New Era Newspaper

New Era Epaper
Icon Collap
...
Home / Report on children chronicles 25 years of progress

Report on children chronicles 25 years of progress

2015-10-01  Staff Report 2

Report on children chronicles 25 years of progress
Windhoek The Speaker of the National Assembly Professor Peter H. Katjavivi on Monday launched the report entitled: “A Namibia fit for children – 25 years of progress.” The newly unveiled report was developed by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), with support from the UNICEF office in Windhoek. The report provides a child and a youth-centered secondary analysis of the data of the last three population and housing censuses, covering a range of child-focused indicators including education, early childhood development, social grants, water and sanitation, housing, material assets, teenage pregnancy, early marriage and birth registration. Data in the report provides a rich insight into the status of child  well-being and access to services by children in Namibia. Meanwhile, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Nthloi Motsamai, who is also the representative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was among delegates that attended the regional parliamentary seminar  in Windhoek, themed: Promoting Child Nutrition in SADC. The seminar that started Monday ended Tuesday. Speaker Motsamai affirmed that the SADC region has relatively high levels of chronic malnutrition. According to the 2013 world health report, stunting rates are close to or above 30 percent in 10 of the 15 countries of the region. She stated: “This alarming situation is an indicator that nutrition does not enjoy the attention it deserves. It should be the purview of all stakeholders, especially the decision-makers, including us parliamentarians, and requires courageous decisions.” Motsamai highlighted the following programmes by the IPU: • In light of the potential for action and the collective obligation to act, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has since 2010 started to assist parliaments in several countries to create an enabling environment for children in the 1 000 days windows of opportunity; which is a critical stage, to achieve their potential. • The workshop on promoting child nutrition in the SADC region and the outcome documents of both the Second International Conference held in Rome last year and the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda in which Heads of States have committed to ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions with determination to eradicate hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition, particularly undernourishment, stunting, underweight, overweight and wasting worldwide. Motsamai further emphasized: “The post-2015 Development Agenda clearly recognizes the role of national parliaments through the enactment, the adoption of budgets and in ensuring accountability for the effective implementation of these commitments.”
2015-10-01  Staff Report 2

Tags: Khomas
Share on social media