A three-day Pan-African Forum devoted to preventive medicine for the children of the world's poorest continent will kick off on Monday.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that the forum will seek to empower local leaders to play an even greater part in the protection of children and the betterment of their communities, China Radio International reported Monday.

UNICEF figures show that one in six children born in sub-Saharan Africa dies before the age of five, compared with one in 143 in industrialized countries.

More than 40 percent of children in the world who die before the age of five are born in sub-Saharan Africa.

(CRI October 18, 2004)