PESHAWAR, July 24: The World Food Programme would provide 361 tons of vegetable oil to healthcare centres in the remote areas of the province to promote safe motherhood practices, a health official said on Thursday.

The WFP would provide vegetable oil to pregnant women in seven districts of the NWFP — upper and lower Dir, Swat, Buner, Kohistan, Mansehra and Battagram — from next month to improve women’s attendance at the health centres.

A doctor said that though according to official figures 350-450 women died due to pregnancy-related complications for every 100,000 births in the country, in the remote areas, the death rate of women was 1,500 because of malnutrition and scarcity of health workers and trained birth attendants.

The WFP’s efforts, the doctor said, were aim at improving women’s and children’s health, promoting vaccination of women and children and spreading awareness among the pregnant women about the precautionary measures required.

The WFP had allocated Rs90 million for its two-year programme, during which it had planned to provide 711 tons of vegetable oil. It had supplied 350 tons to health centres last year.