UNICEF Rwanda - The children - The Situation for Children in Rwanda - 0 views
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Christian Pyros on 01 May 13"Child Survival Rwanda has made tremendous progress in improving child survival. Under-five mortality rate has fallen from 153 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 76, with maternal mortality dropping from 1,075 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 487 in 2010 (DHS,2010) However, over 50,000 children under the age of five continue to die annually from diseases like diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection and malaria. In addition, 44% of children under five years old suffer from chronic malnutrition and a quarter of the population still does not have access to an improved drinking water source or improved sanitation facilities (DHS, 2010). Education Thanks to a policy to make primary education free, 95.9% of students; more girls (97.5%) than boys (94.3%) are enrolled in primary school (MINEDUC 2011), but completion (24%), dropout (12.2%) and repetition rates (14%) for both boys and girls, remain key challenges, along with the switch from French to English as the language of instruction. The latter will clearly impact the quality of education for the immediate future, but is being dealt with through the development of a strategy to address broader issues of the quality of education, including major investments in teacher training and development. HIV and AIDS While Rwanda is one of a few African countries with relatively low HIV prevalence, estimated at about 3% of the adult population, prevalence rates amongst pregnant women in Kigali, Rwanda's capital, range between 16 and 34%. Young people, especially girls, remain at increased risk of contracting the disease and an estimated 22,200 children under the age of 15 live with HIV. The country has made significant progress in scaling up services for HIV positive children, with 75% receiving anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and wants to eliminate the transmission of HIV from mother to child by 2015, making remarkable progress in scaling up services for pregnant women. 82% of health facilities provide PMTC