USAID provides 34 million dollar for health program in southern Sudan

NAIROBI, May 12, 2004 (Xinhua) — The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has given a five-year grant of 34 million US dollars to the Sudan to break the vicious cycle of poverty, malnutrition and infectious diseases in the country.

The US Embassy in Kenya said here Wednesday in a press release that the program is targeted at improving health, saving lives and creating a better future for children, mothers and families in southern Sudan.

Because of the Sudan’s some 20 years of civil war, the health status of the people in southern Sudan is among the poorest globally. Many people are living without the most basic services, including access to health care, Anne Peterson, USAID assistant administrator for global health, was quoted as saying by the release.

In the new health transformation program, USAID has begun to shift emphasis from providing humanitarian and emergency relief to working with the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels, of which southern Sudan is its stronghold, on building a sustainable health care system in southern Sudan, according to the release.

It will include rehabilitating health worker training institutes, training health workers, providing high quality drugs and other medical interventions, expanding routine immunization and increasing access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation.

The Sudanese civil war started in 1983 when the SPLA took up arms fighting for self-determination in the southern part of the country, which has left some 2 million people dead, mostly through war-induced famine and disease.