British agency stops funding child health project

Source: Dawn

Date: 24 Sep, 2010

ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: The Department for International Development, UK, has blocked financial assistance for Pakistan’s maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) programme citing ‘financial transparency concerns’, it has been learnt. 

The federal health officials informed members of the Senate standing committee on health that DFID had stopped assisting the project putting the important health initiative of the federal government in limbo. 

With support from Department for International Development, the health ministry had launched the programme meant to train 12,000 midwives in the next five years while creation of a cadre of trained community midwives was also planned. 

However, a source close to the international assistance said they had serious reservations over the MNCH financial transparency besides several audit observations were still pending.

 “The matter is needed to be resolved at the earliest,” said Senator Kulsoom Parveen of BNP-A. Senator Zahid Khan of the ANP said Rs2 billion were stuck with the DFID. 

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