Salone is not doing well in the health sector -UNICEF Director

The visiting UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman has said that Sierra Leone is not doing well in the health sector, as a child born in this country has more than one in four chances of dying before the age of five.Speaking at a press conference over the weekend, the UNICEF Executive Director disclosed that after visiting Freetown and the northern part of the country, she reliably learnt that 60% of youths are unemployed  uneducated and  unskilled.Stressing that Sierra Leone has the worst social indicators in the world, she underscored that her organisation aims at maintaining a strategic plan which she said is a road map that will help save the lives of  women and children in Sierra Leone.She maintained that schools are being rebuilt and that today more children are going to school noting that significant gains have been made in gender parity, especially at the primary level.She  lamented that women and girls are still vulnerable to abuse and exploitation and that many are subjected to gender base violence, early marriage and female genital mutilation which has a prevalence rate of over 90% in the country.The UNICEF Executive Director said that unemployment is  high and described education and vocational skills training as  key to recovering, stating that an educated young generation will help Sierra Leone have a better future. She promised to support the government and its people with funds and technical assistance in providing health care deliveries for children and  protect the rights of children nation wide.