Brasília, March 25, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) released a study, Wednesday (24), indicating the conditions of child development in the Northern region of the country. The study checked whether conditions in the Amazon area are favorable or not for the development of children in the so-called period of early infancy, from 0-6 years.

According to the UNICEF coordinator in the Amazon region, Jacques Schwarzstein, one of the chief findings is that the Northern region has the worst data related to environmental sanitation. Moreover, there are no community health agents to orient families. "The Community Health Agents program serves precisely to redress a little the lack of basic sanitation, insofar as it prepares families to cope with precarious living conditions," he affirmed.

Schwarzstein explained that the purpose of the study was to identify the region's problems, so that investments can be made with efficiency and to solve the most serious questions. He said he hopes that candidates for mayor use the study to formulate their governmental programs. "Our attempt with this work is to contribute a little for the rest of the country to perceive better who is the Amazon and how people live here," he stated.

The study took two years to complete. This is the first time in over 15 years that a study of this type is conducted in the Amazon region.

Translator: David Silberstein