KARACHI, May 29: Sindh has been selected for a grant of $35 million from the Norwegian government for initiating a five-year programme towards the improvement of health status of women, neonates and children in the province, said a source in the health department.

A decision pertaining to the grant was reached at a workshop held recently at Islamabad under Norwegian-Pakistan Partnership Initiatives (NPPI) aimed at addressing the millennium development goals relevant to the improvement of mother and child health and reduction of mortality rate by two third of under five children and mothers by 2015.

The source said that the provincial health department would submit a logical framework addressing the clause 4 and 5 of MDG in a month or so to the federal government for materialising the foreign fund to be released in five equal instalments in five years. To finalise the modalities in question a Norwegian mission will also visit Sindh soon, the source added.

The grant will be in addition to what the federal government had promised to provide for improving the indicators of mother, neonatal and children health (MNCH) in the shape of projects. The federal government’s funding is likely to come in January next, it was further learnt.

The Norwegian fund is likely to be utilised in areas which will not be covered through federal funding. Sindh will spend the foreign grant on developing a separate block of monitoring and fortification of patient referral system, besides engaging community workers for strengthening the lady health workers’ networks and basic health units, said another source.

As announced about a year back, Rs32 billion national MNCH programme is to be implemented by the federal government over a period of five years for improving the health of mothers and children, the obligations to be met so as to fulfil the MDGs.