UN committee calls for more resources for children’s health

Mali should allocate appropriate resources and develop comprehensive policies and programmes to improve children’s health, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended at its 22nd session, which ended on Friday in Geneva. According to UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 1999 report, Mali has the world’s fifth highest mortality rate for children under the age of five years: 239 out of every 1,000 Malian children die before their fifth birthday. The Committee said that Mali should, among other things, facilitate greater access to primary health services; reduce maternal and child mortality; prevent and combat malnutrition, step up its fight against female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to girls’ health and continue its efforts to promote girls’ attendance in schools.