BARDO - The second regular session of the Children's Parliament for 2009 was held on Saturday at the Chamber of Deputies in Bardo.
A debate was held, on the occasion, with Public Health Minister Mondher Zenaidi on the topic "Protection of Children against Risk Behaviours," in the presence of Mrs. Sarra Kanoun Jarraya, Minister of Women, Family, Children and Elderly Affairs.
Questions raised by children members of parliament focused on efforts to protect children against risk behaviour, the results of the national campaign against smoking and awareness and outreach efforts targeting parents and children about the importance of reducing aspects of risk behaviours.
The Public Health Minister emphasised the continuing evolution of the different indicators of child health, such as the increase in the overall rate of vaccination which reached 98% and the reduction of the infant mortality rate.
With a view to eliminating risk behaviours, the minister said, the department seeks to strengthen and promote health mechanisms for children and adolescents to keep them abreast of developments, particularly epidemiological ones, and changes in lifestyle.
On prevention against emerging diseases, Mr. Mondher Zenaidi said, children, particularly those with chronic diseases, are among categories that have priority in the campaign of vaccination against the A (H1N1) influenza.
The Public Health Minister also highlighted that in order to materialise the ambitious objectives of the electoral programme of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to strengthen prevention and ensure a healthy behaviour, efforts will focus, in the next stage, on the establishment of a plan to reduce risk health behaviours among adolescents and youth.
For her part, Mrs. Sarra Kanoun Jarraya stressed the interest taken in children in Tunisia to teach them national democratic principles and help them express themselves.
© Agence Tunis Afrique Presse 2009
