PESHAWAR, Sept 7: The Canadian International Development Agency has pledged Rs93 million to improve the women and child healthcare in the NWFP, health department officials say.

"The grant-in-aid is to be provided over a period of four years and will be spent on the strengthening of community health services in the province. Volunteers from Canada will also train doctors, nurses and paramedics to help bring down the infant mortality rate," an official said.

The grant, he said, had been provided in 1999 but work on the project had been delayed following the 9/11 incident, adding that the provincial health department had prepared a PC-1, which would soon be approved.

Statistics compiled by the reproductive health department showed that about pregnancy-related complications and non- availability of trained birth attendants claimed the lives of 300 women in 10,000.

Similarly, health department figures showed that an estimated 400 in 10,000 children died before reaching the age of one because of a lack of adequate healthcare services.

Paediatrician Prof Dr Abdul Hameed, who is pursuing the project, said that three components of the project had been made part of the PC-1. "Firstly, training of the nursing staff is in a bad shape as there are only four instructors for every 400 students.

A training programme for nurses is included in the Nursing College of the Khyber Teaching Hospital. These trained nurses will then transfer their expertise to their junior colleagues," he said.

Secondly, he said, the basic health unit in the Palosai locality would also be developed, enabling it to cater to the local people, adding that it would be affiliated with the Khyber Medical College and fourth year students would regularly visit it. He said that at least 1,000 doctors would be trained in this way.

The grant would also be used to support a Mardan-based NGO, which runs six centres for women and child healthcare. At least 70 per cent of the Frontier's population is dependent on primary health facilities.

Referring to the project's execution, Dr Hameed said that it would be approved in the next meeting of the Central Development Working Party that is to be held in Islamabad in September or October.