improvement of the vaccination cover, of the quality of care given to deaths, of the socio-economic development and the improvement of hygiene and nutrition. 343. Within the framework of the national action programme drawn up in 1992, Tunisia had attained most of the objectives (from the World Summit for the year 2000) of « Health for All ». Thus: • Infant mortality and that of children aged less than five years had been reduced by 40% and 33% respectively during the last decade; • The total vaccination cover given to children aged less than a year exceeded 90%; • Poliomyelitis, neo-natal tetanus and measles are virtually eradicated; • The prevalence of malnutrition had been reduced by more than half; • Mortality due to diarrhoeal diseases no longer constitutes a public health problem; • The incidence of low weight at birth is 9%; • All Tunisian households eat iodized salt. B) Life expectancy at birth 344. Life expectancy at birth was estimated in 2004 at 73.4 years (75.3 for the women and 71.4 for the men). In 1966, this indicator had been globally evaluated at 54 years. This increase in life expectancy, combined with the decline in infant mortality and birth rate results in the progressive increase of the aged population and thereby an increase in the demand for care relating specifically to the elderly. C) The National Vaccination Programme 345. From 1979, a national vaccination programme had replaced the vaccination campaigns which had been carried out for three months per year against tuberculosis and poliomyelitis essentially and where needed, against diphtheria and whooping cough. This programme benefitted from the highly dense network of grassroots health centres distributed throughout the country. This allowed the attainment, from the early 1990s, of the rates of vaccination cover higher than 90% with a vaccination calendar targetting in the beginning the six most deadly illnesses for the child (Tuberculosis, Poliomyelitis, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Whooping Cough and Measles). 346. This national vaccination programme had been reinforced, first by an acceleration strategy consisting of the organization of National Days, then Maghrebi Days of Vaccination, through the conduct of strategies of eradication or of the elimination of certain targeted illnesses and through the introduction of new vaccines in the vaccination calendar provided free for all the children in the entire country. 347. The MICS II inquiry carried out in 2000 showed that at the age of 2 years, the vaccination cover by DTCP3 and BCG was higher than 95% at the national level and higher than 90% for all the governorates of the country without exception. 348. The national vaccination programme supported by a monitoring system which conforms to WHO standards, achieved the eradication of poliomyelitis. 74