Japan says it is cooperating with the Sudan, via UNICEF, to provide training for almost 2,000 village midwives in 12 Sudanese state, thus helping in the provision of lifesaving function for mother and new born children.
The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said in a statement obtained by PANA here Tuesday that it agreed in January 2013 to contribute additional US$684,006 to strengthen partnership with UNICEF to continue with the implementation of the Village Midwives In-Service Training in Sudan Programme.
It said the purpose of the extension of programme is to provide the In-service Training to 1,953 village midwives in the 12 States other than Sinnar and Kassala (central Sudan) to enhance their capacity. The training is jointly conducted by the Sudanese government with UNICEF Sudan as a partner of JICA.
UNICEF’s Representative Geert Cappelaere said 'this very generous contribution by the Japan Government will have a real impact on saving lives of mothers and their children.”
“Every year in Sudan about 3000 mothers die during pregnancy, child birth and immediately after birth, while 47,000 new born children die within the first 28 days of birth. This joint project will help to provide the much-needed skills and competencies to enable community-based midwives to perform lifesaving functions for mothers and new born during childbirth and the first days of life,” he said.
Hiroyuki Mori, JICA Chief Representative to Sudan, said his agency was “very glad to work together with UNICEF to improve mother and child health in Sudan. It is strategically important for us to collaborate with UNICEF which has good experience and wider expertise with strong capacity to implement this training in all over the country.”
Pana 05/02/2013