Wednesday, February 10, 2010

November 23, 2009 11:33 AM

UNICEF: Algeria Has Achieved Positive Results In Child Protection

ALGIERS, Nov 23 (Bernama) -- The representative of the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) in Algiers, Manuel Fontaine has underscored the positive results achieved by Algeria for the protection of children's rights, according to a report by Algerian news agency (APS).

At a meeting devoted to the presentation of UNICEF's "State of the World's Children" report celebrating 20 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Manuel Fontaine noted that, in recent years, Algeria has managed to reduce by 50 percent the rate of infant mortality.

Algeria -- which ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992 -- has achieved "significant results" in protecting children's health, including the prevention against contagious diseases through widespread vaccination nationwide.

On children's schooling, the UNICEF representative has hailed the level achieved by Algeria so far, which is 97 percent, according to official figures released by the National Statistics Office (ONS).

He also hailed Algeria's social policy in this regard, by devoting a substantial budget to support children in education, health and culture.

He also called for more efforts to cope with current challenges, pointing out that "almost 20,000 under one year old children die each year in Algeria from diseases and nearly 700 women die from childbirth complications."

Fontaine has also called for striving to reduce dropout rates, which affects 11 percent of schoolchildren nationally and combat illiteracy especially among women and girls in rural areas.

For his part, the United Nations coordinator in Algiers, Mamadou M'baye, has hailed Algeria's commitment to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child, calling for greater investment in people and combating poverty.

-- BERNAMA

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