The United States and Pakistan signed dollar 41.8 million agreement to fund critical health programmes to improve the lives and well being of the Pakistani people over the coming year.
The health programmes will be administered by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the government of Pakistan (GoP) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The bilateral agreement was signed by USAID Director in Pakistan Jonathan Addleton. Secretary of Economic Affairs Division, Khalid Saeed, had previously signed the agreement in Islamabad. Principal Officer, Bryan Hunt of the US Consulate, Lahore and Secretary Health Punjab, Javaid Malik witnessed the signing ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, Bryan Hunt said that the US has been providing substantial assistance to respond to the Pakistani people's healthcare needs. Our assistance is co-ordinated with the government of Pakistan to improve the lives of Pakistani people by improving health care delivery and controlling infectious diseases, he said, adding the USAID health program provides assistance to improve the quality and use of mother, new-born and child health services, increase access to birth spacing methods, improve administrative and financial management of primary health care programs, and help to prevent or control infectious diseases like tuberculosis, polio and HIV/AIDS.
One of the major components of USAID's health programme is the Pakistan Initiative for mothers and new-borns (Paiman). At the same ceremony, Paiman funded six Pakistani NGOs to help rural communities in DG Khan and Khanewal Districts of the Punjab to organise connections to health services needed by mothers and their babies, including emergency transportation, he added. These NGOs will work with birth attendants (dais), volunteers, religious leaders and health workers to alert families to the common emergencies that can occur during pregnancy, childbirth and immediately after, and to devise community plans to handle such problems. The NGOs awarded grants were Pakistan Lions Youth Council, Youth Front Pakistan, Al-Asar, Social Development Foundation, Save the Mothers Fund, and Community Support Concern.
Bryan Hunt and Jonathan Addleton joined Punjab Secretary Health Javaid Malik in congratulating the NGO representatives on their success in competitively obtaining their awards.
Comments
Comments are closed.