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Health priorities for 2001 outlined

    NAIROBI
    The health ministry will this year revise the DRC health map and attempt to improve social mobilisation so that healthcare can be brought closer to the people, according to a document outlining the DRC's "priority health orientations" for 2001, cited by the PanAfrican News Agency (PANA) on Sunday. Health Minister Mashako Mamba said the plan to have over 400 health zones, instead of the current 307, would allow for better control of healthcare units and allow the expansion of health coverage through the whole territory, PANA reported. Mamba said he intended to strengthen strategies for fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and communicable childhood diseases, such as measles and whooping cough. The document expressed concern about high maternal and infant mortality rates, citing a maternal death rate of 1,800 deaths per 100,000 live births when the African average was 600 to 700 such deaths. It said the "occupied territories" in the east had over 200 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to 127 per 1,000 in government-held areas.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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