Laos struggling to meet MDGs on child deaths, hunger
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Health officials and development partners met on Tuesday to discuss health sector reform plans aimed at meeting 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and helping remove Laos from the list of least developed countries by 2020. Health Minister Eksavang V
The policy will give all citizens access to free health services by 2020 through a system of universal coverage.
Laos is currently lagging behind in its progress to meet Millennium Development Goals 1 – “to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty” – and 5, a two-thirds reduction in the under-five mortality rate.
Laos has an unacceptably high malnutrition rate of 40 per cent, which exceeds those of neighbouring countries. In addition, it has the highest maternal mortality rate in Asean, so it will be a challenge to achieve MDG 5 by 2015.
