ISLAMABAD, Oct 4: The Ministry of Health has blocked Sindh government’s attempt to get the utilisation control of the entire $41 million Norwegian assistance for the Mother and Neonatal Child Health (MNCH) Programme, which would now be administrated by the United Nations Fund for Children (Unicef).

The Sindh government had asked the federal government that the utilisation of the entire assistance under the Norway-Pakistan Partnership Initiative (NPPI) for Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 should be given to them.

However, a source said this was neither acceptable to the federal government nor to the donors because of the governance issues in the province.

A high-level meeting held at the health ministry on Thursday decided to hand over the entire grant to Unicef, which would then pass it on to its provincial chapter for utilisation in collaboration with the Sindh government as a strictly-monitored tied grant.

With the utilisation issue sorted out now it is expected that the project proposal would be finalised by the end of this month.

MNCH is basically being funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, which had chosen to work in the NWFP and Punjab.

The health ministry had then started looking for donors to finance the programme in Sindh and Balochistan and finally the Norwegian government had agreed to fund project activities in Sindh.

The Norwegian assistance comes out of the commitments made by President Musharraf and the Prime Minister of Norway to implement a country partnership programme.

Secretary Health Khushnood Akhtar Lashari said that neonatal and women’s health is one of the top priorities of Pakistan’s National Health Policy.

Through the MNCH Programme, he said, Pakistan will be able to reduce maternal and infant mortality and would ultimately achieve Millennium Development Goals.