Today
Children’s Health Comes First

“Africa faces an increasingly serious public health crisis.... Many deaths could be prevented by vaccinations...and by investing in improved sanitation and basic health care.”

Kofi Annan, from Ghana,
Secretary-General of the
United Nations, 1998

In countries where resources are scarce and doctors few, Africans are searching for ways to safeguard their families’ health. The challenges are formidable: Killers such as malaria and HIV take a devastating toll. If untreated, minor diarrhea and respiratory diseases often prove fatal in young children.

Health workers are teaching public health practices and working with mothers and children. Their efforts are making a difference. In Kenya, for example, the infant mortality rate has fallen some 20 percent in as many years.

History Matters
“In many African countries, painful structural [economic] adjustment programmes have led to...reductions in the delivery of many of the most basic social services.”
Kofi Annan, from Ghana, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1998