In what could be described as a positive development towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals for women and children, the government of the Gambia and the UNICEF partnership and programmes of co-operation, have registered success towards achieving the MDGS target for children in the Gambia, report gathered from the UNICEF Gambia office reveals.

According to the report, the government-UNICEF partnership have registered success in some of the key areas for Gambian children, most notably, the cross primary school (basic education) enrollment which the Gambia has already surpass.

This indicates that female enrolment in the Gambia is at 84 percent while the male enrolment is at 79 percent. Access to portable safe drinking water which are  crucial to the life of children has also been achieved, showing an impressive percentage of 84. This, according to the report, means that 84 percent of the Gambian population are now having access to portable safe drinking water.

The report further went to add that under-five mortality among Gambian children has significantly dropped from 153 per 1,000 in the previous years to an impressive percentage of 133 per 1,000 today. Under this development, the government-UNICEF partnership is ensuring that more children under five survive to witness their fifth birthday.

Immunisation for Gambian children against global pandemic diseases is now over 95 percent, whilst vitamin A supplement for children has jumped to 95 percent.

Giving an overview of the 2007-2011 country programme of co-operation, Jeggan Grey-Johnson, Communication Officer of UNICEF Gambia, said the programme of co-operation is the fourth negotiated between the government of the Gambia and the UNICEF.

Formulated within the context of vision 2020, the poverty reduction strategy paper and the comprehensive development framework, the united nations development assistance framework and decentralisation process, the approach of the country programme of co-operation, according to Jeggan, is multi-sectoral, rather than based on individual sectors.

In a separate development, the UNICEF Gambia and their partners, Tostan, on Wednesday organised a photo exhibition at the Coconut Residence in Kerr Shering. The photo exhibition was meant to showcase some of the achievements made by Tostan in implementing UNICEF’s Community-led project in the Upper River Region.