UNICEF to support pro-child plan

The UN children's agency UNICEF and the Mozambican government are set to sign a US $86 million cooperation agreement aimed at fundamentally improving the living conditions and prospects of children in the country, UNICEF said in a statement released on Monday. The "Master Plan of Operations" covers the areas of education, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, protection, social policy and communication over the period of 2002 to 2006. "The cooperation agreement is designed to contribute towards the implementation of the [government's] Absolute Poverty Reduction Plan (PARPA)", UNICEF Representative Marie-Pierre Poirier said in the statement. "Mozambique will only achieve its challenging goal of reducing poverty by one-third over the next ten years, if all children get a chance to live a healthy life, to go to school and to participate fully in society. Investing in children is the best development strategy for Mozambique. That's why we say: Children first!" For most Mozambican families the rewards of economic growth still remain out of reach, the UNICEF statement said. Some 70 percent of the population live in absolute poverty and Mozambique has one of the highest rates of infant and child mortality in the world. One out of four children die of malaria, diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, measles or other diseases before the age of five. Enrolment in school has increased considerably over the past years, but many families still give too low a priority to girls' education, mainly because they need their daughters at home, the statement added. The accelerating HIV epidemic presents an additional burden to the country. Children are increasingly affected themselves. In 2001 alone, an estimated 52,000 children were born HIV positive. Of the 600 new infections per day in the country, 43 percent are among adolescents and young people. UNICEF public relations officer Gabriel Pinho Pereira told IRIN the cooperation agreement was the "legal framework for our intervention in Mozambique" and the agency gave it "the highest importance". UNICEF's US $86 million contribution over five years was equivalent to giving each child US $2. But Pereira stressed that UNICEF would not be working alone, but in concert with the government and other UN agencies, "to overcome these awful and terrible social indicators". By 2006 the cooperation programme aims to: - Reduce infant and under-five child mortality. Currently 146 out of 1,000 children die before their first birthday. The under-five mortality rate is 246 per 1000 live births. - Improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality. An estimated 1,500 out of 100,000 live births lead to the death of the mother due to complications. - Reduce infant, young child and maternal malnutrition. Close to 44 percent of Mozambican children under 5 years are chronically malnourished. - Prevent HIV infections and care for those affected and infected. HIV has become the greatest development challenge of the country with 12.2 percent of the 15 to 49 years old being infected. - Strengthen capacities to promote, protect and fulfil children's right to education and expand opportunities to ensure they reach their full potential. Currently only half of children between 6 and 10 go to school. Girls are under-represented with an enrolment rate of 49.5 percent compared to 58.1 percent for boys.