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| December 16, 2005 | Friday | Ziqa’ad 13, 1426 |
Unicef, NCHD sign accords
ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: The National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) on Thursday signed two agreements to provide education and health facilities in the quake affected areas of NWFP and Azad Kashmir.
The agreements were signed by Senior Director Operations NCHD Mohammad Ajmal Khan and Unicef Representative Omar Abdi.
The agreements focus on bringing 150,000 affected children back to schools in Mansehra district by setting up 500 temporary facilities in the vicinity of the damaged or destroyed school structures and camps for internally displaced people within a period of eight months.
The total cost of the project is Rs79,650,260. The NCHD would contribute Rs872,000, while the Unicef will provide Rs78,778,260 (school supplies worth Rs66,375,000 and cash assistance of Rs12,403,260).
Under the health sector agreement, the NCHD and Unicef will collaborate to establish 10 Essential Health Care Centres (EHCC) in six earthquake-affected districts of Azad Kashmir and NWFP at a total cost of Rs12,068,100. The NCHD will share Rs1,053,000, while Unicef will contribute Rs11,015,100.
Each EHCC will cater for a population of nearly 10,000 and entail deployment of health care providers at the static facility for an initial duration of nine months. These centres are meant to provide basic curative services including medical, surgical and maternal care.
As a result of the devastating earthquake, 850 primary school buildings were destroyed and 1,334 severely damaged in Mansehra district. While reconstruction and repair of these schools is likely to take a long time, there is urgent need to provide temporary schooling arrangements to the students.
Under the education sector agreement, tent schools will be set up to provide transitional shelter, school supplies, teachers and professional support to them. On the other hand, health facilities have also been severely damaged by the earthquake. With nearly 100,000 people injured, urgent provision of medical help is imperative.
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