ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: The United Kingdom on Wednesday announced £90 million (Rs10 billion approximately) to help address pregnancy related complications in Pakistan.

According to an estimate, 25,000 to 30,000 women lose their life during pregnancy and 160,000 babies die in their first month of life every year.

“Today is an extremely important and exciting day for Pakistan because this contribution will have tremendous effect on government’s maternal and child health policy,” Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan told reporters at the ministry.

Gareth Thomas, UK Minister for International Development, who is visiting Pakistan ahead of the first anniversary of the October 8 earthquake, said the British people were great friends of Pakistan and this contribution would make them proud.

Thomas said the contribution would mainly be spent in the DFID (department for international development) focal provinces of the Punjab and NWFP.

Women of reproductive age and their children, especially the poor, will benefit most from the programme, he said, adding: “A woman in Pakistan is 120 times more likely to die a maternal death than a woman in the UK.”

The total size of the project is Rs26.869 billion, of which Rs19.2 billion (71 per cent) will be shared by the government of Pakistan.

It is estimated that between 2006 and 2011, this national programme will save the lives of at least 30,000 women and 100,000 babies besides preventing serious ill health and disability of 3.5 million women. These improvements to the health system will transform the health and quality of life of 10 million families and will also avert deaths and ill health well beyond 2011.

The health minister said the project would be placed in the next CDWP (Central Development Working Party) meeting on October 21 and is likely to commence from November.

The programme will help Pakistan address the huge burden of preventable deaths and morbidity among women and children and make progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that require reducing mother and child mortality by three quarters between 1990 and 2015.

Under the programme, community-based midwives will be trained and all the district headquarters hospitals will be equipped with better family planning services and skilled staff to safely deliver babies in emergency. The programme will also help women and their families improve their knowledge and take healthy action for a safe pregnancy.

It is expected that the project will help train 10,000 community skilled birth attendants and provide a comprehensive emergency obstetric, neonatal care services in 275 hospitals and 550 health facilities. It also has provisions of referral services in all the tehsil headquarters hospitals and district headquarter hospitals.

The project also include evidence-based programme management and capacity building, improved access to high quality MCH and family planning services in all health outlets.