DHAKA: Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and UNICEF Bangladesh have signed a US$8 million (Taka 62 crore) agreement on Sunday to help reduce preventable deaths in children and women by improving maternal, newborn and child health interventions.

Kim Bok-Hee, Resident Representative of KOICA Bangladesh Office, signed the agreement with UNICEF Bangladesh counterpart, Edouard Beigbeder, during a ceremony held in Dhaka. 

This is the second time that UNICEF Bangladesh receives a donation from KOICA in a bid to spread out the achievements, said a press release on Sunday.

Kim Bok-Hee said, “We are hoping that this contribution will help accelerate progress towards achieving Millennium Development Goal 4 and 5 on the reduction of child and maternal mortality,” said.

“It will also further strengthen the partnership between the Republic of Korea and Bangladesh. As the first phase joint KOICA-UNICEF health program, Tangail, Maternal, Newborn Child Health Program (TMNCP) was successful, it was decided that the second phase program be scaled up in Khulna and Tangail districts,” she added.

According to the release, the donation will be used over four years to provide an integrated package of priority health interventions that will cover an estimated 6.4 million people, including pregnant women, children under-5 years old and women aged between 15-49 years.

On the other hand, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOH&FW), UNICEF will work to reduce maternal, neonatal and under-five mortality and morbidity and improve child growth and development in two districts, Khulna and Tangail. 

It will focus on the promotion of antenatal care, skilled delivery at birth, post-natal care, essential newborn care as well as maternal nutrition.

Another objective will be to strengthen newborn care by ensuring that public health facilities have a special care newborn unit (SCANU), with adequately trained staff and supplies. It is expected that this will help improve the quality of health services.

Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh said, “With KOICA’s generous support, we will consolidate our health and nutrition program in Bangladesh so that critical issues to reduce newborn and child mortality are well addressed.”

Ending preventable child deaths will be a complex and challenging undertaking. It will require courage, determination and substantial effort, he added.

“We are delighted to be working with KOICA and other partners on this, so that together we can build a better future for children in Bangladesh,” Beigbeder said. 

He also expressed UNICEF’s gratitude and thanked KOICA for their continued support.

UNICEF has been supporting the MOH&FW in implementing the Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Development Program (2011-2016) with a number of large initiatives for maternal, neonatal and child health covering almost one third of the country.

Support is being given to the Bangladesh government to build their capacity to address disparities in access to, utilization and coverage of essential maternal, newborn and child health services to achieve better results for children in Bangladesh.

This will help the government’s commitment to achieve the global target of reducing preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths as envisaged in ‘A Promise Renewed Bangladesh Call for Action’ declaration and the Every Newborn Action Plan.

BDST: 1807 HRS, FEB 22, 2015