U.N. highlights work in Iraq

BAGHDAD, March 6 (UPI) -- The U.N. Mission in Iraq said in its 2008 update that the world body's cultural and health divisions made positive developments in Iraqi reconstruction.

UNESCO initiated work on the Al-Aksari Shrine in Samara in late January.

UNESCO employed around 60 workers to rebuild the golden dome of the shrine and start work on the reconstruction of its two minarets following a bombing in June 2007 that destroyed most of the holy site.

Working with the World Health Organization, UNICEF officials reached an 86.7 percent polio vaccination rate for children under 5, including displaced children in refugee camps.

UNICEF officials also trained around 400 staff to work in the first "baby-friendly" hospital in semiautonomous Iraqi Kurdistan.

Also on that front, the U.N. Development Program worked on the reconstruction of major hospitals throughout Iraq in collaboration with the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

U.N. officials also completed work in Kirkuk on a sanitation project focusing on downstream storm sewers.