23 Feb LESOTHO: Better coordination could save lives of mothers
IRIN, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
THABA-TSEKA, 22 February 2011 (IRIN) – A new joint programme is changing the way the Lesotho government and its development partners deliver aid by getting different government departments, UN agencies and civil society organizations working together to help mothers and their families.
Tens of thousands of Basotho already depend on food and agricultural assistance as well as free HIV/AIDS treatment, but the country is no closer to achieving a number of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and progress on some has reversed.
Over half the population lives in extreme poverty, an estimated 23 percent of adults are infected with HIV, and for every 100,000 live births, 1,155 women died during or after delivery in 2009; up from 762 in 2004.