Japan to donate US$1.3 million to Sudan health project

July 30, 2006 (TOKYO) — Japan will donate US$1.3 million (euro 1.03 million) to a U.N. project designed to bring maternal health services to Sudan, the government said Sunday.

The aid would be channeled through the United Nations Secretariat and go toward a U.N. Population Fund project in the Nuba Mountains region of south-central Sudan, which suffers from high maternal mortality _ or death related to childbearing, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The program trains midwives on family planning methods and provides basic obstetric care, the statement said.

Japan has already donated about US$100 million (euro 79 million) to various projects in Sudan, according to the statement.

The Nuba Mountains region suffered during a 21-year civil war that killed more than 2 million people and caused an estimated 3.5 million southerners to flee north.

The Sudanese government has been trying to secure and reconstruct the area after a cease-fire brokered in 2002 with rebel forces.

(ST/AP)