Curitiba - A partnership contract uniting Unicef, the Itaipu binational hydroelectric power plant and the local authorities in 28 municipalities in the state of Paraná (southern region) will make it possible to provide some 80,000 children and their families with assistance.

Known as the Child and Integral Development project, it is presently training 3,100 community health agents, leaders from the Pastoral da Criança (a Catholic assistance organization) and teachers who will work in day-care and pre-schooling centers. When the training is completed, they will network with low-income families, providing them with information that will make it possible to give young children, up to the age of six, the proper care that is so important at that age.

"Studies show that the earlier children get the kind of attention this project provides the better. They will be better students, have fewer health problems and when they grow up, they become better adults," says Halim Girade, of Unicef.

The families in the project will receive a Strong Brazilian Family kit containing five albums with simplified messages that are illustrated for easy understanding but based on the latest scientific information on raising healthy, content and intelligent children. The messages were developed by the Pan American Health Organization, the Brazilian Pediatric Society and the Pastoral da Criança.

The community health agents will oversee and follow up on the use of the kits so that the project is really effective. It should reduce infant mortality, stimulate personal hygiene and lower school dropout rates.

Data from the government statistical bureau (IBGE) shows that in the region where the project will be implanted, in the southern part of Paraná, in the so-called Triple Border region, where Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina all meet, there are 125,400 children of less than six years of age. Over 40% of those children are not in school. The International Labor Organization also reports that some 3,500 of them are victims of sexual exploitation.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Lúcia Nórcio
Translator: Allen Bennett
08/10/2004