RIO DE JANEIRO, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Monday launched an intensive care program for pregnant women.
The Stork Network program will be part of the public healthcare system, and will receive an investment of 9 billion reais (5.42 billion U.S. dollars) in the next four years.
The program's goals are to care for Brazilian children before they are born, to ensure a better quality of life for mothers-to-be, and to provide better conditions for childbirth and lower infant mortality rates.
"We will encourage mothers to have complete prenatal care," Rousseff said.
The program plans to increase the number of prenatal appointments for each woman from four to six. Some 90 percent of Brazilian women attend the minimum of four appointments recommended by the World Health Organization.
