National capacity building on managing programmes to improve child health
The Ministry of Health of Rwanda in collaboration with World Health Organization and other partners organized a national capacity building training on child management in Musanze District, Northern Province, from 19th to 23rd September 2011.
At less than five years to the MDG target, a still high under five mortality prevails and the coverage of key child survival interventions remain low, particularly in the African Region.
Indeed, many children are still dying needlessly, of preventable and easily treatable conditions. 3/4 of all neonatal deaths are mainly due to neonatal sepsis, birth asphyxia and preterm birth. Similarly, pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and measles account for 3/4 of under five deaths beyond the neonatal period and about 35% of all under five deaths are due to the presence of under nutrition.
Therefore, despite the overall progress in child survival, the rate of reduction of child deaths in Africa is still insufficient to achieve MDG 4 targets. Based on the UN Interagency Group for child mortality Estimation report 2011, only 8 countries are on track to achieve MDG4 in Africa. These are Algeria, Cape Verde, Eritrea, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius and Seychelles.