immunization.
Madagascar is one of the worst countries in terms of child survival and health coverage.
UNICEF programme
- Mother and Child Health Weeks
- Community-based service delivery.
- Advocacy for increased health sector financing
- Improved linkages between public and community health
- Strengthening routine immunization
- Scaling up facility-based essential neonatal care interventions and community-based care for pregnant women and newborns
- System-strengthening support to the national medical supply chain
- Management and technical capacity development of sub-national health services
Key results
Polio eradication
Routine: Cold chain improvement, vaccine provision, strengthened equity focus
Each year, the Ministry of Health's Expanded Programme on Immunization, supported by UNICEF, aims to ensure that nearly 1,000,000 Malagasy children and 1,228,000 pregnant women benefit from free immunization, including routine immunization in hospitals and basic health centers, in order to protect them from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Health service delivery strengthened in 1,082 health centers
Improved access to health services for 43 per cent of the population in Madagascar (9/22 regions)
79 per cent of health facilities in target regions received Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care training and equipment, reaching around 250,000 pregnant women and newborn each year
Mobile clinics served more than 95,000 people