ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: The British government will provide 2.5 million pound sterling to support Lady Health Workers (LHWs) programme in Pakistan.

The Department for International Development (DFID) proposed aid from its technical cooperation funds to Pakistan national workers programme for primary health care and family planning, an official source in the health ministry informed Dawn on Wednesday.

Funds will be utilized for procuring contraceptives and medicines, raising public awareness of LHW services, facilitating improved supervision of LHWs, strengthening programme management and enabling a strategic review for future expansion structure and funding of the LHWs programme.

The government intends to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate from 30 per cent to 43 per cent in the next three years. Besides, the population rate would be reduced from the current 2.17 per cent to 1.82 per cent during the same period, source disclosed.

Under the National Health Policy and Interim Poverty Deduction strategy government intends to recruit up to 30,000 additional LHWs over the next 3 years. This would raise the total of LHWs to about 95,000 to maximise their services throughout the country.

Furthermore, the Village Based Family Planning Workers (VBFPWs), who were currently employed by ministry of population welfare will be absorbed into the LHWs programme.

The LHWs programme provide preventive and basic curative care to almost 60 million people in all the four provinces including federally administrative tribal areas.

Presently, each LHWs serve around 1,000 people in the communities, in which they live.