Baku to mull achievements in mother and child health protection

The UNICEF Office in Azerbaijan and the Health Ministry plan to conduct a round table to discuss achievements and problems with mother and child health protection on May 15, the organization said today.

Such issue as early detection and prevention of disability, innovative improvements in safe motherhood and survival of newborns and children under the age of five and cost effective interventions for micronutrient deficiencies prevention and control especially through food fortification will be discussed there.

Representatives of the Health Ministry, UNICEF, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Azerbaijani Parliament, the media and NGOs will attend the meeting.

It is also expected that a draft outline of national strategy and plan of action programme on anemia prevention and control will be presented at the meeting.

An assessment of opportunities for increasing the screening of newborn and young children for conditions leading to disability so that disability can be lessened or even avoided will be discussed, and plans formulated to keep Azerbaijan moving forward in this important field.

"Child Mortality in Azerbaijan has reduced by 50 percent in the last twenty years, which is good progress towards MDG 4, which requires a two-thirds reduction of child mortality by 2015," Mark Hereward, UNICEF Representative in Azerbaijan, said.

"And we expect that recent initiatives by the Ministry of Health, supported by UNICEF, such as reorganisation of the perinatal care system, development of necessary regulations, including neonatal care standards and clinical protocols, transition to the WHO live birth definition, as well as initiatives for improving parenthood practices will contribute to further improvement child survival," he added.


/Trend/