Four million Mozambican children to improve health care

The Mozambican government is to improve the country's health care, according to a Friday statement from the United Nations office in the Mozambican capital, Maputo. It said that the Ministry of Health is launching a nationwide "Health Week" as from Monday, offering intervention to improve the health of more than 4 million children under five years old. The program, said the statement, is also to cover about 500,000 women of reproductive age. The statement also said the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is to target all children from zero to five years of age to be vaccinated against polio. Children aged from six to 59 months will receive Vitamin A supplements, while children more than one year old will be dewormed. Vitamin A supplements and deworming should be provided every six months, while vaccinations against polio and other childhood diseases should follow the schedule laid down in the Health Ministry's Expanded Vaccination Program (PAV). The week's program outlines that all people of reproductive age who are interested may attend counseling sessions on family planning and receive contraceptives of their choice. An information campaign has been carried out over the past 30 days to inform parents and other care givers, including teachers, and community and religious leaders, of the need to ensure that all children receive the polio vaccination and the vitamin A supplement. The Health Week will take place in all health units, and mobile health brigades will visit communities across the country from Nov. 29 to 30. Among the international bodies supporting the Health Week are UN agencies such as UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, and others.