Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Unicef Bangladesh have signed an agreement of $8 million (equivalent to Tk62 crore) at a ceremony in Dhaka yesterday, to help reduce preventable deaths in women and children, by improving maternal, newborn, and child health interventions.
This is the second time Unicef Bangladesh receives KOICA donations to expand its achievements.
“We are hoping this contribution will help accelerate progress towards achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on the reduction of child and maternal mortality,” said Resident Representative of KOICA Bangladesh Office Kim Bok-Hee.
As the first phase of the joint KOICA-Unicef health programme in Tangail, she said the Maternal, Newborn Child Health Programme (TMNCP) was successful, and KOICA took the second phase programme in Khulna and Tangail districts.
The donation will be used over four years to provide an integrated package of priority health interventions covering an estimated 6.4 million people, including pregnant women, children under-5 years of age, and women aged between 15-49 years.
Unicef will collaborate closely with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOH&FW) to reduce maternal, neonatal, and under-five mortality and morbidity, and improve child growth and development in two districts, Khulna and Tangail.
It will focus on promoting antenatal care, skilled delivery at birth, post-natal care, essential newborn care, as well as maternal nutrition.
Another objective will be to strengthen newborn care by ensuring public health facilities have a special care newborn unit (SCANU) with adequately trained staff and supplies. This is expected to help improve the quality of health services.
“With KOICA’s generous support, we will consolidate our health and nutrition programmes in Bangladesh, so that critical issues to reduce newborn and child mortality are well addressed,” said Unicef Bangladesh Representative Edouard Beigbeder.
“We are delighted to be working with KOICA and other partners on this, so that together we can build a better future for children in Bangladesh,” he added.