About : Journée internationale: l'alphabétisation est le m... in marrakech marrakech marrakech Travel Marrakech

"An illiterate person is more likely to have poor health and will be less likely to seek medical help for themselves, family or community", said the Director-General of Unesco, Koïchiro Matsuura, in a message which will be issued on this international day.

Literacy, he insists, is a powerful remedy for threats to health, because it allows to promote better nutrition, and prevention and the treatment of diseases.

Today, about 774 million people, or nearly one adult in five in the world, know neither read nor write and 75 million children remain excluded from the school system, says the press release, highlighting the progress made in this area, where the number of illiterate adults rose in recent years, however 871 million (period 1985/1994) to 776 million (2000, 2006).

Unesco plans to organize, on this international day, a round table on the theme "literacy and health".

The UN Organisation had recalled, attributed the honourable mention of literacy award to a Moroccan association, "Integration for the training of persons with disabilities of the wilaya Marrakech", in recognition of his "exceptional work for blind and visually impaired persons".