FOM Newsletter August 2001
Morocco Week in Review
 August 18,  2001

Road accidents have killed 3,627 people in 2000, while another 13,647 were seriously injured and 60,624 other suffered light injuries, says the equipment ministry. Compared to 1999, the number of road accidents increased by 3.5% while the number of dead and injured persons grew respectively by 6.9% and 2.1%. Out of the 48,370 road accidents, a total of 73.1% happened in urban areas and killed 1,117 people while the remaining 13,000 accidents happened in rural areas and killed 2,510 people. Over 48.6 % of vehicles involved in accidents are over 10 years of age, and over 30.2 % are over 15 years of age. Also 40.6% of public and private goods and persons transportation vehicles (except for trains and taxis) which were involved in road accidents are aged over 10 years and more than 28.7% are aged over 15 years.

A World Health Organization study ranked Morocco as 17th in terms of its health system efficiency, ahead of advanced countries like the UK (24th), Canada (35th) and the US (72nd). The healthy diet of Mediterranean countries could be responsible for giving them a high ranking.  Mediterranean countries, including Italy and Spain, occupy six of the seven top places. The organization comments that some of the world's poorest and least developed countries have health systems that are in some ways better run than those in many Western countries. The comparison of 191 country's health systems, published in the August 11th issue of the British Medical Journal, shows significant variations across the world.

Oman has the most "efficient" health system in the world in terms of outcome while countries in sub-Saharan Africa have the worst performance records, according the WHO analysis. The researchers assessed the efficiency of healthcare systems by comparing the amount of money spent with the outcome in terms of improving life expectancy. The authors suggest that Oman's top ranking could be attributed to the fact that it had drastically reduced child mortality over the past 40 years, cutting rates from 310 to 18 per 1,000 live births. Similarly, poor health records in countries like Zimbabwe--ranked 191st--Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo could be attributed to a record of civil unrest and high rates of HIV and AIDS.

The second song and dance festival of Volubilis will be held August 22-26, in the Moroccan archeological site of Volubilis, located near Meknes (170 north-east of Rabat). Artistic troupes from Russia, France, Italy, Lebanon and Spain, in addition to Moroccan artists, will take part in the festival, a statement by the Moroccan ministry of culture and communication said. The Moroccan ministry of cultural affairs which had also sponsored the first festival hopes the event will contribute to the renaissance of this historical Roman site and make of it a shrine of Mediterranean art and culture and an annual rendezvous for artists from all over the world. Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Portugal, Spain and France had participated in the first Volubilis festival that also featured exhibitions of paintings, handicraft items, and photos.

CASABLANCA- The 2nd festival of the 3rd Millennium Youth forum, sponsored by the ministry of social economy, small and medium-sized enterprises and handicraft, opened here on Thursday. Over 800 Moroccan youth from various regions, French, Belgian and Spanish young entrepreneurs and Moroccan youth settled in north America and Europe are taking part in the festival. The event, aiming to encourage young skills and deepen the spirit of initiative, creativity, excellence and competition, is featuring a series of workshops. Topics deal with promotion of enterprise culture, training for enterprise creation and business management.

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