ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: The National Commission for Human Development in Pakistan has received a grant of $6.5 million from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for its primary health programme.

Dr David Fleming, director Global Health Strategies for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on Wednesday said: "We are very pleased to support the National Commission for Human Development's efforts to improve rural health in Pakistan."

The three main projects to be implemented with these funds are National Oral Rehydration Salt (Nimkol) project in which 6.75 million mothers in 45 districts across the country will be trained on how to make and administer this simple but effective remedy that can prevent unnecessary child deaths from diarrhoea.

The national ORS campaign will be formally launched in March. The School Health Programme of the NCHD will train schoolteachers to screen their students for illness and educate them on personal hygiene in 15 districts.

The third project to be undertaken with the Bill Gates grant is the proven NCHD model of primary health care focusing on health education preventive measures such as immunization and growth monitoring as well as child spacing.

This model employs community outreach, through family health workers and will also improve the functioning of the basic health units across the country. Commenting on this grant, the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf stated "we are thankful to the Bill Gates Foundation for their confidence in the commission".

It is a good breakthrough and will significantly help in our effort to address health care need of the rural people in the remote areas of Pakistan, he added. According to the NCHD officials, so far the commission has mobilized over $16 million from private sources since its inception in 2002.