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Senior UNICEF official visits Afghanistan to help meet needs of women, children

Senior UNICEF official visits Afghanistan to help meet needs of women, children

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United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah has begun a week-long visit to Afghanistan in a bid to draw global attention to the progress being made for the country’s women and children while highlighting unmet needs in areas of health, education and protection.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah has begun a week-long visit to Afghanistan in a bid to draw global attention to the progress being made for the country’s women and children while highlighting unmet needs in areas of health, education and protection.

The figures are still stark. Less than half of primary school age girls attend classes, while a quarter of primary school age children undertake some form of work, and an estimated one-third of women are married before the age of 18. Some 50 women die every day due to obstetric complications. An estimated 600 children under the age of five die every day in Afghanistan, mostly due to preventable illnesses.

Ms. Salah’s visit coincides with the start of a new academic year, when up to 5 million children are expected to return to classrooms. She will see first hand efforts made by the Afghan Government, UNICEF and other partners to increase school enrolment, visit maternal health programmes, and discuss broader child protection policies.

Ms. Salah, who began her visit yesterday, will encourage renewed investment in development programmes for women and children and draw upon the benchmarks for health and education set out in the Afghan Compact adopted in London in January, a multi-billion dollar blueprint for partnership between the Government and the international community to bolster security, economic development and counter-narcotics efforts.

The Compact calls for a primary school enrolment rate for girls of 60 per cent, a reduction of maternal mortality by 15 per cent, and full immunization coverage for infants under-5 for vaccine-preventable diseases, reducing mortality rates by 20 per cent, by the end of 2010.

With a recognized need to reduce disparities throughout the country, Ms. Salah will spend the first part of her visit in the provinces of Bamyan and Balkh before returning to Kabul, the capital.