Issue, 20, Child health: Healthy mother, healthy baby, published on December 2004.

Child health: Healthy mother, healthy baby

Children are our greatest assets, but they are powerless and depend on us for protection. In Cambodia today more than 60,000 children under the age of five die each year from preventable causes. They need us to give them our undivided attention, acknowledge their special needs and for us to take care of them as a priority. That priority status begins before they are even conceived and is as dependent on the health of their mothers as fish are dependent on water.

The main challenge today is to transfer what we already know into action; to deliver the interventions we have in hand to the children, mothers, and families who need them the most, and thus achieve the millennium development goal of reducing under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015 set by the Royal Government of Cambodia for itself. However, health surveys carried out recently have shown a persistence of very high early mortality rates here, indicating that we must try harder to get our message through.

This issue of Health Messenger aims at providing important information on the link between the health of the mother and the child. Mothers need good nutrition and care to produce happy, healthy babies. After that, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life builds a good foundation for the child to grow up healthy, strong and smart. You will also find practical experience and good practices regarding food security, nutrition, supplements and feeding practices.