Concord Times (Freetown)
Mohamed Massaquoi
17 June 2009
UNICEF Country Representative Tuesday disclosed that five million United States dollars have been donated by the Canadian government to the government and people of Sierra Leone to support programs aimed at improving access to healthcare services for impoverished and rural community women.
Geert Capellaere, who made the revelation during commemoration of the Day of the African Child at the Miatta conference centre in Freetown, said it was not the responsibility of the Health ministry alone to cater for the survival of children in the country.
He said Sierra Leone has a good policy that guarantees the rights of every child and pregnant woman to have access to proper healthcare services, but that in most cases pregnant women and children find it difficult to meet the demand of proper medical attention.
"The donators have laid emphasis on women in remote communities. I traveled to some towns in the provinces recently where I visited healthcare centers, and at each center I visited the medical personnel would tell me that healthcare services are free for women and children.
"The following day I held a meeting with the Children Forum Network and I told them about the statements made by the health personnel that the children were supervised but they said the claims were untrue," Capellaere said, adding that the health situation in the country was still a challenge despite the fact that the Child Right Act pays premium to the health of children and their survival.
Save the Children country director, Dieneke Van Der Wijk reiterated that child survival was still a daunting task to the Africa continent, especially Sierra Leone where pregnant women and children die of diseases which are largely preventable.
She said there are lots of reasons responsible for the high infant and child mortality rate in the country as there are not enough doctors, nurses and health centers at remote communities.
"We have launched the global campaign on the survival of new born babies," she infrormed, adding that her organization was working closely with the ministry of Health and Sanitation to seek the welfare of women and children and to reduce the infant and child mortality rate in the country.
Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs, Dr. Soccoh Kabia said the survival of children was high on government's agenda but urged that government and other partners should scale up their efforts to save the lives of children under the age of five years.
"We are concentrating on preventive programmes to help improve the health of newborn children. We will develop community-based programmes that encourage the participation of both women and men with the aim of increasing communication between the sexes, as well as encourage more equal division of child care duties in the homes," he concluded.
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