Programmes and services included in the basic package include: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. Antenatal care; Family planning services; Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care; The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) to prevent common childhood illnesses; Nutritional support for treatment and prevention of malnutrition, deworming, vitamin supplementation and growth monitoring; Integrated Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme; Malaria prevention and treatment; Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) such as diarrhoea, respiratory diseases and injuries. Antenatal and basic obstetric and newborn care 263. The GoSL offers a comprehensive package of antenatal care (ANC) services as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Services include blood pressure measurement, urine testing, blood tests for sexually transmitted illnesses (STI’s), weight/height measurements, tetanus toxoid injections and monitoring and the provision of information about the danger signs, symptoms and risks of labour and delivery as well as the need for giving birth with the support of a skilled birth attendant. 264. Various advocacy and awareness-raising programmes have been implemented to encourage pregnant women to attend an antenatal clinic as early as possible (before twenty weeks of pregnancy) and to attend at least 4 times during her pregnancy. These initiatives, combined with focussed infrastructure development and capacity building of health staff has resulted in considerable improvements in the number of women who receive a comprehensive set of essential ANC services. 265. As is evident from the figure below, since 2000 there has been an increase of almost 30 percent in the number of pregnant women who receive ANC from a skilled attendant, jumping from 68 percent in 2000 to 97 percent in 2012. Likewise there has been an increase of approximately 20 percent in the number of women reporting four or more ANC visits during their pregnancies. Figure 6: Percentage of women receiving ANC 2000-2013 Sources: MICS 2005, 2008 & DHS 2010 & 2013 72  Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone Initial Report on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 2002-2014